[DCRM-L] Foreign Language Cataloging

[Laurence S. Creider]

A crucial piece of information would be the age of the dictionaries. 
Cataloging materials from the hand-press period, even shared cataloging,
takes considerably longer than cataloging 19th and 20th century materials.
 When I supervised original catalogers, I expected of them (and myself)
that they would be able to catalog materials in the languages they read
pretty much as quickly as those in English.  Languages of which they only
had a cataloging knowledge take longer, maybe half again or twice as long.
 The subject apparatus and classifications for dictionaries are pretty
straightforward and should not take long.  I did expect that non-Roman
alphabet materials would take a bit long since there would be parallel
fields, romanization, and slightly more complicated keyboarding of
records.
I hope this helps somewhat.

-- 
Laurence S. Creider
Special Collections Librarian
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003
Work: 575-646-7227
Fax: 575-646-7477
lcreider at lib.nmsu.edu

On Tue, June 7, 2011 12:02 pm, Kate McMillan wrote:
> Hello All,
> I am putting a grant together and one of the components of it is to get a
> cataloger (or two) in to catalog the uncataloged portion of foreign
> language titles in a collection of dictionaries.
> I am new to special collections cataloging and do not have the language
> background to catalog these materials. In putting together this grant, I
> am trying to learn more about the foreign language cataloging process
> while keeping the grants deadline in mind.
> The majority of what needs to be cataloged is in French, Latin, German,
> Greek, Spanish, and Italian.
> So, my question to you all is, assuming there is a decent OCLC record for
> an item and the cataloger has the requisite language ability, how long
> will it take them to copy catalog each item? (a rough estimate will work).
> I know many libraries add their own local notes, us as well, so that can
> be factored into to your estimate too if you'd like.
> Also, about how long to originally catalog a foreign language material?
>
> I know these estimates depend on a lot of factors, I'm just trying to get
> other's expertise so that I may put together a grant that is realistic.
> Thank you and have a nice afternoon,
> Kate E. McMillan
>
>
>