Research Visit - Barbican Public Lending Library
When I established my research problem and questions, I had visited two of the libraries I would be studying (The London Library and the British Library), yet I knew next to nothing about my third library, the Barbican Library. In fact, pretty much all I knew was that it was the largest public lending library in London. I'd selected it upon the suggestion of Prof. Griffis, trusting his judgement.
Our visit to the Barbican wasn't until our last week of classes and I wanted to establish somewhat of a rapport with staff before I contacted them to ask questions about cataloguing and classification at the library. For me, and I expect many others, some libraries just sit well. They're inviting, cozy, warm places, made so by their staff and surroundings, that give a sense of being at home. I instantly felt this way at the Barbican, much to my pleasure. Our guides Geraldine and Jonathan were incredibly friendly, funny, and even had a refreshments break mid-tour for juice and delicious British biscuits (what we Americans call cookies)! I was excited to know I would be doing research on such a lovely library.
The Barbican Centre, where the main branch of the library is located
Inside the Barbican
Geraldine was kind enough to arrange a meeting for me with Nick Slough, the library's cataloguer. When I met Nick a few days later, I found his job title was not so clear-cut as cataloguer of the Barbican Library. Nick is part of a team of cataloguers who work for the City of London Libraries, which is comprised of the three branches of the Barbican, the City Business Library and the Guildhall Library. The staff also catalogues for the London Metro Archives. Nick specializes in the Guildhall Library and London Metro Archives but like the others whom he works with, he does cataloguing for any of the City of London Libraries. Therefore the Barbican does not have its own cataloguing staff, but neither do any of the other libraries in the system.
American dictionaries have been telling me I've spelled this wrong for years - finally vindicated, thanks to the Barbican!
Nick explained to me that in recent years cataloguing in the City of London Libraries has changed quite a bit. Previously the staff would have catalogued the item independent of the supplier-given Dewey Decimal number that comes when an item is bought and also would have classified the item themselves. Today the library relies on supplier records when the material is purchased - in fact, the cataloguing team generally does not even see the item when it arrives. This gets items out to patrons quicker and cuts back on the workload created by cataloguing from scratch (not to mention saves money), but of course it has drawbacks. Supplier numbers are capped at three figures, which narrows the amount of specificity on the cataloguing record. Using supplier numbers also limits how well adapted the Dewey numbers are to what is already in the library - in essence, the ability to interpret how to best catalogue and classify an item in terms of the Barbican's collection is lost. Nick explained that the Barbican is a little more unique than other City of London Libraries - cataloguing numbers are still being altered. This does not look to be long-term, however, as the move is to go in the same direction as the other libraries in the system and simply take the supplier record as is (the exception to this are items in the art and music collections). Another feature now virtually gone is the London Classification system, which in the past was used in combination with Dewey to create a record. Now the London Classification is only used as a shelf mark.
Although Nick stated that the Barbican and the other libraries in the City of London system were in a better position than most public libraries in the United Kingdom, with more funding since they part of the authority of the City of London, it was clear that public libraries in the UK are taking a similar approach to cataloguing and classification as American public libraries. Copy cataloguing accounts for most records in public libraries, being quicker and cheaper than cataloguing from scratch. But in talking with Nick and ruminating myself, I wondered if we aren't losing something bigger in the mix. There certainly needs to be a balance of finances and good use of time and effort, yet we can't forget one of our greatest jobs - to make items easily accessible to our patrons. I couldn't help feeling saddened after my meeting with Nick, as if a unique library function was somewhat lost to us now.