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Calhoun Report on the Future of Research Library Catalogs

Marty Kurth

Karen Calhoun, the associate university librarian for technical services, has prepared a report for the Library of Congress that analyses research library online catalogs and considers a framework for integrating them with other discovery tools such as Google and Yahoo.  The LC director of Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, Beacher Wiggins, has said that this readable report defines a strategic future for the research library catalog.  The report’s recommendations promise to elicit open, thoughtful, and productive discourse at LC and in the research library community as a whole.  The report presents coherent steps that might be taken by either LC or other libraries individually or by the larger library community, perhaps in collaboration.

Entitled The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools, the report is the latest in a series of publications, partnerships, and activities that resulted from an LC invitational conference, the Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium.  Structured interviews of noted library and information science professionals form the basis of the analysis.  Synthesizing a wide range of interviewees’ comments about the catalog and its future, from the iconoclastic to the visionary, the report concludes with a ten-step planning process for library leaders who are seeking to revitalize their catalogs and improve information seekers’ experiences with them.  “I am grateful to John Byrum, Judy Mansfield, and Beacher Wiggins of the Library of Congress for the opportunity to undertake this research,” said Karen.  “Sarah Thomas also generously supported and advised me during the project, and Marty Kurth shared the work of conducting and transcribing the interviews with me.” 

The report has stirred both controversy and acclaim in the profession. As Karen put it, “I had no idea the report would get so much attention.”

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