Who's cataloging

[Paula Neale <PLNeale@AOL.COM>]

I agree that cataloging, particularly assigning classification numbers and
subject headings, is a professional responsibility.  But when it comes to
typos, I fear I make more than my clerk does.  Before automation, I hand-wrote
a p-slip, and the clerk typed the cards (when we couldn't buy vendor records).
Now, depending on the complexity of the item to be cataloged, I think the best
compromise is for her to enter the basic information in Mitinet and for me to
edit it and add the details such as notes and additional headings.  That way
I'm free more of the time to work with the patrons, and two of us have a shot
at getting it right.

Speaking of getting it right...Today I decided to start cataloging our AV
stuff since it didn't get included in the retro.  Boy. I don't know.  4 hours
work for 14 items.  I'll never make any progress during the school year.
Anyway I started with 12 new cassette/paperback kits  (Arthur read by Marc
Brown) and 4 copies of the Chcka Chicka Boom Boom kit by Martin, Ray Charles
et all.  I went to Sunlink on the WEB to see how other people had done these
items.  There were 2-3+ listings for each item plus several for the Chicka CD-
Rom.  And let me tell you, I looked at a bunch and NO TWO were the same.  The
leaders, the ISBN's, the physical description--nothing matched even though
they were obviously cataloging the exact same item.  Ray Charles was listed in
about 6 different tags (but only once on each record)  If you put a someone in
one of the 500 notes--say 511 for Performer, wouldn't you also have to add a
700 entry if you want your patrons to have access?  Or does this depend on the
indexing conventions of your particular software?  Just from these few
examples from the state of Florida, I don't see how consistency in any union
catalog would ever be likely.--the more people you have contributing, I would
think that the greater the variation would be.  That's why keyword searching
is such a boon.  I actually like to catalog and to try and figure out exactly
the "right" way to do things, but I'm sure expecting most of my patrons to
appreciate and master all the fine points of  catalog searching (whatever we
call the database ) is no more likely in an automated system than it ever was
when we used a wooden cabinet with drawers and cards.

JMHO
Paula Neale
Library Media Specialist
Ingels Elementary School
Kansas City, MO
plneale@aol.com

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