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Occasional Papers
Pre-Publication information,
or
A new challenge to small & Radical publishers.
Martn Lowe
By way of an introduction.
Before stating anything else I should point out
that I am not a cataloguer. I am however an
Library Information worker, & have had a lot of
first hand contact with many small or radical
publishers.
So instead of looking at what could or might be
done to improve Library cataloguing, I wish to
raise some questions & make some points about
just how pre-publication cataloguing is & will
effect the provision of small, radical, or
campaigning publishers works within public
libraries.
Current development in publishing, & how
pre-publication cataloguing effects library end
users.
The publishing explosion means that there are
many more books which need to be catalogued.
Given just how long it takes to produce a full
catalogue record, and the expense of doing so,
then many national libraries view pre-publication
cataloguing as a way in which their costs might be
cut.
One can easily see the advantages which come
with this. For libraries there is also the added
advantage that a full catalogue record is
available well in advance of the publication date.
Yet pre-publication cataloguing does make for
some interesting issues, & can create as many
problems as it solves.
A nice little earner.
All in all pre-publication cataloguing makes
money, saves costs, & for the library suppliers is
what we might all refer to as a ‘nice little
earner’.
The important thing to keep in mind is that any
pre-publication cataloguing which any publisher
produces will in turn be used or sold on by the
various library supplies.
By publishers making pre-publication available
via any National Library or National
Bibliography, they are also contributing towards
the privatisation ( outsoaring ) of library
services. In other words, here we have yet
another fine example of information being just
another commodity to make a profit upon.
A how to do, & what not to do set of guide lines,
or
Webpage help.
It is not my intention to give any tips or advice
about how to set about producing pre-publication
catalogue information for any would be
publisher. I’ll just give you a webpage reference
which might be of some use.
Cataloguing in Publication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataloging_in_Public
ation
This webpage also gives webpage links to the
‘Cataloguing in Publication Programs’ of the LOC
(Library of Congress ), British Library , & Library
and Archives Canada .
Here take note: a quote from the British Library
website, which also says something about just how
our various national libraries have developed
over the last few years:
‘The British Library contracts the administration
of the CIP ( Cataloguing-in-Publication ) Programme
and the creation of records to Bibliographic Data
Services Limited (BDS). BDS is an independent,
privately-owned company specialising in the
creation of high-quality bibliographic data for use
by libraries, booksellers and publishers.’
It might also be noted from the above webpages,
that there are some restrictions upon these
programs, which also means that they work in
favour of the big capitalist publishers.
For example:
The British Library requires that any
pre-publication information is sent to them at
least 4 months in advance of publication. I doubt
if most small, radical, or campaigning publishers
are ever going to be able to achieve anything like
that !
Quality control,
or wrong Dewy number means a wrong book
placement upon the shelves.
There is also another set of problems which come
from pre-publication cataloguing, as it might come
with very little or poor quality control.
A lot of the work which is involved in processing
books within public libraries is done by library
workers who may never of had any training upon
just how to read a Dewy number, never mind all
that much cataloguing training.
If the pre-publication cataloguing is in any way
wrong, library workers might just accept what
they are given, & so in turn the books might be
placed upon the wrong library shelves.
There are also another factors which should be
taken into account here.
With a greater enthuses being given to IT issues
within library schools, & less time available for
lessons about cataloguing, then it must in turn
make for an attitudinal effect within the Library
workroom.
The attitude from front line librarians & library
workers being that any cataloguing work should
be left to the ‘specialist’ cataloguer, which in
turn means a greater acceptance or reliance
upon the electronic catalogue.
I could write more upon this issue, but lets just
say it is not an issue about de-skilling. It is more to
do with a greater issue about how libraries are
changing, & how there are more skills which
librarians & Library workers have to acquire.
The challenge to small & radical publisher at
present.
The introduction of more pre-publication
cataloguing is going to leave small, radical, &
campaigning publishers at the major disadvantage
in terms of promoting there works.
Pre-publication cataloguing is as much to do with
publicising ones works & ideas, as it is about
getting them into bookshops & libraries.
ISBN OK, but Dewy - What’s that ?
Perhaps the most illuminating replies one can
receive from small campaigning organisations
relates to just how much they know about both
how to obtain an ISBN, & Dewy numbers.
For many small campaigning organisations how to
obtain an ISBN is already an issue which is a
difficult one to resolve. For many of these
organisations it is left to the admin worker to
obtain or work out any ISBN which they may of
been allocated. Many of these organisations
might of already been allocated a range of ISBN
numbers , but they may still need to work out the
check digit which needs to be added to them. For
even those who are both able & used to working
out this check digit, they will have to learn how
to do it once again with the introduction of the
new 13 digit ISBN number,
So when it comes to the allocation of Dewy
numbers to these publication, there is an even
greater set of problems which they face.
Most admin workers would never be able to
appreciate the subtleties of cataloguing rules or
conventions. Just to ask them which edition of
Dewy they might be using to achieve any pre
publication cataloguing would have most of them
feeling like they were about to undertake a very
uphill task.
No admin worker can or should be expected to
allocate any dewey number to pre-publication
data, as it will inevitably be wrong.
That is why most small publishers will come up
with the text upon there publications such as:
‘A catalogue record for this book is available
from ........( insert your national library here ).’
In other words: ‘ leave it to the experts’.
In Conclusion - Some helpful ideas.
While no one can deny that the introduction is
pre-publication cataloguing is useful, we do also
need to address the many issues which it raises.
Clearly there are problems here which need to be
addressed within the library world, & for which
there is no easy solution.
What ever solutions one might have to these
issues, most of them will cost a lot in terms of
either time or money.
It would be very silly to try & resolve any of these
issues by establishing a new alternative
pre-publication bibliography, as that would only
duplicate what is being done already.
By the same token, any webpage aimed at giving
pre-publication help to publishers would only
duplicate what is also currently available
elsewhere.
What might work is the establishment of new
network of radical librarians & cataloguers who
would be willing & able to do the pre-publication
cataloguing work for radical or campaigning
publishers.
This could be a web-based network which the
publisher contacts. Some of the people within
this network might just wish to help organisations
which specialise upon specific types of
campaigning, while others might only wish to work
with publishers that promote a very specific
political line. The actual details about who does
what & how such a network might be organised
would have to evolve with those who might be
interested in setting up such a body.
If such a network was linked within the present
global network of radical librarians, then it
could function in a very effective manner.
The next question is whether anyone wants to
take up these ideas & then work upon them?
Martyn Lowe
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libr.org
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