[Evergreen-catalogers] Consolidating cataloging

[Jane Sandberg]

Hi cataloging colleagues,

Our consortium is pretty small, with 5 municipal libraries (ranging
from very small -- 1 staff member -- to medium-sized) and one
community college.

Currently, every library does its own copy cataloging.  Half of us
have the power to bring in OCLC records, the rest of us just use
whatever free Z39.50 targets we can.  When we need an original record,
the community college or the largest municipal library take care of
it.  We do have a courier service, so we can send books around pretty
easily.

We are looking into centralizing more of our cataloging (probably at
the largest municipal library), with the goals of freeing up more time
at those 1-person libraries and getting some more consistency in the
catalog.  We are not a district or system or anything like that, and
that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Have any of you gone through a process like this?  We would love to
hear your advice and experiences.

Warmly,

  -Jane

-- 
Jane Sandberg
Electronic Resources Librarian
Linn-Benton Community College
sandbej at linnbenton.edu / 541-917-4655
Pronouns: she/her/hers