F e d e r a l    D e p o s i t o r y    L i b r a r y    P r o g r a m

 

[ Click Here For Information About the FDLP Desktop ] Home
About the FDLP
Depository Management
Electronic Collection
Locator Tools & Services
Processing Tools
Publications
Q & A
askLPS  ·  Calendar  ·  Contacts  ·  Library Directory  ·  Site Index  ·  Site Search
....................
 

Proceedings of the 11th Annual
Federal Depository Library Conference

October 21 - 23, 2002

Cover/Title Page | Table of Contents | Agenda

Cataloging Branch Operations – 2001

Thomas A Downing
U.S. Government Printing Office

Cataloging Branch Operations – Recent Past

  • More than 30% of Catalogers "migrated" to LC and other higher paying opportunities during 2001.
  • Both Section Chiefs left during 2001 (promotion/retirement).
  • Lowest number of catalogers in years, for a brief time in 2000/2001 we had 11 catalogers.
  • Highest number of catalogers in the past has been 17.
  • Adverse effects on development of the FDLP Electronic Collection and on cataloging of online and other resources.

Cataloging Branch Operations – 2002
  • Unprecedented recruitment efforts to replace Section Chiefs and fill vacant cataloging positions and increase the number of catalogers to an all time high.
  • Competition to hire catalogers is very intense – all areas, government/academic/public.

Successful Efforts Pay Off -
  • To date we have hired two section chiefs and five catalogers (now at 19 catalogers). We expect that three additional catalogers will join us within the next few weeks.
  • Creating an infrastructure to support cataloging of online and other resources (recruitment and training) is essential.
  • Such efforts are labor intensive and require months of continuous, sustained effort.

What We Do –

1) Catalog to national standards to ensure the dissemination of bibliographic records to all national cooperative cataloging programs, vendors, and libraries

Full members of:

PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging)

CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials)

NACO (Name Authority Cooperative)

SACO (Subject Authority Cooperative)

BIBCO (MONOGRAPHIC Cooperative)

2) Build the Federal Depository Library (FDLP) Electronic Collection (EC)

Discover online resources for the EC

Evaluate online resources

Select online resources

Classify online resources

Catalog to national standards

Archive online resources (as necessary)

Assign PURLs for persistent access

3) Investigate ways of improving workflow – recent example is to work to implement the use of OCLC Connexion as an interface to initiate harvesting, capture, metadata creation, and archiving for selected monographic publications. Cataloging will continue, for the present, to utilize OCLC PRISM.

4) Cooperate with others to build the Electronic Collection – Examples:

Members of the Depository Library Council and the American Association of Law Librarians fugitive documents work groups have discovered, evaluated, and recommended many online resources for cataloging and inclusion in the Electronic Collection.

From February 15th through October 4th of this year alone, these groups have contributed work that has led to cataloging:

528 online monographs

262 online serials

5) Train new staff to catalog to national standards and to adapt to evolving workflow/management strategies.

Provide 6 weeks of intensive training followed by individualized instruction and close review.

6) Train all catalogers to apply revisions to several chapters of AACR2 and related Library of Congress Rule Interpretations in their cataloging activities. These changes significantly affect the following chapters:

Chapter 1 General Rules for Description

Chapter 3 Cartographic Materials

Chapter 9 Computer Files

Chapter 12 Continuing Resources

We will begin training this November and expect to implement changes beginning this January.

7) Consult with the Depository Library Council, related work groups, and the ALA GODORT Cataloging Committee to consider advice, answer questions, and inform people of cataloging related activities.

Thank you for giving this opportunity to speak with you today. Any questions or comments?

A service of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office.
Questions or comments: asklps@gpo.gov.
Last updated:  September 23, 2003
Page Name:  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/proceedings/02pro_downing.html
[ GPO Home ][ GPO Access Home ] [ FDLP Desktop Home ] [ Top ]