5 

Tails Wagging Dogs 

A funny thing happened on the way to the form. In the past decade, 
many libraries believed they were developing or using automated sys-
tems to produce catalog cards, or order slips, or circulation control rec-
ords. The trauma of AACR2 implementation has helped many to realize 
belatedly that they have, in fact, been building data bases. 

Libraries must relate their own machine-readable records to each 
other in a new way as they face new applications. Further methods of 
relating and using records from different libraries, and even different 
networks, are becoming necessities in our increasingly interdependent 
world. 

A narrow view of the process of creating records has often resulted in 
introduction of nonstandard practices that provide the required im-
mediate result, but create garbage in the data base. In effect, letting the 
tails wag the dogs. For many years, John Kountz and the TESLA (Tech-
nical Standards for Library Automation) Committee addressed this issue 
forcefully, but were as voices in the wilderness. 

The problems created are the problems of success. The expectations 
libraries have developed have outstripped their practices. Many libraries 
are only now seriously addressing the practices they have used to create 
data bases that already contain hundreds of thousands of records. 

Precisely because of its success, the OCLC system is a useful case in 
point. In general, OCLC has adhered closely to MARC standards. In 
call number and holding fields, national standards have been late forth-
coming, and libraries have often improvised. Meeting the Procrustean 
needs of catalog cards has ofttimes blinded libraries to the long-term 
effects of their practices. Multiple subfield codes to force call number 
"stacking" and omission of periods from LC call numbers are two exam-
ples of card-driven practice. 

Not following recommended OCLC practice of fully updating the rec-
ord at each use has created archive tapes requiring significant manual 
effort to properly reflect library holdings. Variant branch cataloging 
practices create dilemmas. Some malpractices have resulted from 
attempts to beat pricing algorithms . Some, like retaining extraneous 
fields or accepting default options when they are incorrect, merely re-
flect laziness or shortsighted procedures. 

While implementing systems in the present, libraries must keep a 
weather eye to the future. What new requirements will future systems 
place on records being created today? BRIAN AVENEY