Cataloging Not-So-Bookish Collections

Cataloging of the weird: further examples for the 3-D perplexed

Freeborn, Robert B

I came across this interesting (though maybe a little dated) article about cataloguing items in collections that are more items and less books. It made me wonder about the future of collections and how we might orient our libraries to be more open to things and not just books and links. 

In my library we have a collection of paintings that are available for 6 month borrows, and many patrons use them as art in their homes. It's a quirky niche but t works for us. On the library side, these are catalogued by their name and artist only, so when a patron wants the painting of the waterfall we have to sift through the line items one by one or get the ladder and pull it down to look at the back. This article suggests better ways to handle our not-so-book collections. 

Abstract:
Thanks to the Internet, audiovisual (AV) cataloging has finally come of age. The dramatic explosion of Internet-based resources over the past few years, coupled with the limitations associated with the current generation of search engines, has brought about the realization by information professionals that Web-based materials are in dire need of better organization and description. Asserts that current practices in AV cataloging represent a kind of 'intermediate step' toward organizing access to these electronic resources, i.e., 'cataloging the Internet.' Expresses some concerns about the new importance placed on AV cataloging, noting that one must wonder what will become of those retrospective collections of older formats still waiting for the cataloger's attention, particularly of those items covered by Chapter 10 of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition: three-dimensional artifacts and realia. Like their two-dimensional cousins, three-dimensional (3-D) materials such as games, kits, realia, etc. provide valuable information to library users, but many catalogers have difficulty with them. Gives a series of examples intended to help allay librarians' concerns over cataloging 3-D AV materials. Stresses the number of personal decisions and possible mistakes that one might make in the process of cataloging such items, but points out that it is more important to catalog the items and make them available to users than it is to worry about a cataloging error.


APA:
Freeborn, R. B. (1999). Cataloging of the weird: further examples for the 3-D perplexed. MC Journal: The Journal Of Academic Media Librarianship, 6(2),

LINK:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=9dae87a0-192f-461c-a2d5-a52c4fed2fea%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4206&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=ISTA3601394&db=lih

The Art of Acquistion

Gavin, J. (2015, July/August). The Art of Acquisition. Library of Congress Magazine, 4(4), 10-14. doi:10.1037/e525992015-001

I recently read an article by Jennifer Gavin called The Art of Acquisition and I thought it might be useful since we are discussing the acquisition's process. In the article, the author accounts the process books takes to become a part of the collection at the Library of Congress. I was fascinated to know about a system capable of processing 15,000 books per workday! Every time I visit the Library of Congress, the breadth of its collection impresses me. I was very interested in knowing more about how these items come to the library and their process for adding them to the collection. Gavin (2015) begins the article with an explanation of the various ways in which materials come to the Library of Congress's collection including purchases, auctions, donations, gifts, and through exchanges with other libraries. The library of congress houses the copyright office as well and a copy of every book copyrighted in the United States is added to their collection. Gavin (2015) also informs us know that the Library of Congress has a collection policy committee that meets to select materials recommended by the 200 recommending offices as well as updating their collection policy.

How does this material get from acquisition to the shelves? Gavin (2015) states that only 12,000 of the 15,000 items acquired daily are selected for addition to the collection. Then the article discusses how these materials are then sent to the cataloging department in three different buildings across D.C, and several sites in Maryland. Books that are not selected into the collection are offered to other libraries or nonprofit groups (Gavin, 2015). The article demonstrates the path books takes from arrival in the mailroom to the shelves. The article points out that all packages are inspected offsite in Maryland prior to their arrival in Capital Hill. According to the article, they are then sorted by country of origin in the mailroom and sent to an acquisition specialist for verification and for inspection of their condition. Next the Gavin (2015) explains, “The specialist evaluates each book to determine its cataloging priority—a crucial decision that determines how full a bibliographic description will eventually be created for the book.". This title is then checked by an acquisition technician to ensure it is not duplicated in the collection and creates a bibliographic record for a book in the collection. Payment is then approved by the section head and then is brought to have security tags inserted. The book is stamped and then delivered to cataloging where a senior cataloging specialist completes the bibliographic controls. According to Gavin (2015), "She also analyzes the content of the book in order to assign subject terms, using the standardized, controlled vocabulary in the Library of Congress Subject Headings". After assigning a Library of Congress call number to the book it sent off for hardcover binding and then to the shelves (Gavin, 2015). The collection of the Library of Congress is so large and varied. I wondered what the process was for adding, sorting, and cataloging such a large collection. This was a fascinating window into a very complex process of acquisition in the United States’ largest library.

Link the article:
http://www.loc.gov/lcm/pdf/LCM_2015_0708.pdf

Additional reading
If you'd like to find out more about the library of Congress's Collection development and policy:
http://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/

Do Librarians Self-Censor Their Collections?

I was recently drawn to an article I found entitled Self-Censorship in Selection of LGBT-Themed Materials. In it, Downey (2013) notes that “unbiased materials selection is a vital part (p. 104)” of what we do as librarians, However, we are human, and as humans we can have feelings, beliefs and views that are in direct opposition to the books and materials we must acquire for our libraries. Personally, I am a supporter of LGBT rights and would have no qualms with carrying all types of resources and materials by and for this demographic. 

However, what if I were someone who was vehemently opposed to it? Could I censor my collection on those grounds? A similar issue came to light in the media recently when a clerk from Kentucky, Kim Davis was briefly went to jail for refusing to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Although this was federal law and part of her job, she refused on the grounds that doing so went against her beliefs. If she were a librarian, I imagine she would certainly not carry LGBT-themed materials for the same reason.

In the article, Downy (2013) states that “most librarians would tell you that they would never practice censorship, or allow their professional work to reflect their personal biases (p. 104). But can we prove this? She adds that “self-censorship is tricky because it’s usually invisible – if a library is missing a book, nobody can say for certain why it’s missing.” Is it missing because it disappeared over the years, was too expensive to acquire, or simply overlooked? Or did the librarian knowingly choose not to include it in the collection because having it would bring unwanted controversy or because she objected to the content? This is difficult to pinpoint. 

It is important, therefore, to catch ourselves if and when we may begin to self-censor our collections and work to prevent it. To do so, we must work to “remove our own beliefs from our decision making about our collections (Downey, 2013, p. 104).” This is clearly not an easy task, especially when it comes to a topic like LGBT people and their rights, which has strong feelings on both sides. “Studies have shown that the vast majority of libraries lack high-quality, comprehensive LGBT collections (Downey, 2013, p. 104).” Downey (2013) argues that this is due to librarians falling into one or more “traps and myths that are prevalent in our profession (p. 105).” These include the following:

·         Trap: It’s hard to find LGBT-themed books

·         Trap: They don’t circulate

·         Trap: What will it say about me?

·         Trap: There aren’t any (or many) LGBT people in my community

·         Trap: I don’t have the money in my budget

Although these five traps may exist, Downey (2013) believes that librarians have an obligation to be thoughtful and considerate in building equitable collections and a responsibility to put personal prejudices aside to do our jobs with open minds. She concludes the article by stating “the diversity of our communities is part of what makes librarianship so exciting and meaningful. When we can honestly say that we are meeting the needs of our LGBT patrons with openness and friendliness, both in person and in our collections, we can be proud of our work and ourselves (Downey, 2013, p. 107)."

I thought this article was well-written, well thought-out and timely. It is a good resource for LIS students interested in LGBT collection development, as well as all LIS professionals who need to do some introspection and evaluate whether or not they bring any personal biases into their work.

Downey, J. (2013). Self-censorship in selection of lgbt-themed materials. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), 104-107.

What is curation? An interesting video...

 I really enjoyed this video, which introduces the idea of curation as a part of collection development and management. We are living in a data driven world, and librarians are in the unique position of gathering and arranging information for consumers. As the narrator says, "It is the curator's job to bridge the gap between the material they're presenting and the people they are presenting it to" (location 2:18). The narrator works largely in the art world, in which she reviews, gathers, selects, and presents works of art and the information pertaining to it--and these are the same words we use in collection development and acquisitions. She mentions the various steps and facets of curatorship and describes it as a timelined process, which repeats and often takes a circuitous route from the initial search and review to the final presentation to the public. While the terms curator and curation are in wider use these days (as anyone can "curate," and this is no more evident than in places like Pandora and GoodReads), the narrator provides us with a solid grasp of the traditional use of the terms and how they apply to today's digital world.

Although this video speaks in terms of the art world, libraries often deal in physical items as well as written works, and this is especially true as the world of librarianship opens up to diverse collections and industries. For example, there was recently a job announcement for a librarian at Pixar Studios, in which the librarian would be in charge of managing the collection of animation cells, prototypes, and digital animation resources. A movie lover's dream job! And like so many librarian jobs that come up, it is not a traditional book collection, yet still needs the professional knowledge of a librarian. This is what we are looking at in terms of the future of our career field--and watching this video is a great way to get these ideas defined and understand just how we'll likely be working now and in the future.

A Century of Change

 Lamb, A. (2015). A century of change. Knowledge Quest, 43(4), 62-70.

I recently read a great article by Annette Lamb entitled A Century of Change. In it, Lamb (2015) takes us through the last 100 years of school libraries from 1915-2015! She starts with an introduction about an article which ran in the September 1915 issue of Library Journal called "the best-equipped and most up-to-date high school library to be found anywhere in the country." The article referenced the library at the Girls' High School in Brooklyn. By today's standards, their lantern sliders and Victrola records would look like something in museum, but at the time, it made their collection stand out! At the time, they were one of the few libraries whose offerings went beyond print books to give patrons more options in accessing other types of materials.

Lamb (2015) notes that “the past century has seen tremendous changes in school library resources. However, the mission of school libraries has remained the same (p. 63).” She adds that school libraries have sought to both meet the needs of students while also fostering a lifelong love of reading. The article goes on to offer a mini library history lesson and highlight the changes in the following areas: instructional resources, books, information collections, visuals, audio/video, computers and access.

Instructional Resources
The article points out that school libraries were becoming more widespread in the early 1900’s because of a shift in teaching instruction. Schools were starting to be “viewed as laboratories where students used books and visual resources for information exploration, small-group discussion, and project-based learning (Lamb, 2015, p. 63).” This is a lot like instruction today, only the libraries have expanded upon available resources for instruction.

Books
The author notes that around 1915, children would read Shakespeare in printed books, while today, a century later, a software app called Shakespeare in Bits allows students to learn Shakespeare through high-quality animation. This is just one of the many examples she provides to illustrate how printed materials have changed in libraries over the years. “The evolution of the book from text on paper to multimedia digital formats occurred gradually as each new technology added a new dimension to the classic form (Lamb, 2015, p. 63).” Lamb (2015) points out that print was combined with other media as far back as the 1910, when students would listen to poetry on phonograph records. In the 1970’s books on cassettes became popular, only to be quickly replaced by books on CD in the 1980’s and 1990’s and digital downloads in the 2000’s. In the past few years, we’ve seen the rise of e-books and graphic novels geared specifically toward young adults have become very popular.

Information Collections
The article discusses how, since 1915, librarians have spent a lot of time and energy organizing materials for vertical files. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, libraries began converting newspapers, books and manuscripts to microfilm. Thirty years later, libraries had microform readers available to patrons. Today, many reference materials are available online with subscriptions.

Visuals
In the article, a librarian from 1923 notes that she provides her students with visuals of maps, plants, insects and animal life on the bulletin board. Today, librarians are able to access a world of visuals with the internet. Lamb (2015) notes that “a quick search of the Web would provide students with access to millions of visuals including easy-to-access digital collections (p. 64).” She goes on to provide a brief history of visuals in library settings including the 1920’s use of photographs, slides and filmstrips, the 1940’s use of charts, graphs, maps and cartoons and the recent use of infographics and data visualizations.

Audio/Video
The article gives a quick overview of the changes in audio options from the Victrola to podcasts. It highlights that in the 1920’s and 1930’s instructional radio was briefly used in some schools while in the 1960’s and 1970’s audio tutorials were placed in library study areas. Today, audio is used in, for example, language programs such as Rosetta Stone and Mango, which libraries use for patrons to explore and learn other languages. As far a video, the 1910’s saw the use of low-cost portable projectors in schools. In fact, Thomas Edison once said “books will soon be obsolete in the public schools” (Lamb, 2015, p. 67). Imagine that! From the 1960’s through the present day, video is still widely used in instruction through the use of videotapes, laserdiscs, CDs and DVDs. Modern streaming services make it even easier for libraries to access and share the videos they seek, be it small clips or full-length programs.

Computers
One fact I was unaware of, was that “computer-assisted instruction emerged in the 1960’s” (Lamb, 2015, p. 68) and later, microcomputers of the late 1970’s and 1980’s. Today, as we know, computers are in nearly all schools and/or libraries and are used frequently for instruction. Software programs and social media are getting incorporated into daily curriculum as technology continues to grow and change.

Access
But as Lamb (2015) notes, “it’s not just the resources, but how we gain access to the information that has changed (p. 68).” As we see from the details above, the resources certainly have changed, but as librarians, our need to provide quick access to information has remained the same. Today, we have Google and other search engines which put multitudes of information at our fingertips. When I was growing up, I used the school library’s card catalog. It is interesting to note that, “in 1916, only 16.5% of school libraries in the South had card catalogs (Lamb, 2015, p. 69).” The card catalog became automated in the 1980’s with the use of microcomputers, and today, the physical card catalog of old is basically gone and in its place, online searching and databases. Technology and other inventions have sought to make information access easier and faster for school libraries and other kinds of libraries as well.

Lamb concludes by noting that, although school libraries have existed since the 8^th century, it took us until the 20^th century to view them as a “source of enrichment for the curriculum (p. 70).” She adds that “while the formats available and tools for accessing information have changed, the school library’s focus on providing access to quality content and designing engaging learning environments remains the same (p. 70).” As an educator, I was very interested in this article. It really got me thinking not only about where we’ve been in the history of school libraries and their collections, but also where we’re going. What will an article such as this one say about US in the future? Will our libraries seem as archaic as the ones from 1915 do to us now? What changes will come about? How will collection development develop and how will be better serve students in the next century to come? All interesting points to ponder.