<div dir="ltr"><div dir="auto"><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature">Deborah,</div><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature">To come from a place of No Experience and attempt such practice in isolation seems daunting. Taking a cataloging class would provide feedback at least. I realize there is a cost to this unless the person is employed at an institution with a library school and a tuition benefit. Online courses or webinars? Volunteering at someplace that would provide the basic training in return for a certain productivity? (The suggestion for getting a working cataloger to do a customized course is good.)<br></div><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature">Feedback from and discussion with colleagues has been the greatest enricher of my cataloging perspectives and expertise, even when I have been on the trainer end of the equation. Of course, there is nothing better than teaching something as a way to learning it.<br></div><div id="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019AppleMailSignature"><br><div>Marilyn McClaskey</div><div>Rare Books Cataloger</div><div>University of Minnesota Libraries</div></div><div><br>On May 8, 2017, at 9:13 PM, Deborah J. Leslie <<a href="mailto:DJLeslie@FOLGER.edu" target="_blank">DJLeslie@FOLGER.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Dear colleagues,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">I’d like to brainstorm ideas for preparing potential students to take my
<a href="http://rarebookschool.org/courses/library/l30/" target="_blank">Rare Book School class</a> who don’t have original cataloging experience. I’ve always considered it essential that students walk into the class with enough active mastery of general cataloging rules that
they can competently populate a blank MARC workform, and that experience doing original cataloging is what provides necessary active competence.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">What can I tell people whose jobs involve cataloging rare books, whose institutions are willing to invest in their training, but are not in a position to give them background experience with original
cataloging? What about people whose ambition is to be a rare book cataloger, but again, are not in a position to develop experience in original cataloging of general materials? It seems neither fair nor ultimately beneficial to shut these people out.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">When pressed in the past, I’ve recommended that individuals sit down with the rules and practice original cataloging of older books (published before 1970 or so) at hand, advising against looking
them up in OCLC or the LC catalog; older books don’t have CIP and are unlikely to have AACR2 or RDA cataloging. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Are there more effective ways to get adequate practice in original cataloging? Better ways to gain the necessary competence so they can hit the ground running on Day 1 of class?
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif"">All thoughts and suggestions welcome, even half-baked ones. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="m_-3368595384066379050m_-6633137782124730019MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#31849b">Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library |
<a href="mailto:djleslie@folger.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#31849b">djleslie@folger.edu</span></a> | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. | Washington, DC 20003 | <a href="tel:(202)%20675-0369" value="+12026750369" target="_blank">202.675-0369</a> | <a href="http://orcid.org" target="_blank">orcid.org</a> 0000-0001-5848-5467<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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