Sessions

Competencies and Education for a Career in Cataloging (ALCTS CaMMS)

Four presentations will explore how cataloging and metadata practitioners, educators, students, and managers plan to use the “Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians” document (https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/7853), which was officially adopted by ALCTS earlier this year.

1. “Negotiating Competency, Asserting Authority” presented by Erin Leach, Head of Serials Cataloging at University of Georgia, Athens, and Jessica Schomberg, Media Cataloger at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The competencies state that examples “are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered prescriptive.” How can we ensure institutions negotiate these competencies with library workers instead of using them against workers? We’ll use the behavioral competency Professional Curiosity to identify possibilities.

Institutions:

Consider how ALCTS dues structures and appointment protocols could be revised to expand participation from students and early-career library workers; provide low-cost options for those with financial limitations; make sure in-person and streamed opportunities are accessible.

Support cross-division discussions within ALA that present these competencies as a negotiation tool, not a hiring list; provide cross-division toolkits to help administrators support library workers.

If professional curiosity is a job requirement, it needs to be supported within libraries through in-house growth opportunities and resources to engage with the broader professional community.

Individuals:

Tools for negotiating employment conditions

Mentoring programs to pair newcomers with more experienced colleagues

2. “Two Sides of Perspectives: Competencies and Education for Cataloging and Metadata Professionals” presented by Myung-Ja (MJ) K. Han, Metadata Librarian, and Patrick Harrington, Graduate Assistant, from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Cataloging and metadata work requires knowledge of both theory and practice that is not always easy to obtain in a classroom setting. While there are opportunities to gain practical experiences on systems and applications through pre-professional positions, those can be hard to find for students who are aspiring to become cataloging or metadata professionals. This presentation offers two perspectives on required and preferred competencies and education: that of someone who works as a metadata librarian and that of someone who would like to become a cataloging and metadata professional. The presentation also discusses challenges for both working professionals and those seeking jobs in this area, and gives recommendations for new professionals who are interested in gaining needed skill sets.

3. “Building on the Core: how the Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians Relate to Audio-Visual and Special Collections Cataloging” presented by Amy K Weiss, Head of Cataloging and Description at Florida State University.

The new ALCTS CaMMS document states “Metadata creation competencies for specialized library communities … such as … audiovisual … and rare and special collections are not covered in this document; however, specialized communities may build on this core competencies document.” This presentation offers a pathway to use the core document for training for special collections and audiovisual materials. The document offers a strong base of metadata practice for all materials, but for special materials, expansion of the core competencies are needed. For example, special collections require knowledge of how to differentiate materials to the item level rather than to attempt to bring materials together at the manifestation level as is typical in library materials. Audiovisual materials often require description at the expression level as well as the manifestation level. The presentation will how discuss FRBR and the core competencies work together to describe these unique materials.

4. “The Challenges of Change: Using Core Competencies in LIS Education” presented by Karen Snow, Associate Professor and PhD Program Director, School of Information Studies, Dominican University.

The field of library and information science (LIS) is in constant flux, which creates many challenges for LIS schools. LIS schools must keep abreast of these changes and update curricula to prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills required to handle current and future LIS environments. Having regularly updated core competencies documents can help LIS schools determine what program and course changes are needed. This presentation will provide a full-time LIS educator’s view of the benefits of core competencies documents for LIS schools, and explain how the recently created Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians document has already been and will continue to be used to update one LIS school’s cataloging and metadata area of specialization.

Meeting Type: Discussion/Interest Group

Content Area: Transforming: Customer & User Expectations

Interests: Career Advice, Cataloging, Library School Education, Metadata, Professional Development

Type of Library: Academic, Consortium, Corporate, Government, Law, Library School, Medical, Public, Research Library, Special

Sponsors: ALCTS, ALCTS_CMMS

Cost: Included with full conference registration.

Open/Close: Open