[DCRM-L] Advice requested for Rare Book Cataloging preparation

[Robert Steele]

Debora:

I was thinking along the same lines as Mark. Basically: arrange
pre-instruction to bring novices up to a reasonable level. I don't think
it's fair to mix catalogers and non-catalogers in the same class, for
either group.

Maybe a new RBS course could be developed ("Basic Rare Book Cataloging for
Non-Catalogers")?

Bob Steele

On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 8:26 AM, Mark Seidl <marseidl at vassar.edu> wrote:

> Hi Debora--
>
> My sense is that there are a fair number of people who teach basic
> cataloging online for various MLS programs. (I'm thinking specifically of
> my own cataloging instructor, the excellent Rick Block, currently Metadata
> Librarian at Seattle University.) If you could find an willing instructor
> or two, you could connect that person and a group of people who want to
> take your course but need the background in basic cataloging. For perhaps a
> nominal fee, the instructor could lead the group through a series of online
> exercises designed to teach cataloging essentials.
>
> Hope this helps, if only a little bit.
>
> All best,
>
> Mark Seidl
>
> On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 10:13 PM, Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at folger.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>>
>>
>> I’d like to brainstorm ideas for preparing potential students to take my Rare
>> Book School class <http://rarebookschool.org/courses/library/l30/> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>> 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?
>>
>>
>>
>> All thoughts and suggestions welcome, even half-baked ones.
>>
>>
>>
>> Deborah J. Leslie, MA, MLS | Senior Cataloger, Folger Shakespeare Library
>> | djleslie at folger.edu | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. | Washington, DC
>> 20003 | 202.675-0369 | orcid.org 0000-0001-5848-5467
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Mark Seidl
> Technical Services Librarian for Special Collections
> Vassar College Libraries
> http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/
> Gargoyle Bulletin <http://pages.vassar.edu/library>
> http://pages.vassar.edu/library/
>
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