HIT> Catalogers and Budget Cuts

["Vanessa R. Toyokura" <toyokura@CSN.ORG>]

Dear LM-Netters,

Thank you to all who responded when I asked for strategies to justify our
cataloging staff when free or cheap bibliographic data is available from
book sellers. A copy of the original message is attached to the end of
this HIT>, in case you missed it the first time.

I honestly expected at least one person to say they liked the data they
get from book jobbers, but no one responded that way.  (That speaks well
for the level of professionalism of LM-Net members, I think.) ?8-)

The last attached message was the darkest (most bleak?) response I
received.  It speaks for itself, I'm afraid.

It was also fun to see the interest in the LC cataloging Bloopers file we
keep.  Our department appreciates the Library of Congress, we just get a kick
when this seemingly faceless bureaucracy shows its more human side.

I'll post more responses if interest in this topic continues.  Again,
thank you for the encouragement and suggestions.


Vanessa Toyokura (toyokura@csn.org)
LibraryData & Automation Services,
Jefferson Co. Public Schools, Colorado


===========================================================================

It sounds like you have a good start with what you posted...(Text deleted)...
I would take what you told the net and personalize it just enough.  You
sounded rational and professional, rather than whiney.  Sometimes, when
you have to justify your existance that is a difficult task.  Bravo.

Good Luck

Sara Wolf
Swolf@nova.wright.edu
_____________________________________

Well said!  Just tell them what you've told us!

Cathy Buffaloe, Librarian
Miller Grove Junior High School   miller_grove_jhs@solinet.net
DeKalb County School System, Decatur, GA

_____________________________________

I teach a cataloging class to students working toward media endorsements,
so I would be very interested in the responses to your query.
I would also be interested in your list of "bloopers."  I think this would
be good motivation for my class.  Could you please send me a copy, either
by E-mail or snail mail (address below)?
Thanks in advance!

Carolynne Lathrop                 E-mail: udclathr@lcac1.loras.edu
Curriculum Library                After Jan. 1, clathrop@univ.dbq.edu
University of Dubuque
Dubuque IA 52001

_____________________________________

Vanessa,
I'd emphasis the benefits to the students.  For example, being able to
find the most materials because of the consistency and accuracy of the
records, students have access to library media specialists because they
are not busy cataloging.  If students have access to all collections in
the school district you can talk about the need for consistent
cataloging.  If you don't use the reasoning that in the future the
district might want to do that because it allows students access to more
materials and if the cataloging is done in a consistent manner at this
time it will save time and money later because they will not have to pay
to have the records redone.  I have heard of several school districts
that have had to recatalog entire collections because the records coming
in from indiviual buildings were very different.

Good luck.

Joie Taylor
Coordinator of Libraries, Columbus Public Schools
email: jtaylor@gilligan.esu7.k12.ne.us

_____________________

I'm shooting from the hip, but how about comparing the cost of the
resource to the cost of access to it.  One may pay $30.00 for an item but
if the item is not "accessible" then the cost of the item is basically a
waste.  This is doubly true in a "union catalog" situation where
browsing is not a problem.

Julie A. Walker
Director, Library & Media Services, District Media Center
Round Rock ISD, Austin, TX  78729
jawalker@tenet.edu

________________

Vanessa,
I thought you did a very nice job defending your jobs here on LM_NET!  In
my district, the clincher would be to ask those folks "Would you rather
have a certificated teacher spend more time with kids or with MARC
records?"  I find it extremely valuable to be out there with the
kids, even though I have so many things I could be doing in my office.
We can be that significant other to many kids who have no other
significant adult in their lives, and I think that's important!

Sharon Wright
swright@esd114.wednet.edu
Central Kitsap S.D.
Silverdale, WA
___________________


Vanessa

I strongly sympathise with the difficult situation your Dept. is facing.

I think the key here is to demonstrate to your District how essential and
integral your records are to the quality of education in your District.
Educators are increasingly aware of the importance of effective information
access in achieving information literacy. Your administrators need to be
made aware that if they reduce the quality of catalogue records in schools
then over time they will also reduce effective access to resources causing
increasing frustration for users and undermining information literacy
programs. I realise this is a tough ask and that you have probably already
argued along these lines but your administrators need to be convinced of the
place and value of your work in educational terms so that they remain active
and committed supporters.

Do you provide any special additions or enhancements to the catalogue
records for schools in your district that would otherwise not be available?
For example, links to specific curriculums or programs present in your
district or providing subject and genre access to all fiction resources?

I enjoyed hearing about your technical services department and wish you
well. As a matter of interest where in Colorado is Jefferson County? The
name sounds familar.

Regards

Ashley Freeman
Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship
Charles Sturt University
Wagga Wagga, Australia
afreeman@wis.riv.csu.edu.au

_______________________


From: "K. Gary Ambridge" <kga@umd5.umd.edu>

I have some bad news for you.  The Baltimore City Public Schools
eliminated all cataloging service for our 220 schools.  This was done
this year and it has all ready caused problems as we do not have AIDES in
our libraries. Good luck. Gary



=================================================================




Thank you again to all who responded!  I'll let you know how it all turns
out.  Vanessa





________________________ORIGINAL TARGET> MESSAGE ___________________

>From toyokura@teal.csn.org Sun Dec 4 17:56:50 1994 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994
21:36:21 -0700 (MST)
From: "Vanessa R. Toyokura" <toyokura@teal.csn.org>
To: LM_NET@SUVM.SYR.EDU
Subject: TARGET>Cataloging Staff and Budget Cuts


I represent the technical services department for a large Colorado school
district (132 schools, 80,000+ students).  We provide cataloging,
retrospective conversion, automation software technical support,
and library automation "how-to" consulting services to the media centers in
our district.  In the face of budget cuts, our district has forced us to
operated on a break-even, for-fee basis ... charging fees for every item
we process/catalog.  Once again, this year we are being asked to justify
our jobs.

QUESTION:  How do school districts, public, and academic libraries justify
cataloging staffs now that bibliographic records are available so cheaply
from book vendors?  Many of you must have been dissapointed in the
quality of this type of cheap data.  Even LC is not immune to mistakes.
Our job is to catch those errors, provide quality original cataloging and
catalog the great quantity of Audiovisual material for which cataloging
is difficult to find.  CIP data is often inaccurate, and many of our media
specialists don't have the time or the experience with MARC it takes to
produce a full record.

We even keep a file of "LC Bloopers" with such gems as a bumble bee book
with a mammals call number,  an LC cataloger's initials and notes listed
as a subject heading, a riddle book classed with folk dancing, and our
favorite, a book on Wisconsin Cranberries with a Dewey number for
Kola Nuts with Fleas! :-)  Then there are incorrect ISBNs, typos, spelling
errors, etc... which drive us crazy as catalogers. (Yes, we know we are a
strange breed anyway.)  ?8-)

Database clean-up is just not something our LMSp have time to do.  They
want to work with kids, not MARC records.  That's where my staff of
detail-oriented, MARC-loving catalogers and clerks come in.  We want to
provide support,  giving our Media Specialists the time and tools
they need to teach.  They are being forced to buy fewer books
to pay for processing or settle for a higher degree of database pollution.
Soon, they may not even have that choice.

How do we convince administrators of the importance of "clean" data?

Please respond to me directly at toyokura@CSN.org
and I'll do my best to post a HIT>.

Thank you in advance.

Vanessa Toyokura   toyokura@csn.org
LibraryData & Automation Services, Jefferson Co. Public Schools, Colorado
(It's not a typo :-) our LibraryData is one word)