Bernhard Eversberg wrote:
> For me, those old terms are not in need of being replaced. It is nothing
> unusual that old words gradually change their meaning, and I think this
> has happened over the last decades. The debate about this recurs at
> least once a year in one of the pertinent forums, and there has never
> been a result.
I don't know if "cataloger" ever had all that attractive of a meaning in the past, and while its meaning may be evolving now, I don't know if it is in a positive way.
Is "one who helps create a catalog" all that impressive today when fewer and fewer people use catalogs or even understand how they differ from the non-catalogs that they use all the time, such as Google and Yahoo? Unfortunately, this is not just a silly exercise since I do think it is an important topic and one that may inadvertently hem us in at a time when we really must look at the possibilities available to us outside of "catalogs" and "libraries." I have seen "metadata creator" but very few understand "metadata." How about "Knowledge systematizer?" or "Information management professional?"
Of course, most probably none of this will change, but there does seem to be some problems of being called "library cataloger."
James Weinheimer j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu
Director of Library and Information Services
The American University of Rome
via Pietro Roselli, 4
00153 Rome, Italy
voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258
fax-011 39 06 58330992
Received on Mon Dec 07 2009 - 07:06:39 EST