I have recently concluded a usability study at Iowa. One of my main concerns is the number of links from the home page (82 incase you are wondering). I recently clicked on "staff directory." While scrolling down, looking for a librarians email, I noticed there were a lot of catalogers, 49 in fact. That seems like a lot to me, especially when one considers that the University currently employes 5 digital librarians.
Catalogers: 49
Digital Librarians: 5
Hmm. What does that say about Iowa? More importantly what does that say about where the technological priorities of this university rest?
Seriously, 49 catalogers and 5 digital librarians. Are you freaking kidding me? The relevance of cataloging is marginal at best in an era when books arrive at the library, already catalogued, what can 49 people possibly be doing?
5 comments:
what can 49 people possibly be doing?
Ask them!
Okay, so a disclaimer. 8 of them are half-time (or there about) appointments.
you are treading in murky water, my friend. catalogers are an extremely important component to the library world. I agree that 49 seems like a lot, but think of the number of materials our library receives in any given month.
*Not all the information sent out by the vendors is correct
*There is always a backlog (go downstairs to processing and check it out)
*i think your comment is another example of the crisis within the library profession; what does a cataloger do that anyone without an MLS can't do?
(and this comes from someone who is very supportive of and passionate about cataloging, mind you)
49 is a lot, 5 digital librarians is not enough.
some balance should try to be achieved, especially considering all the current projects going on in DLS right now....
Well I did some checking.
The University of Illinois, which is the third largest academic library in the United States employs....49 catalogers. Hmmm, The University of Iowa has roughly 4 million records, The University of Illinois roughly 9 million records. Oh, and of those 49, nine are graduate students, leaving a total of 40 catalogers.
Now, call me crazy, but for the largest state run academic library to have less actual catalogers than Iowa seems a bit odd to me. But hey, who am I to argue with the need for catalogers.....
I am a one-man show catloger in a government research libray in Kansas with 1 1/2 assistants. I'm not going to comment on why a university library would need 40-49 catalogers. No clue.
We add about 5-7,000 titles a year at our library using OCLC, a world-wide cataloging database. About 80% of these titles are original catloging... no books show up at our library already cataloged. We are often the only library among a handful to have these resources... and yes, they get used.
You said "books." We catalog websites, Internet documents, online serials, analytics (articles or special chapters within journals or books), etc.... and yes, these things are made more accessible and are used because we do this.
We tag, index, set up web pages which provide access to information on the web. We also do digital work creating online publications, scanning, blogging and other forms of social networking... all done to provide paths to information for our users.
And that is what a cataloger does... s/he provides paths to information. It isn't just Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Library of Congress Subject Headings and MARC Format any more.
I have no idea what catalogers at the universities of Iowa and Illinois do but I can tell you that I am aquainted with many like me who don't quite fit into a "marginal" box.
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