For all you people...

[telophase]

...who think that being a librarian is jsut about checking out and shelving books, here's a journal article on the complexities of cataloging manga series.

(Me? I barely got through Cataloging by the skin of my teeth - don't ask me to go into detail on it. XD)

ETA: Just to point out rachelmanija's comment below on the, er, non-library-technical aspects of the article.

(and that should get some nice raging discussion going on here in the comments to entertain me for the rest of the day.)

Comments

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is fascinating--thank you very much for the link!

[happily took to Cataloging like a duck to water]

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I think my biggest problem with Cataloging was that I took it (a) online and (b) during the summer, so it was a very short semester - eight weeks. And because of this, the prof took ten items, all of which were weird in some way, and tried to teach us about the ins and outs of cataloging through them, but I need to have baseline 'normal' cataloging experience first before I can handle exceptions, and the items were nothing but exceptions.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I took it (a) online and (b) during the summer

...how weird, my Cataloging class was exactly the same--online, summer. But my prof. didn't break out the weird items till the end of the semester, when she'd already guided us (with plenty of handholding) through cataloging 'normal' books.

So in that case it's your professor's fault, not yours! :D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I am all down with blaming other people for my shortcomings! XD It's all her fault!

We were divided into groups and did everything as a group project, and luckily my group contained a librarian who'd been cataloging for years, who fixed our problems and explained to us what we were missing not that it stuck. A friend of mine in the smae class and group was having the same problems I did, and we'd end up IMing each other during the class chat sessions moaning and complaining and making snarky remarks. XD

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I count multiple incorrect statements in the first page.

1. "Anime" used when she means "manga."

2. Manga series never end. (It seems like at least half of them do come to a conclusive, and frequently pre-planned, end.)

3. They all focus on the battle between good and evil (WTF? Nana; Hana-Kimi; Barefoot Gen; Planetes; Hikaru no Go; etc)

4. Good always triumphs (Possibly, good triumphs more often than not. Possibly.)

5. "Imagination and creativity are not required" (of the reader). Which is why there is no such thing as fanfic or manga analysis.

6. Teens who read lots of manga won't be able to read regular books. (What a goddamn snob. Does she have any evidence for that?)

7. Manga are basically TV shows and video games in book format. (I would say that no, in fact, they are a very different medium from TV, which you can see by looking at the manga and anime versions of the same story, and not at all like video games, because if they were, they'd be choose-your-own-adventure.)

That's all on the first page, where I gave up.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Here's your contact address to complain:

TechKNOW is edited by Margaret Maurer, Assistant Professor and Head, Catalog and Metadata at Kent State University Libraries and Media Services. Anyone interested in writing articles, news, reviews, or announcements for TechKNOW should contact Margaret at mbmaurer@kent.edu or at 330-672-1702.

:D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

* The majority of the rest of the article is about the technical aspects of cataloging and is nothing much to worry you about, except for a paragraph near the conclusion, which I am posting here because your explosion is going to be so damn fun to watch:

"Publications like Classics Illustrated Comics are making a comeback with titles all of us read as kids and valiant attempts to introduce teen readers to authors as difficult as Proust. So perhaps, teens, like us, will climb the reading ladder and move on from graphic novels to serious adult fiction."

*raises shields*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Posted this to manga_talk. And am now contemplating writing a letter to the editor, although it needs to be carefully crafted to remove any potential of a "You're a fan and therefore biased" reply.

I think the bit that kicked me over the edge was going and rereading and noting on the second page that she says it's all Japanese, which of course makes me wonder about the piles of Korean and OEL stuff on my shelves.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I noticed this as well and I really think she is wrong. I grew up watching anime (Unico, Speedracer, the TOEI version of Swan Lake, and I know there are more.) and other then a girl who works at the library, I read way more then any other kid in my class. Hell I spent my allowance money every month going to the book store to buy the Animorphs books. My mom had to drive me to the mall every Saturday.

[rachel-renee.livejournal.com]

Someone else has HEARD of Unico? I loved that show as a child and have tried (unsuccessfully I might add) on numerous occasions to convince my husband of its existance! Do you happen to know if it is available anywhere?

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Plus the overall idea that, y'know, no adult would ever consider reading manga, since we all know anything illustrated with pictures is strictly for the teen-and-under crowd. [/sarcasm]

My cataloger's heart still jumps happily at the combination of manga and MARC tagging, but you're right, the author needs a good thump over the head with 'Manga 101'.

[sabotages own technical services career by writing a strongly-worded e-mail to the offending publication]

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

I have to say that my gut response to that article is something along the lines of 'Why would you write soemthing purporting to explain a niche genre to a more general population without doing basic research on that genre?' Never mind obscure sources, the ALA material on manga that I read what feels like forever ago was much clearer and more accurate and it's not like it would have been all that difficult for her to look up.

[tekenduis.livejournal.com]

CPL neatly sidestepped the entire issue by putting all the manga into a new section. Not Adult, not YA, not J.. they catalogued them all as GPX (Graphix) and put them into their own section. Such cheaters.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Oy. What a condescending litsnob. How much you want to bet that she's never actually opened the covers of those manga - NOT anime, thankyouverymuch - that she's supposed to be cataloging? And the "research", such as it is, is about as accurate as my cat's opinion of literary merit.

That said, I personally would catalog them as "fiction" - or, preferably, do what most libraries I know do and create a section just for manga and graphic novels.