LC Merges Acquisition and Cataloging
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 11/13/2008
- Effort will speed processing time
- Will help LC respond to changes in bibliographic control
- Union raises questions
- New division chiefs named
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The Library of Congress (LC) announced today it has merged its Acquisition and Cataloging departments in order both to speed processing time and enhance the physical security of the collections. Now books will go to one division instead of several for centralized processing.
"The new organizational structure--the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate (ABA),” said ABA Director Beacher Wiggins in a news release, “fully merges acquisitions and cataloging functions, streamlines workflows and deploys staff to take advantage of their unique language and subject skills." Now digital materials will be processed along with those in other formats.
The reorganization has been in the works for years. LC said that it is now better positioned to respond to the recommendations of the Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control, which aims to respond to a more digital world but has provoked concern about how well it will serve scholars.
Questions from union
“Has LC’s commitment to quality subject cataloging been preserved?” asked Saul Schniderman, president of the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910. He answered his rhetorical question by stating, “The new organizational structure retains the subject specialization for English-language collections, so it has been preserved. For foreign-language material, the emphasis has shifted from subject specialty to language specialty.”
New chiefs named
Meanwhile, three new chiefs have been named in newly created divisions within the ABA directorate. Karl Debus-López, the new chief of the ABA's U.S. General Division, most recently headed the Acquisitions and Collection Development Branch and was chief collection development officer at the National Agricultural Library.
Philip Melzer, the new chief of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division, served as acting chief of the Library's Regional and Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) since January 2006. Linda Stubbs, the new chief of the ABA's Germanic and Slavic Division, has most recently been acting chief of the European and Latin American Acquisitions Division.
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