[DCRM-L] Including Cataloging History information in public interface

Thu Mar 18 08:47:36 MDT 2021

Our practice is like LC's, at least since the early 2000's. We use a locally-defined field 948 that includes date, time, abbreviated name of cataloger, and whether the item was original or copy cataloged. It is accessible to patrons if they use the "Technical view" (it does not display in the "Full view") and know what the codes mean, but frankly, this information is more useful for staff than for the public.

The idea to showcase the work of catalogers dovetails into another recent thread. Instead of having the public see every record a cataloger works on, one can write a blog post or write-up in a newsletter about particular items of interest, or a problem solved successfully. Most folks interested in rare books would find a Sammelband containing three works by Erasmus printed in the 1520's more fascinating than a technical report on asphalt pavements from the 1980's. :-)

The problem is, when do catalogers have time to write about interesting stuff they've cataloged?

Felicia Piscitelli, M.M., M.L.S.
Associate Professor
Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloger and Italian Resources Librarian
Cushing Memorial Library & Archives
Texas A&M University
f-piscitelli at library.tamu.edu

5000 TAMU | College Station, TX  77843
Tel. 979-458-7880 or 979-845-1951
Fax: 979-845-6238
http://library.tamu.edu

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> on behalf of Angela R Cope <acope at uwm.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2021 8:57:34 AM
To: DCRM Users' Group
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Including Cataloging History information in public interface

I am loving this discussion. I work at a map library that has lots of rare items. We used to have people stamp "Cataloged AC" - (their initials) - to indicate who cataloged an item. I believe we did it as part of our "tradition" because that's what catalogers had done in the past. My library is the former research library of a geographical society, so we try to honor many of the traditions of that organization while also serving a modern university. We no longer do this - stamping or indicating names in the catalog. Instead, we've all become handwriting experts and can ID handwriting in an instant. LOL. Attached is a photo of an item from my library where Thomas Letts initialed. He was active in the beginning of the 20th Century and created card catalog cards that are exquisite in their accuracy and detail.

Angie

Angie Cope
AGS Library, UW Milwaukee Libraries
2311 E. Hartford Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211

<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.uwm.edu/libraries__;!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk7bzY8CD4$>http://uwm.edu/libraries/agsl/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://uwm.edu/libraries/agsl/__;!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk7Gqf_ilE$>
M-F 8:00am-4:30pm  acope at uwm.edu
 (414) 251-7608 or (414)229-6282
43°03'8"N 87°57'21"W

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> on behalf of Erin Blake <erin.blake.folger at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2021 4:12 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Including Cataloging History information in public interface

Our finding aids do credit the person or people who created them, but our OPAC records only have initials, and those initials are only viewable in "MARC View" of the OPAC. A public list of initials gives researchers an idea of when an item was cataloged (https://folgerpedia.folger.edu/Initials_in_catalog_records<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Ffolgerpedia.folger.edu*2FInitials_in_catalog_records&data=04*7C01*7Cacope*40uwm.edu*7Cb6996357e5814961831b08d8e9897971*7C0bca7ac3fcb64efd89eb6de97603cf21*7C0*7C1*7C637516123956491270*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=5A*2BkDJaof23Go7yjjlV8C1wxYNwuY1S*2BTnsUyffKKsg*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJQ!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk73hXLh0Y$>) and a staff-only version of the same list gives full names of the cataloger, and their areas of specialization. Researcher services staff sometimes use this as a way to (silently) evaluate the credibility of the record.

Several people at our institution want catalogers' names to be included in records, since they believe catalogers should get "credit" for their scholarship, same as if they'd written an article, or a blog post, or any other thing where names are routinely attached. Personally, I prefer to remain invisible! The record I'm making might be mostly based on copy, and I don't want to take credit for someone else's work. I also don't want to be blamed for someone else's bad work. Happy to be blamed for my own bad work, but you can't tell who did what in a MARC record.

Erin.

______________________
Erin Blake, Ph.D.  |  Senior Cataloger  |  Folger Shakespeare Library  |  201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC, 20003  |  eblake at folger.edu<mailto:eblake at folger.edu>  |  www.folger.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fprotect-us.mimecast.com*2Fs*2F-t5RCjRgpBtArRXC7R7_2*3Fdomain*3Durldefense.com&data=04*7C01*7Cacope*40uwm.edu*7Cb6996357e5814961831b08d8e9897971*7C0bca7ac3fcb64efd89eb6de97603cf21*7C0*7C1*7C637516123956501265*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=PQbAubHCOVrNjwbSeo0I5MIrIec24UukfKD0q5UzPeo*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk7vuJNkIM$>   |  Pronouns: she/her/hers

On Wed, Mar 17, 2021 at 3:33 PM Liz Adams <elizabeth.adams at duke.edu<mailto:elizabeth.adams at duke.edu>> wrote:

Hello!

I’m currently convening a group at my institution looking at issues related to “provenance” (very broadly defined). One of the areas we’re thinking about is if we should ever include the name of the cataloger and the date an item was cataloged in a field that would display publicly. Right now, we track our cataloging stats through cataloger IDs that do not display in our public interface. Manuscript processor here do typically include names and relevant processing dates in finding aids. As a side note, AMREMM also includes “Cataloging History’ (7B27) that has an example including cataloger’s name.

My question is: Does your institution ever include cataloging history information related to print material or unique items in a field that display publicly? And if so, would you mind sharing those cases?

Thanks so much for considering!

Best,

Liz

Liz Adams

Rare Materials Cataloger

David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Duke University

Durham, NC 27708

elizabeth.adams at duke.edu<mailto:elizabeth.adams at duke.edu>

919.613.1010

she/her/hers<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fstudentaffairs.duke.edu*2Fcsgd*2Ftraining-resources*2Fgender-pronouns&data=04*7C01*7Cacope*40uwm.edu*7Cb6996357e5814961831b08d8e9897971*7C0bca7ac3fcb64efd89eb6de97603cf21*7C0*7C1*7C637516123956501265*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=z2WBKyctc30BeANG38bEQ57MjY6j8*2FaVKWGabI5GPKg*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk7bq0QCX4$>

https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Flibrary.duke.edu*2Frubenstein*2F&data=04*7C01*7Cacope*40uwm.edu*7Cb6996357e5814961831b08d8e9897971*7C0bca7ac3fcb64efd89eb6de97603cf21*7C0*7C1*7C637516123956511262*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0*3D*7C3000&sdata=WUwGRcK94muw9lPHyNVZw28a6s93jFJO2SBV5*2FH3AFs*3D&reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJQ!!KwNVnqRv!Xb4PGvAoS3A-TcvAB-JqLcMoqJG3FbFtDF2ldbHOGTNSTEjfaLxIR3U6myayRSFJ6Nk7NKBfKBM$>

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