Cataloguing, or not, at the Library

Libraries all over the world are under financial pressure. Budgets are being pushed down at a time when libraries are expected to do more and more.Thirty years ago it was just circulating physical objects. Now, like so many operations, libraries have had to handle the transition from "atoms to bits". Plus all of the computers with Internet access, and "all you can eat" wireless for the ubiquitous laptops.

And it is not just the transition to electronic version of books, now patrons expect to be able to order up eBooks and audiobooks on-line. And how many different models of eBook readers are there? Unlike audiobooks, where the electronic versions come in standard MP3 format, there are a number of incompatible eBook formats.

But what does this have to do with cataloguing? I have a 3 1/2-year old daughter, so we get lots of books from the library. (Yesterday she maxed our her card at 50 items, so I had to put some of her borrowing on my card.)

She's on a kick of wanting me to read all of the books featuring particular characters. Dora the Explorer, caillou, and Franklin the Turtle. The problem, apart from the sheer torture of having to read Dora books, is that my local library system, one of the largest in the country, has partially abandoned cataloguing.

All paperback children's books are no longer catalogued. When you check them out the circulation system just records them as "Juvenile Paperback".

Given the life expectancy of a children's paperback, months at best, I can understand why a library might not want to spend the time (and therefore the money) to create a full bibliographic record for each title. However, the lack of information means that it is impossible to find out if the library actually has the title I'm looking for. And as children's book publishers often put an ad for the other books in the series on the inside back cover, my daughter knows exactly which books she wants me to find for her.

So, yet another example of management saving money by increasing the amount of work that the customer has to do. In this case scour every library branch looking for the elusive title.

Exploring for Dora, what an irony.