Idaho Librarian
Vol. 58, No. 1/2

I began life in academia as a cataloger under Eli Oboler, a gentle autocrat whom I still remember with a lot of respect. My annual cataloging salary then netted me $200 more than that of my colleague, a beginning reference librarian. Catalogers were harder to get in those days of the 3” x 5” card. But we came to our new jobs ready to begin work, having practical experience through lab work while in library school as well as on-site with an institution that was willing to take us on for free.

All that has changed these days. Catalogers have decreased in numbers, with more of the cataloging routines being given over to paraprofessionals, including much of the technical work of assigning classification numbers and subject headings. Instead, catalogers are increasingly on the scene in public services, although public service librarians continue to be immune from cataloging, the very basis for reference retrieval. Doesn’t that show something for the value of catalogers?

For those of us who catalog, preparation has diminished to a workshop for a day or two or an online class to catalog increasingly complex materials. This is true for new catalogers as well, as many library schools no longer require cataloging for the library degree. Cataloging as a profession is being downgraded with training efforts to stay afloat. The question is, How long will there be capable trainers to train the trainers to train those who will create the records for the magnitude of formats that will be out there in the future? Continuing reliance has fallen upon the hiring institution to do this for each and every format. Or outsource, if the outsourcer can hire the capable catalogers from the diminishing cataloging pool.

And so I went to Moscow for the 2006 Idaho Library Association preconference for the cataloging of music. It was skillfully presented by Cathy Gerhart from the University of Washington, Seattle. Cathy carefully noted which required and optional fixed fields correspond with which variable fields for scores and sound recordings. And, of course, she presented the construction of uniform titles, per the rule. We also went over score recognition—that is, what do we have in hand? Is it a close score, vocal score, chorus score, condensed score, or conductor score?

For sound recordings, the depth of cataloging depends upon what the institution has set as its policy. Depending upon the library, a cataloger may go beyond providing access for the performing group by noting individual performers with his/her instrument, especially if the instrument is unusual, and the date and location of performance. For sound recordings, one always cites the performance date. This is the “p” date of the recording. A copyright date that appears on the item is usually the copyright for the textual material.

And what did I learn? For musical scores, I wondered why uniform titles are added to records that previously did not need them according the rules in the “old days” (when the title page title is the same as the uniform title). The answer is that the uniform title is necessary as a separate field for matching to vendor authority records as well as for indexing in our online catalogs. This makes sense because online catalogs have difficulty interfiling title page titles with uniform titles. Another point that made a big hit is one that I had never thought about before: genre headings are not necessary for music because Library of Congress subject headings include genre, as for symphonies. Whoever originally constructed the music LCSH headings was certainly looking forward, as genre headings have relatively recently become common access points in bibliographic records.

Great admiration continues to grow in my heart for musicians and music catalogers. Although the complexity of composition is beyond comprehension for many of us, we continue to do our best to bring together some semblance of organization so that others have access to the music in our libraries.

With the future of cataloging at stake in a world of exploding publication, the call for a simplified record contradicts the addition of more cataloging rules and coding for these records. While catalogers continue to speak for controlling all headings, the economics of doing so outweigh our continuing on this path as we create backlogs with the traditional ways. Library administration is already deciding much of our future, as has been shown by the Library of Congress in its recent discontinuance of series authority control in favor of keyword access in its catalog. With publication via new formats escalating, we cannot afford to be dragging our heels or we catalogers will become extinct. We should be embracing change, even if it means abandoning much of the old. This is an exciting time for us and for libraries.