Now available from Monash University’s research repository, are the results from Jenny Warren’s survey of directors on their thoughts about where cataloguing is heading.

Warren surveyed directors of information resources departments in Australian and New Zealand libraries  on how they see cataloguing fitting within the resource discovery frameworks of their libraries. 68 directors completed the survey which focussed on views, perceptions and attitudes. The paper identifies some emerging trends and includes some thought-provoking comments made by directors.

Some interesting/intriguing snippets from the document —

“Amidst the significant difficulties which directors have recorded in finding trained staff as more and more highly experienced cataloguers retire, reports are coming from outside the survey of retiring staff being hired back as casuals to fill the skills gap in the short term.”

“The past trend towards downsizing information resources management and access departments has come to an end as executives realise that workload in the electronic environments is increasing, not decreasing.”

“We don’t need specialist roles for this. Resource discovery and metadata work should be able to be done by all.”

“Almost 53% of directors agreed with the proposition that high quality records are a priority, but only by pursuing time-saving and automated solutions, not by supporting increased spending or much editing of records.”

I could go on, but you’ll want to pick out your own interesting snippets. What do you think? What are your views on the future of cataloguing?

DIRECTORS’ VIEWS ON THE FUTURE OF CATALOGUING IN AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND, 2007: A SURVEY by Jenny Warren