I'm sure it would give Kaplan and Riedling premature heart failure, but I have been using our automated system (SmartMarc) to create records, supplemented by manual ones when the software hasn't a clue, for a good six months with NO CLUE about the various fields, subfields, and detailed information about the $a, $d, 650s, or, really, anything beyond what an average grad student needs to know to create a works cited page.
I am truly grateful to be enlightened on the subject of MARC records, their power, and the relation between the LC records versus Sears, not to mention the history and points of contention. I especially appreciated the warning that we neophytes not attempt to post what would surely be silly questions to the listserv as they would not be met with much patience. Almost makes me go directly there and ask something truly idiotic.
I had to flip back to the cover because, in the beginnng, it seemed the book took a dim view of school librarians ("However, even school library media specialists should be aware of these issues." p.12). Are we at the bottom of the barrel or what? Funny, considering we probably have the most chance of impacting library use on the general population.
I like to think that they understand that we are usually working under time and manpower constraints that public librarians don't have to deal with. And I do like the way everything sort of goes together in cataloging. It is a nice structure.
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