Working Knowledge

Catalogers and the Stories They Tell

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/kula.233

Keywords:

libraries, classification and cataloging, knowledge organization, sound ethnography, library labor

Abstract

Cataloging librarians make myriad choices every day as they create the metadata necessary for information retrieval.  Each record represents an interaction between the cataloger and the systems they work within and, sometimes, against. Their work is highly constrained by standardized machine-readable fields and codes, controlled subject terms and classification schema. In the exploratory research project Catalogers at Work, the authors use sound recording to reveal the complex yet hidden negotiations embedded in library catalog records.

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Published

2022-07-27

How to Cite

Belantara, Amanda, and Emily Drabinski. 2022. “Working Knowledge: Catalogers and the Stories They Tell”. KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies 6 (3):1-10. https://doi.org/10.18357/kula.233.