Copyloading

That's what I do, a term I thought of putting together copycataloging and downloading bibliographic records straight into our database at the click of a mouse button.

Cataloging has never been easier for me thanks to our library's subscription to Kinetica - a national database of materials in Australian libraries. Click here for a background on Kinetica.

Our library uses Unicorn Workflows from SirsiDynix and as a subscriber to Kinetica, there is a function within the Cataloging module that automatically connects to the Kinetica portal. I just type in the ISBN - among other searchable fields that include AMICUS (I still have to determine what this is), Author, Title, General, ISSN, and Subject - and a search is generated and the result/s is/are displayed on screen. I then select the matching record (a title can have multiple entries), click on the 'Capture' button and the entire MARC record is downloaded to our database. Finally, I save the record after modifying some bibliographic information to fit our policies. It's that easy.

This leads me to the state of cataloging in the Philippines. I wonder what happened to the meeting of cataloging experts held middle of this month? I hope something tangible resulted from that meeting especially because they were supposed to come up with policies for a national cataloging standard.

I could not over-emphasize the importance of coming up with a national standard as it will make the job of cataloging Filipiniana materials a lot, lot easier. And if the Phillippine National Library, with the help of catalogers in other library institutions and a lot of support from stakeholders, can have something similar to what Libraries Australia has other than a searchable database, it will be a big, big step forward for Philippine librarianship. However, some catalogers I know would be out of part-time jobs should this happen, but hey, it's for the good of the majority.

I still do original cataloging for other materials not in the database including audio-visuals and I look forward to the challenge each time.