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One further comment on this issue: This isn't so much about teaching kids when to capitalize as it is an issue for standardizing cataloging. The changing of capital letters doesn't affect too many things (although it has the potential), but adding asterisks where they don't belong could be a problem for sorting and searching. The standards for cataloging are set not because "we always did it that way" but to make certain that the cataloging can transfer between and among library systems with as few changes as possible. Back in the old days everyone did their own cataloging, and sometimes, made their own rules. That changed with computers and the cost of cataloging. Most AACR rules are designed so that machines can consistently interpret the information and properly file it. Machines can be very literal. It is best to always err on the side of caution when inventing one's own rules because the next batch of imported records may not match with the existing records if the home grown rules interfere. Consider the cost in time and dollars to fix variations in rules before changing from the standard. Larry Wieland Jeffcat Cataloging Supervisor Jefferson Co. Public Schools Golden, CO lwieland@jeffco.k12.co.us -----Original Message----- From: School Library Media & Network Communications [mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Mary Ann Shaffer Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 3:35 PM To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: [LM_NET] Hit: Destiny cataloging I emailed on May 18th: Okay this is getting really irritating. There is a standard with cataloging. In the library world we do not capitalize all first letters in titles as they do in bibliographies. Someone in my district keeps going in and correcting titles to the 'correct bibliographic format' with all first letters capitalized which is NOT the library standard. Someone is also adding asterisks to the title entry - I guess so they can find books easier. Do any other districts have this problem with their union catalogs? Or maybe cataloging has changed in the last several years?? I received several responses - more than are shown here because it seems I must have accidentally deleted some of them...but here is what I received in case anyone else was interested... One of the responses that I accidentally deleted mentioned, in a very nice way, that there are bigger problems in the world. Working at a Title 1 school I do know that - it's just bugs me when we are supposed to be professionals and I am almost positive that the person doing this is probably, as many suggested, not a professional and does not know or care... ************************************************************************ **************************************************** We have this problem ALL the time. It is one of the hazards of a union catalog. Someone in one building capitalizes everything in a title record. Some people have their clerks do the cataloging. Someone is putting AR information with the title. WE have several people who have taken a test to be a "librarian" and have had no classes whatsoever on anything. They are happy to turn over cataloging to volunteers or clerks. BUT with a union catalog it is also nice to see what resources others have when I need to borrow in a hurry. ************************************************************************ **************************************************** Sounds like somebody is editing on the template instead of editing their own title. That doesn't happen here unless somebody gets confused and edits the template. ************************************************************************ **************************************************** Mary Ann, you have a well intentioned aide or volunteer somewhere. I would send out a message to all of the participating libraries letting them know about the problem. In a nice way, of course. <g>. ************************************************************************ **************************************************** Who has the Administrator Rights to your district Destiny program? Perhaps the person does not realize that "Copy" info only should be changed rather than "Title" changes which are global ************************************************************************ **************************************************** I think you are correct about the form of titles in MARC records. Our district got Destiny this year, & we agreed not to edit each others' cataloging. ************************************************************************ **************************************************** and then there is a different point of view...... ************************************************************************ **************************************************** I confess: I am changing my catalog to reflect the rest of the real world. One of the elementary teachers complained that her kids were having trouble with the discrepancy, so I decided to change mine during my next big weed. I seem to recall the explanation given in cataloging class, that capitalizing on manual typewriters was another opportunity for typing errors, but I'm not sure that's an accurate explanation. In any case, capitalizing on a computer keyboard is no big deal, so I changed. (Without doing any research, I might guess that the lower-case conceit was one of Mr. Dewey's "simplification" ideas. Which is why he spelled his name Melvin instead of Melville, and why we refer to the catalog instead of the catalogue. Just a hunch) ************************************************************************ ************************************************ -- Mary Ann Shaffer Media Specialist Ivey Lane Elementary School 209 N. Silverton St. Orlando, FL 32811 407-296-6420 ext 2227 MaryAnnS@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. 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