It's no secret that cataloguing and the library catalogue have undergone significant changes in the past 20 years. We've moved from a paper inventory of our collection to an electronic inventory and now, to an interactive, patron-driven catalogue that includes user-generated content and RA-driven content. Now it's time to "get rid of the baggage" from the old relationship and work on a new one. This means that while in the past the library catalogue may not have been very helpful in readers' services, the same might not be said for the catalogue today-and hopefully cannot be said for the catalogue of tomorrow.
Why should cataloguers and readers' advisors work together? While readers' advisors have a specific skill set and expertise to assist patrons in finding reading suggestions, cataloguers have a complimentary expertise. Cataloguers assign genre headings and subject headings to every item in the catalogue, not only making them intimately familiar with the library's collection, but also knowledgeable about the access points that are used, the theory behind their application and the consistency in which they are used. Cataloguers are also well aware of which books are popular based on items given priority in the cataloguing queue, and the significant amount of books in the collection that are similar to those popular items. Taken as a whole, a cataloguer's expertise combined with the expertise of a readers' advisor could be a collaboration that results in an amazing, RA-driven library.
How can you promote a relationship between the two? The first step is to invite your cataloguing librarian to join the Readers' Services Team, and actively invite his or her input. Your next step is to provide RA training to cataloguers so that they better understand readers' advisory work. Likewise, readers' advisors should seek opportunities to understand the catalogue and how it works. This includes the theory behind how cataloguing decisions are made, knowledge regarding enhanced content, as well as the application of access points. An unsuccessful relationship is usually the result of a lack of knowledge on one side or the assumption that one service is more important than the other.
Social Catalogues
Social catalogues are library catalogues that encourage social interaction and contribution by users. They allow for user-generated ratings, tags, and reading lists, as well as reviews written by readers. The idea of a social catalogue should be as exciting to RAs as it is to cataloguers. Basically, content for the library catalogue is not only created by staff, but by our readers. What are their reading preferences? What type of material is a certain branch reading? What type of books are they recommending to friends? This is the future of the library catalogue and, currently, these social catalogues are only in their infancy. Queens Borough Public Library in New York and Scottsdale Public Library System are two popular examples of libraries that have implemented social catalogues.
Given the potential this type of catalogue has, it is extremely important to develop a deep and committed collaborative relationship between RAs and cataloguers.
While at this time not all libraries can afford social catalogues, often called discovery platforms, there are other ways that RAs and cataloguers can and should work together.
Reading Lists
Many libraries now add live reading lists created by readers' advisors to the library catalogue. These lists are available on the main page of a library's catalogue or the library website, and they link directly into the catalogue. This allows readers to explore lists of titles with similar appeals or characteristic and to find out if those titles are available at their library. Cataloguers can also assist with list creation. While RAs focus on specific appeals lists, cataloguers who have readers' advisory training can create genre and thematic lists based on their knowledge of the collection and application of genres. This allows the library to provide numerous current and frequently updated lists that cover a range of appeals. Libraries are just starting to accept this partnership with successful results that include a boost in circulation of low circulating items and promotion of forgotten or overlooked items.
Halifax Public Libraries in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has recently developed this type collaborative partnership between their Readers' Services Team and their Collection Access Department with great success. While the cataloguers are creating weekly reading lists for the main page of the library catalogue, readers' advisors are focusing on specialized lists. Lately, there has been a growth of dialogue between the two. This enhanced level of communication has resulted in RA specialized lists being complimented and supplemented by additional reading lists created by the cataloguers.
Enhanced Information in the Bibliographic Record
To take it a step further, cataloguers and readers' advisors can collaborate on enhancing the content of information found in the library catalogue. This might involve incorporating local summaries created by readers' advisors that often address appeal features, or include recommended reading lists within bibliographic records. The catalogue at Halifax Public Libraries does this. An example is found in HPL's "Read Your Way Around the World" reading list series. Choosing the Brazilian book The Seamstress, by Frances de Pontes Peebles, the featured summary in the catalogue reads:
""An intriguing tale of two sisters who each long for a much different life. Set in historical Brazil of the 1920-30s, this saga takes the reader from rural life to high society and beyond, all the while engaging the reader in Brazilian culture."
-- HPL Readers Advisor."
Assigning RA Specific Genres and Subject Headings
In the arena of readers' services, new genres and "buzz" words constantly arise and evolve. By collaborating with cataloguers, many of these headings can be incorporated into the catalogue. This is especially important if readers and readers' advisors use these new buzz words to search for reading suggestions. While many times these terms start out broad or are difficult to define for application in the catalogue, cataloguers can assist with refining terms so that they can be implemented and applied for better access.
The Catalogue as an RA Tool
In the past, training sessions for the catalogue were conducted separately from RA training sessions. While the basic skills needed to search the catalogue are essential for all staff to successfully use the catalogue, adding a cataloguing component to RA training allows for a deeper understanding of how to use the catalogue as an RA tool. No longer is it about simply entering a keyword, it's about understanding how to apply those keywords - and what those keywords are. For example, many access points in adult fiction records are formulaic. They contain three specific elements: the genre, a location and a profession. This can be useful in the following scenario:
A reader approaches a roving RA. The reader explains that they are taking a trip to Ireland and would like something to take with them to read on the plane. They like mysteries, specifically mysteries with cops. But, preferably cops who are women.
There are three elements here that a readers' advisor can immediately take to the catalogue and search: Ireland (location), Mysteries (genre) and Policewomen (profession). Although this is an easy, straight forward example, a readers' advisor who has RA training with the library catalogue can provide reading suggestions straight out of the library catalogue with ease because they know what information can be found in the bibliographic record.
This is powerful information to a readers' advisor who is short on time and faced with a line of patrons. Having access to these three elements may make the difference between a successful reading suggestion and a not so successful suggestion, or between sheer panic and the beginning of a dialogue. This is why catalogue training geared specifically for readers' advisors is essential.
The library catalogue is ever changing and evolving, and so is the information contained therein. By keeping an open mind and a positive attitude toward working together, collaborating with readers' advisors can enhance the catalogue for all users, and provide an additional tool for all RAs. And, despite the fears that this partnership may take over readers' services, it is, in fact, a way to enhance these services. Allowing cataloguers and the library catalogue to share some of the work allows readers' advisors to focus on physical branch improvements, displays, training, and other projects. In the end, it will be the reader who benefits.
Like a new, budding romance between a couple, such is the relationship between readers' services and the catalogue. Still in its earliest stages, it will take a willingness to work together and perhaps some compromises for readers' advisors and cataloguers to forge a successful future together.
Resources
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "New Readers' Blog highlights the catalogue as an RA tool." The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/new-reader%e2%80%99s-blog-highlights-the-catalogue-as-an-ra-tool/
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "Cataloguing component in RA training course." The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/cataloguing-component-in-ra-training-course/
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "Cataloguers' Picks Reading Lists." The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/cataloguers-picks-reading-lists/
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "Readers' Advisory Services: In the Backroom". The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/readers%e2%80%99-advisory-services-in-the-backroom/
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "Narrative Nonfiction: A new genre heading?" The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/narrative-nonfiction-%e2%80%93-a-new-genre-heading/
- Tarulli, Laurel E. "Coming out from behind the catalogue: Cataloguers and Readers' Services". The Cataloguing Librarian. http://laureltarulli.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/coming-out-from-behind-the-catalogue-cataloguers-and-readers-services/
LAUREL TARULLI is the Collection Access Librarian at Halifax Public Libraries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. An active member of the Readers' Services Team, Laurel also contributes to their blog, The Reader. She is the author of several articles as well as the author of the blog, The Cataloguing Librarian. Laurel is the 2009 recipient of the Esther J. Piercy Award.