Hmm, I wonder how public services folks would feel if catalogers
expressed the same attitude toward reference service... I'm recalling
all of Alan's comment, though; people with several duties to perform
will not be able to perform them all at a high level, so the cataloger
(or catalogers) who is making mistakes ought to be informed so s/he has
the chance to improve. I'll give this thread a few more days for
comment, then summarize the responses next week.

Thanks for the responses!
~Elizabeth

Elizabeth Urbanik
Asst. Prof./Serials Cataloger
Mitchell Memorial
Mississippi State University
(662) 325-3018

"If you never ask the question, you never have to hear the answer."

>>> dilewis@USGS.GOV 12/2/2004 4:10:16 PM >>>
Alan May wrote:

"Some people who catalog are, out of necessity, performing several roles,
so, understandably, they are going to make mistakes."

As one who currently wears a number of hats in a constantly shrinking
library, I think Alan makes an excellent point.  In fact, cataloging
(which I escaped from after 3 years) was a constantly humbling experience.
If they came looking for me to wear the cataloger's hat again, I'd  run
out of here screaming...

Diane M. Lewis, Serial Records Librarian
Exchange & Gift Unit
U.S. Geological Survey Library--MS950
Reston, Virginia  20192  USA
Tel.:    703-648-4399
Fax:    703-648-6376
Email:  libacq@usgs.gov

Opinions expressed are my own, not my agency's!

"Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and
the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money."
--Cree proverb

"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with
innocent blood."--Mathatma Gandhi