2011 Articles

PCC Training for Copy Catalogers: Is It Worth the Investment? The Columbia University Libraries Experience

Gelber, Natalia; Kandarasheva, Irina

This paper presents a case study program implemented at Columbia University Libraries that trains copy catalogers in Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) principles. Under the guidance of the NACO coordinator and cataloging supervisors, copy catalogers create PCC-level records for belles lettres materials, construct name and. uniform title headings, and submit classification number proposals for literary authors in a variety of languages in both roman and nonroman scripts. The benefits of the program include timely and efficient processing of materials, high-quality bibliographic records, better collocation of belles lettres, and upgrade of vendor or member records utilized by the shared cataloging community. The program serves as an important step in the professional development of copy catalogers and contributes to the growth of training and mentoring skills of professional catalogers. The skills acquired by copy catalogers can be used in future cataloging projects such as metadata creation and name disambiguation.