So, what has brought all this on? Well, having persuaded everyone that it would be a really good idea if we started to promote bib services a bit more, several opportunities have arisen, both in print/online and in person at open evenings and the like. And it has been borne in upon me that it really isn't very easy.
What do we want to tell people about what we do? What images do we use (a picture being worth a thousand words)?
I really don't think that cataloguing is a spectator sport. It is undeniably interesting for the person doing it, but thought processes are invisible and silent. It would be a rare talent who could make the process of cataloguing engaging and, anyway, do the processes actually matter? Demonstrations of cataloguing tend to turn into accounts of which button gets pressed and what the subfield codes ought to be, which is all good stuff but not likely to capture the attention of a passer-by.
People are important and pictures of people invoke human interest or just naked curiosity, but a surprising number flatly refuse to be photographed. Many cataloguers shun the limelight and are not natural performers - and a reluctant performer is worse than no performer at all.
If you rule out cataloguing and cataloguers, it leaves the catalogue itself as the thing being promoted, which is as it ought to be. I think I should be focussing on the catalogue and what it can do for people. Does anyone have a good idea of how to present it? Has anyone produced successful publicity and demonstrably increased catalogue use? I can't be the first person trying to do it...
I've taken to describing what I do as a cataloger thusly:
ReplyDelete1. I make things findable. There's a LOT of stuff out there.
2. I make the things you find uniquely identifiable. As in, that thing you just found, you know what it is and if it's what you want.
3. I organize all these bits and pieces of information about things into a useful structure that can be manipulated as needed.
Yes, this involves the catalog. But it also involves other non-catalog interfaces.
It all comes down to data, and who can organize it and structure it so it's useful and ultimately connect people with what they want. That's what catalogers do.
That's very good. Someone (I think it was Shawne Miksa) has said that cataloguers are interpreters of data, and that's a nice way of thinking of us - that we simplify and smooth the path. When we're talking directly to people I think we have to emphasise what we can do for THEM - only in that way will we seem relevant to them.
ReplyDeleteThere's a great answer here: http://cataloger20.blogspot.com/2010/08/becoming-more-visible-3-step-plan.html. Thanks to Erin.
ReplyDelete