This exercise will give you a chance to look briefly at some issues in planning, training, management, and collaboration in cataloging.
Look at the websites of two university libraries. Look for information on how the library is organized. Not all libraries provide this information, but most provide it in one form or another. There may be a search box, a site search, an “About Us” area, a directory of departments, an organizational chart, and so on. Don’t look too long on any particular website. If you can’t find the information readily, choose another university. Your results should be about 1 or 2 pages long. This exercise shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours, so don’t wallow around in some of the crummy websites that are out there. Just go to another one if you can’t find any good information. A good example is Indiana University–Bloomington. Go here:
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/ (Links to an external site.)
And look at the link “Departments and staff.” Search “cataloging” and see what you find
(You can use Indiana University as one of your examples if you want to.)
Look for information on the following topics:
Where does cataloging fit into the organization? Is in in a department called “cataloging?” Is it part of a Technical Services Department? Is it called something else, such as “Metadata,” “Discovery Services,” etc.
If there is a staff directory or an organizational chart, what kinds of job titles or other indications of cataloging responsibilities do you see? E.g., “catalog and metadata librarian,” “database maintenance assistant,” “authorities section.”
Is there any information for library cataloging staff that is publicly available? (TPOT http://tpot.ucsd.edu/ (Links to an external site.) at UC San Diego is the most well-known public cataloging documentation site. You can use UC San Diego as an example if you want to.) What is contained in their public documentation? (What kinds of tools, resources, procedures, etc.)
