Public Library Talking Points on LC's Working Group on Bibliographic Control
Maurer, Margaret Beecher. "Public Library Comments are needed by LC's Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control." TechKNOW 13(1), p. 13-15. PDF Word Document
(Feel free to make use of the following)
Very little testimony at the Working Group meetings has been from those concerned with public library bibliographic data. Public libraries are also under-represented on the Working Group. It is therefore crucial that librarians and staff in public libraries take the time to provide written comments.
Many catalogers who were once able to accept LC copy without review are beginning to re-think that decision based on the quality of the copy they are finding. This will impact productivity in OCLC libraries, even in libraries where acquisitions staff are instructed to accept what they find, simply because the poorer quality records contribute confusion during the bibliographic establishment process. But smaller libraries that are not OCLC libraries will be impacted the most, as LC is the chief source of their bibliographic data, whether through a vendor or Z39.50. These less well-staffed institutions are also the least-equipped to manage this change. This situation exists in public libraries more often than it does in academic libraries, therefore the impact will be felt more greatly there.
LC’s decision to shift resources from the creation of series authority records (SARs) has had specific consequences for public libraries. Public libraries often lack Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) catalogers and therefore do not have the resources to create and share their own SARs. Academic libraries are far more likely to have PCC catalogers, and therefore their new series records are being created at their institutions, and at other academic institutions. Public libraries are scrambling to treat materials similarly in fiction and children’s series in the absence of guiding authority records. Furthermore, this added expense has been assumed by each individual library, a much more costly solution to the problem than a centralized provider.
Public Libraries are probably banking on OCLC’s ownership and maintenance of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system.