Cataloging Correctly for Kids: An Introduction to the Tools and Practices

Cataloging library materials for children in the internet age has never been as challenging or as important. RDA: Resource Description and Access is now the descriptive standard, there are new ways to find materials using classifications, and subject heading access has been greatly enhanced by the keyword capabilities of today’s online catalogs. It’s the perfect moment to present a completely overhauled edition of this acclaimed bestseller. The new sixth edition guides catalogers, children’s librarians, and LIS students in taking an effective approach towards materials intended for children and young adults. Informed by recent studies of how children search, this handbook’s top-to-bottom revisions address areas such as

• how RDA applies to a variety of children’s materials, with examples provided;  
• authority control, bibliographic description, subject access, and linked data;
• electronic resources and other non-book materials; and
• cataloging for non-English-speaking and preliterate children.

Michele Zwierski is the manager of cataloging services for the Nassau Library System on Long Island, NY. After receiving her MLS from the University of North Texas, she practiced as a cataloger specializing in nonprint materials at academic libraries in Virginia, Connecticut, and Texas before joining the Austin Public Library as a branch manager. Michele has taught cataloging courses at the University of Texas at Austin and at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at LIU Post. In addition to her current cataloging and managerial responsibilities, she presents workshops on a variety of library service topics. Michele has been a long-standing supporter of the Cataloging of Children’s Materials Committee (CCMC) and is currently chair of the Dewey Editorial Policy Committee. She has contributed to several publications. She also plays bass in several community orchestras on Long Island, having earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a Master of Arts degree at the Yale School of Music before beginning her library career.

Joanna F. Fountain consults with librarians, especially those working with children’s and bilingual collections, and is an editor, contributor, and publisher of related publications. She taught at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), and online at San José State University, Sam Houston State University, and other universities. Previously she directed technical services at the university and school-district levels, and led Proyecto LEER at the Texas Woman’s University, where she earned her PhD. She organized several special libraries, was editorial director for Voluntad Publishers, a branch librarian for the Austin Public Library, and school librarian at Emerson Elementary School in Florida. She has compiled Subject Headings for School and Public Libraries, and co-authored editions of Unlocking the Mysteries of Cataloging: A Workbook of Examples. Born in Mexico and the daughter of missionary publishers, she attended Howard College (Samford University) in Birmingham, AL, and earned a BA from Syracuse University and an MLS from UT Austin. A member of the CCMC for many years, she is currently a member of the Texas Library Association and ALA. She loves being semi-retired, enjoying gardening, reading, and finally spending real time with her grown daughter and calico cat.

Marilyn McCroskey retired in November 2020 from Meyer Library, Missouri State University (MSU), Springfield, where she served as professor and head of cataloging. She holds a BS in education and an MA in English from MSU and an MA in library science from the University of Missouri. She joined the MSU faculty in 1981, after five years as a school librarian for grades 7–12. She regularly taught cataloging courses at MSU until 2014, when the LIS program was discontinued. Since 1981, her own cataloging work has included children’s nonbook materials for MSU’s Greenwood Laboratory School and for the curriculum resource center used by the College of Education. She first joined CCMC in 2008 and has served as a member for most of the years since (except as required by CCMC’s term limits). She authored a book on audiovisual cataloging, Cataloging Nonbook Materials with AACR2 and MARC: A Guide for the School Library Media Specialist, for the American Association of School Librarians in 1994, and a second edition in 1999, both of which were published by ALA. She has presented nonbook cataloging in-service sessions at conferences and school librarians’ meetings. In addition to her supervisory work, writing, and teaching, she served on the Cataloging in Publication (CIP) Advisory Group for the Library of Congress 2000–2020. She served as an elected member of the Marionville (Missouri) R-9 Board of Education for twenty-four years, ending this work in 2016. She has been a member of ALA, ALCTS, AASL, and OLAC. She lives with her husband on a dairy farm twenty-five miles southwest of Springfield, MO. She has three children, five grandchildren, and a greatgranddaughter. She enjoys reading mystery novels.