Cataloging Boot Camp: The Training Issue for Catalogers Janet Swan Hill Introduction adequately dealt with in the graduate curriculum than It is the policy of the American Library Association others, depending on the particular position taken, that (ALA) that “The master’s degree from a program ac- new phase may be brief or long. Because curricular credited by the American Library Association (or from treatment of the specialties in technical services tends a master’s level program in library and information to be scanty, new librarians embarking on a career in studies accredited or recognized by the appropriate technical services may have a lengthy period of learning national body of another country) is the appropri- in front of them—a period which, depending on the job ate professional degree for librarians.”1 Further “The and the person, might be considered an apprenticeship, master’s degree in library science from a library school an internship, or possibly even a forced dive into the program accredited by the American Library Associa- deep end of the pool. tion is the appropriate terminal professional degree for By far the most numerous type of technical ser- academic librarians.”2 vices librarian is the cataloger, and it is catalogers—in A student who succeeds in being graduated from particular newly-degreed librarians who have had little an ALA accredited program can expect to have received or no practical cataloging experience—and who have many things in the process of earning his degree, in- been hired to fill a position that includes a substantial cluding: education, enlightenment, perspective, infor- cataloging component, that are the focus of this paper. mation, and acculturation. These are all invaluable and It is not the purpose of this paper to describe how necessary to the new librarian, but fall short of being training of new catalogers is handled nationwide, nor all he needs to know to be a fully effective practicing to prescribe how training ought to be done. Instead, professional. As he takes his first professional posi- this paper will consider some of the problems and is- tion, the new librarian enters a new phase of learning. sues that contribute to the challenges of training newly Because some specialties within librarianship are more hired catalogers, and will describe possible approaches Janet Swan Hill is Professor, Associate Director for Technical Services at the University of Colorado Libraries, Boulder, Colorado, email: [email protected]. 94 Cataloging Boot Camp: The Training Issue for Catalogers 95 to solutions. The author would like to acknowledge the a beginning cataloging course, but they are not cata- help given by more than forty members of the Internet loging. Some cataloging rules may be discussed in an discussion list AUTOCAT 3 who responded to her organization class, but if so, they will not be dealt with queries about training practices.4 in depth, nor in the context of other rules, and most will not be considered at a level sufficient to enable a Why is training new catalogers a problem? student to apply them in a real-life situation. Three main factors can be readily identified: Meaningful curricular attention to cataloging • Library and Information Science (LIS) pro- thus awaits the beginning cataloging course. What is grams covered in that course varies from program to program, • Increasing complexity of cataloging but generally speaking, it is not a lot. For example, LC • Capacity of libraries to carry out training classification and subject headings, and nonbook for- mat material may not be covered. Information about Library Education cataloging tools, cataloging software, bibliographic In nearly half of the ALA accredited LIS programs networks, rule interpretations, authority control, and there is no requirement that students take any catalog- uniform titles may also be missing. Some of these top- ing-related course in order to receive a degree. 5 About ics may not be covered even in an advanced cataloging one quarter of accredited programs require students to course.9 take a course in cataloging. A quarter require a course Thus, new librarians emerge from a program with in the organization of knowledge. Only three schools their degree in hand, and a vast empty space where require students to take both. In a few programs, a cataloging knowledge ought to be. They need a great curricular requirement is satisfied by any bibliographic- deal of training before they can be productive or inde- control-related course (for example, a course in index- pendent as catalogers. ing). No accredited program offers fewer than two cataloging-related courses. In about half the programs, Increasing complexity of cataloging one of these is called something like “Introduction to The increasing complexity of cataloging itself is some- the Organization of Knowledge,” and is referred to thing that most people involved in cataloging are here as an “organization course.” Eighty-five percent acutely aware of. Those who are not closely involved of programs offer an introductory cataloging course.6 with cataloging, however, may be oblivious of it. Some In terms of numbers of courses offered, this is not ap- of those may be the administrators who control budgets, preciably different from twenty years ago.7 In terms of assess the relative quality and value of cataloging per- numbers of courses required, it is virtually unchanged.8 formance, and determine institutional priorities. Others In terms of actual cataloging content, it is less, both may be the public services colleagues whom technical absolutely and also relative to the need. services librarians would like to serve well, and whose It is less in a relative sense because, while the collaboration and support is often greatly needed. Even approximate amount of curricular time devoted to some technical services personnel may take change so cataloging has remained essentially steady over the much for granted that they may not identify the issue past few decades, the amount that there is to know as something that needs to be mentioned. has increased. It is less content absolutely, because in Factors contributing to the increased complexity many schools the introductory course required is an of cataloging include: organization course rather than a cataloging course. In • An explosion of physical and nonphysical for- an organization course, students may learn the history mats of materials. Three decades ago, materials cataloged of bibliographic control and many of the principles in libraries were predominantly print on paper, plus governing it. They may learn what a work is. They may some graphic materials, microform, and some audio and discuss controlled vocabularies and why they matter. visual recordings, most of which would have been analog. They may consider the concept of “aboutness” and Today libraries commonly deal with most of those same ponder characteristics of works that are important for types of materials, plus digital sound and video record- access. These are all important matters, and if they are ings in various formats, interactive multimedia, computer learned well, they will not need to be covered again in files and programs, remote sensing imagery, remotely ac- April 7–10, 2005, Minneapolis, Minnesota 96 Janet Swan Hill cessible databases, websites, and more. Libraries are even cataloging rules. AACR and MARC are no longer engaged in creating some of these new types of materials enough. Many catalogers today must learn to describe themselves as they digitize their physical holdings for materials according to one or more of a number of preservation or access purposes. non-MARC metadata schema. • Radical changes in modes of publication. Librar- • Radical change in the concept of the catalog. ies used to be able to divide the bibliographic universe Once a library’s catalog consisted solely of records into monographs and serials (with space in the middle reflecting what that library owned. Now the catalog is for misfits like looseleaf services). Cataloging responsi- likely to be a gateway to information resources avail- bilities could be divided by publication pattern or format, able worldwide, whether the library owns them or not. and most catalogers were not obliged to develop mastery Cataloging decisions must recognize the many ways of multiple publication types. Today, monographs and in which information may be accessed and displayed serials are merely the end points of a publication con- through today’s catalog, and access and display deci- tinuum that includes all kinds of continuing resources sions must be made regarding materials neither owned in a variety of physical formats. As it becomes harder by the library, nor cataloged by it. to draw lines separating one sort of publication from Other factors that add complexity to the cataloger’s another, it also becomes harder to spare catalogers from life, and for which training is required, include: developing mastery for a broad spectrum of materials. • More and different types of software to use. • The expectation that all types of materials Necessary software includes the bibliographic network, will be made accessible through the central catalog the local system, the Cataloger’s Desktop, the depart- mechanism. In decades past, a library’s central catalog mental website, and more. A cataloger may need to contained primarily records for books and serials. Some know how to use, install, or troubleshoot software. serials (e.g., newspapers) might not even have been • Greater involvement in catalog design. The included. Maps, films, photographs, sound recordings, catalog itself is evolving rapidly, and as the people who manuscripts, government documents, and other types understand better than most the many aspects of what of materials were frequently controlled through being is feasible, what is useful, and what will bring about a checked off on some guide like the Monthly Catalog, non-bewildering result, catalogers must participate in or by having a card with a two-line description filed in a catalog design and display decisions.