[DCRM-L] Library of Congress cataloging changes

[Randal Brandt]

DCRM-L,

Sarah Wenzel (WESS) shared the following with ACRL Section Council at ALA. 
LC's Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control is accepting 
comments through July 15.

Randal Brandt
Chair, RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah G. Wenzel" <sgwenzel at uchicago.edu>
To: <sc-l at ala.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:34 PM
Subject: [sc-l] LC cataloguing changes


 > Dear Section Council,
 >
 > At the meeting at ALA I was not able to fully articulate the proposed LC
 > cataloguing changes with potential to impact subject-intensive reference
 > and
 > research support.  Since members of the council expressed interest, I am
 > appending an email, crafted by a WESS colleague, with background
 > information.
 > At the WESS Executive meeting, we agreed to submit a comment from WESS in
 > response to these changes, which cause us some concern about subject
 > access.
 > If I remember correctly from our ALA meeting, Section Council could ask
 > the
 > ALA board to submit a similar statement.
 >
 > Yours,
 > Sarah
 >
 >
 > Dear WESS members:
 >
 > I am passing along a message that landed in my basket from the Library of
 > Congress Professional Guild AFSCME 2910.  It concerns the future of
 > cataloging
 > at LC.  If you have time, I recommend that you read the accompanying paper
 > by
 > Thomas Mann.  This paper explains what's at stake (although I think that
 > will be
 > self-evident to this group).  All the relevant documents can be found at
 > AFSCME
 > 2910's web site: http://www.guild2910.org/future.htm .
 >
 > As this attached email mentions, LC's Working Group on the Future of
 > Bibliographic Control is asking for people's input by July 15.  I have
 > been told
 > that so far they have received little feedback from collection managers or
 > public
 > services people.  I am hoping for a robust response from WESS membership.
 > It
 > may be too late for an official response from WESS, but at least we can
 > all
 > respond as individuals or as representatives of our institutions.  If you
 > have any
 > thoughts about this, I would appreciate it if you would share them with
 > the WESS
 > list(s).
 >
 > Warmest regards,
 > Blake Landor
 >
 > Selector for Classics, Philosophy, Religion, General Humanities
 > University of Florida Libraries
 >
 > ----
 >
 >>>> Guild 06/15/07 3:29 PM >>>
 >
 > New essay by Thomas Mann, "The Peloponnesian War and the Future of
 > Reference, Cataloging, and Scholarship in Research Libraries" (June 13,
 > 2007).
 > PDF, 41 pp.
 >
 > http://guild2910.org/Pelopponesian%20War%20June%2013%202007.pdf
 >
 > ABSTRACT: The paper is an examination of the overall principles and
 > practices
 > of both reference service and cataloging operations in the promotion of
 > scholarly research, pointing out important differences not just in content
 > available onsite and offsite, but also among necessary search methods. It
 > specifies the differences between scholarship and quick information
 > seeking,
 > and examines the implications of those differences for the future of
 > cataloging.
 > It examines various proposed alternatives to cataloging: relevance
 > ranking,
 > tagging, under-the-hood programming, etc. The paper considers the need
 > for,
 > and requirements of, education of researchers; and it examines in detail
 > many
 > of the glaring disconnects between theory and practice in the library
 > profession
 > today.
 >
 > AFSCME 2910 urges readers of this essay to make their voices heard by
 > writing
 > to the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control.
 >
 > This advisory group will make recommendations to Library of Congress
 > management which could determine the future of LC cataloging policy.
 >
 > In particular, LC management is positioning itself to change its practices
 > in two
 > major ways: 1) LC is moving away from its practice of requiring subject
 > expertise in its catalogers; and 2) it is questioning the practice of
 > creating LC
 > Subject Headings in precoordinated subject strings (see pages 21-27 of
 > Mann's
 > paper). Without precoordination, the existing cross-reference structure,
 > the
 > linkages of LCSH to LC Classification, and the possibility of browse
 > displays of
 > subdivided headings in online catalogs, would be lost.
 >
 > PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD on these issues by writing to the Working
 > Group BY THE DEADLINE OF JULY 15, 2007. You may contact them at:
 >
 > jmgriff at unc.edu
 >
 > or you can fill out a web form at:
 >
 > http://www.loc.gov/bibliographic-future/contact/
 >
 > or you can mail your letters to:
 >
 > Dr. José-Marie Griffiths
 > Dean and Professor
 > School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at
 > Chapel Hill CB#3360, 100 Manning Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
 >
 > The Working Group needs your input. Please speak up and encourage your
 > colleagues to respond as well.
 >
 > The Library of Congress Professional Guild AFSCME Local 2910 Mail stop
 > 9994
 > Room No. LM G-41 Library of Congress
 > 101 Independence Avenue, SE
 > Washington, DC 20540
 > www.guild2910.org
 > guild at loc.gov
 >(202) 707-6493/1304
 > Fax: (202) 707-1873
 >
 > "Opinions expressed are those of the authors, and are not official
 > statements by the Library of Congress."


__________________________
Randal Brandt
Principal Cataloger
The Bancroft Library
(510) 643-2275
rbrandt at library.berkeley.edu
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu