Skills for Reference staff -- reflections

[Sheryl Dwinell]

This is an interesting discussion and I'd thought I'd add my 2 cents, for
what it's worth.  Perhaps, in turn, those systems folks who don't have an
MLS or library experience, should be expected to know or learn a little bit
about how libraries are organized, cataloging practices & MARC.  In my
experience, it's been a mixed bag in terms of how much awareness the
'techies' have about the basic tenets of librarianship and bibliographic
organization.  Imagine working (as in a previous place of employment) in a
library where the systems 'librarian' doesn't have a clue about MARC and
what all those tags mean.




Sheryl Dwinell * Cataloger/DBM Librarian/Webmaster
Memorial Library * Marquette University
P.O. Box 3141 * Milwaukee, WI 53201-3141
414-288-3406 * dwinells at vms.csd.mu.edu