Training Successful Paraprofessional Copy Catalogers

an article by Colleen Valente (Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama) published in Library Resources & Technical Services Volume 53 Number 4 (October 2009)

Abstract

This paper argues for an incremental, progressive approach to teaching an inexperienced paraprofessional cataloguer thew basic skills required for copy cataloguing. It demonstrates how to devise a training plan that is logical and progressive and argues that the plan should be based on a thorough analysis of the skills and knowledge required by the job. It then describes a specific approach to teaching the terminology of cataloguing, Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC), and International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) punctuation. These three are the basic skills most copy cataloguers will need first, and their mastery should precede training for more complex skills.

Hazel’s comment:

Oh that someone, somewhere, somehow would realise the need for training people who are classifying records of “training courses” and the like. Unfortunately it seems that not only are people not being trained in the correct application of standard descriptors but that the information standards so laboriously developed for these records have been lost along the way.

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