Hi Alex
I think it depends whether you want to get into Cataloguing specifically or into Metadata in a more broad sense. Pure cataloguing roles would ask for AACR2/MARC/RDA whereas some other metadata roles would be more general data description/data wrangling skills. You might find that what appeals to you is available in more wider jobs such as repository work. Another way in may be to look at Acquisitions/Serials type jobs where cataloguing is less specifically mentioned but in some places the 2 get tied in together (if that makes sense). In short, no 2 places are set up the same and you may do 'cataloguing' in roles that don't initially look like you do at the outset.
Glad you found the CIG conference interesting - it was certainly good at demonstrating how much metadata is appearing in the broader roles
Katrina
-----Original Message-----
From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alex McGowan
Sent: 25 November 2014 15:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CIG-E-FORUM] Getting started in cataloguing
Hi,
I am joining this discussion a little late due to unavoidable commitments at work this morning (which overran a bit). I have been a librarian at Library Services for Education (the schools library service for Leicestershire) for just over 7 years and am keen to move into a cataloguing job. This might seem an odd move, but I have been given principal in-house responsibility for our LMS and really enjoyed the technical challenges this has presented. I'm also a great stickler for detail in the data on our LMS!
I completed an online course on metadata on Coursera over the summer and attended the CIG conference in Canterbury, which was a great eye opener and also reassured me that this was an interesting area for me to move into. I am also currently learning Python with my wife.
I have read through as many of the posts on this thread from this morning but have just not had time yet to digest everything. My big concern is that I don't have any experience with AACR2/MARC/RDA cataloguing, and am not sure of the best way to proceed with this. Judging by some of the posts from earlier today perhaps it's not actually as important as I thought, though it has featured in all of the job specifications I've looked at recently. Also I am thinking it would be useful to teach myself XML or HTML 5 (I have some familiarity with HTML, though I don't get to use it at work on a regular basis), can anyone suggest which one of those would be most useful?
Many thanks,
Alex McGowan MCLIP
Library Services for Education
Leicestershire County Council
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