Computing aids with potential applications in telecommuting : local developments in serials cataloging

Abstract

Change is nothing new to the serials cataloger. Changes in titles and frequencies are all too common in the physical manifestations of many serials. Discrepancies in numberings are almost to be expected, and challenges to the cataloging rules are frequent as titles present new twists to interpreting Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd edition, 1988 revision (AACR2R). However, the biggest change of late, is the carrier of the resources available to serials catalogers to help do the work. The development of the cataloger's workstation and its connection to the Internet have expanded the serials cataloger's work resources beyond the local desk and reference shelves to the world-wide cooperative ventures through telecomputing. This article describes telecomputing as the use of an Internet browser and some locally developed technological applications through a Local Area Network (LAN) acessed through the cataloger's workstation that provide seamless links to cataloging resources and communications' options. Although the catalogers at Northwestern University Library (NUL), Evanston, Illinois, have not yet experimented with telecommuting to work, the applications described would greatly enhance cataloging processes from a remote location.