College and Research Libraries


So, Catalogers Are Scarce 

THE ADMINISTRATOR of the small college 
library does not need to be told about 
the scarcity of catalogers, especially if 
he has tried to find one to complete his 
staff. For several years the situation in the 
library at the Frostburg State Teachers 
College in western Maryland had re-
mained the same: only one half-time cat-
aloger was available in spite of repeated 
and diligent efforts to locate a qualified 
full-time person. The annual net gain 
of additions to the collection hovered 
around a thousand volumes. The student 
body had doubled in five years (1300 in 
September 1962), and the curriculum 
was expanding rapidly. More and more 
demands were being made on the library. 

Meanwhile, a backlog of uncataloged 
books was piling up because the half-
time cataloger could not handle the 
swelling flow of new purchases and at the 
same time keep up with the problem of 
recataloging necessary to correcting past 
inconsistencies before new Illaterials 
could be properly added. The annual 
report of the librarian in 1961 told the 
president of the college that a crisis exist-
ed in the library: unless special help was 
obtained to catalog the new books being 
purchased great inconveniences were cer-
tain to arise, and faculty members would 
not be able to use material they wanted 
and needed for classes. 

The president had demonstrated his 
interest in the library the previous year 
by inviting a survey team to study the 
library and to make recommendations. 
The recommendations were being fol-
lowed insofar as possible and, in a way, 
were responsible for part of the problem: 
additional funds over and above the 
regular budget had been recommended 
by the survey committee to improve and 
to increase the holdings of the library. 

Bv JOHN ZIMMERMAN 

Mr. Zimmerman has, since 1957, been 
Librarian of the State Teachers College at 
Frostburg, Maryland. He is a graduate of 
Emory University's Division of Librarian-
ship. 

Through the use of multiple order 
forms the librarian had already devised 
a system whereby any newly-ordered book 
awaiting processing could be located on 
a moment's notice and its processing 
rushed if a faculty member requested 
this service. But processing space was in 
short supply, and the backlog of uncata-
loged books was growing larger; and 
more book funds were being made avail-
able. The librarian predicted that ap-
proximately thirty-five hundred volumes 
would stand in backlog by June 1962. 
After several conferences the president 
suggested that perhaps summer catalog-
ers might be of help in clearing the back-
log. He authorized the librarian to try 
to locate several librarians with catalog-
ing experience who might be free for 
the summer. 

The librarian began to organize a plan 
of action. An advertisement asking for 
summer catalogers was placed in two 
professional journals. It was decided 
that since the Library of Congress cards 
(which had been ordered at the same 
time as the books) for nearly all new 
books were on hand, the aim of the 
project would be to catalog and classify 
the books and to get them shelved ready 
for use. Through multiple forms all 
processes could be readily controlled and 
the typing and filing of the cards could 
be done later. 

The green slip of the multiple forms, 
in the book since its arrival, would be-
come the temporary record for the public 

16 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



catalog as usual. The yellow slip would 
become the temporary record in the shelf 
list as usual. The pink slip. instead -of 
being used as a faculty notice, would re-
main with the set of cards and, as usual, 
bear information for the typist to .con-'t-
plete the set. Because the pink slip would 
be tied up for some weeks, faculty would 
be notified via the buff card from the on-
order drawer as soort as the list of books 
added to the library was typed. 

Much in the way of preparation for 
the project had to be very carefully 
planned. Problem spots in recataloging 
were cleared up as much as possible. 
Since these . problems had been worked 
on over the past two years, quite a num-
ber were already under control. Sub-
ject headings were brought up to date 
through the basic list and supplements; 
the "flow of books through cataloging" 
routine was reviewed; decisions written 
on slips of paper were coordinated, re-
viewed and typed in readable form on 
sheets; sample book cards, pockets, and 
sets of catalog cards were assembled. A 
copy of this material was made for each 
summer cataloger. Every effort was made 
to have as many things as possible writ-
ten down to guide the catalogers. 

The pink slips from the multiple 
forms were arranged according to the 
suggested Dewey classification number 
found on the Library of Congress card. 
This would allow the catalogers to work 
on the new books by subject blocks. 

Meanwhile, replies to the advertise-
ments (largely from school librarians 
free for the summer) were collected and 
answered by the librarian. References of 
the applicants were checked. Salaries 
were based on weekly portions of begin-
ning annual salaries. The final selection 
of candidates was set at three because of 
limited finances and work space. Dates 
for working and accommodations for 
living were arranged according to in-
dividual preferences, and the appoint-
ments were confirmed by the president of 
the college. 

JANUARY 1963 

In due time the day arrived when 
the visiting catalogers appeared and sat 
down with the prepared detail sheets and 
the sample sets of cards. Blocks of books 
were pulled from the processing shelves 
according to the classified groups of pink 
slips, matched to their Library of Con-
gress cards, and the catalogers began to 
catalog and classify the books and to 
send them on to the marking room. The 
annotated Dewey schedule was carefully 
consulted for deviations in this particu-
lar library, and the subject-heading book 
was in constant use. 

The book cards and pockets were typed 
while the books were being marked. 
When these were pasted in and the 
marking revised, the books were spray-
lacquered and sent on for shelving. 
Meanwhile, the pink slip with the cata-
loger's corrections and directions for the 
typist was banded to the set of cards and 
filed alphabetically to await typing. The 
yellow slip was filed in the shelf-list and 
the green slip sent to the public catalog. 

It was as simple as that. Of course, 
problem books (for example, books with-
out Library of Congress cards, and books 
requiring special handling because of a 
conflict in the shelf-list) were shunted off 
to the regular cataloger who stood by to 
answer questions and generally supervise 
the work of the visiting catalogers. If she 
could solve the problem quickly, which 
happened in many cases, the book was 
processed then, but if the matter was a 
knotty problem the book was reshelved 
to await her attention later. Surprisingly, 
only a hundred or so volumes were put 
back for later consideration. 

The project operated for an over-all 
period of ten weeks with one cataloger 
staying six weeks, another eight, and the 
third nine. 

What were the results of the project? 
Perhaps the most important outcome was 
that the library had ·3243 new books on 
the shelves ready for circulation; the 
processing room was empty and waiting 
for new purchases. The three catalogers 

17 



each indicated valuable experiences. In 
fact, everyone connected with the project 
felt a sense of accomplishment. 

One of the catalogers was from a col-
lege library in eastern Maryland. The 
venture had provided an opportunity for 
her to· see another college library in op-
eration and to carry back new ideas to 
her campus, where she was entering her 
second year as cataloger. Besides, she had 
enjoyed six delightful summer weeks in 
the mountains. 

The second cataloger had · worked for 
a number of years in an exclusive, highly 
academic, secondary-school library in an 
urban area of Michigan. He wanted to 
gain cataloging experience in an effort 
to advance himself professionally, and 
welcomed the sharing and learning proc-
esses of the project. He, too, enjoyed the 
mountain summer, making new friends, 
and living in a small community. 

The third was from a New England 
junior high school library and felt he 
wanted to have some experience in a 
higher level library. He picked up the 
routines very quickly, and with his un-
usual bilingual ability in French and 
English (he was also a Spanish major) he 
found himself quite at home with the 
French and Spanish acquisitions await-
ing processing. He brought back into 
play his knowledge of the authors and 
literary periods he had studied in college 
days and proved a very valuable asset to 
the team. He gained experience, as did 
also the others, of working with tools not 
available to him in his regular library. 

The student assistant who marked the 
books and the library assistants who 
helped with technical details saw at first 
hand an alive project and enjoyed the 
company of these professional people. 
The regular cataloger was professionally 
stimulated by the contact with these 
alert visitors as they questioned and dis-
cussed the pros and cons of debatable 
issues. Some new policies were estab-
lished for this particular library, and 
some old ones were defended. 

Over-all, the librarian coordinated all 

of the processes, shaping this area or that 
area into line as the program moved for-
ward. Summer school ran along simul-
taneously, and the assistant librarians in 
reference and circulation carried this 
detail. 

There were some disadvantages in the 
project. First of all, despite the fact that 
the group assembled was fortunately 
most congenial and no pressure was ap-
plied to produce a specific amount of 
work, one of the catalogers felt fairly 
worn out after six weeks. Another experi-
enced some boring subject blocks of 
books which ran along with no variety, 
even in adapting the Library of Congress 
cards. The marker, and with reason, be-
gan to tire towards the end of the ten 
weeks. The regular cataloger felt the 
strain of the constant decisions. There 
were no complaints or irritated nerves, 
and often the clock was ignored to com-
plete a particular item; but several sug-
gestions were made that perhaps the 
basic time of the project should be short-
ened. However, it was agreed that with 
the routine now checked out, another 
such project should run more smoothly. 

A major drawback of the project was 
the lack of planning for extra help in 
typing, to move the sets of cards and to 
get them filed into the catalogs. At the 
end of the ten weeks this still had to be 
done. It would have been possible to 
provide typists and still to keep within 
a reasonable figure financially. 

The success of the undertaking ap-
peared to be so great that the president 
of the college suggested to the librarian 
that it might be well to plan for another 
project should the need for it appear 
again. With the extensive expansion pro-
gram of Frostburg State Teachers Col-
lege anq the need to strengthen the li-
brary holdings over a short period of 
time, the repetition of such a program 
might be an answer to the scarcity of 
catalogers at this particular college. It 
might, in fact, be a partial solution to 
the shortage of cataloging staff in other 
college libraries. • • 

18 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES