[Conntech] Review: Responsible Librarianship

[wshakalis at att.net]

RESPONSIBLE LIBRARIANSHIP: LIBRARY POLICIES FOR UNRELIABLE SYSTEMS, 
  by David Bade. Duluth, Minn.: Library Juice Press, 2008. xv, 172 p. $22.00.
  ISBN 978-0-9778617-6-7.

http://libraryjuicepress.com/responsible-librarianship.php

To say that David Bade has a passion for the topic of which he writes would be a 
gross understatement. In the time since the Library of Congress announced that 
it was no longer creating series authority records or even tracing series in 
bibliographic records, Bade has appeared as a man on a mission, decrying the 
increasing trend in libraries toward deliberately lowered quality of 
bibliographic control. His articles have been published in journals such as 
Cataloging & Classification Quarterly and Language & Communication, and his 
contributions appear occasionally in email discussion lists such as AUTOCAT. His 
latest book, Responsible Librarianship: Library Policies for Unreliable Systems, 
is an important work comprising three papers, all written after the LC 
announcement. Addressing the LC series policy specifically is a letter to 
AUTOCAT dated May 31, 2006 (although the shortest piece in the book, it is 
rather substantial and lengthy by AUTOCAT standards–a full six pages).!
  The letter is sandwiched between “Politics and Policies for Database 
Qualities� (a nearly book-length work in itself at 107 pages) and “
Structures, standards, and the people who make them meaningful� (a revised 
version of a paper read in Chicago before the second public meeting of the 
Library of Congress Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control). 
Preceding all of these is a very lively Foreward by Thomas Mann (Library 
of Congress).

The systemsof the title refers not only to automated integrated library 
systems, but also to the entire bibliographic information production and 
delivery chain, extending to the vendors, organizations, and networks beyond the 
individual library. The word for in the title could be read in two ways: 
in making his case for good library policies needed in the context of unreliable 
systems, Bade gives examples of library policies that result in unreliable 
systems. In the age of Google and tightened library staff budgets, the 
traditional functions of the catalog are being questioned and standards for 
bibliographic data are being revised (one might rather say “dumbed down�), 
and general keyword searching is being endorsed as sufficient for almost any 
catalog query.

In the first paper, Bade talks of the purposes of libraries, of the designs of 
systems and their subsequent uses, of successes and failures of organizations. 
He guides us through ergonomics, goals and standards, and into high reliability 
organizations (HROs). In the picture he paints, today's research libraries are 
far from being HROs; instead of ensuring the accuracy of data input, they are 
placing emphasis on quantity and speed, opting to take on a repair service 
policy to handle only the most serious errors.

Bade provides as an in-depth example of bad policy the Classification on Receipt 
(COR) procedure at Cornell University Library. In that procedure the unstated 
assumptions include rapid processing as the only goal and keyword searching as 
the only search strategy needing support. Bade demonstrates that COR renders 
classification and shelf browsing meaningless, makes precise searching 
counterproductive, creates and disseminates misinformation, and propagates 
errors. By limiting the amount of work that can be done on an individual record, 
professionalism is devalued. And by adding substandard records to the OCLC 
database, other libraries are burdened with the task of upgrading those records, 
calling into question the nature of  cooperative  cataloging.

Bade makes it easy for the reader to see that under the current paradigm, the 
quality can only continue to decline: if every library creates brief records, 
and does not upgrade the brief records created by other libraries, in time all 
there will be is minimum level, everyone settling for less than mediocrity. It 
is difficult to avoid seeing a vicious circle: as libraries continue their 
attempts to do “more with less� by cutting staff and lowering standards, 
administrators are rewarded for their good work and asked to take it even 
further. The tragedy is that as cataloging production costs are reduced, 
information finding costs–for both library user and library staff–increase 
dramatically. If the data in the record are in error, are incomplete, do not use 
controlled vocabulary, or are in fields only accessed by general keyword 
searches, a resource might be found only with great difficulty, or perhaps not 
at all. The reliability of the system is suspect; a database is !
 only as reliable as the lowest quality data it contains. Or, as the author puts 
it, 'we have a First World information system crippled by Fourth World 
information lack.'�

There is a point that Bade just hints at in the first paper, and one wishes for 
elaboration: in reading his account of the trend toward acquisition (instead of 
local production) of bibliographic data, the reader might notice a parallel to 
the development of library technical systems themselves. Many of the systems 
were first created by libraries, then sold off to commercial enterprises. What 
had started out responding specifically to the library's needs now responds 
mainly to a corporate bottom line, and has slipped out of the librarians’ 
hands. In his book, Bade talks about librarians ceding control of the 
bibliographic data itself. Why is it so difficult for librarians to demand what 
is needed from the system vendors, and could the source of that difficulty also 
lie beneath part of the trends in cataloging and catalog maintenance? This is a 
topic that perhaps lies outside the scope of the present book (for sure such a 
discussion would have gone on a tangent in the area!
  of psychology), but would be worthy of further exploration.

The second paper in the book is Bade's letter to AUTOCAT, delivering a 
blistering critique of the LC series policy. For regular readers of that email 
list this is a repeat, but well worth rereading. Its location in the book is a 
bit curious, however; it would seem to have fit better at the beginning, in 
proper chronological context and as a prelude to the major work.

The third paper contrasts the goal of bibliographic data, communication (i.e., 
the bibliographic record having something to say, and the catalog user 
comprehending it), with the LC Working Group’s apparent theory of 
librarianship, data transport (i.e., in Bade’s words, “data are not created 
for people but for processing by applications�). In Bade’s analysis, an 
emphasis on data transport results in structures and standards that impede the 
goal of communication. There needs to be a better understanding of what the 
users and uses of the catalog are, and a better understanding of what technology 
can and cannot do. We are relying on increasingly sophisticated computer 
programs to mine the catalog data, yet we are at the same time ever more 
reluctant to supply the actual data. It is as if everyone has forgotten the old 
axiom “garbage in, garbage out�.

Bade’s research is quite extensive–the bibliography in the first paper lists 
175 items over 17 pages!–and his arguments are supported by discussions in 
areas such as philosophy, ergonomics, and TQM. His highly academic writing style 
may not be the usual for readers whose main professional reading diet is along 
the lines of American Libraries; but those who might find it challenging at 
first are advised to stay with it, for they will find their effort repaid in 
full. As one who is always compelled to follow a reference, this reviewer was 
quite pleased to see the use of actual footnotes, eliminating the need to keep a 
finger stuck in the back of the book. (In the first paper, the footnotes are 
copious and substantial, and should not be missed.) The third paper is 
accompanied by reproductions of the handouts from the LC Working Group meeting; 
it is unfortunate, however, that the screen prints which originally appeared on 
8.5 x 11 in. sheets have been shrunk to fit pages half that size, so the print is tiny and slightl fuzzy (readers with excellent eyesight will not have too much trouble). Attendees at the Working Group meeting 
were expected to have read the background papers, and readers of this book may 
want to do the same. The URLs for the papers are given in the bibliography, 
under 'Fallgren'�.

Responsible Librarianship is very highly recommended for anyone interested in 
bibliographic control and the role of the catalog in libraries and scholarship. 
It is especially recommended for cataloging managers, technical services 
administrators, and library school faculty, but is of interest to anyone who 
cares deeply about the future of science and scholarship.

Reviewed by Kevin M. Randall, Principal Serials Cataloger, Northwestern 
University Library, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2300
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