Hi all,

 

Picking up on a couple of questions in the email this morning (have been dipping in and out between meetings)

 

Does your organisation expect everyone to deal with subject cataloguing and non-book cataloguing straight away, or do you give simpler work to newer cataloguers and introduce these skills gradually?

This is related to the other question - Is non-book cataloguing a specialist role in your organisation?

 

As I said yesterday, there’s just 2 of us, so we have to deal with everything! Having said that, when my colleague started as the LMS was new to her and I wanted to see what her abilities were, I started her on books, then moved on gradually to CD-ROMS, DVDs and recently she’s helping with the special collections being catalogued in DCRM(B). If we’ve got some really odd stuff like puppets/musical instruments etc… then I usually give a link to a record I’ve done previously to give her an idea.

 

I think for anyone moving to new positions (whatever your cataloguing background), don’t be worried about different items, much of it (especially with RDA) can be broadly applied to any item. When I started here I’d only ever done books and only had been shown DVDs one afternoon just before I left. I’ve got printed examples of some odd things that I can refer back to, along with my cataloguing guide that I had in my old job to remind me of things on the days I’m not quite sure of myself. The main thing is allow yourself time to work things out, it’s far better to give an hour to work out how to do something properly than to fix mistakes later!

 

There’s always other libraries that have catalogued similar things before plus, one of the good things about RDA (in my opinion) is that much more documentation is being shared now to stop people re-inventing the wheel, so again, having a few ideas of where to look is always helpful (either for cataloguing or classification).

 

Katrina

 

 

Hello again

 

Welcome to the third session of the ‘Getting started in cataloguing’ e-forum.

 

As well as continuing threads from yesterday’s sessions, we invite your questions and ideas in this session about training and recruitment for special skills in cataloguing, such as subject cataloguing, classification, non-book materials and rare books.  I give a lot of training myself for LCSH and non-book materials (RDA/MARC).  I have to admit that I have no expertise in other subject thesauri, classification, Dewey or rare books, but I know a little about how my colleagues handle training in these areas.  Esther and Helen will be joining in when they can, and we hope that the experts among you will be able to offer specialised advice.

 

We have come up with some starter questions, but please feel free to introduce other topics:

 

- Can you recommend any training material for LCSH and/or other subject thesauri or methods?

- Can you recommend any training material for LC Classification or other classification systems?

- Is it practical and/or worthwhile for aspiring cataloguers to gain skills in cataloguing, classification or specialist areas before they apply for posts?

 

- Does your organisation expect everyone to deal with subject cataloguing and non-book cataloguing straight away, or do you give simpler work to newer cataloguers and introduce these skills gradually?

 

- If subject cataloguing is not a specialist role in your organisation, how do cataloguers cope with the challenges of maintaining a good repertoire from LCSH and/or other fast-growing thesauri?

- If your organisation uses LCSH, are cataloguers expected to be very strict in applying all the scope notes and SHM instruction sheets?  If not, what are your priorities?

- What, if anything, is your organisation doing to implement the new LCGFT thesaurus? Is there any training material which you would recommend?

 

- Do you expect the LCSH system to be as dominant in 5 years’ time as it is now?

 

- What other subject cataloguing systems should aspiring cataloguers be aware of?  What are their advantages?

- Is non-book cataloguing a specialist role in your organisation?

- How much use is your organisation making of the new 34X fields and what kind of training has been provided? Are your cataloguers comfortable about using them?  Can you recommend any materials?

- Has your organisation implemented RDA for rare books? If so, did it involve much re-training? Can you recommend any materials?

 

- Given the frequent changes and growth in cataloguing standards in recent years, is the burden of knowledge and skills expected of cataloguing staff becoming unmanageable?  Any survival tips?

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best wishes,

Bernadette

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Bernadette O'Reilly
Catalogue Support Librarian

Bodleian Libraries,
Osney One Building
Osney Mead
Oxford OX2 0EW.

For cataloguing advice: [log in to unmask]
For course enquiries (cataloguing, holdings & items): [log in to unmask]
For other correspondence: [log in to unmask]

01865 2-77134

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