Working independently (kind of)

I'm sorry I've been a bit behind in writing these blog entries; on Friday I took my laptop to the mac specialists to get it repaired after my daughter pushed the screen back a little too far last week. Unfortunately, I made the decision to go ahead with the $250 repair a little too late in the day, and they had to wait until Monday to order the part. Today is Wednesday, and I hope to have the computer back by this evening. It's been interesting to be away from the laptop for more than a day, much less for more than five. I kind of like the freedom, but then again, all of my school work is on that thing, and I need to attend to a few upcoming deadlines.

Anyway, long story short, I haven't made the time to blog. Oh well, last Friday for the internship, I finished the Pejacevic score and moved on to two more. The process became quicker for these next two, especially because Ralph was sitting next to me and could tell me when I needed to fix something or not. He gave me pertinent sections to music of the Library of Congress Subject Cataloging Manual (Section H)to read. I'm about halfway through, and have learned a lot about the formulation of subject headings, including when it is appropriate to add free floating subdivisions, form/genre headings, headings for composers, etc. Although the readings can be long, and although it is almost impossible to remember every rule in the literature, I still consider the topic interesting and pertinent.

I have heard rumor, however, that LC may stop updating the LCSH and stop assigning subject headings to bibliographic records they create. I see the benefit of controlled vocabulary in bibliographic records, but I'm also aware of the expense required to maintain such a system, given the ability of search engines to be programmed to automatically search for word variants (spelling, language, singular/plural, tense, arabic numerals/spelled-out numbers, etc.), and given the preference users have for keyword searching these days, perhaps a folksonomic system for assigning subject terms may be in order, employing the expertise of the academic communities who may actually read a work in its entirety rather than a cataloger, who, despite years of training/experience in assigning controlled vocabulary to items, is limited in his or her ability to learn about the intricacies the vast expanse of human knowledge. Although not perfect, people seem to be pretty good at applying descriptors to the videos they upload to sites like Google Video and YouTube. Who knows? Although it may sound strange for a cataloger to be advocating a partial relinquishment of control over the sacred bibliographic record, I also believe that the library should be a place of community, of sharing and collaboration, and the library's OPAC can be a center for that kind of scholarly communication to take place.