Sarah,
I'm in a similar position - feel like I'm way behind (with no time to
catch up).
I think in order to start to get your bearings I would regularly read
this list, Christine Schwartz's blog ( http://www.catalogingfutures.com/
), the Celeripedian blog ( http://celeripedean.wordpress.com/ ) and
Karen Coyle's blog (http://kcoyle.blogspot.com/ ), to name a few.
Regards,
Nathan Rinne
Media Cataloging Technician
Educational Service Center
11200 93rd Avenue North
Maple Grove MN. 55369
Email: rinnen_at_district279.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Simpson, Sarah
Sent: Friday, April 16, 2010 10:03 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: [NGC4LIB] What do I need to know?!
I have to admit, I always hesitate to post a question of this sort to a
list, for a variety of reasons. However, as I try to figure out how I'm
going to contribute to the cataloging world, honestly, you just seem
like the best people to ask.
I'm a very good cataloger (and modest, too, as you can tell). However,
I am becoming very aware that in order to remain a good cataloger and
make any forward progress, I am going to need to know other things than
cataloging. Specifically, technology. I will need to learn more about
the workings of our catalogs, what we know and need to tell our
customers about the digital resources we have, what is necessary to
share our data with the Web, and so on.
So, where do I start? Are there particular things to learn about
technology that would be the most useful, particular classes, particular
topics? What software do I need to know? I want to learn what I need
to know, but just have no idea where to start! I have 3 universities
and a community college in my immediate area, but do I need a computer
science degree, or can I be more targeted than that?
I want to know why RDA is a good or bad idea, I want to be able to tell
my library how big of a project it will be to implement, and to tell the
truth, I want the background to be part of the discussion as RDA
continues to be modified and improved. ANYTHING you can tell me about
how to learn what I need to know and what it is I need to know will be
very, very much appreciated.
Sarah Simpson
Tulsa City-County Library
Received on Fri Apr 16 2010 - 11:16:48 EDT