Pre-labeled books, local cataloging, thomas mann, classes, and the special library

I was just made aware, in a discussion with Laurie Sampsel yesterday, that CU was beginning to use vendor-provided, pre-labeled books at Norlin. The idea seemed to be somewhat upsetting, especially considering the delicate nature of local cataloging at the Waltz library, relating to uniform titles and scores, amongst other things. Today, in speaking with Chris Brown about the same project, I got a different angle on it. He pointed out that five schools are doing this as a way to work as a consortia through prospector, and save money on regular ordering of books, especially if certain titles fit some libraries better than others.

This came in the wake of the announcement that Google will be doing some form of cataloging automation for the LOC, which was interesting. I think that this speaks a necessary (and healthy) divide between different types of libraries. Large ones and generalized, like the LOC or Penrose and Co. benefit from automation because of the time it takes to process and catalog books. To a certain extent, it reflects on the fact that books are coming out in higher volumes than ever before, and as librarians, we don't need to buy or keep them all. By the same token, libraries like Waltz, which is more particular about its' collection development and its' cataloging can continue to function in their own way to best suit their needs, while Norlin can experiment with vendor-labeled books as it pleases.

In other news, looking over the syllabus for the graduate research class, I realized how much of debt I owe to Thomas Mann's Oxford Guide to Library Research without realizing it, especially with the breakdown of research by determining what type of reference sources to begin a search with. While I prep a class session on music directories. What surprised me most about the directories is how clumsy they are in hiding their own usefulness. Some would make great resources for researching major contributors to a field, or for scoping out a potential city you are relocating to (especially if you are looking at how saturated a market is for your area, academic or performing as a music person). It seems like an overlooked source for this type of information includes websites like facebook or myspace, where more and more musicians and groups from different genres, including classical and jazz, are networking and getting the word out about themselves. I would not advocate to use them exclusively, but it might be worth considering.