Sharing Cataloging Expertise: Options for Libraries to Share Their Skilled Catalogers with Other Libraries

Abstract

Library cooperation is a flexible concept that involves practically all aspects of library technical operations. Until recently, areas of cooperation have included mostly interlibrary borrowing and the union catalogs. Materials processing remains a domain of each individual library that maintains its own experts and uniquely skilled staff to process their own materials. This study raises the question of whether libraries can also share their cataloging expertise with other institutions. The five models presented here will demonstrate how libraries can leverage existing library expertise and reduce duplication of efforts, while at the same time enhancing cooperation among libraries and maintaining high cataloging standards that are a must in the new technology era.

Cooperation between Learning Resource Centers at Colleges of Applied Sciences, Oman

“…This finding has been confirmed by Andresen and Brink (2011) who demonstrated that the establishment of a union between libraries in Denmark since 1994 contributed to sharing of information resources, an increase in the number of researchers in cooperating libraries and increased subscriptions to databases. This result is in line with studies by Ellis and Dick (2000) and El-Sherbini (2010) which indicated that cooperation between libraries supported teamwork, discussion of recent developments in workplace, solving problems faced by staff, improving information skills of staff, and exchanging experiences in the field of technical operations.…”

The potential of inter‐state collaboration for Omani academic libraries

“…Sharing experience within the collaboration system allows staff of participating libraries to share and find solutions to problems arising in their everyday work. For example, sharing cataloguing expertise reduces duplication of efforts and improves the quality of records (El‐Sherbini, 2010). It also minimises problems arising from lack of expertise in cataloguing which result in “inefficiency and re‐inventing the wheel in the majority of libraries” (Balk and Ploeger, 2009).…”

“…According to Booth and O'Brien (2011) and Soares (2010), collaboration agreements among member institutions enable them to enhance access to electronic information resources and equal use of collaborative networks. El‐Sherbini (2010) claimed that using the union catalogue increases the total of library collections; at the same time, it provides a significant tool for quick and effective resource sharing. Evidence of an increase of library resources was also provided by Evans (2002b), when he wrote about the experiment of Loyola Marymount University Library when the university participated in a consortium called LINK+.…”

Strength in Numbers: Building a Consortial Cooperative Cataloging Partnership

“…El-Sherbini, one of the pilot participants, authored a paper titled "Sharing Cataloging Expertise: Options for Libraries to Share Their Skilled Catalogers with Other Libraries," outlining a model similar to that tested by the BTAA group, wherein each institution identifies the specific strengths of its collection, and possibly corresponding strength in staffing, and uses those strengths to avoid duplication of effort and leverage existing expertise. 10 There was a great deal of interest in the last few years in a cooperative effort between Columbia University Libraries and Cornell University Library known as the 2CUL project. Originally conceived as an integration between both libraries' technical services units, 2CUL has now redefined itself as an initiative, not an integration.…”