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Catalogers Interest Group - January 26, 2006 Meeting Notes

Present:

Brandy Babb (Campbell County Public Library), Susan Banoun (University of Cincinnati), Rita Doran (Oldham County Public Library), Leoma Dunn (Thomas More College), Richard Leigh (BWI), Carol Macmann (BWI), Jean Small (Oldham County Public Library), Aaron Smith (Clermont County Public Library), Connie Strait (Greene County Public Library), with special guest Anne Abate (GCLC Executive Director)

MARC explorations: Enhanced 505s

While we settled into our seats, we became involved in a good discussion about the issue of the relatively recent enhancement of the 505 contents field in MARC records. We reviewed the problems that come up when uncontrolled names are added to a heretofore controlled name index, and concluded that few systems integrate these headings. A survey of those present indicated that some local libraries edit out enhancements when present in cataloging copy (for consistency purposes), and others simply ignore them, as keyword access is uninterrupted by the extra subfields in most cases.

Basic MARC (Dec. 1) revisited

After soliciting comments from attendees at the December 1st workshop, we reviewed the written comments provided by the evaluations. As expected, the comments were for the most part too polite (!), and somewhat inconsistent, based in part on the background of the participant. We did, however, get generally good marks for presentation, structure, and integration of concepts. We agreed that local cataloging staff is somewhat starved for attention. There is a clear desire for practical cataloging workshops.

Adjustments that we must make before the next incarnation of this program:

Beat the drums for SCCTP workshops!

We discussed the need to do all we can to let the area know about these great opportunities:

Please volunteer a couple of hours in February to solicit participation in these workshops. Special librarians (especially medical and law) need to know about the one on the 31st; many public libraries should have an interest in the session on the 30th.

The need for practical cataloging workshops

Our discussion dovetailed with the earlier-stated intention of developing a graduated series of workshops which would follow basic MARC. The possibility of combining these needs in an all-day presentation, possibly led by an external facilitator (Carol Bradsher?), was discussed, and we will brainstorm prior to the April meeting, with developments communicated through the listserv.

Calendar

March 30 Basic serials cataloging
March 31 Integrated resources cataloging
April 20 Catalogers Interest Group
June 1 Introduction to MARC bibliographic and authority formats
July 27 Catalogers Interest Group
October 26 Catalogers Interest Group
November 30 Intermediate cataloging with MARC bibliographic

Next meeting

Thursday, 20 April 2006, 1:30-4:00 pm, GCLC offices, Blue Ash

We will review the March SCCTP workshops at that meeting, and will spend an hour looking at the need for (and oddities of) uniform titles.

Respectfully submitted,
Aaron Smith
Clermont County Public Library
513.735.7147