Librarians entering the profession often shun the prospect of becoming catalogers because they perceive public service responsibilities as more rewarding than those of technical services. This is causing a shortage in the area of technical services in general and cataloging librarians in particular. A group of concerned professionals decided to investigate solutions to the problems, thus, the Simmons College Symposium on Recruiting, Educating, and Training Cataloging Librarians evolved. The editors have compiled papers presented at the symposium that propose solutions to the cataloger shortages. . . . Discussions included topics such as the evolving public/technical services relationship, the networking of professional librarians to aid in recruitment, flexible and creative education programs, and the cross training of library professionals to handle cataloging. The symposium participants, which included well-known professionals, administrators, and educators, encourage increased cataloging knowledge and involvement to support the automation and technological challenges facing libraries of today. The papers are well written and easy to read. Recommended. Library Journal Developed from a recent symposium, this informative book offers research-based analyses; it also offers realistic approaches to the concerns of catalogers and the library educators and administrators responsible for their recruitment, education, and training. It was written by more than 25 specialists who have developed solutions to particular problems within these three areas. Solutions are offered for a wide range of issues, including increased financial pressure on libraries, recruiting methods, the changing economic and professional expectations of librarians, the impact of technology, challenges for the library science curriculum, and training strategies for large and small institutions. This book will encourage library administrators to break new ground in applying creative solutions to the real-life problems of their institutions. It will help professional educators in designing or improving library and information science programs, and give students a greater understanding of critical issues in contemporary librarianship.

This book offers solutions to the problems of recruitment, education, and training of cataloging librarians. Sheila S. Intner and Janet Swan Hill have compiled a series of informative essays that provide creative solutions on a wide array of issues in the library cataloging field. These include recruitment methods of practitioners for future librarians, training strategies to produce skillful and effective librarians, professional expectations and satisfaction of librarians, impact of library computer systems, and the response to the changing organization methods that create good library service. Cataloging brings to light and proposes solutions to the complex problems inherent to the library profession. Offering encouragement to cataloging and library administrators who are faced with difficult problems in their institutions, this book will have a direct applicability to the modern librarian's needs. It will aid library educators in both the design and improvement of library and information science programs. Cataloging will be an excellent resource for students of library cataloging and library personnel management who require a better understanding of critical issues in contemporary librarianship.

What does the future hold for cataloging education? Written by some of the best-known authors and most innovative thinkers in the field, including Michael Gorman, Sheila S. Intner, and Jerry D. Saye, this comprehensive collection examines education for students and working librarians in cataloging and bibliographic control, emphasizing history, context, the state of the art at present, and suggested future directions. A liberal dose of visual aidscharts, tables, etc.makes accessing the information quick and easy. From the editor: The education of catalogers has swung pendulum-like from on-the-job training to graduate education and back again. The place of cataloging in the library school curriculum has swung from one of near pre-eminence to one of near extinction, and has begun to swing back again. The durability of education for cataloging has swung from 'In getting your degree you will learn everything you need to know in your career,' to 'You will have to engage in continuing education throughout your career, beginning virtually as soon as you have your degree.' Making informed decisions about how (and how much) cataloging education is to be provided is full of pitfalls, some of which the profession has fallen into already. What is needed now is a reconsideration of how education for cataloging and bibliographic control is provided. Education for Cataloging and the Organization of Information: Pitfalls and the Pendulum addresses four main areas: the ways professionals perceive the place, nature, and necessity of cataloging education; the professional, demographic, and academic context within which cataloging education is provided; education regarding special types of materials and special aspects of cataloging; and alternatives to traditional modes of education for cataloging, including: distance education online mentoring Web-based instruction continuing education training for (and via) cooperative projects the role of the community of catalogers in the continuing education of those who provide intellectual access to the world of information and much more!