Re: Paraprofessional catalogers

["Kathleen O'Brien" <obrien@NECA.COM>]

My most important job is certainly _not_ cataloging:  it's working with the
students both formally in class situations and informally with individuals.
My second most important job is working with teachers to help plan
meaningful research to support the curriculum.  My third most important job
is maintaining the integrity of the collection by both appropriate selection
and weeding.  To me, these jobs demand a professional, and to skimp on their
time demands would be a dereliction of duty.

When I first began as a LMS, I spent many hours each week cataloging at
home:  I, too believe in its importance.  However, with the availability of
purchased MARC records from both book vendors and from CD-ROM cataloging
sources, doing original cataloging seemed to take more time than I was
willing to give.  Plus, the time spent cataloging meant I had less time to
do  book selection at home.

That was about the time I began training one of my aides to do downloading
of MARC records, and I have never regretted that decision.  Maybe our
cataloging is not as exact and precise as it could have been, but my
students and my school are much better off with me in the middle of the
library with them rather than in some corner working on precise cataloging.
(And I do still _check_ records that are downloaded).

I respect the integrity of cataloging and the expertise it takes to do it
well, however, I am a professional educator first and foremost.

Kathleen O'Brien <obrien@neca.com>
Killingly High Library, Danielson, CT