Hired as cataloger right out of grad school?

I was hired as a cataloguing librarian for a government library, and
started only weeks after my last semester of the MLS program ended
(beginning of January, 2007).  My previous experience was in two
practicum positions during my LIS coursework, as well as a cataloguing
position at a non-profit organization's resource library.  I found the
relocation to the government job wasn't for me, and went back on the
job market in a few months to seek a more local job.  I was hired by a
vendor after a couple of months.

To echo Mike and Scott, vendor work is a great environment for getting
to spend a lot of time in actual cataloguing...when I was working for
the government agency, a significant amount of time was spent in
committees, negotiating with different departments and external
vendors, and working out kinks in systems.  Since starting work at a
vendor, I've been able to concentrate my attention, honing a lot of
the cataloguing and language-comprehension skills that I wasn't able
to develop as fully in work concurrent with school.  There's also a
great variety of materials -- I'm cataloguing for a number of
different academic institutions in different countries, each with
different policies and specs.  It's consistently challenging.  The
main disadvantages of working in this area are in balancing quality
and quantity -- product (records) have to be shipped out, and I can't
afford to spend three hours on a single record without a very good
justification.  But in truth, that's the case for any environment --
time is money.

That's $0.02,

Benjamin Hockenberry
MLS, University at Buffalo
Cataloguing Librarian
Coutts Information Services
Niagara Falls, NY

On Nov 30, 2007 1:58 PM, Scott Piepenburg <spiepenburg@...> wrote:
> Having worked for more than a few vendors, I'd like to expand on Mike's
> comments:
>
> You find openings with vendors by networking, talking with them at
> their booths at ALA, by talking with their current staff.  I found my
> favorite vendor job by talking with someone at their booth at an ALA
> conference, but the others were simply in library journals, etc.
>
> Pluses:
>
> Incentive-based pay scales.  If you are confident in what you do, then
> you can often negotiate a better pay structure including incentives and
> bonuses.
> My experience has been that vendors pay a bit better and have somewhat
> better benefits, but that is my impression only.
> Ability to be creative; of course, there has to be revenue enhancement
> involved in this.
>
> Minuses:
> Sales.  You are slave to sales/cost accounting.  Everything you do,
> regardless of how "cool" it might be, has to make money.
> And lack of respect from the profession.  I personally knew of some
> librarians from the 3M corporate library that were shunned at
> conferences because everyone thought they were there to sell
> Tattle-tapes; to make things worse, they had to wear "vendor" badges to
> save on registration costs.
> Insecurity of employment: I was at a position where I was given two
> hours notice to be off company property.  Not the norm, but it exists.
>
> All in all, I prefer the vendor world.  It seems to suit my personality
> better; if you like it, then go for it.  On the other hand, some like
> the plodding, pedantic world of the university.
>
>
> Scott Piepenburg
> Library Systems Administrator
> Dallas Independent School District
> 972.925.4829
>
> "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
> numbered.  My life is my own." --No. 6.
>
> >>> Mike Tribby <mike.tribby@...> 11/30/2007
12:25 PM
>
> >>>
> A few answers off the top of my head (and with input from Mr Baldus):
>
> #1"where do people find openings with vendors?"
>
> The usual places: notices in library literature like American
> Libraries, at
> the ALA placement office at Conferences, perhaps the Chronicle of
> Higher
> Education, email discussion lists--probably not on Autocat, though.
> I'd
> suggest you contact vendors individually. Turnover isn't particularly
> rapid
> here, but we have a very small staff. Other vendors might be looking
> for new
> catalogers at any time.
>
> #2"What are the advantages and disadvantages of working for a vendor?"
>
> Advantages: work with a variety of popular materials, the opportunity
> to
> work in both Dewey and LC Classification, cataloging all the time
> rather
> than spending time doing other librarian thangs like staffing the
> reference
> or circulation desks, adherence to national standards rather than
> local
> practices (depending on the vendor), not having to deal with the
> public, the
> possibility of cyber-commuting, the thrill of sales deadlines.
>
> Disadvantages: perhaps a certain perceived lack of respect within the
> cataloging community, constant demands by management that materials be
> processed faster (this may not really be limited to vendor cataloging
> anymore...), the very real possibility of low pay or inferior benefits
> (depending on the vendor), not being allowed by management to
> publically
> participate in professional discussions like email discussion lists
> (depending on the vendor), the thrill of sales deadlines.
>
>
>
> Mike Tribby
> Senior Cataloger
> Quality Books Inc.
> The best thing about the Ramones was that they never introduced a song
> by
> saying "We'd like to slow things down a little..."
>
> mailto:mike.tribby@...

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