January 13, 2005 Library of Congress Partnerships Provide Education Resources In Cataloging

The Library of Congress has launched a Web-based learning center to promote core competency curriculum development for 21st century cataloging practitioners. The Cataloger's Learning Workshop (www.loc.gov/catworkshop/) is a cataloging and metadata training resource portal that features a discussion group, links to cataloging training providers and publishers, online training courses and suggested readings in bibliographic control. The Cataloger's Learning Workshop is hosted by the Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) of the Library of Congress.

"The Cataloger's Learning Workshop site provides one-stop access to a growing body of authoritative cataloging education resources," said Kathryn Mendenhall, chief of CDS. "Cataloging practitioners as well as training providers will benefit from the easy access to information about these new courses."

The Cataloger's Learning Workshop grew out of an effort that began at the 2000 Library of Congress conference "Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium." Conferees produced an action plan with several ambitious goals, such as providing appropriate training and education to improve bibliographic control of Web resources.

A number of groups have been working with the Library of Congress to bring the Cataloger's Learning Workshop to reality, including the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) - a division of the American Library Association (ALA) - and the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC).

"Collaborating with the Library of Congress on this project enables ALCTS to better support the educational needs of its membership and the library community as a whole," said Charles Wilt, executive director of ALCTS. "These courses will provide up-to- date information to practicing professionals and others at both the local and regional level."

A number of workshops and curricula are being developed to address Web bibliographic control training and continuing education. Training materials distribution is handled by CDS, while workshop organization and support logistics are managed through ALCTS and other organizations.

As a result of this cooperative effort, Library, PCC and ALCTS officials expect that there will be more library practitioners who are better prepared to provide access to Web and other new library materials. The customer and member focus of these organizations ensures that high quality training will be provided at reasonable cost.

The Cataloging Distribution Service of the Library of Congress has provided publications and services to the international cataloging community on a cost-recovery basis for more than 100 years.

The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association, is the national association for information providers who work in collections, preservation and technical services. ALCTS' interests include acquisition, cataloging, collection development and preservation of all library materials in all formats. Additional information about ALCTS' continuing education is available at www.ala.org/ala/alcts/ under "continuing education."

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) is an international cooperative effort aimed at expanding access to library collections by providing useful, timely, and cost-effective cataloging that meets mutually accepted standards of libraries around the world. Additional information about PCC is available at www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/.