Hi Buzz,
Thank you so much for your input!
Regarding your questions/dilemmas - they are very similar to mine, and I have no answers. Wish I did. At this point, I figure we all do our best - what else is there?
Allyson
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for issues related to cataloging & metadata education & training [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Buzz Haughton
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 5:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [eduCAT] Seeking input for upcoming ALCTS CAMMS talk
Hello, Allyson!
I'm glad you posed this question, because after teaching cataloging online for the University of Alabama now for the past five years, I'm looking at my curriculum and wondering if I'm headed in the right direction. :-\ I was asked to teach cataloging for the School of Library and Information Studies
(SLIS) at UA five years ago. I have no advanced degree; my sole claim to knowing something about cataloging is my 35+ years of on-the-ground cataloging. Since retiring from UC Davis at the end of 2010, I have taken on a volunteer cataloging assignment in a public library, so I now have both DDC and LC under my belt. But I feel increasingly conflicted over the content of my course. As a practical cataloger, I framed it as discussion of metadata, MARC, ISBN, AACR2 (and now RDA), subjects, classification (DDC and LC), then books and AVs. I wonder if this is a wise choice, since I learned most of what I cover on my own after beginning my career as a professional cataloger. Maybe I should dump the practical stuff and concentrate on the theoretics, in the expectation that those very few of my students who end up cataloging will pick up the practicalities of the craft once on the job. I tell my students that, even if they end up as public-service librarians, their basic familiarity with MARC and how to decipher a MARC record will stand them in good stead. Since it looks as though MARC is on its way out, maybe even that is a waste of time.
Buzz Haughton
1861 Pebblewood Dr
Sacramento CA 95833 USA
(916) 468-9027
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