Date:         Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:21:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Karl Miller <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Cataloguing again--more OCLC, AACR2 bashing
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On Wed, 9 Aug 2006, steven c wrote:

> Well, if you're paying $25/record to catalog your archive...I suddenly
> see a potential new career for myself, given my knowledge of sound
> recordings, discography and database technology!

That is just staff time...and it is not for original cataloging, but copy
cataloging which is less time consuming. All you need to know is how to
read and write English, operate a computer and be familiar with the
vernacular of music. The navigation of the MARC format is something that
you can learn as on the job training. The fact that you know a great deal
about sound recordings can make your job easier in some respects, however,
such knowledge can slow down your productivity since you will find, as I
do, a multitude of errors in the extant records in OCLC.

> I'm currently doing a very limited "pre-catalog" of my half-vast
> shellac holdings...finished about 19,000 so far and it takes me
> a minute per disc or less (I'm entering label, number, country,
> and which milk box (in which of the rooms) it is stored.

The MARC record is so encumbered that it can easily take 30 minutes to
prepare an original cataloging entry for an LP...and, in the case of
popular music discs, adding all of the song titles, verifying name and
subject authorities...and then when you have a non-standard format...you
may not be able to use a standardized version of the 007 field in the MARC
record, hence you could easily need to supply (by checking what each of
the codes represent) a different code for each of as many as 12
delimitors. Then you have 19 fields in the header, all with abbreviations
or codes. Does this all sound like gobbledygook?

In the words of Anna Russell, as she described the absurdities in the plot
of the Ring..."I am not making this up..." Try checking...

http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/default.htm

Then you can read the rules specific to sound recordings in AACR2. Every
time I consult the rules I am reminded of my pedagogy of theory class with
the rule king of common practice harmony, the late Robert Ottman...he had
an answer for just about anything Bach ever did...and even did a fair job
of explaining Wagner's harmony in terms of Bach's. So, with AACR2 and
MARC, you can explain a dictaphone recording in a format designed to prepare cards
for a card catalog.

Oh, I almost forgot...you will also need to consult the list of subject
headings. Have you ever wondered what the subject of a Symphony is? Well
it is "Symphonies." As far as I recall, such subject headings were very
helpful in the days of the card catalogs...it was really neat as you would
have in your subject drawers cards, in alpha order, of all of the
symphonies, filed in some order like, scores first, then recordings of
those scores, then published arrangements (like a Liszt arrangement of a
Beethoven Symphony), then a recording of that arrangement. Of course there
were other problems in organization...like which edition of the score came
first...etc...but I digress...those problems were for the poor souls (I
was one of them during my graduate school days) who had to file all of
those cards.

One of my favorite subject headings is "Popular Music." A keyword search
on popular music in our local catalog brings up 19,000 entries...and
people say google and yahoo bring up too many meaningless results. Of course one
person's "popular music" is another person's "classic."

 > I have entered about 1,500 records into my full catalog...which
> gives me an almost complete set of discographic data on each 78,
> but takes about 10 minutes per side (longer if I have to dig
> through various discographies). This system could be easily
> adapted to LP's, since I already use it for multi-track 78's!

I have no doubt that some reasonable system could be adapted to LPs and
all audio formats, but then one has to deal with the mentality of a
monopoly, OCLC-RLIN and libraries that are not subject to any bottom line
with respect to accountability. (points which I have raised in my previous
post on the subject of cataloging)

> However, if it took me 30 minutes to catalog the average LP, at
> $25/record I could make $400 per day! I'd be rich! That's two
> grand per five-day week...or US$104,000.00/year (Cdn$120,000.00)
> or about eleven times what the province (grudgingly) pays me
> to be disabled.
>
> Where do I sign?

Well, it depends. In many libraries you are not paid that well to do copy
cataloging, however in our library you can be paid as much as $50,000 a
year. You will probably be required, but don't need, a library degree.
What you will need is a mind which will allow you to feel good about
wasting time, doing duplicate entry of information...for example, you
may be expected to key in things like location of publication, date of
publication, song titles, performer's names, label name, number of
tracks,etc. TWICE. Why? Because, to use the most frequently encountered
response, "that's the way it is."

So, do you still want to sign up?

By the way, the push these days is outsourcing cataloging...yet those
folks aren't being paid as much and are still subject to the encumbered systems most
of us are forced to use.

And on the subject of outsourcing and libraries...the implications of
increase in the number of libraries  outsourcing cataloging serves, at least in my
mind, as a wonderful illustration of the poor management of internal library
operations. Oddly, many library administrators will state that outsourcing
cataloging is a prudent economic decision...ignoring the fact that had
they been efficient in their internal operation, they might not need to
outsource. So why would they be forced to save money when they aren't
subject to accountability...well these days, library budgets are being
diverted to many "worthwhile" projects like doing lousy scanning of
published books and other other activities which will heighten the
"visibility" of the library, even it doesn't heighten the visability of
the text.

In short, maybe Google or Yahoo would be interested in your services system.

Stay tuned for the next installment...getting your punctuation
right...outrageous isn't it, needing punctuation within a field...a
preview...where else in the English language, other than the MARC format
do you precede a colon with a space...answer...I don't know...

Karl (still trying to figure it out)