Heinrich Kuhn said:
"Well, have a look at the hits your catalogue gets and the uses people make of it: and you'll see that lots of people do use your catalogue as an instrument leading them to literature. So: it obviously works."
Hits on a catalog may show that it's obviously used, but I'm not sure that neatly translates into "it obviously works". There's "use", and then there's "effective use".
Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN
--- On Wed, 2/11/09, Heinrich C. Kuhn <hck_at_lrz.uni-muenchen.de> wrote:
From: Heinrich C. Kuhn <hck_at_lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Does cataloging have value?
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 9:05 AM
> I'm left wondering, does anybody out there (other than
> catalogers) value anything that catalogers do?
Well, have a look at the hits your catalogue gets and the uses
people make of it: and you'll see that lots of people do use
your catalogue as an instrument leading them to literature.
So: it obviously works. And it does work because of the
cataloguers' work.
> Or are catalogers the
> main thing holding libraries back in this day and age?
Are you talking about those shaping and pushing RDA?
Or about those who tend to insist that cataloguing should continue
to be done as it was done 20 years ago?
I both cases: I'd say: they are not "the *main* thing holding
libraries back", but, well, ... .
The *main* thing in many libraries IMO is lack of user
participation in shaping the libraries' goals and visions.
Regards
Heinrich
+----------------------------------------------
| Dr. Heinrich C. Kuhn
| Seminar fuer Geistesgeschichte und
| Philosophie der Renaissance
| Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen
| D-80539 Muenchen / Ludwigstr. 31
| T.: +49-89-2180 2018, F.: +49-89-2180 2907
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Received on Wed Feb 11 2009 - 14:56:16 EST