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Cataloging has long been considered a fundamental component of special collections work. Beyond the ability to constantly adapt to new technologies and content standards, special collections catalogers also deal with special collections specific issues, from fragile or poorly preserved materials to the need to learn item-specific terminology, like binding descriptions, to larger security concerns. By existing within the two worlds of both special collections and technical services librarianship, there is not always a clear answer to where and whom a position should report. The institutional role and best reporting structure of the special collections cataloger has yet to be well-defined, categorized, or understood.

This chapter seeks to better understand and quantify some of the challenges current special collections catalogers face through conducting and analyzing the authors' recent survey of special collections catalogers primarily working in American cultural heritage institutions. While these findings are neither simple nor straightforward, it is possible to suggest some preliminary solutions. Overarching trends and challenges included communication between departments, security of valuable materials versus workspace locations, and priority setting.

The user-centered approach to understanding information use and users has shaped research in library and information science (LIS). In a user-centered environment, catalogers are told to focus on users and adapt standards to meet users’ needs while following standards in order to be efficient in their jobs. This study describes three academic cataloging units as they negotiate both the demands to follow and adapt these standards to meet users’ needs. New institutional theory served as a framework for the study. The results suggest that standards and users are pressures that cataloging units negotiate in their jobs, along with demands for work efficiency and professional legitimacy. While negotiating these pressures, catalogers and cataloging units redefine their work jurisdiction and maintain legitimacy to remain relevant in a complex work environment. Understanding how catalogers negotiate the normative institutional pressures of standards and users leads to an understanding of the complex nature of work in areas that deal with issues of standards and users, shows how an area within a profession maintains legitimacy when the profession no longer values that work, and, finally, shows the limits of the user-centered focus in LIS practice.

An empirical study has shown that the real process of subject cataloging does not correspond entirely to theoretical descriptions in textbooks and international standards. The purpose of this is paper is to address the issue of whether it be possible for catalogers who have not received formal training to perform subject cataloging in a different way to their trained colleagues.

A qualitative study was conducted in 2001 among five Slovenian public library catalogers. The resulting model is compared to previous findings.

First, all catalogers attempted to determine what the book was about. While the American catalogers tried to understand the topic and the author's intent, the Slovenian catalogers appeared to focus on the topic only. Slovenian and American academic library catalogers did not demonstrate any anticipation of possible uses that users might have of the book, while this was important for American public library catalogers. All catalogers used existing records to build new ones and/or to search for subject headings. The verification of subject representation with the indexing language was the last step in the subject cataloging process of American catalogers, often skipped by Slovenian catalogers.

The small and convenient sample limits the findings.

Comparison of subject cataloging processes of Slovenian and American catalogers, two different groups, is important because they both contribute to OCLC's WorldCat database. If the cataloging community is building a universal catalog and approaches to subject description are different, then the resulting subject representations might also be different.

This is one of the very few empirical studies of subject cataloging and indexing.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum offered in South African LIS schools and the job market requirement for cataloguers in South Africa (SA). It was instigated by the changes that have occurred in the LIS field over the past decade, especially in cataloguing and classification.

An interpretive, qualitative approach was used, and content analysis was used as a research and data analysis method. Data were obtained from 3 sources: cataloguing and classification course outlines obtained from 6 LIS schools, 18 interviews conducted with professional cataloguers and 10 job advertisements obtained through newspaper scanning and from the LIASA listserv.

The results indicate that LIS schools teach basic and advanced cataloguing and classification theory and practical topics. The main objective of the courses is to teach students knowledge organisation. The subjects are offered at bachelor’s degree and postgraduate diploma levels. Tools such as AACR2, RDA, MARC21, DDC and LCSH are mainly used to teach the courses. Professional cataloguers and job advertisements indicate that employers require the knowledge and skills to use the above-mentioned tools. Job advertisements also indicate that a national diploma and two years’ work experience are the minimum requirements for employing cataloguers.

This paper will inform academics whether they are teaching the relevant curriculum. If not, they will have to implement changes or improvements to the current curriculum. It will also help employers get a picture of what is offered in LIS schools and make judgements on whether it is relevant in the job market or not.

This paper has compared what is offered in LIS schools and what is required in the job market and found that there is match between what is offered and required, although there are areas to be improved. This is the first paper to establish that link in SA.

This study aims to investigate Malaysian catalogers’ awareness, familiarity and understanding of the new bibliographic content standard, i.e. Resource Description and Access (RDA).

The survey method was adopted in this study. Questionnaires were used to gather data from respondents. The study included catalogers from higher education institutions in the area of Klang Valley, Malaysia. Purposive sampling method was used to identify the respondents.

The results revealed that, in general, though Malaysian catalogers were aware of the RDA, they were only familiar with the basics of RDA and its related topics. They were mainly aware of topics regarding the overview and development of RDA, and indicated low understanding of other topics, such as Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), related to RDA. The study found that respondents acknowledged the inadequacy of their basic understanding of RDA. The study also identified the catalogers’ needs and preference for RDA training. Most of the catalogers favored learning more about RDA context topics which include FRBR, Functional Requirements for Authority Data and International Cataloging Principles. They indicated willingness to undergo a two- to three-day intensive workshop to learn more about RDA.

Like in other countries, catalogers in Malaysia may also encounter problems when implementing the new RDA. Findings of this study would be useful in designing RDA trainings for catalogers.

No study has been done to investigate Malaysian catalogers’ awareness and understanding of RDA.

The imperative role of cataloguing in libraries as the bedrock of information/knowledge organization, the need to manage and retain knowledge for strategic planning and better knowledge management (KM) frameworks, little or no information sharing in cataloguing units in federal university libraries in Nigeria, gave rise to this study. The purpose of this study is to identify knowledge sharing (KS) norms and factors that challenge KS practices among cataloguers to provide positive perspective and approach to KS in cataloguing sections of university libraries and improve KM frameworks for better service delivery.

Based on a qualitative survey design, this study examined KS norms, practices and challenges of cataloguers in five university libraries in south-west Nigeria. Data were collected through an open interview to gather in-depth information from 45 cataloguers. Given the small number of the cataloguing team in each library, an enlisting of all cataloguers (census survey) was pertinent for the study. Data collected were analyzed thematically, interviews transcribed and similar responses grouped to provide answers to research questions.

This study revealed KS norms to be somewhat inconsistent and informal than formal, though participants identified the crucial need for KS in their departments. Factors identified as challenges to KS: mood and pressure from work, participants seeing KS as a waste of time, the “know-it-all” attitude, tribal differences, lack of financial motivation, no formal training and mentoring programme, willingness to learn and copy cataloguing.

This study not only improves the dearth of literature on the issue of KS among cataloguers in Nigerian university libraries; but also provides definite perspective and approach to KS in university libraries' cataloguing section to improve KM frameworks for better service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the frequency with which Internet-based social media (namely, wikis, blogs, forums and electronic mailing lists) are used by cataloguers to seek what Judith Hopkins (2002) defines as “specific (and immediate) current awareness” and “general current awareness”. The aim is to provide some insight into whether social media play a part in day-to-day practice and on-the-job learning of cataloguers.

A survey research was conducted. An online questionnaire was made available to self-selecting respondents via electronic mailing lists (AUTOCAT, CatSIG listserv, NZLibs listserv) and 176 responses were received.

The study found that general current awareness information was more frequently sought via Internet-based social media than specific (and immediate) current awareness. A statistically significant, weak positive correlation was found between the variables of “number of cataloguers working in an organization” and “frequency of accessing social media to seek out cataloguing-specific information”. A weak positive correlation was also found within the sample between the variables of “number of cataloguers working in an organization” and “frequency of accessing social media to seek general current awareness information”. Qualitative data were also gathered concerning the reasons respondents sought both specific and general current awareness information.

This research examines the assumption that cataloguers use social media tools to access what Hopkins has dubbed a “community of cataloguers” as one means of accessing informal continuing education.

Library work is increasingly being explored from the perspective of design. Still, little work has actively explored specific aspects of design as they relate to library cataloging. The purpose of this paper is to dive deeper into the relationship between library cataloging and design by exploring a specific aspect of design – the concept of repertoire, or the use of previous experiences and bodies of knowledge during current work.

To examine catalogers’ use of repertoire, this paper employed a juxtaposition of field observations of professional library catalogers’ work processes with elements of “think-aloud” protocols.

The researchers identified three major types of repertory knowledge that were demonstrated by catalogers: internally embedded repertory knowledge; externally embedded repertory knowledge; and seeking out new knowledge using other sources. Additionally, certain trends were noted concerning which repertory knowledge was utilized for which particular task. Determining subject and genre headings were noted for relying quite extensively on internal repertoire such as personal knowledge and institutional knowledge, along with external sources, such as personal notes and local examples.

This paper adds to a growing body of work calling for design approaches in libraries and related information settings, and breaks ground by applying the previously unexplored concept of repertoire to librarianship, specifically library cataloging, which offers a new perspective on cataloger’s judgement.

This is an attempt to introduce proactive changes when creating and providing intellectual access in order to convince catalogers to become more social catalogers then they have ever been in the past.

Through a brief review and analysis of relevant literature a definition of social cataloging and social cataloger is given.

User contributed content to library catalogs affords informational professionals the opportunity to see directly the users’ perceptions of the usefulness and about-ness of information resources. This is a form of social cataloging especially from the perspective of the information professional seeking to organize information to support knowledge discovery and access.

The user and the cataloger exercise their voice as to what the information resources are about, which in essence is interpreting the intentions of the creator of the resources, how the resource is related to other resources, and perhaps even how the resources can be, or have been, used. Depending on the type of library and information environment, the weight of the work may or may not fall equally on both user and cataloger.

New definitions of social cataloging and social cataloguing are offered and are linked back to Jesse Shera’s idea of social epistemology.

The cataloger’s job and work environment have changed considerably during the last three decades. One of the major factors contributing to these changes is the transformation of the cataloger’s workstation from dumb terminals (OCLC M100) to multipurpose workstations (new generation of PCs). The evolving technologies of microcomputers, CD‐ROMs, networks (LAN, Intranet, and Internet) are the major attributes of today’s cataloging workstation. Intel chips, Pentium processors, and Microsoft Windows have provided a higher level of computing platform to the cataloger’s workstation enabling catalogers to perform multiple tasks on their desktops, such as accessing the local system, bibliographic utilities, online cataloging documentation and publications, authority work, and OPACs of other libraries, and communicating with colleagues, etc. This article discusses the general principle of the cataloger’s workstation, its configuration, the electronic versions of cataloging tools, the workstation’s impact on productivity, and the difficulties in implementing or maximizing the use of the workstation technology in the Arabian Gulf libraries.