Cataloging Futures

RDA test: training materials and LC policy decisions

Wow, this is really great. The Library of Congress is providing access to all the RDA Test training materials and policy decisions that will be used during the U.S. test period. A cornucopia of RDA goodness!

Why teach cataloging and classification?

Some good cataloging reading to start the new year!

Today (using Google Scholar) I found this interesting essay by Michael Gorman from 2002: A matter of opinion: Why teach cataloguing and classification?

It can be found in this book: Education for cataloging and the organization of information edited by Janet Swan Hill.

More RDA links

Karen Anderson, the RDA librarian at MARS Automation Services, has pulled together another good list of RDA resources. There's some great stuff here like the CLA pre-conference presentations and the German symposium on MARC.

Slides: What is cataloging?

For those who wonder what we do, here's a nice, quick overview:

What Is Cataloging?

View more presentations from Johan Koren.

Via Giddy Librarian

Should you take cataloging in library school?

Some good advice for LIS students. In, If I Could Do Library School Over Again, Karen Glover, Circulation Services Librarian at the Georgia Institute of Technology, writes about the need to take a cataloging class even if you're not planning on being a cataloger.

I would take cataloging. What was I thinking? I’ll tell you. I was thinking that I was never going to need cataloging, that’s what. Boy was I wrong. The cataloging of film is a tricky, tricky thing. In this library, it is inconsistent, and often unexplainable. Current cataloging standards are too restrictive and unwilling to bend. At least I think they are. I wouldn’t really know....

Metadata for Catalogers presentation

Robin Fay, Head, Database Maintenance at the University of Georgia, has shared her presentation on the basics of metadata for catalogers. Great examples.

Metadata For Catalogers (introductions)

View more presentations from robinfay.

Robin also has a version of this presentation for a more general audience.

ALCTS developing an online cataloging class

Over at Nearly There Librarian, Jordan Fields, an intern for the Association of Library Collections & Technical Services at the American Library Association (ALCTS) gives a nice overview of the web courses being offered by ALCTS.

Turns out they are developing a new course, Fundamentals of Cataloging.

So far all of these classes have been very popular, usually filling up. Later this year we will be offering even more frequent sessions of FOA, FCDM, and FERA. There is also a new course, Fundamentals of Cataloging, that is in the works. I’ve read through the first draft of the course, and right now it’s looking to be on par with the cataloging class that I took at Syracuse.

Another positive of these courses is the price. As anyone taking classes from a university knows, education is not cheap. ALCTS classes are a great bargain at $109 for ALCTS members and $129 for non-members.

ALA 2007 preconference: What they don't teach in library school

I've been sick all weekend, but I did finally renew my ALA membership and will be going to the midwinter conference. I'll try to post the meetings I hope to attend. It would be great to meet and have some future of cataloging conversations. (Just look for a lady with very short gray hair looking clueless--I'm not a regular ALA attender.)

This weekend, I watched all but 3 of the webcasts from this ALCTS/CETRC preconference, What They Don't Teach in Library School: Competencies, Education, and Employer Expectations for a Career in Cataloging. These webcasts are great! Definitely take the time to watch them. I took away some excellent cataloging management ideas.

On June 22, 2007, librarians from across the United States and Canada gathered in Washington, D.C. during ALA Annual to discuss the future of cataloging at a preconference (PDF; 23K) sponsored by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, Committee on Education, Training & Recruitment for Cataloging (ALCTS/CETRC), the Library of Congress and the Catholic University of America.

• Biographies of the speakers (PDF; 24K)
• Presentation by James F. Brennan, Ph.D., the provost of Catholic University at the beginning of the preconference (PDF; 23K)
• Webcasts and presentations of the speakers:
  • Matthew Beacom: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • Karen Calhoun: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • J. Randolph Call: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • Sylvia D. Hall-Ellis: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • Janet Swan Hill: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • Brian E.C. Schottlaender: Webcast - PowerPoint
  • Beacher Wiggins: Webcast - Preconference Paper (PDF; 141K)

What they don’t teach in library school

Hot off the press. Check out this new cataloging intiative:

... As a result of the preconference, ALCTS/CETRC created a Task Force on Competencies and Education for a Career in Cataloging. The Task Force will serve as a subcommittee of ALCTS/CETRC and will assess the current state of education and employment in cataloging, recommending new programs that seek to promote continuing education and training in the profession. The Task Force will serve as an umbrella organization for three new initiatives: 1) A Cataloging Education Fellows Program; 2) A program to connect cataloging practitioners and employers with library educators; and 3) A clearinghouse that links to available resources and career opportunities in cataloging.

There's a call for volunteers:

If you would like to volunteer to be a member of the Task Force, please click the link below.

Link to volunteer form

Essential reading: Cataloging and Metadata Education report

I didn't get to read as much as I'd hoped to during the holiday break. One thing I did read that wasn't even on my list was Ingrid Hsieh-Yee's report Cataloging and  Metadata Education: A Proposal for Preparing Cataloging Professionals of the 21st Century [pdf]. (Like the better known Calhoun report its impetus was an action plan that grew out of the Library of Congress's Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium.)

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I have a strong interest in cataloging education (particularly continuing education) and yet this is the first time I've encountered this report originally issued five years ago. So, it's been quietly hovering under the radar in the future of cataloging debate, but deserves to be noticed.

Hsieh-Yee cogently argues for the necessity of all LIS students getting a foundation in cataloging and metadata issues as a prerequisite for understanding information organization in the digital age.

Via Off the Mark