Library School

If you want to become a cataloging librarian you probably should take the one or two cataloging courses in your library science program. My guess that would be an introductory course and then maybe an advanced course or another introductory course on metadata, tagging, digital markup or whatever the latest lingo is. It all comes down to that you want to be a professional cataloger and deep down you know all the hype is for making more people interested in making librarianship more hip and current. Cataloging is an essential part of the librarian profession and those who don’t think so probably love to call themselves information professionals instead.

A cataloging course should probably cover the basics of AACR2 rules, MARC, and the Library of Congress classification system. Dewey should also be briefly covered, but sadly it is published in a 4 set volume that only crazy catalogers or organizations using Dewey would own. There also is WebDewey from OCLC which may be accessible. It is a very useful tool but most library school instructors probably would not know how to fully use it correctly, unless they’ve been using it a lot currently as a Dewey cataloger. Most library science students interested in libraries would have experience using their public library systems and know the general Dewey number categories. OCLC seems to have a monopoly on cataloging which isn’t a good thing. If your instructor is hands on, they would go through OCLC copy cataloging and using OCLC’s Connexion software (online and desktop versions) to create and edit records.

The next part of your journey is to gain practical experience, either through an internship or volunteering. This is probably the best option. Find somewhere needing a collection or something cataloged. If any cataloging tech jobs open up you should apply for it and be enthusiastic about it.

If you are unable to get any sort of cataloging experience you sadly will have to rely on LUCK. Either an organization is willing to hire you as an entry level cataloger (lets face it.. very few do), or you just take on any cataloging opportunities that open up at the library you work at or inquire about doing projects on the side with the cataloging section or catalogers.

There are also courses provided by Solinet and Palinet which has combined into one company called Lyrasis. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets taken over by OCLC. That’s what I call consolidation…. “We will own you and train you.”

There also is The MARC of Quality which isn’t that bad, I attended a Book Blitz II session. Very MARC intensive training. More library science programs should schedule training seminars for their students. Unfortunately they’re much to interested in anything meta data related when the most robust and useful meta data standard in the world is already in existence if maintained and used properly.

If you land a cataloging gig you probably should do it for at least 2 years or more. Thats the popular number it seems in all the cataloger or cataloging librarian job ads. Don’t hesitate to take the unpaid cataloging opportunities or technician jobs if you know this is what you want to do. You have to start somewhere and most libraries now realize they need a good technical services staff before they can start playing around with the fancy projects and crap being dreamed about out there.