repositories for the rest of us

2007/03/29: Going to DigCCurr 2007

I just finalized my travel details. I'm heading to DigCCurr 2007 rather than going to Computers in Libraries. It was a tough choice. I went with DigCCurr because it's about training people for digital curation. The cataloging departments of yore no longer serve our purposes, IMHO. I'm currently charged with thinking about new directions for the bibliographic access services department at MPOW. I suspect that the description and preservation of locally produced resources will be our focus as we move to shelf-ready monographs. DigCCurr is simply more relvant to me at this point.

Transforming cataloging departments is difficult. The cataloging departments I've observed (including MPOW) are filled with legacy staff who've worked for the institution for 10+ years. The staff are incredibly process-driven. Without step-by-step procedures they can feel lost. They are taught not to think for themselves. This is the complete opposite mind-set from what's required to build new services.

You could fire people or lay them off, but that's a morally icky choice as far as I'm concerned. You can transfer them to different departments, if those opportunities exist. Otherwise you need to reframe and retrain. Breaking that I-must-ask-my-superviser-about-every-step culture won't be easy. I think many cataloging departments avoid the problem simply because the human resource issues are so overwhelming. I probably need to think about this more carefully rather than making from-the-hip judgements like those above. I do believe that a radical overhaul of how cataloging departments do business is necessary, I just haven't articulated the arguments too well.

posted by Laura @ 1:05 PM