Re: Something of an ethics question Beth Guay 03 Dec 2004 14:48 UTC
Dear Elizabeth, then please don't forget to include a citation to Joseph Harman's fitting article, The death of quality cataloging: does it make a difference for library users? (The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 22 (July 1996) p. 306-7). My opinion is that there simply aren't enough Michael Gormans in library management. Cataloging as a profession has been under attack for years ... and please include a link to Mark Watson's "Top Five Reasons Why Library Administrators Should Support Participation in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging" (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/topfive.html). We are undergoing a "review of our PCC Participation" at UM. We were asked: "Do PCC requirements affect your productivity?" and "What are some of the steps that take extra time?" My answer was this: Yes, PCC requirements affect my productivity. They allow me to be more productive than if they didn't exist. If there were no PCC requirements, I would be spending even more time than I already do cleaning up the catalog. Because there are standards, I am assured that catalog record errors brought to my attention are kept to a minimum. It takes a lot of extra time to clean up a catalog record that is below standard because I often have to take a trip to the branches or the stacks and do some detective work in order to clean up the record. Even more positive about participating in the PCC, once I have cleaned up the record for our users, I have saved some or many other catalogers the time repeating my work, --I'm not simply fixing my own catalog and leaving other catalogers elsewhere the job of repeating the work that I've already done! Thank goodness for the PCC! Beth Elizabeth Urbanik wrote: >Hmm, I wonder how public services folks would feel if catalogers >expressed the same attitude toward reference service... I'm recalling >all of Alan's comment, though; people with several duties to perform >will not be able to perform them all at a high level, so the cataloger >(or catalogers) who is making mistakes ought to be informed so s/he has >the chance to improve. I'll give this thread a few more days for >comment, then summarize the responses next week. > >Thanks for the responses! >~Elizabeth > >Elizabeth Urbanik >Asst. Prof./Serials Cataloger >Mitchell Memorial >Mississippi State University >(662) 325-3018 > >"If you never ask the question, you never have to hear the answer." > >>>>dilewis@USGS.GOV 12/2/2004 4:10:16 PM >>> >>>> >Alan May wrote: > >"Some people who catalog are, out of necessity, performing several roles, >so, understandably, they are going to make mistakes." > >As one who currently wears a number of hats in a constantly shrinking >library, I think Alan makes an excellent point. In fact, cataloging (which >I escaped from after 3 years) was a constantly humbling experience. >If they came looking for me to wear the cataloger's hat again, I'd run >out of here screaming... > >Diane M. Lewis, Serial Records Librarian >Exchange & Gift Unit >U.S. Geological Survey Library--MS950 >Reston, Virginia 20192 USA >Tel.: 703-648-4399 >Fax: 703-648-6376 >Email: libacq@usgs.gov > >Opinions expressed are my own, not my agency's! > >"Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and >the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money." > --Cree proverb > >"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red >with innocent blood."--Mathatma Gandhi -- Beth Guay Monographs/Continuing Resources Cataloger McKeldin Library, University of Maryland College Park, Maryland 20742 (301) 405-9339 fax (301) 314-9971 baguay@umd.edu