No. 44: Rare Book Cataloging

31 July - August 1995

Aimed at catalog librarians who find that their present duties include (or shortly will include) the cataloging of rare books and/or special collections materials. Attention will be given both to cataloging books from the handpress period and to c19 and c20 books in a special collections context. Topics include: comparison of rare book and general cataloging; application of codes and standards; uses of special files; problems in transcription, collation and physical description; and setting cataloging policy within an institutional context.

1. How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: EXCELLENT -- I wish there had been more. 2: The readings were very helpful. They introduced terms that were useful in class. 3: Very useful. 4: We were told what to bring to class, the essential cataloging we'd be working with. 5: Most were very important. 6: Very useful, on the whole. In some cases it would have been helpful to have more of an idea of how and to what degree things would be used in class. I wasn't sure where to concentrate my efforts and, in retrospect, might have spent more time on some things and less on others. 7: Very useful. 8: They would have been very useful if I had managed to read all of them. 9: Some were very useful -- while others make more sense after the class and I will read those again now. 10: Very useful. 11: I applied in time, but there was no reading list in my packet. After I emailed an inquiry (two weeks before class), a reading list was mailed to me. I had already read most of the pre-course readings beforehand. 12: They were very useful. I would suggest that DCRB be read by everyone before class, however. 13: Extremely useful.

2. Did your instructor prepare sufficiently to teach THIS course? Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class useful?

1: Yes. 2: The instructor was well prepared for this course. The materials distributed in class will be useful -- particularly the bibliographies of reference sources and the dictionary of Latin terms. 3: Yes. The material will definitely be used at my institution and shared with co-workers. 4: Yes -- he was very well prepared. The course syllabus, examples, and sheets with answers to problems will be extremely useful. 5: Distributed materials were/will be useful. Instructor has good potential and will pull together a better course next year. This year was good for a first time. 6: Yes. I think the course materials were very helpful in class; they will become the core of my source materials for this aspect of my daily work. 7: Yes. EH's binder should prove invaluable. 8: Yes. The materials distributed in class were extremely useful and will make my work ever so much easier. 9: The instructor seemed very well prepared. He gave us an enormous amount of information at a pace that did not overwhelm. The handouts will be very helpful in the future. 10: Yes; materials distributed were very useful. There was probably room to cover a little more material at the end. 11: The instructor was very well prepared -- followed the syllabus, kept discussions on track, and distributed useful class materials. The green spiral bound booklet has especially useful materials for Latin cataloging -- an area that has been troublesome in our library. 12: Yes. 13: The instructor was well prepared, but will (I imagine) be more so in future years, as this was his first course. The syllabus and other materials are and will be extremely useful.

3. Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate?

1-4: Yes. 5: Would have preferred more intensive use of time -- more opportunity to work withbooks and less unstructured discussion. 6: It certainly was for me. I got a tremendous amount of information out of it, but did not feel overwhelmed. 7: Yes. 8: Yes. Although our class had representatives from many levels of ability, we were all able to talk to one another, mostly due to the instructor's ability to bring out comments and ideas from all of us. 9: Yes. And anytime someone was lost and said so, things were expounded upon for that person or persons. Also -- a little more on c19 materials -- although most did not need it this year. 10: Yes. 11: Although this is the only rare book cataloging class and can be an introduction to the topic, I think the course is most useful if you have already done some rare book cataloging. I have been cataloging rare books for approximately two years and think this was the best time to take the course -- concepts were not completely new and I gained new perspectives. Generally the intellectual level was appropriate. Class members came from different backgrounds but had similar issues and concerns. 12: Yes. 13: It certainly was for me and seemed to be for all people in the course.

4. Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1: Yes. 2: Yes and yes. 3: Yes. 4: Yes -- very pleased with the course. 5: Yes, but material could have been compressed more to allow for more practicum time. I expected to work harder, actually. 6: Yes. It met my expectations very well, for the most part. 7: Yes. 8: Yes, the course fit the course description and more than met my expectations. I did not expect to be so interested (nor as exhausted) as I am at the end of it. 9: Yes. I have never attended any other workshop or course that met my expectations as well as this one did. 10: Yes -- in fact, we covered more than I'd expected. 11: Yes, matched the description and met my expectations. 12: Yes on both counts. 13: Yes. Yes. Yes.

5. What did you like best about the course?

1: The meat and potatoes: title page transcription and collation exercises. 2: I liked the congeniality of the class -- the friendly, non-threatening atmosphere. Everyone was encouraged to contribute and time was always taken to answer questions. 3: Descriptions first, followed by hands-on experiences. 4: Actual hands-on cataloging exercises. Explanations of processes involved in book production with examples to see and touch (eg bindings). 5: Working with the books, ie, collating/cataloging. 6: I thought the scope of coverage was very good -- covering the detailed aspects of cataloging as well as the broader issues of policy decisions, &c. The instructor was very good at striking a balance between concern for ``rules'' and consideration of practical issues such as time, staffing, &c. 7: General good humor. EH is very comfortable in front of a group of people. 8: The actual hands-on work that we did was my favorite part of the course, but the lively discussions of all aspects of rare book cataloging were a close second. 9: The fact that all the basic issues of cataloging rare materials was covered. I come away feeling that I will be doing my job better. 10: We covered a lot of ground, but everything was explained with great clarity, with examples to look at and useful citations for further reading. The handouts were great and the practicum was a very valuable way to pull together what we'd learned. 11: The instructor gave well thought out, clear, concise explanations of sometimes complex issues. He showed how to maintain quality and precision in one's cataloging while maintaining flexibility. The sessions where we looked at different bindings, folded paper, and examined examples of books were especially useful -- both for the break from lecturing and for the physical evidence. EH's experience in working at a university and in a smaller library gave us background in a range of special collections environments. 12: Working with actual books (they were extremely variable as to difficulty, &c. Perhaps graded exercises would be an improvement). Meeting other practitioners was probably the best aspect of the course. 13: The hands-on experience and the informational exchanges.

6. How could the course have been improved?

1: The exercises should be done as a group since on an individual level only the person concerned worked on a particular problem and resolved that particular issue. The exercises are really crucial and more emphasis is needed on the practice. 2: It would have been helpful if the whole class could catalog the same book. It would have been helpful to see how actual problems were solved. Each class member could have described the problems he or she had with his or her book and how that problem was solved. 3: It would be beneficial if, when doing the various exercises, all class members had the same piece [ie, duplicates] to work from. Time could, therefore, be saved in dealing with initial problems. After the ``same piece'' exercise, one could then proceed with different books, titlepages, &c., with which to work on one's own pace. 4: Exemplary volumes to catalog could have been better selected to illustrate certain cases that come up in cataloging rare materials. 5: More demands on us as active participants. 6: More hands-on experience would be good. Perhaps having everyone work on the same item for purposes of discussing in the early stages would help. It would also help to have guidelines for the practicum printed out ahead of time to allow more time in that crucial sequence for actual cataloging. 7: I think there were some pedagogical issues. I would have liked more exercises with title-pages, better utilization of the work of classmates. Maybe transparencies or a set of title-page examples. 8: Perhaps more hands-on work with the actual book, although in a 5-day course it might be difficult to find the time for it. 9: Perhaps more spaced hands-on experience and sharing the records created by each class member so that we could not only learn from our own work but from others' as well. 10: No major improvements to suggest. 11: Possibly more types of examples of books. 12: Increase the cataloging practicum. Have the entire class do the same book at the same time for the first exercise. Keep adding to the record for that book until the record is complete to simulate actual cataloging experience. Use overhead projectors. Have guest speakers (eg, it would have been ideal to have Jackie Dooley present a unit on illustration). 13: By devising a way for all participants to see each others' hands-on work. An overhead projector with corrections, &c., done on screen?

7. Any final thoughts?

1: The exercise sections and practica should be seriously rethought and certainly expanded in terms of time allotted. 3: Get enough sleep before coming -- summer in Virginia is HOT. 4: Excellent introduction to rare book cataloging for catalogers already familiar with AACR2 cataloging for general materials. Useful general overview of the range and depth of knowledge needed (or should be acquired) to better deal with these rare materials. I got a glimpse of the intricacies and unique qualities of the materials I wasn't fully aware of before. (There is so much to learn, and how fascinating!) 5: Don't think twice; come here. 6: I found this course very valuable, and would highly recommend it to others. 7: Read DCRB. 8: People who take these courses should realize how mentally and physically challenging they are! Part of this is the fact that at UVa everything is up several flights of steps or down several flights of steps! The RBS staff does a wonderful job of organizing and feeding us. The instruction is on a very high level, also. I hope to be able to come again. 10: RBS is a national treasure. I'm going to come back! 11: Small quibble -- an occasional use of ``she'' or ``her'' in examples would be nice.

Number of respondents: 13

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