Welcome to the Vermont Cataloging Cooperative

The purpose of this site is to provide a place for:

1. Catalogers to share original records. Many catalogers in Vermont are the only one at their library, or the only person who creates original records. By sharing original records on this site, we all gain the benefit of having other sets of eyes to catch typos and make suggestions. This will ensure that the records Vermont catalogers add to OCLC and their own catalogs are the best records we can put out.
2. Accidental catalogers to get support. A lot of Vermont libraries have someone doing the cataloging for the institution who fell into it or are doing it in addition to their regular duties. Most professional catalogers remember a time when that was them, too. This site serves as a place of support for cataloging staff to work out problems or ask questions or whatever is needed to make that job easier.
3. Students to talk to professional catalogers. Many students getting their MLS are doing so while they have jobs and don't have the time or opportunity to take a cataloging internship. This site serves as a place where students can query professional catalogers about whatever they need for their class or their future in the profession. And since the students are getting the most up to date information in the field, we'll probably learn a little something, too!

There may be other purposes for this site that crop up over the use of it. So much the better!

How it got started

The Vermont Cataloging Coopertive was started by Helen Linda, the only cataloger at a small progressive college in Central Vermont. She was drowning in original cataloging and knew that, being new to the profession, she would have questions from time to time. But who to ask? She thought it would be great if there was some kind of cataloging partnership, where catalogers from different institutions could act as extra eyes on each others original records for quality control. Then she thought that maybe a one on one relationship like that might not provide timely support, especially if someone is on vacation, or it becomes a strain, especially if one person's job duties increase or change. Then, as part of the Vermont 23 Things, Helen thought that a wiki might be the perfect solution. This way all the catalogers who wanted to participate could check the wiki whenever they had the time and provide help when help was needed.

About this Wiki

Everyone is added as an editor, so anyone may change, add, or remove any of the information here. If you have a record or a question to add, go ahead and add a new page for it! Then hit "edit the sidebar" and click on your page, it will appear in the sidebar when you save.

For folks who are new to PBwiki (the host of this wiki) and want to try it out without the fear of breaking it, try popping over to the Vermont 23 Things site. Thing 17 and Thing 18 are about wikis and include some helpful tutorials, tips, and a sandbox to play in with PBwiki. Then, once you've had a chance to play with it a bit, come on back and try it here.

And of course, if you run into anything odd, any troubles, have a question, etc. please feel free to email me by click on "contact the owner" at the bottom of this page and I will get back to you as soon as I can with help.