Good morning,

I work for a company called Bibliographic Data Services (BDS) which is based in Dumfries. We supply bib records to libraries and library suppliers, and employ several cataloguers.

When recruiting staff we are generally looking for aptitude and interest from candidates, rather than experience, since we expect to provide on-the-job training. To aid selection we usually therefore ask candidates to participate in a test if they are invited to interview, to ascertain attention to detail and ability to take instruction quickly.

Once in post, successful employees have been offered support to become library school qualified via distance learning, and there are many roles within a busy commercial company to develop one’s career. Our current senior cataloguers have roles in customer relations, working with programmers to develop products, internal and external training, and committee work to support the national cataloguing ‘ecosystem’.

Regards

 

Jenny Wright

Trainer & Development Manager

Bibliographic Data Services Ltd.

01387 702295

 

 

 

 

 

[Apologies if this crosses with other posts and introductions – there can be a delay of several minutes before posts appear]

 

Hello all, and welcome to the first session of this e-forum!

 

In this session, from now until 1.00 p.m., we would like to focus particularly on  recruitment, and we hope to hear not just from people who are starting but also from people who have experience and advice to offer.  These threads can continue during other sessions – we know that many people will be able to look in only occasionally – but the other sessions will introduce other topics.

 

My own job includes providing training, documentation and advice for the 200+ cataloguers in about 100 locations who contribute to the Oxford Libraries Information System (OLIS), ranging from the Bodleian Libraries’ full-time cataloguers to multiskilled staff working in one- or two-person libraries.  Many OLIS cataloguers cannot make time to attend long courses and some do not have much inhouse support, so it’s a challenge to devise training which is manageable but reasonably comprehensive – a lot of it has to be through self-tuition modules.  If one of the smaller libraries needs to recruit a cataloguer they may not have any other cataloguing staff, so I am sometimes asked to help with recruitment.

 

Just to get things started, here are a few questions which occurred to the moderators.  Please jump in with your ideas on them, or any other questions and/or ideas which occur to you.

 

- How can someone with no cataloguing experience acquire enough knowledge/skills to make a convincing job application?

 

- Can anyone suggest books, online resources, courses or other resources (especially inexpensive ones) which would help someone hoping to move into cataloguing to make a convincing application?

 

- Do most people have experience in other library roles before moving into cataloguing?

 

- What if you were trained in AACR2 and the jobs now seem to specify RDA?

 

- Managers: What knowledge/skills do you look for in applicants? What else is important?

 

- Do you use “objective” tests in recruitment (or have you experienced objective tests)?  If so, can you give examples?  Did they help?

 

- How important is it for applicants to offer knowledge/skills in a range of metadata types, e.g. Dublin Core, MODS?

 

- How important is it for applicants to offer knowledge/skills with non-book materials?

 

- What can/should organisations do to help employees interested in cataloguing to acquire relevant skills before applying for cataloguing  roles in that organisation?

 

- Is the balance changing between professional cataloguing roles and paraprofessional roles (e.g. downloading external records, non-structural checking, editing and upgrading, adding holdings/items)? If so, is this a good thing?

 

- What are the career prospects in non-traditional cataloguing agencies, e.g. outsourcing firms and e-resource suppliers?

 

Looking 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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