*Apologies for duplicate postings.*

Beyond 2010 the Year of Cataloging Research

March 9-10, 2011

Hosted by Sherab Chen and Susan Massey

Please join us for an e-forum discussion.  It’s free and open to everyone!

Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, sessions begin and end at:

• Pacific: 7am – 3pm
• Mountain: 8am – 4pm
• Central: 9am – 5pm
• Eastern: 10am – 6pm

Based on a motion initiated by the Implementation Group on the Library of Congress Working Group Report, at ALA Midwinter 2010 the ALA and ALCTS Boards of Directors passed a resolution designating 2010 as the Year of Cataloging Research.  The Report of the LC Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control addressed several goals, including “Work to develop a stronger, more rigorous culture of formal evaluation, critique and validation, and build a cumulative research agenda and evidence base. Encourage, highlight, reward and share best research practice and results.” Two goals remain unmet at the end of 2010: to build a cumulative research agenda and a solid evidence base to support decisions for future cataloging.

How important is cataloging and classification research to your everyday technical services decision-making?  Do you find the library literature useful in informing your policies and procedures?  Are you producing statistical studies that might help others in the field?  How do you disseminate your results?  Do you find reviews of the literature helpful?  Do you have suggestions for future directions in cataloging research?  Is it time to develop formal dissemination forums for metadata research that are separate from MARC cataloging?

Every once in a while it is useful to step back and reassess the direction of our profession and its literature.  These are the kinds of questions we will consider and discuss in this e-forum.  Bring your ideas and share your thoughts and questions with us on future directions for cataloging research. 

Sherab Chen is currently the coordinator librarian for non-Roman cataloging activities at the Ohio State University Libraries, Sherab started his library career when he joined the School of Library and Information Science program at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and received his MLS there in 2004. He worked as the Program Assistant of Library Technical Services, at the Center for Instructional Materials and Computing, and as a part time East Asian language cataloger at the Cataloging Department. He was also in a Ph.D. program in the track of Religions of Asia, double majored with his MLS studies, and his specialty is Tibetan Buddhist Studies. As a faculty librarian at Ohio State, Sherab has taught library courses and is a joint faculty member at the East Asian Studies Center. Sherab is chair of the ALCTS Cataloging & Classification Research Interest Group.

Susan A. Massey is currently the Head of Cataloging at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.  Susan earned her MLIS at Louisiana State University in 1991and has worked in cataloging departments at the Historic New Orleans Collection, the University of Alabama, Florida Institute of Technology, Brevard Community College, and the University of Texas at San Antonio.  She frequently does research for day to day decision-making and has published some of her findings in the library literature.  She also holds a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Susan is the vice-chair of the ALCTS Cataloging & Classification Research Interest Group.

*What is an e-forum?*

An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion.  Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free.  See a list of upcoming e-forums at: http://bit.ly/upcomingeforum.

*To register:*

Instructions for registration are available at: http://bit.ly/eforuminfo. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the email list.  Participation is free and open to anyone.

Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee