Hi All,

 

We do not have the option of sending our cataloguers for formal NACO training.  SILAS (in Singapore), a consortium of over 80 Singapore libraries, received formal training in 2002 when we joined NACO.  Since that time we have held local courses in the areas where we have independence.  Until a cataloguer or authority control specialist has IS (obtained via a Quality Review),  their records are reviewed.  Following that, we ask each other questions and refer to LC when necessary but otherwise 'add' and 'replace' our own NARs.  Our original trainer from Stanford U., Joanna Dyla, left us with some valuable advice.  She suggested that we be brave and create headings carefully but with the full knowledge that we are allowed to make some mistakes along the way. We revise other's NARs and ours are revised also. We make every effort not to knowingly make mistakes and when we find them, we attempt to learn from them.   

I am in the same position as Cliff, in that I plan to retire before all our authority records are cleaned up and neat and tidy.  Our approach here is to 'talk up' authority control and attempt to raise as much enthusiasm for it as we can. I sometimes see my work as that of cheerleader to our cataloguers who are weighed down under sometimes impossible timelines for cataloguing. Training sessions are a good place to do that. We have also tried to encourage management in our libraries to be supporters of AC, with limited success.     

 

Our particular interest is to create NARs for local names so that they are entered correctly.  In a multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment, our names often give cataloguers elsewhere a hard time and it is just easier if we tackle them in as timely a way as possible.  While we do use what training materials we can glean from elsewhere for training sessions, we find that using our own examples is more helpful after we have exhausted the more 'main stream' useful examples that are included in other training material. 

 

I would appreciate being included as a recipient of any findings that arise as a result of this question.  We may not be stateside in geographical terms but I think we all have some of the same goals!!

 

Saralee

 

On 3/13/08, Cliff Glaviano <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi All,

   I'd appreciate your comments on or off list regarding training for potential NACO contributors.  Comments in the recent topic of NACO contribution seem to indicate that some (maybe a lot) of folks contributing NACO names have not had formal NACO training.  That is, it may be local practice to allow training catalogers in NACO procedures to enable them to contribute name authority records following review by a NACO coordinator/supervisor ...