Page 19 - Cataloging and Classification for Library Technicians, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1

Introduction

So, you want to be a library tech nician? Or, more pre cisely, you
want to be a cataloging as sistant, or, per haps, you want to learn more
about cat a log ing? Be fore study ing the es sen tial de tails of cat a log ing
and clas sification, a gen eral back ground is nec essary. To have an
over all un der stand ing of the op er a tion of a li brary, in for ma tion must
be ac quired re gard ing the whole li brary or ga ni za tion and its sep a rate
library func tions. It is im portant to know how cat aloging and clas sifi-
cation fit into the in frastructure. Before we get to the main top ics of
cat a log ing and clas si fi ca tion, we need to un der stand the hi er ar chy of
library per sonnel. We need to ex plore ques tions such as, What is a li-
brary tech nician, or a library tech nical assistant? What kinds of jobs
does a li brary tech nician per form? What is the re lationship be tween
the li brary tech nician and other li brary staff?

TERMINOLOGY

acqui si tions: The pro cess of plan ning, select ing, order ing, and receiv-
ing mate rials in a library.
auto ma tion: Com puterization of library functions, such as check ing
books out by com puter, order ing mate rials from ven dors or pub lishers
through con nected databases, using the online public access cat alog,
and using online or CD-ROM data bases to retrieve infor mation.

cat a log ing: The pro cess of orga nizing library materials and mak ing
them accessible to library users. Cat aloging work is divided into three
parts: descrip tive cat a log ing, sub ject head ing, and clas si fi ca tion.

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