Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 14:57:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: kathleen thorne <KATHLEEN@SJSUVM1.BITNET>
Subject: Re: In support of support staff (2 messages)

In her reply to my comment on "inexperienced paraprofessionals", Pamela
Simpson is exactly right:  I have absolutely no problem accepting that
paraprofessionals with serials cataloging experience are by far better than
professional librarians with no serials experience.  The Masters degree is
not the magic ingredient here, it is the experience.

Now, as Pamela points out, that kind of experience is not obtained over-
night: it does indeed take years of commitment (and at least a few years
of cleaning up after one's own errors!) to SERIALS cataloging before one
can really claim to be a "Serials Cataloger".

Sorry if I wasn't clear, Naomi: I've actually found more paraprofessional
catalogers I'd be willing to work with and/or train for serials work than
I have professionals... don't know why, maybe it's just the other
catalogers I've worked with, or maybe a willingness to understand there are
major differences between serial and monograph cataloging, or attitude - call
it lack of superiority or arrogance or whatever.

The critical point is that more and more we see serials cataloging, as here,
handed over to staff, both professional and paraprofessional, with no training,
no particular aptitude for the vagaries of serials, none of the particular
skills needed for serials ... and a great lack of understanding by cataloging
dept. heads and library administrators of the consequences.  I truly think
it's time we started worrying about this as a group, rather than each of us
merely coping as it happens to us.

The article in the Sept. 15 '95 LJ by Michael Gorman (head of Fresno State
University library, part of the Calif. State University system) is a good
one to read: it points out some of the problems and dangers of scrapping
true serials catalogers (be they librarians or paraprofessionals) in the
name of "progress", "reorganization", "saving money" or outsourcing.
In fact, let's call a spade a spade and accept that frequently, as here, the
real game is, I believe, an attempt to force librarians to retire so they
can be replaced by less expensive paraprofessionals (and that's an insult to
both groups, those being dumped and those being required to do more work for
less money).

Thanks to Naomi Kietzke and Pamela Simpson for the chance to make myself
clearer ... mea culpa, mea not quite maxima culpa ...

Kathleen Thorne
Serials Cataloger in Exile
San Jose State University