[metadataLibrarians] metadata or cataloging?

[William Denton]

On 12 March 2007, Anne Piergrossi wrote:

> For my final elective, I could take either a metadata course or a 
> cataloging course, and I'm really torn. Both professors are absolutely 
> wonderful, so that doesn't need to figure into the 
> decisionmaking--either way, I'll have a great experience.

I graduated from library school two years ago, and took the advanced 
cataloguing course and the metadata course (which was new).  Having done 
cataloguing helped a lot with the metadata course, and some of the people 
in the metadata course who didn't know cataloguing were a bit lost.

If you're the kind of person who always looks at LC 
Cataloging-in-Publication boxes, or you carefully examine spines and back 
covers, or, heck, you like to riffle the pages and then smell a book, do 
the cataloguing course.  Even if you don't, I'd recommend it because it'll 
give a good grounding in one of the basics of librarianship.  After wading 
through AACR and MARC, the rest of it will come a lot easier.  Chances are 
you'll be referring to them a lot anyway.

Bill
-- 
William Denton, Toronto : miskatonic.org : frbr.org : openfrbr.org