Expansion of Cataloguing Resource Posting

[sandes <sandes@WILKEN-DSM.COM>]

I've been asked to clarify the "wish list" I recently posted on Cataloguing
Resources and, hopefully, this will explain what I am "wishing" for :

Lead by the Library of Congress, the Cataloguing In Publication (CIP)
program prints the recommended library cataloguing on much of what is
published in North America, usually on the back of the title page.

It seems to be fairly standard practice for many of the large publishers,
although ones like Scholastic and other mass market paperback companies
like Bantam, Dell, etc. don't don't seem to be involved, though,
interestingly, Penguin does.

I'm sure that there are guidelines on how it operates, etc. and this might
explain why the lapses.  And there are probably valid reasons why
publishers don't want to participate - like, maybe, the time and additional
expenses that it must involve.

I've found samples of this on earlier British publications, so it seems
that the program must have been in operation and then suspended for some
reason.

Why on earth would a librarian want this kind of information, unless
he/she's too lazy to do the task?

Frankly, the goal of a library should be to work with the patrons and CIP
can provide some timesavers towards a recommended Dewey Decimal Number and
Subject Headings.  CIP, as any cataloguing, is not "The Correct
Cataloguing", as some people seem to suggest, and the librarian must
ultimately determine if the recommendations fit that particular library and
its clients.

In school libraries, there has been a growing trend over the years to
include more and more of the school's resources through some centralized
system, either a central collection or a central database.

This means that while the school library might have originally had a volume
of the "Diary of Anne Frank", it now has expanded to a videotape, a set of
pictures, lesson aids, etc.

Of course, I'd put on my wish list that everything help me to get more time
with the people I serve, but educational publications, especially, should
recognize the needs to optimize the librarian's time and provide
cataloguing guides.

A somewhat jaundiced view is that perhaps lesson aid publishers' view might
be that they do not want a central depository within the school but,
instead, that each teacher purchase additional copies.

In my 30 years of experience, however, I've noted orders for publications
increased when the teacher had access through the library.

My main gripe lies with the educational groups, like the National
Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Middle School
Association, etc. who have continued to promote the library as a valued
resource, yet fail to provide any CIP in their many, many publications.

I'd like to think that they value each librarian's skills in organizing the
school's collection and are confident that each librarian will be able to
quickly identify the theme of each publication and translate that into a
library's system of organization.

I'd like to think that they are misguided to believe that each school
library is so well staffed that the librarian has the time it takes to
consider what cataloguing is required.

Or I'd like to think that it is simply an oversight and someone has asked
"Why aren't we giving these people some help in cataloguing?"

But their own publications suggest that there are shortages of time that
need to be made up, more librarians are needed, library's philosophical
basis needs to be expanded, etc.

So why, I ask, haven't these groups - and I target only 2 of many -
considered and solved the issue?

And, the third item, suggests that North America is, at least, attempting
to remedy the problem.

The British National Library statement (cataloguing is available from the
British National Library) is quite probably true.  But, in North America I
can get the item to the client quickly because that cataloguing is
available immediately within it.  Or, now with the Internet, I can access
the information fairly quickly with a user-friendly webpage.

Take a look at the BNL page.  I did, a number of times, since the items
here tend to be British publications and, in trying to catalog (manually!)
some 25,000 items, I can get stuck on some.  The page is, indeed, a true
nightmare with an initial page of selecting, it seems, where the item might
be within their collections before you even attempt a search.

Now compare the Library of Congress various sites.  You'll note that the
search is usually cross-collectioned, simple and logical (well, most often,
though they're still not userfriendly with names having initials, etc.).

Fortunately, the limited number of other national sites I've accessed in
Europe, seem to take the LC approach.

And, finally, international schools often order from the United States and
Britain.  While cataloguing this school's collection, I've noted the same
volume has been purchased from both those suppliers.  The American one will
have the cataloguing in publication, the British will have the BNL
statement.  The most recent one I noticed had HarperCollins as the
publisher, though I'm afraid I can not recall which title.

Are we, in fact, facing some "national standards" when the publisher
decides what to print? Perhaps.

Yet I posted a query if there were differences in attitudes towards school
librarians/school libraries in Britain and North America and got back an
overwhelming response that, indeed, they were.

Perhaps somewhat of an oversimplification, but the British tended to
suggest that their librarians and libraries were to serve the needs of the
classroom teacher while the North Americans tended to suggest that theirs
was to work with the classroom teacher.  Quite a telling difference in
light of cataloguing and, perhaps, the underlying reason for such a
difference between British and American publishers and library services.

So, a rather long response that I hope clarifies the "wish list" on LM_Net.
 Sometimes, when I'm old(er) and grey(er), I'll have time to explore it
more.

Nah, I'd rather play golf.....

Earl


Earl Sande
Secondary School Librarian
International School of Tanganyika
Post Office Box 2651
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(e-mail :  sandes@wilken-dsm.com)

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