Bad News From the Lilbrary of Congress

Frankly, this has been a lousy day. One reason is this article about changes at the Library of Congress. When I read the article, I became livid. Apparently, a report commissioned by LC recommends sweeping changes in cataloging procedures, including redefining the "gold standard of quality service" to mean "fast turnaround and delivery of library materials to users...not the fullness of catalog data." The report also recommended that LC dismantle the Library of Congress Subject Headings system. One change that has already been announced is that LC catalog records will no longer indicate when a book is part of a series; no series authority records will be created in the future. Most academic libraries in the United States rely on LC records as the backbone of their cataloging operations. The changes in LC policy would have far-reaching implications for the scholarly community and are deplorable.