Classifying Librarians: Cataloger, Taxonomist, Metadatician?

Abstract

A study of job advertisements for technical services librarian positions provided insight into critical aspects of the library profession, issues that affect the work life of academic librarians. A review of several hundred job ads with a focus on job titles revealed problems with the use of terminology and the actual conceptualization of positions. Based on the ads reviewed, libraries also appear to be raising their expectations for types of knowledge and skills required and personal qualities desired.

Roles and Responsibilities of Cataloging Managers: An Updated Study of Job Advertisements

“…Two studies have focused on foreign language skills (Beall, 1991;Zhang, 2008). The effects of emerging responsibilities have been investigated in studies concerning non-MARC metadata (Geckle & Nelson, 2017;Hall-Ellis, 2015;Han & Hswe, 2010;, Turner 2020 as well as information technology and library automation 6 (Chaudhry & Komathi, 2001;Furuta, 1990;Khurshid, 2003;Park, Lu, & Marion, 2009;Xu, 1996).…”