Despite what some people seem to think, librarians actually tend to be ready
and eager to believe in the overall magic of new technologies and
applications. So ready, in fact, that we have a long history of making
changes in practice and belief (and in staffing and funding) IN ADVANCE of
the technology or application being available/existent/proven.
Your administrator is just one more in the long line of people who believe
everything that anybody says in praise of something new, and who is taken in
by claims that "X is obsolete."
The romance of the new is terribly seductive. But being swept off your
feet by the passion of the moment is not enough. You really should feel the
glow and be willing to consider the possibility of happily ever after, but
it's just as well to have someone who is willing to ask, "yeah, but what
will you live on?"
Catalogers are frequently the people cast in the role of asking the
distasteful and niggling questions, so that those who would rather be
carried away by the dreams without regard to such bothersome details as
buying food and finding a place to live, do tend to be annoyed. And so they
may view catalogers as "what's holding us back" when frequently it's
cataloger-like thinking, and cataloging-type work that makes the dream
achievable in the end.
Janet Swan Hill, Professor
Associate Director for Technical Services
University of Colorado Libraries, CB184
Boulder, CO 80309
janet.hill_at_colorado.edu
*****
Tradition is the handing-on of Fire, and not the worship of Ashes.
- Gustav Mahler
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Tim Spalding
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 1:18 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Does cataloging have value?
I value them a lot. They strike me as the one necessary function of a
library, and, at best, something of a force-multiplier for everything
else the library does. I also think they—or more properly the tools
and technologies of their profession—are holding libraries back.
Can you go into any more detail?
On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 3:11 PM, Shirley Lincicum
<shirley.lincicum_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I just got out of a really frustrating meeting with the director of my
> library. I'm left wondering, does anybody out there (other than
> catalogers) value anything that catalogers do? Or are catalogers the
> main thing holding libraries back in this day and age?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Shirley
>
--
Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
Received on Tue Feb 10 2009 - 15:38:11 EST