Technical Services Program Review
Cataloging First Time In

Report of Findings as of October 30, 2000 - Part 9

9. Impediments to Increasing Cataloging Productivity (in random order):

1. No automated authority control in the online integrated library system.
2. The Cataloging Dept. has lost its Dept. Head and Assistant Dept. Head and has lost staff in all units except Music/AV this past year. However, the Music/AV Unit needs a music cataloger available to supervise needed student assistants and to catalog current music CDs and routine gift scores and sound recordings now stored in the backlog in McKeldin's basement. Other Cataloging Dept. staff are occupied with filling in for vacant positions and training new graduate assistants. The Dept. has too much reliance on graduate assistants to do professional work. It's good experience for the graduate assistant but it means that permanent professional staff are constantly training staff who only stay for two years. There is also the ongoing problem of maintaining staff with language expertise.
3. Any problem which delays the beginning of processing: Improperly sort-coded materials which are sent to the wrong cataloging queue; materials not properly flagged as RUSH, needing Special Handling, etc.; selectors giving incorrect branch and location codes or incomplete cataloging instructions; requested changes in circulation status which are not the norm according to the Victor branch and location code combination; materials which are marked "Do not Duplicate" are ordered anyway - sometimes not discovered until material is searched in the Cat. Dept.; incomplete shipments not marked as incomplete.
4. Differences in processing instructions from one collection to another.
5. Documentation which needs to be written or rewritten; much documentation still marked "draft" on the Dept.'s web site.
6. Other assignments cut into cataloging time, such as roving, attending meetings, receiving training usually in areas not related to cataloging, giving orientations, etc.; roving time is time lost as it is not reciprocated.
7. Administrative chores which cut into cataloging time such as picking up and delivering mail, picking up and delivering paychecks, checking multiple time sheets within a pay period, different time sheets and PRDs for different levels of staff, different times to turn in time sheets for different levels of staff, etc.
8. Recording statistics manually; still need an ILS which can record collection and activity counts.
9. Work areas which are uncomfortable, inefficient, and ergonomically unadjustable, bad lighting, no work space around computers for many staff. Why aren't chairs and desks ever ordered at the same time so that they "fit" each other? Desk tops need to be adjustable in height.
10. Professional cataloger time spent doing routine catalog maintenance. Reporting/performing global database clean-up (deleting PromptCat wrong records, poor cataloging loaded by other USM libraries, etc.)
11. Staff time spent in retrieving books "on demand" from the uncataloged materials queue. This is good customer service but a time-consuming one. Retrieval always starts in the Cataloging Dept. even when the material left the Dept. long ago and sometime before it even has been received. Need a system whereby the title is tracked after it leaves the Dept. and goes elsewhere for shelving. Staff are often given incomplete data and thus have to verify it before the hunt begins.
12. "Serious" Victor and copy cataloging training needed for classified staff, not just brown-bags, one-day peer sessions, acting supervisor, etc. Lack of training and guidance for professional staff, especially in electronic cataloging and other changes affecting cataloging. Not enough coordination to ensure that all cataloging staff are aware of changes and can participate in the formulation of cataloging policies.
13. Better automation needed to support the cataloging process; need for Cataloger's Desktop; better printers which can print from any software.
14. Gifts are accepted in bulk in all kinds of physical condition and with no sorting or screening so that titles unacceptable for an academic collection are cataloged anyway. Flyers not in every volume - a problem when materials in boxes are separated for cataloging.
15. Preservation microfilm may sometimes include many other titles on the reel with the title the library originally owned. Much time is spent cataloging all the other titles on the reel.
16. Needs which are at cross-purposes. For example, Rapid Cat puts Rushes which need "free fly" on the RUSH truck and not on the free fly truck since it might sit there too long. But EPU needs the RUSH "free fly" to be on its free fly truck in order to take all to Preservation. EPU doesn't want notes written on flyers so the flyers can be recycled, hence, Rapid Cat uses Post-its a lot. Also, cataloging before preservation treatment vs. receiving treatment before time is spent cataloging when material is in bad shape.
17. Hierarchical structure in TSD where decisions, especially technical decisions, are made with little input from rest of staff; lack of understanding of supervisors who don't carry forth the needs of the staff.
18. Lack of on-site training for new formats and new work environments and current web documentation for same. Lack of a planned approach to implementing new "work saving" tools, such as the implementing Corporate Time.
19. Inadequate funding for student assistants and graduate assistants.

    

    UM Libraries Home | Technical Services Division | TSD Program Review | Cataloging First Time In Home |

    Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)405-0800
    Please direct content questions to the Cataloging First Time Working Group
    Last modified: August 20, 2004

    © 2001 University of Maryland Libraries
    Last Revised: Jan. 8, 2001