Arlene G. Taylor (born December 22, 1941) is Professor Emerita from the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, where she taught for 12 years prior to retiring, and holds an honorary appointment as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science. Her career as a library school educator lasted more than 30 years, and included teaching at Columbia University and the University of Chicago.
She is lead author or co-author of widely-used texts, including Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (6th to 11th editions) and The Organization of Information (four editions). She has an extensive publication record of refereed articles, books and book chapters, and research reports, and she has given more than 90 guest presentations for national, state, and regional library associations, as well as library schools.
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| Arlene G. Taylor presenting a lecture on controlled vocabulary at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
Taylor's international activities include serving as a workshop leader, teacher, and/or consultant in Brazil, England, Thailand, and Israel. For her work in the latter two countries, she received Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Grants. She has held leadership positions on many professional association committees, including the ALA/ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Committee (Chair, 1995–1998) and the ALA/ALCTS/CCS Subject Analysis Committee (Chair, 1992–1994).
Her professional contributions have been recognized with the ALA/ALCTS Margaret Mann Citation, the ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award for The Organization of Information, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science Alumni Association, among other honors.
Prior to earning her Ph.D. at UNC, she had worked in libraries as a school librarian and as a cataloger at the Library of Congress, Christopher Newport College (now University), and Iowa State University.
Taylor longed to return to North Carolina from the time she left in 1981. After she retired from teaching, she and her husband moved to Chapel Hill in 2007. She continues to write, working with former students on research articles and on new editions of her textbooks. She also enjoys “cataloging” her many pictures of parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents, and their families.¹
Contents
- Early Life, Education, and Career
- Teaching
- International Contributions
- Research and Writing
- Contributions to ALA
- Summary of Educational Qualifications
- Summary of Work Experience
- Personal Life
- Honors and Awards
- Grants Received
- Professional Activities
- Present Memberships
- National Offices and Chairs Held
- National Committee Memberships
- Past Memberships
- Board Memberships
- International Activity
- Papers and Workshops Presented
- Invited Participant in National Meetings
- Consulting
- Service Activities
- University of Pittsburgh
- Columbia University
- Rutgers University
- University of Chicago
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- North Carolina Central University
- Iowa State University
- Publications
- Books Authored
- Books Compiled/Edited
- Articles in Refereed Journals
- Research Reports
- Chapters in Edited Books/Proceedings
- Other Publications
- Reviews
- Contact Information
- Arlene G. Taylor in WorldCat Identities, VIAF, and LCNAF
- A Chronicle of Memoirs
EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION, AND CAREER
Arlene G. Taylor was born on December 22, 1941, in Iola, Kansas, USA. Taylor's parents were Rev. Stanley Forbes Taylor and Farol Haynes Taylor. Her father was a Baptist Minister. She had an older sister, Farolyn Taylor Hensley. When Arlene was 6 her family moved to Oklahoma where she grew up in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, went to college at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and then taught English and Spanish in junior high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a child, Arlene made pockets, check-out cards, and date due slips for all her children’s books and checked out the books to her dolls. In addition she worked in her high school library and college library as an assistant. Despite that, because of growing up when and where she did, she thought that females had basically three choices for what to do as an adult: teacher, nurse, or marriage and children. Then as a result of teaching in a junior high school where the school librarian was a woman, she realized that there was a fourth choice: librarian. When the school librarian retired, Arlene was given the opportunity by the school principal to be a teacher-librarian. To do this, she would have to take a course in library science each semester, and would have to teach one class a day. The rest of the time she would serve as the librarian. The class she taught was a Spanish class. The courses she took were cataloging courses, and she loved cataloging the books in the library and teaching the students to use the card catalog and to understand the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. Thus began her career as a cataloger, writer about cataloging, and teacher of cataloging.
In order to become a full-fledged librarian, Arlene decided to get a Master’s degree in Library Science. She attended the Graduate School of Library & Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and graduated with a Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) degree in 1966. She had thought she would study to become a school librarian, but her advanced cataloging course with Professor Kathryn Henderson (who passed on her own love of cataloging) made Arlene decide to specialize in organizing and cataloging library materials. Arlene’s first position after library school was as a Descriptive Cataloger at the Library of Congress (LC). Because of her college minor in Spanish and because she had taught junior high school Spanish, she was assigned to catalog books in Spanish and Portuguese. The experience of cataloging at the Library of Congress meant that she learned to create the cataloging “copy” that was used by most US libraries as the basis for their card catalogs. She learned the how and why of many of LC’s practices. Learning to follow the rules as LC interpreted them, and learning to integrate her cataloging into a catalog of millions of existing catalog cards set her up for life in being able to answer questions about why things were done as they were. She had no difficulty in finding a job upon moving to Newport News, Virginia, because having worked at LC opened doors easily. As Assistant Director of the Library at Christopher Newport College (now University), one of her responsibilities was to do all of the original cataloging required there.
In 1970, she returned to the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, this time with two very small children. She went to talk to the University’s library cataloging department about a possible position. Upon learning that she would have to catalog with LC copy for a year in order to learn local practices, she was a bit incensed that she had worked at LC creating LC copy, but now she would have to spend a year typing headings on LC cards. So she went to talk to the Dean of the library school. Because the cataloging professor—the one who had been Arlene’s professor when she was a student there—was about to go on sabbatical, Arlene was offered the opportunity to teach those courses while she was gone. Teaching cataloging in graduate school turned out to be the perfect way to combine her past education and experience. In addition it allowed her to be at home with her young children while grading papers and preparing for classes.
Arlene’s next position was as Assistant Head of the Catalog Department of the Library at Iowa State University. There she coordinated and supervised the catalogers of the monographic cataloging section. In the summers, she was invited back to the University of Illinois to teach in summer school. The experience solidified her desire to teach cataloging full time. And so she moved to North Carolina to enter the PhD program in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina. While waiting for the then-new PhD program to get underway, Taylor taught in the Library Science program at nearby North Carolina Central University. She also finished her first book which she had started writing while at Iowa State University: Cataloging with Copy.
When she entered the PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977, there was no one teaching cataloging there full time—only adjuncts. Her program advisor was Dr. Lester Asheim, a wonderful person and great teacher, after whom she later tried to model her teaching. He agreed to be her advisor for her dissertation because he felt that she already knew quite a lot about cataloging—she just needed help with how to write a dissertation. She really wanted to do a study of online catalogs, comparing them with card catalogs, but in 1978 there were no complete catalogs online yet. There were a lot of name-title catalogs, based on what had been entered into circulation systems of the day; but none had subject access. When reading about the new cataloging rules, Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2), she learned that the Library of Congress had estimated that approximately 49% of the existing MARC records would need to have headings updated to bring them into line with AACR2, but administrators did not know how to apply that projection to the records of any library other than LC. What would happen to the necessity for changing headings during the first years of implementation of AACR2, and would the rate of change decrease over time? That seemed like a good dissertation topic! She decided to sample headings in a small academic library, a medium-sized academic library, and a large academic library and determine whether those sample headings would have to be changed to agree with AACR2. Her research showed that if library catalogers were to wait until a name needed to be used in cataloging to change that name in the catalog, then the first year’s changes would be a lot less than the figure from LC. Further, a name could be different from what it would have been in previous rules, but if there were no entries for that name already in the catalog, it would not be an issue. And if LC copy were to be accepted as it came, without changing a heading until LC changed it, there would be even further reduction (i.e., leaving the changes for the first year at: 3.6% - large; 2.9% - medium; 0.5% - small). The reason changes were such an issue at this time was that if a library wanted to have an integrated catalog with all new entries interfiled with pre-1981 entries, then headings on cards already in the catalog had to be erased and retyped, or cross references had to be made between two groups of cards; although if the change were very slight, such as addition of a date, then the cards could be interfiled.
People began hearing about Arlene’s findings, and she was invited all over the USA to speak. This was not a typical reaction to a library science dissertation! The most influential invitation was to speak at the American Library Association (ALA) annual meeting in 1981. It turned out to be quite a popular topic—the very large room did not even have standing room for another person. In 1982 she published her dissertation in book form: AACR2 Headings: A Five-Year Projection of Their Impact on Catalogs.
In order to determine whether the dissertation’s findings turned out to be correct, catalogers at the library at Iowa State University, where Arlene had been Assistant Head of the Catalog Department decided to keep statistics on how many changes had to be made in their catalogs due to AACR2. That library was comparable to the medium-sized library in her study. Barbara Paff, Head of Catalog Maintenance there, and Arlene analyzed the data and found that the difference between the dissertation’s projection and their actual cataloging was statistically insignificant. This finding was published in: “Looking Back: Implementation of AACR 2,” Library Quarterly 56, no. 3 (July 1986): 272–285.
The importance of the findings in Arlene’s dissertation was once remarked upon by Michael Gorman who said in a public presentation that Arlene Taylor almost single-handedly got AACR2 implemented, because her dissertation research made it seem reasonable to do. In Gorman’s autobiography, Broken Pieces, he said, “Probably the most valuable articles in favor of AACR2 were contributed by Arlene Taylor, who had, unlike most of the other contributors to the debate, done some research that showed it was cost-effective to implement AACR2” (p. 200).
Teaching
Dr. Taylor held three full-time teaching positions after receiving her PhD—at the University of Chicago (1981-86), Columbia University (New York City, 1986-93), and the University of Pittsburgh (1993-2005). The first two schools were closed (in 1987 and 1993 respectively) because the administration at each University decided that because everything was going to be in computers, there would be no more need for libraries!
During Dr. Taylor’s teaching career, cataloging changed a great deal. The most obvious change was going from card catalogs to online catalogs. At first she had to teach how to type catalog cards. (Does anyone remember card platens for typewriters that had a metal strip along the length of the platen to hold down the edge of the card?) Gradually schools began teaching the entry of records into MARC paper forms and then into MARC computer forms. Of course, then the teaching of the MARC format had to be added to the teaching of cataloging rules, but after awhile, professors no longer had to spend as much time on filing rules. Cataloging rules change constantly, so that was always a change from year to year. In addition LC began to be more responsive to the subject needs of catalog users, with the result that there was more emphasis on the hierarchical logic of notes, references, and relationships. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) became more thesaurus-like, which led to the teaching of thesauri, ontologies, and other such subject arrangements. LC Classification (LCC) became more than just a list of numbers assigned to topics. The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) had to find hierarchically logical places to insert new concepts, such as “the Internet,” while also trying to overcome bias in parts of the schedule, such as the religion schedule being overwhelmingly devoted to Christianity. And finally, all of these things moved into the world of metadata.
Another change was that of gradually taking into account the ways cataloging is done in places other than libraries, such as in archives and museums, or on the Internet. Along with this was the understanding that the introductory cataloging course, which was a required course in almost all Library and Information Science (LIS) schools, needed to address the real life situations that the students were going to face. Most of them were not going to be catalogers. Some were going to become catalogers or metadata librarians, but others were going to become reference librarians, library administrators, acquisition librarians, information technology specialists, archivists, museum curators, subject information specialists, and so on. Many of them were also going to be creating, using, and/or providing access to bibliographies, indexes, finding aids, registers, and all kinds of databases, including catalogs. These students needed to learn about all the ways of organizing information so that they could support creation of all kinds of retrieval tools in whatever settings they would find positions after graduation. Dr. Taylor had adjusted her introductory course to reflect this understanding through the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and finally she wrote her lectures into a book that was published in 1999 (The Organization of Information), and for which she received the ALA Highsmigh Library Literature Award in 2000. The book has gone through three additional revisions, the 4th ed. having been co-authored by her former student, Daniel Joudrey, who is now a professor at Simmons University.
Yet another change during Dr. Taylor’s teaching career was the addition of “automation” to cataloging and technical services courses. The first automation courses in the 1970s were quite primitive automation compared to what we have today! Dr. Taylor taught students to write simple programs that were “punched” (typed) into keypunch cards. The program cards were followed by cards with the data to be counted, and the whole pack had to be submitted to the mainframe computer. Then there was a wait until the next day to get the results, and if there had been even a tiny error on one of the program cards, that card had to be repunched, and the submission and wait process had to be repeated. The MARC format had been created in 1968, and by the late 1970s MARC was used largely to code records through OCLC for printing cards for card catalogs. It was also used to code records for book catalogs and for microfilm catalogs. There were a few online catalogs (name access and title access only) in mini-computers. Mini-computers were largely used for circulation systems, and MARC was not usually the method of coding records for circulation until after online catalogs became more common and an effort was made to use the same records for both circulation and catalogs. Some students were quite quick to catch on to automation concepts, but others found it difficult. By the end of the 1990s, however, students applying for library studies knew that online systems were to be an integral part of their studies.
Finally, the change that is currently happening in Schools in the USA is of major concern to Dr. Taylor. The current “iSchools” have dropped many library science courses, especially cataloging courses and school library courses. The School of Information Sciences at University of Pittsburgh, for example, has recently combined with the University’s Department of Computer Science to become the School of Computing and Information. What was the Library and Information Science Program of that school is now the Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship (ICDS). The other two departments in the recently combined school are Computer Science, and Informatics and Network Systems. The news release about this stated that a “growing number of other universities around the country … have reorganized their programs in similar ways.” The dean emphasized a shift to embracing big data, data analytics, and an interaction between computation and information as being what is driving the department merger. Although the MLIS is still mentioned on the web page for the newly named ICDS department, and the fact that the program is ALA-accredited is emphasized, “Library” is no longer in any part of the school or department name. As library science professors retire from these reorganized schools around the country, many are being replaced by other kinds of scientists. Just as library schools survived the spate of school closings in the 1980s (at University of Chicago, Columbia University, Emory University, and about ten others), perhaps library science programs will survive the current reorganizations. If they are to survive, the facts must be emphasized: libraries currently are packed with users—people reading, people waiting to use the computers, students following up on research mentioned by their teachers/professors, children attending story hours, people researching genealogy, people attending community information programs, and so forth. These libraries need librarians who have learned the latest technology, the latest advances in organizing information, and best practices in serving library users.
While discussing changes over time, it should be noted that there were changes in library school students’ attitudes toward cataloging, or metadata provision generally, during Dr. Taylor’s teaching career. When she first started teaching in the early 1970s, introductory cataloging was a required course, and a majority of students dreaded it. They had to learn to type catalog card sets, as well as learn what seemed to many to be arcane rules for creating the records and for filing cards into catalogs. Authority control also began to be introduced, and soon MARC encoding was added. Dr. Taylor did try to enliven her course by such things as having students catalog themselves. For example, she asked: What is your title? Who is your author? What is your edition statement? What was your date of publication? What is your physical description? Where would you be classified in DDC and in LCC? Most students enjoyed this way of looking at the rules, because in such an exercise there are not “right answers,” but there are “right” ways of understanding what kinds of data should be placed into each of these fields. However, students still dreaded the course and claimed not to understand why it was required for everyone. Several told Dr. Taylor about librarians they knew prior to attending library school who told them that they would enjoy everything except cataloging, and they would just have to grit their teeth and get through that course somehow. However, around the turn of the century, as the concept of organizing all kinds of information took hold, and as metadata moved online and into many less rigid formats, one could see attitudes changing. It was around that time that when students gave their oral reports at the end of a semester, they had a great deal of fun shouting METADATA! every time it was appropriate to use the word “metadata” in their reports. There came to be more interest in understanding the theory, principles, standards, and tools behind information organization in all types of environments.
Another major area of change for Dr. Taylor was in the area of subject analysis and involved her having to develop an entirely new view of what a subject is. When she first entered the field, she viewed subject analysis as the process of finding the “right” heading(s) in the Sears List of Subject Headings (as a school librarian) and then in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) list (as an academic librarian). And then one had to find the “right” notation in the Dewey Decimal Classification or the Library of Congress Classification. Cataloging at the Library of Congress was divided into separate Descriptive Cataloging and Subject Cataloging departments. When Taylor worked there she was assigned to Descriptive Cataloging, so she did not learn the principles behind LCSH and LCC as applied at LC, although she had learned some theory of subject analysis in library school. She says she didn’t make much progress in her understanding of subjects and aboutness until she started teaching. Even then she didn’t make a lot of progress at first, partly because the cataloging profession in the USA at the time was more engrossed with descriptive cataloging rules. Most academic and other research libraries did not even place subject references in their catalogs, because there was a strongly held belief that real scholars should search for authors and titles, not subjects. Many school and public libraries also did not add references, because they did not have full-time catalogers and they purchased card sets ready to file from H.W. Wilson or other vendors. Dr. Taylor later came to hope that she did not damage her early students too much. It was while writing the subject chapters in the seventh edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, published in 1985, that really made a difference. For the sixth edition, 1980, a third co-author wrote the subject chapters while Dr. Taylor did the descriptive chapters. For the seventh edition, though, Dr. Taylor edited the whole thing. She was forced to really pay attention to the work of Charles Cutter in the nineteenth century in the United States; to Ranganathan’s Colon Classification in the early to mid-twentieth century, which used a truly faceted approach; and the long tradition of British subject analysis, including Brown’s Subject Classification, Bliss’ Bibliographic Classification, and the work of the British Classification Research Group. She finally began seeing subject analysis as a serious scholarly way to provide access to library materials. The process of determining aboutness did not really receive her attention until the eighth edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, published in 1992, the seventh edition having a chapter on Subject Arrangement of Library Materials instead. While the title of the chapter remained the same in the eighth edition, the introduction to subject analysis increased from one page in the seventh edition to four pages in the eighth; in the ninth edition, published in 2000, the chapter was retitled Subject Access to Library Materials. Going on at the same time as the seventh edition onward were Dr. Taylor’s two decades (1990–2009) of serving on ALA’s Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) and its subcommittees, and also serving on the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee. So she had lots more reason to learn about subject analysis than when serving on descriptive cataloging or administrative-type committees.
Another major change in Dr. Taylor’s understanding of what a subject is, and what aboutness is, concerned the place of form/genre terms in a subject heading string. She gradually came to understand that, while a user might have fully understood that Cats—Behavior represented a resource about the behavior of cats, and Cats—Bibliography represented a resource that gives a list of resources about cats, the fact that both types of subdivisions were coded $x in MARC did not allow a computer system to automatically give users works about some specific aspects of cats (such as behavior, diseases, or nutrition) separately from giving users works that are forms or genres of resources about cats (such as bibliographies, pictorial works, or fiction). Coming to understand that form/genre terms are not subjects was very difficult for the profession. So Dr. Taylor did quite a bit of writing about this topic. She also added to her website a large section devoted to all the documents that were generated during the process of bringing to fruition the development of ways to distinguish form/genre from subject/aboutness.
Dr. Taylor’s getting a new subdivision subfield code for form/genre ($v) through MARBI (the committee in ALA that was responsible for the MARC format) in 1995 is a story that is not widely known. As already mentioned, she served on the Subject Analysis Committee from 1990 to 1994 (as Chair from 1992 to 1994). One of SAC’s Subcommittees was on Form Data (1991–94) and she served on that as well. Coming to understand that form terms should not be coded with the same character as subject subdivisions was not easy for the profession. During the discussions of the Form Data Subcommittee, people on each side of the issue were sometimes quite emotional. Finally, though, the Form Data Subcommittee and then SAC decided that the arguments demonstrating that users needed computers to sort their subject retrievals with a breakdown of the subject by form/genre separate from the breakdown by further subject aspects won out over the “it will cost too much” argument and the “is all of this worth it” question. When the subfield v ($v) proposal was to be discussed and voted on at a MARBI meeting, Dr. Taylor, who had been charged to attend the meeting and defend the proposal, was being told by folks who knew MARBI members that it was not likely to pass—that most MARBI members fell into the “it will cost too much” camp. She believes it would not have passed when it did were it not for an insight that came to Dr. Taylor in the shower (!) as she was getting ready to go to the MARBI meeting that day! In thinking about what she would say, she suddenly remembered that the charge to MARBI included something to the effect that MARBI was supposed to assist other committees of ALA in carrying out their needs with regard to the MARC format (“To encourage the creation of needed standards for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information,” to be exact). It occurred to her that she should remind the committee of their charge and point out to them that SAC had been through all the pros and cons and had determined that the new subfield code was what was needed to help identify form/genre terms for users. SAC was asking MARBI for assistance in accomplishing this, not for their permission to distinguish these terms. Before she spoke, the discussion and questions from MARBI members made her feel very discouraged, but then, as she spoke, she could see something like realization spreading across the faces of MARBI members. The vote was taken soon after she spoke, and there was only one vote against it. Dr. Taylor believes $v to be her second most important contribution to librarianship (her dissertation on AACR2 headings being her first), because after her success with AACR2 in 1981, her friend Charles Simpson took her to lunch. He said to her then that she had just gotten her PhD and still had many years ahead of her, but she had already done what many folks only accomplish after a professional lifetime. He asked her, “What are you going to do for an encore?” She knows that almost no one knows about the $v story, and many would say she had done a lot of other things that folks would consider to be more important, but she has thought of $v as her “encore”!
International contributions
Although most of Dr. Taylor’s teaching was in the United States, she also had the opportunity to do some teaching in other countries. In 1978-79, she went to Brazil at the invitation of her sister and brother-in-law to teach people to catalog books for a new seminary library. They wanted a library that would have a circulating collection, because their students would be coming in from rural areas, and they wanted those students to be able to take books back with them for study. Few if any libraries in Brazil at the time had circulating collections, so there was little experience there to draw on. Taylor was able to teach some of the local folks to catalog the books by writing out catalog “cards” as they watched. They could see where to place the title, the author(s), the publishing information, the description, etc. Then for subject headings, she relied on her sister to translate to the “catalogers” what was said about how to determine aboutness and choose subject headings from a list in Portuguese. In order to create a circulating collection, Taylor helped them to design pockets, check-out cards, and date due slips, and then take the designs to a printer, because they could not purchase these items already made, as libraries did in the USA. Ordering them from the USA would have taken weeks, if not months, not to mention the cost of shipping. With all these challenges, Taylor found it rewarding to see the catalog beginning to take shape before returning home. She was rewarded again nineteen years later when visiting and was able to see the library and its catalog in existence and in heavy use in the Seminary building.
Twenty years after the experience in Brazil, Dr. Taylor took a sabbatical at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, England. Her project was to redesign their website. They had a site that consisted of separate URLs that were not categorized or linked. Although this was actually the state of the majority of websites at that time, libraries were working to provide organized sites, just as they provided organized collections. Dr. Taylor created a design, but she was not expected to write the programs that would make the pages appear in that form, even though she did write all her syllabi in html “from scratch” at the time, along with her own entire website; but it would have required a year instead of a semester’s sabbatical to write the html for the Bodleian website! Several months after returning home, she was able to look up the Bodleian site and see her design at work. The experience was helpful in her teaching, because it helped her widen her view of cataloging to have more of the approach of “organizing information.” She also was able to expand the coverage of her courses to include the idea of designing technical services websites.
In 2002 and 2004, Dr. Taylor conducted workshops in Thailand and Israel, respectively. In Thailand she was asked to teach two workshops. One was intended to teach online cataloging (e.g., using OCLC) to librarians who came from around the country to Suranaree University of Technology to attend the workshop. The second was to teach university professors the use of Blackboard for web-based instruction. In Israel she was asked to teach two workshops—one on metadata, one on ontologies and taxonomies—and a colloquium on modern tools for organizing information. The workshops were attended by master’s and doctoral students from the Information Science Department of Bar-Ilan University, Tel-Aviv, some faculty who were teaching in the area, and practicing professional catalogers, database managers, bibliographers, and library managers from around the country. The colloquium was attended by many Information Science Department faculty members and students and also by librarians from the area. As had been the case in Brazil, language was a small issue. The attendees in both Thailand and Israel were much more fluent in understanding English than Dr. Taylor was in their languages, so she had to rely on translators to read or repeat the questions. Otherwise, however, attendees seemed to learn what they came for. And Dr. Taylor felt that she learned a great deal about two very different cultures!
In addition to these more lengthy stays in other countries while teaching, Dr. Taylor was invited to make presentations for conferences or for library school students. In September 1996, she made a presentation in Japan for a conference on the electronic information environment. In October 1997, she presented a paper and also met with students and faculty of the library school at the Universidade Federal de Goiás in Brazil. And finally, she presented a paper for an international authority control conference in Italy in February 2003.
Research and writing
Dr. Taylor’s research, publications, and professional presentations covered a wide range of topics over the years. Looking back, there were changes in emphasis over time. Starting with her first book in 1976, she always wrote about all of the topics of descriptive cataloging, subject cataloging, catalogs and other retrieval tools, and technical service aspects, because the books she wrote covered all these. But if one just looks at her research articles, it appears that there was a rather sudden shift around 1992 from descriptive cataloging to subject cataloging. It has already been said that she started serving on SAC in 1990 and became its chair in 1992. Because the implementation of AACR2 seemed at the time to have solved most of the problems of descriptive cataloging—which, of course, now is not quite true as libraries adjust to RDA—Dr. Taylor turned to research in the area of subject cataloging. These articles included looking at subject access to information in periodical indexes; form/genre research; ontologies/taxonomies; controlled vocabulary vs. keyword searching of titles, notes, and so forth; keyword searching of FAST vs. LCSH; and knowledge management systems. Interspersed among all these, though, there continued to be articles about authority control, system design, information organization, FRBR, and general cataloging/metadata issues, often because she was invited to speak on those particular issues, and then the speeches turned into articles. Also, she did a series of presentations and/or articles about teaching various aspects of cataloging: cataloging principles (1989), organization of electronic resources (2000), seriality (1977 and 2002), subject cataloging (2002), authority control (2004), and Dewey Decimal Classification (2006). A few of these projects and articles were accomplished with co-authors, some of whom were previous students of hers.
Dr. Taylor served as a major advisor and/or committee member for a number of doctoral dissertations in library science. These often presented challenges, but there were also rewards. There was always the reward of learning in depth about an area of cataloging/ librarianship that she had not delved into before. Sometimes the doctoral student’s research overlapped with hers, and in those cases, it was helpful to have that area already researched so that she could cite and build upon that work. A challenge she had was that about half of her doctoral dissertation advisees were from non-English-speaking countries, which meant that there were issues with their English to various degrees. But these students all produced excellent dissertations in the end. Dr. Taylor enjoyed the opportunities for co-authoring articles based on three dissertations at the University of Pittsburgh (those of Patrice Clemson, Ling-Ling Lai, and Daniel Joudrey) and a master’s paper at the University of Chicago (that of Mark Watson). Other students also rewrote and published their dissertations or master’s papers as articles, which made her proud!
Contributions to ALA
Dr. Taylor had several positions of responsibility in the American Library Association, particularly in ALCTS and LITA. Her first appointment was serving on the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA), ALA Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section (ALA/RTSD/CCS) (1977–81). She has said that appointment was awesome, partly because she was writing her dissertation during this time, and also because it was such a turning point in the cataloging profession. The CC:DA hearing on the AACR2 rule to catalog microforms as microforms, not as the books they are copies of, was hugely eye-opening. People got up to “testify” for their allotted time, and if not in tears when they started, many were in tears within a minute or two. They were so concerned for the users of these microforms – they thought that the users needed to have the original book date (e.g., 1872) in the publication area, not the copy date (e.g., 1975). Dr. Taylor was touched by the caring that was demonstrated by these speakers. That same situation taught her about ALA politics. The committee voted in a tie on the question of whether to recommend that LC follow the new rule to catalog microforms as the copy they are, not as if they are the original book. Even though the Chair thought that the new rule should be followed, she broke the tie on the side of not making that recommendation because she believed that if the vote were to follow the new rule, then RTSD would disband CC:DA and take the oversight of cataloging rules away from CCS.
Perhaps Dr. Taylor’s greatest contributions to ALA were while serving on and chairing the ALA Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Subject Analysis Committee, (ALA/ALCTS/CCS/SAC) (1990–94), and while chairing and serving on the ALA/ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Committee (CFFC), (1995–1999). In addition to serving on SAC itself, she served on various SAC subcommittees between 1990 and 2009. So she attended more than 25 years of SAC meetings, given that she had attended SAC meetings before she became a member, and continued attending as long as she could attend ALA meetings. As Chair of SAC, she put in place some procedures that continue to be followed today, such as not having SAC meetings at the same time as CC:DA meetings, because most catalogers do both subject and descriptive cataloging. The document numbering system used by SAC is another example. There were some important ALA meeting programs on subject analysis during Dr. Taylor’s years of service, including “Crisis in Subject Cataloging and Retrieval” in 1995, a pre-conference on subject cataloging of electronic resources in 1997, and a program on form/genre in 1997. And regional institutes on “Demystifying Subject Cataloging” were sponsored by SAC in 1995. The evaluation of Faceted Access to Subject Terminology (FAST) put on by the SAC FAST Subcommittee was extremely important, because of the adoption of FAST by many agencies, not necessarily libraries, that wanted to provide subject access to their documents. A major accomplishment of the Catalog Form and Function Committee (CFFC) during Dr. Taylor’s tenure was the series of “briefing papers” sponsored by CFFC that were published in the ALCTS Newsletter from 1994 to about 2000. These papers covered newer topics concerning catalogs that ALA members needed to know about, such as Z39.50, subject authority control on the Internet, and the form/genre subfield v implementation. The papers were brought together in a separate collection published by ALCTS in 2005, and Dr. Taylor wrote the introduction for that collection.
Although not specifically ALA related, Dr. Taylor also served on the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (2000–2008). She said that it felt like being in the forefront of classification progress to be able to discuss needed changes and new concepts with Committee members from various parts of the profession that make use of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Summary of Educational Qualifications
In order to become a full-fledged librarian, Arlene decided to get a Master’s degree in Library Science. She attended the Graduate School of Library & Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and graduated with a Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) degree in 1966. She had thought she would study to become a school librarian, but her advanced cataloging course with Professor Kathryn Henderson (who passed on her own love of cataloging) made Arlene decide to specialize in organizing and cataloging library materials. Arlene’s first position after library school was as a Descriptive Cataloger at the Library of Congress (LC). Because of her college minor in Spanish and because she had taught junior high school Spanish, she was assigned to catalog books in Spanish and Portuguese. The experience of cataloging at the Library of Congress meant that she learned to create the cataloging “copy” that was used by most US libraries as the basis for their card catalogs. She learned the how and why of many of LC’s practices. Learning to follow the rules as LC interpreted them, and learning to integrate her cataloging into a catalog of millions of existing catalog cards set her up for life in being able to answer questions about why things were done as they were. She had no difficulty in finding a job upon moving to Newport News, Virginia, because having worked at LC opened doors easily. As Assistant Director of the Library at Christopher Newport College (now University), one of her responsibilities was to do all of the original cataloging required there.
In 1970, she returned to the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, this time with two very small children. She went to talk to the University’s library cataloging department about a possible position. Upon learning that she would have to catalog with LC copy for a year in order to learn local practices, she was a bit incensed that she had worked at LC creating LC copy, but now she would have to spend a year typing headings on LC cards. So she went to talk to the Dean of the library school. Because the cataloging professor—the one who had been Arlene’s professor when she was a student there—was about to go on sabbatical, Arlene was offered the opportunity to teach those courses while she was gone. Teaching cataloging in graduate school turned out to be the perfect way to combine her past education and experience. In addition it allowed her to be at home with her young children while grading papers and preparing for classes.
Arlene’s next position was as Assistant Head of the Catalog Department of the Library at Iowa State University. There she coordinated and supervised the catalogers of the monographic cataloging section. In the summers, she was invited back to the University of Illinois to teach in summer school. The experience solidified her desire to teach cataloging full time. And so she moved to North Carolina to enter the PhD program in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina. While waiting for the then-new PhD program to get underway, Taylor taught in the Library Science program at nearby North Carolina Central University. She also finished her first book which she had started writing while at Iowa State University: Cataloging with Copy.
When she entered the PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977, there was no one teaching cataloging there full time—only adjuncts. Her program advisor was Dr. Lester Asheim, a wonderful person and great teacher, after whom she later tried to model her teaching. He agreed to be her advisor for her dissertation because he felt that she already knew quite a lot about cataloging—she just needed help with how to write a dissertation. She really wanted to do a study of online catalogs, comparing them with card catalogs, but in 1978 there were no complete catalogs online yet. There were a lot of name-title catalogs, based on what had been entered into circulation systems of the day; but none had subject access. When reading about the new cataloging rules, Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACR2), she learned that the Library of Congress had estimated that approximately 49% of the existing MARC records would need to have headings updated to bring them into line with AACR2, but administrators did not know how to apply that projection to the records of any library other than LC. What would happen to the necessity for changing headings during the first years of implementation of AACR2, and would the rate of change decrease over time? That seemed like a good dissertation topic! She decided to sample headings in a small academic library, a medium-sized academic library, and a large academic library and determine whether those sample headings would have to be changed to agree with AACR2. Her research showed that if library catalogers were to wait until a name needed to be used in cataloging to change that name in the catalog, then the first year’s changes would be a lot less than the figure from LC. Further, a name could be different from what it would have been in previous rules, but if there were no entries for that name already in the catalog, it would not be an issue. And if LC copy were to be accepted as it came, without changing a heading until LC changed it, there would be even further reduction (i.e., leaving the changes for the first year at: 3.6% - large; 2.9% - medium; 0.5% - small). The reason changes were such an issue at this time was that if a library wanted to have an integrated catalog with all new entries interfiled with pre-1981 entries, then headings on cards already in the catalog had to be erased and retyped, or cross references had to be made between two groups of cards; although if the change were very slight, such as addition of a date, then the cards could be interfiled.
People began hearing about Arlene’s findings, and she was invited all over the USA to speak. This was not a typical reaction to a library science dissertation! The most influential invitation was to speak at the American Library Association (ALA) annual meeting in 1981. It turned out to be quite a popular topic—the very large room did not even have standing room for another person. In 1982 she published her dissertation in book form: AACR2 Headings: A Five-Year Projection of Their Impact on Catalogs.
In order to determine whether the dissertation’s findings turned out to be correct, catalogers at the library at Iowa State University, where Arlene had been Assistant Head of the Catalog Department decided to keep statistics on how many changes had to be made in their catalogs due to AACR2. That library was comparable to the medium-sized library in her study. Barbara Paff, Head of Catalog Maintenance there, and Arlene analyzed the data and found that the difference between the dissertation’s projection and their actual cataloging was statistically insignificant. This finding was published in: “Looking Back: Implementation of AACR 2,” Library Quarterly 56, no. 3 (July 1986): 272–285.
The importance of the findings in Arlene’s dissertation was once remarked upon by Michael Gorman who said in a public presentation that Arlene Taylor almost single-handedly got AACR2 implemented, because her dissertation research made it seem reasonable to do. In Gorman’s autobiography, Broken Pieces, he said, “Probably the most valuable articles in favor of AACR2 were contributed by Arlene Taylor, who had, unlike most of the other contributors to the debate, done some research that showed it was cost-effective to implement AACR2” (p. 200).
Teaching
Dr. Taylor held three full-time teaching positions after receiving her PhD—at the University of Chicago (1981-86), Columbia University (New York City, 1986-93), and the University of Pittsburgh (1993-2005). The first two schools were closed (in 1987 and 1993 respectively) because the administration at each University decided that because everything was going to be in computers, there would be no more need for libraries!
During Dr. Taylor’s teaching career, cataloging changed a great deal. The most obvious change was going from card catalogs to online catalogs. At first she had to teach how to type catalog cards. (Does anyone remember card platens for typewriters that had a metal strip along the length of the platen to hold down the edge of the card?) Gradually schools began teaching the entry of records into MARC paper forms and then into MARC computer forms. Of course, then the teaching of the MARC format had to be added to the teaching of cataloging rules, but after awhile, professors no longer had to spend as much time on filing rules. Cataloging rules change constantly, so that was always a change from year to year. In addition LC began to be more responsive to the subject needs of catalog users, with the result that there was more emphasis on the hierarchical logic of notes, references, and relationships. Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) became more thesaurus-like, which led to the teaching of thesauri, ontologies, and other such subject arrangements. LC Classification (LCC) became more than just a list of numbers assigned to topics. The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) had to find hierarchically logical places to insert new concepts, such as “the Internet,” while also trying to overcome bias in parts of the schedule, such as the religion schedule being overwhelmingly devoted to Christianity. And finally, all of these things moved into the world of metadata.
Another change was that of gradually taking into account the ways cataloging is done in places other than libraries, such as in archives and museums, or on the Internet. Along with this was the understanding that the introductory cataloging course, which was a required course in almost all Library and Information Science (LIS) schools, needed to address the real life situations that the students were going to face. Most of them were not going to be catalogers. Some were going to become catalogers or metadata librarians, but others were going to become reference librarians, library administrators, acquisition librarians, information technology specialists, archivists, museum curators, subject information specialists, and so on. Many of them were also going to be creating, using, and/or providing access to bibliographies, indexes, finding aids, registers, and all kinds of databases, including catalogs. These students needed to learn about all the ways of organizing information so that they could support creation of all kinds of retrieval tools in whatever settings they would find positions after graduation. Dr. Taylor had adjusted her introductory course to reflect this understanding through the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and finally she wrote her lectures into a book that was published in 1999 (The Organization of Information), and for which she received the ALA Highsmigh Library Literature Award in 2000. The book has gone through three additional revisions, the 4th ed. having been co-authored by her former student, Daniel Joudrey, who is now a professor at Simmons University.
Yet another change during Dr. Taylor’s teaching career was the addition of “automation” to cataloging and technical services courses. The first automation courses in the 1970s were quite primitive automation compared to what we have today! Dr. Taylor taught students to write simple programs that were “punched” (typed) into keypunch cards. The program cards were followed by cards with the data to be counted, and the whole pack had to be submitted to the mainframe computer. Then there was a wait until the next day to get the results, and if there had been even a tiny error on one of the program cards, that card had to be repunched, and the submission and wait process had to be repeated. The MARC format had been created in 1968, and by the late 1970s MARC was used largely to code records through OCLC for printing cards for card catalogs. It was also used to code records for book catalogs and for microfilm catalogs. There were a few online catalogs (name access and title access only) in mini-computers. Mini-computers were largely used for circulation systems, and MARC was not usually the method of coding records for circulation until after online catalogs became more common and an effort was made to use the same records for both circulation and catalogs. Some students were quite quick to catch on to automation concepts, but others found it difficult. By the end of the 1990s, however, students applying for library studies knew that online systems were to be an integral part of their studies.
Finally, the change that is currently happening in Schools in the USA is of major concern to Dr. Taylor. The current “iSchools” have dropped many library science courses, especially cataloging courses and school library courses. The School of Information Sciences at University of Pittsburgh, for example, has recently combined with the University’s Department of Computer Science to become the School of Computing and Information. What was the Library and Information Science Program of that school is now the Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship (ICDS). The other two departments in the recently combined school are Computer Science, and Informatics and Network Systems. The news release about this stated that a “growing number of other universities around the country … have reorganized their programs in similar ways.” The dean emphasized a shift to embracing big data, data analytics, and an interaction between computation and information as being what is driving the department merger. Although the MLIS is still mentioned on the web page for the newly named ICDS department, and the fact that the program is ALA-accredited is emphasized, “Library” is no longer in any part of the school or department name. As library science professors retire from these reorganized schools around the country, many are being replaced by other kinds of scientists. Just as library schools survived the spate of school closings in the 1980s (at University of Chicago, Columbia University, Emory University, and about ten others), perhaps library science programs will survive the current reorganizations. If they are to survive, the facts must be emphasized: libraries currently are packed with users—people reading, people waiting to use the computers, students following up on research mentioned by their teachers/professors, children attending story hours, people researching genealogy, people attending community information programs, and so forth. These libraries need librarians who have learned the latest technology, the latest advances in organizing information, and best practices in serving library users.
While discussing changes over time, it should be noted that there were changes in library school students’ attitudes toward cataloging, or metadata provision generally, during Dr. Taylor’s teaching career. When she first started teaching in the early 1970s, introductory cataloging was a required course, and a majority of students dreaded it. They had to learn to type catalog card sets, as well as learn what seemed to many to be arcane rules for creating the records and for filing cards into catalogs. Authority control also began to be introduced, and soon MARC encoding was added. Dr. Taylor did try to enliven her course by such things as having students catalog themselves. For example, she asked: What is your title? Who is your author? What is your edition statement? What was your date of publication? What is your physical description? Where would you be classified in DDC and in LCC? Most students enjoyed this way of looking at the rules, because in such an exercise there are not “right answers,” but there are “right” ways of understanding what kinds of data should be placed into each of these fields. However, students still dreaded the course and claimed not to understand why it was required for everyone. Several told Dr. Taylor about librarians they knew prior to attending library school who told them that they would enjoy everything except cataloging, and they would just have to grit their teeth and get through that course somehow. However, around the turn of the century, as the concept of organizing all kinds of information took hold, and as metadata moved online and into many less rigid formats, one could see attitudes changing. It was around that time that when students gave their oral reports at the end of a semester, they had a great deal of fun shouting METADATA! every time it was appropriate to use the word “metadata” in their reports. There came to be more interest in understanding the theory, principles, standards, and tools behind information organization in all types of environments.
Another major area of change for Dr. Taylor was in the area of subject analysis and involved her having to develop an entirely new view of what a subject is. When she first entered the field, she viewed subject analysis as the process of finding the “right” heading(s) in the Sears List of Subject Headings (as a school librarian) and then in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) list (as an academic librarian). And then one had to find the “right” notation in the Dewey Decimal Classification or the Library of Congress Classification. Cataloging at the Library of Congress was divided into separate Descriptive Cataloging and Subject Cataloging departments. When Taylor worked there she was assigned to Descriptive Cataloging, so she did not learn the principles behind LCSH and LCC as applied at LC, although she had learned some theory of subject analysis in library school. She says she didn’t make much progress in her understanding of subjects and aboutness until she started teaching. Even then she didn’t make a lot of progress at first, partly because the cataloging profession in the USA at the time was more engrossed with descriptive cataloging rules. Most academic and other research libraries did not even place subject references in their catalogs, because there was a strongly held belief that real scholars should search for authors and titles, not subjects. Many school and public libraries also did not add references, because they did not have full-time catalogers and they purchased card sets ready to file from H.W. Wilson or other vendors. Dr. Taylor later came to hope that she did not damage her early students too much. It was while writing the subject chapters in the seventh edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, published in 1985, that really made a difference. For the sixth edition, 1980, a third co-author wrote the subject chapters while Dr. Taylor did the descriptive chapters. For the seventh edition, though, Dr. Taylor edited the whole thing. She was forced to really pay attention to the work of Charles Cutter in the nineteenth century in the United States; to Ranganathan’s Colon Classification in the early to mid-twentieth century, which used a truly faceted approach; and the long tradition of British subject analysis, including Brown’s Subject Classification, Bliss’ Bibliographic Classification, and the work of the British Classification Research Group. She finally began seeing subject analysis as a serious scholarly way to provide access to library materials. The process of determining aboutness did not really receive her attention until the eighth edition of Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, published in 1992, the seventh edition having a chapter on Subject Arrangement of Library Materials instead. While the title of the chapter remained the same in the eighth edition, the introduction to subject analysis increased from one page in the seventh edition to four pages in the eighth; in the ninth edition, published in 2000, the chapter was retitled Subject Access to Library Materials. Going on at the same time as the seventh edition onward were Dr. Taylor’s two decades (1990–2009) of serving on ALA’s Subject Analysis Committee (SAC) and its subcommittees, and also serving on the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee. So she had lots more reason to learn about subject analysis than when serving on descriptive cataloging or administrative-type committees.
Another major change in Dr. Taylor’s understanding of what a subject is, and what aboutness is, concerned the place of form/genre terms in a subject heading string. She gradually came to understand that, while a user might have fully understood that Cats—Behavior represented a resource about the behavior of cats, and Cats—Bibliography represented a resource that gives a list of resources about cats, the fact that both types of subdivisions were coded $x in MARC did not allow a computer system to automatically give users works about some specific aspects of cats (such as behavior, diseases, or nutrition) separately from giving users works that are forms or genres of resources about cats (such as bibliographies, pictorial works, or fiction). Coming to understand that form/genre terms are not subjects was very difficult for the profession. So Dr. Taylor did quite a bit of writing about this topic. She also added to her website a large section devoted to all the documents that were generated during the process of bringing to fruition the development of ways to distinguish form/genre from subject/aboutness.
Dr. Taylor’s getting a new subdivision subfield code for form/genre ($v) through MARBI (the committee in ALA that was responsible for the MARC format) in 1995 is a story that is not widely known. As already mentioned, she served on the Subject Analysis Committee from 1990 to 1994 (as Chair from 1992 to 1994). One of SAC’s Subcommittees was on Form Data (1991–94) and she served on that as well. Coming to understand that form terms should not be coded with the same character as subject subdivisions was not easy for the profession. During the discussions of the Form Data Subcommittee, people on each side of the issue were sometimes quite emotional. Finally, though, the Form Data Subcommittee and then SAC decided that the arguments demonstrating that users needed computers to sort their subject retrievals with a breakdown of the subject by form/genre separate from the breakdown by further subject aspects won out over the “it will cost too much” argument and the “is all of this worth it” question. When the subfield v ($v) proposal was to be discussed and voted on at a MARBI meeting, Dr. Taylor, who had been charged to attend the meeting and defend the proposal, was being told by folks who knew MARBI members that it was not likely to pass—that most MARBI members fell into the “it will cost too much” camp. She believes it would not have passed when it did were it not for an insight that came to Dr. Taylor in the shower (!) as she was getting ready to go to the MARBI meeting that day! In thinking about what she would say, she suddenly remembered that the charge to MARBI included something to the effect that MARBI was supposed to assist other committees of ALA in carrying out their needs with regard to the MARC format (“To encourage the creation of needed standards for the representation in machine-readable form of bibliographic information,” to be exact). It occurred to her that she should remind the committee of their charge and point out to them that SAC had been through all the pros and cons and had determined that the new subfield code was what was needed to help identify form/genre terms for users. SAC was asking MARBI for assistance in accomplishing this, not for their permission to distinguish these terms. Before she spoke, the discussion and questions from MARBI members made her feel very discouraged, but then, as she spoke, she could see something like realization spreading across the faces of MARBI members. The vote was taken soon after she spoke, and there was only one vote against it. Dr. Taylor believes $v to be her second most important contribution to librarianship (her dissertation on AACR2 headings being her first), because after her success with AACR2 in 1981, her friend Charles Simpson took her to lunch. He said to her then that she had just gotten her PhD and still had many years ahead of her, but she had already done what many folks only accomplish after a professional lifetime. He asked her, “What are you going to do for an encore?” She knows that almost no one knows about the $v story, and many would say she had done a lot of other things that folks would consider to be more important, but she has thought of $v as her “encore”!
International contributions
Although most of Dr. Taylor’s teaching was in the United States, she also had the opportunity to do some teaching in other countries. In 1978-79, she went to Brazil at the invitation of her sister and brother-in-law to teach people to catalog books for a new seminary library. They wanted a library that would have a circulating collection, because their students would be coming in from rural areas, and they wanted those students to be able to take books back with them for study. Few if any libraries in Brazil at the time had circulating collections, so there was little experience there to draw on. Taylor was able to teach some of the local folks to catalog the books by writing out catalog “cards” as they watched. They could see where to place the title, the author(s), the publishing information, the description, etc. Then for subject headings, she relied on her sister to translate to the “catalogers” what was said about how to determine aboutness and choose subject headings from a list in Portuguese. In order to create a circulating collection, Taylor helped them to design pockets, check-out cards, and date due slips, and then take the designs to a printer, because they could not purchase these items already made, as libraries did in the USA. Ordering them from the USA would have taken weeks, if not months, not to mention the cost of shipping. With all these challenges, Taylor found it rewarding to see the catalog beginning to take shape before returning home. She was rewarded again nineteen years later when visiting and was able to see the library and its catalog in existence and in heavy use in the Seminary building.
Twenty years after the experience in Brazil, Dr. Taylor took a sabbatical at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, England. Her project was to redesign their website. They had a site that consisted of separate URLs that were not categorized or linked. Although this was actually the state of the majority of websites at that time, libraries were working to provide organized sites, just as they provided organized collections. Dr. Taylor created a design, but she was not expected to write the programs that would make the pages appear in that form, even though she did write all her syllabi in html “from scratch” at the time, along with her own entire website; but it would have required a year instead of a semester’s sabbatical to write the html for the Bodleian website! Several months after returning home, she was able to look up the Bodleian site and see her design at work. The experience was helpful in her teaching, because it helped her widen her view of cataloging to have more of the approach of “organizing information.” She also was able to expand the coverage of her courses to include the idea of designing technical services websites.
In 2002 and 2004, Dr. Taylor conducted workshops in Thailand and Israel, respectively. In Thailand she was asked to teach two workshops. One was intended to teach online cataloging (e.g., using OCLC) to librarians who came from around the country to Suranaree University of Technology to attend the workshop. The second was to teach university professors the use of Blackboard for web-based instruction. In Israel she was asked to teach two workshops—one on metadata, one on ontologies and taxonomies—and a colloquium on modern tools for organizing information. The workshops were attended by master’s and doctoral students from the Information Science Department of Bar-Ilan University, Tel-Aviv, some faculty who were teaching in the area, and practicing professional catalogers, database managers, bibliographers, and library managers from around the country. The colloquium was attended by many Information Science Department faculty members and students and also by librarians from the area. As had been the case in Brazil, language was a small issue. The attendees in both Thailand and Israel were much more fluent in understanding English than Dr. Taylor was in their languages, so she had to rely on translators to read or repeat the questions. Otherwise, however, attendees seemed to learn what they came for. And Dr. Taylor felt that she learned a great deal about two very different cultures!
In addition to these more lengthy stays in other countries while teaching, Dr. Taylor was invited to make presentations for conferences or for library school students. In September 1996, she made a presentation in Japan for a conference on the electronic information environment. In October 1997, she presented a paper and also met with students and faculty of the library school at the Universidade Federal de Goiás in Brazil. And finally, she presented a paper for an international authority control conference in Italy in February 2003.
Research and writing
Dr. Taylor’s research, publications, and professional presentations covered a wide range of topics over the years. Looking back, there were changes in emphasis over time. Starting with her first book in 1976, she always wrote about all of the topics of descriptive cataloging, subject cataloging, catalogs and other retrieval tools, and technical service aspects, because the books she wrote covered all these. But if one just looks at her research articles, it appears that there was a rather sudden shift around 1992 from descriptive cataloging to subject cataloging. It has already been said that she started serving on SAC in 1990 and became its chair in 1992. Because the implementation of AACR2 seemed at the time to have solved most of the problems of descriptive cataloging—which, of course, now is not quite true as libraries adjust to RDA—Dr. Taylor turned to research in the area of subject cataloging. These articles included looking at subject access to information in periodical indexes; form/genre research; ontologies/taxonomies; controlled vocabulary vs. keyword searching of titles, notes, and so forth; keyword searching of FAST vs. LCSH; and knowledge management systems. Interspersed among all these, though, there continued to be articles about authority control, system design, information organization, FRBR, and general cataloging/metadata issues, often because she was invited to speak on those particular issues, and then the speeches turned into articles. Also, she did a series of presentations and/or articles about teaching various aspects of cataloging: cataloging principles (1989), organization of electronic resources (2000), seriality (1977 and 2002), subject cataloging (2002), authority control (2004), and Dewey Decimal Classification (2006). A few of these projects and articles were accomplished with co-authors, some of whom were previous students of hers.
Dr. Taylor served as a major advisor and/or committee member for a number of doctoral dissertations in library science. These often presented challenges, but there were also rewards. There was always the reward of learning in depth about an area of cataloging/ librarianship that she had not delved into before. Sometimes the doctoral student’s research overlapped with hers, and in those cases, it was helpful to have that area already researched so that she could cite and build upon that work. A challenge she had was that about half of her doctoral dissertation advisees were from non-English-speaking countries, which meant that there were issues with their English to various degrees. But these students all produced excellent dissertations in the end. Dr. Taylor enjoyed the opportunities for co-authoring articles based on three dissertations at the University of Pittsburgh (those of Patrice Clemson, Ling-Ling Lai, and Daniel Joudrey) and a master’s paper at the University of Chicago (that of Mark Watson). Other students also rewrote and published their dissertations or master’s papers as articles, which made her proud!
Contributions to ALA
Dr. Taylor had several positions of responsibility in the American Library Association, particularly in ALCTS and LITA. Her first appointment was serving on the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA), ALA Resources and Technical Services Division, Cataloging and Classification Section (ALA/RTSD/CCS) (1977–81). She has said that appointment was awesome, partly because she was writing her dissertation during this time, and also because it was such a turning point in the cataloging profession. The CC:DA hearing on the AACR2 rule to catalog microforms as microforms, not as the books they are copies of, was hugely eye-opening. People got up to “testify” for their allotted time, and if not in tears when they started, many were in tears within a minute or two. They were so concerned for the users of these microforms – they thought that the users needed to have the original book date (e.g., 1872) in the publication area, not the copy date (e.g., 1975). Dr. Taylor was touched by the caring that was demonstrated by these speakers. That same situation taught her about ALA politics. The committee voted in a tie on the question of whether to recommend that LC follow the new rule to catalog microforms as the copy they are, not as if they are the original book. Even though the Chair thought that the new rule should be followed, she broke the tie on the side of not making that recommendation because she believed that if the vote were to follow the new rule, then RTSD would disband CC:DA and take the oversight of cataloging rules away from CCS.
Perhaps Dr. Taylor’s greatest contributions to ALA were while serving on and chairing the ALA Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Subject Analysis Committee, (ALA/ALCTS/CCS/SAC) (1990–94), and while chairing and serving on the ALA/ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Committee (CFFC), (1995–1999). In addition to serving on SAC itself, she served on various SAC subcommittees between 1990 and 2009. So she attended more than 25 years of SAC meetings, given that she had attended SAC meetings before she became a member, and continued attending as long as she could attend ALA meetings. As Chair of SAC, she put in place some procedures that continue to be followed today, such as not having SAC meetings at the same time as CC:DA meetings, because most catalogers do both subject and descriptive cataloging. The document numbering system used by SAC is another example. There were some important ALA meeting programs on subject analysis during Dr. Taylor’s years of service, including “Crisis in Subject Cataloging and Retrieval” in 1995, a pre-conference on subject cataloging of electronic resources in 1997, and a program on form/genre in 1997. And regional institutes on “Demystifying Subject Cataloging” were sponsored by SAC in 1995. The evaluation of Faceted Access to Subject Terminology (FAST) put on by the SAC FAST Subcommittee was extremely important, because of the adoption of FAST by many agencies, not necessarily libraries, that wanted to provide subject access to their documents. A major accomplishment of the Catalog Form and Function Committee (CFFC) during Dr. Taylor’s tenure was the series of “briefing papers” sponsored by CFFC that were published in the ALCTS Newsletter from 1994 to about 2000. These papers covered newer topics concerning catalogs that ALA members needed to know about, such as Z39.50, subject authority control on the Internet, and the form/genre subfield v implementation. The papers were brought together in a separate collection published by ALCTS in 2005, and Dr. Taylor wrote the introduction for that collection.
Although not specifically ALA related, Dr. Taylor also served on the Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (2000–2008). She said that it felt like being in the forefront of classification progress to be able to discuss needed changes and new concepts with Committee members from various parts of the profession that make use of the Dewey Decimal Classification.
Summary of Educational Qualifications
- BA, 1963, Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee. Major: English. Minors: Spanish, Education.
- MSLS, 1966, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
- Ph.D., 1981, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dissertation: A Five-Year Projection of the Impact of the Rules for Form of Heading in the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, upon Selected Academic Library Catalogs. (Available from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Mich.)
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| Arlene G. Taylor - Ph.D., 1981, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (with her advisor and mentor Lester Asheim) |
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| Arlene G. Taylor - Ph.D., 1981, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (with her parents Stanley Forbes Taylor and Farol Haynes Taylor) |
Summary of Work Experience
- Teacher-Librarian, Cleveland Junior High School, Tulsa, Okla. (1963-65). School librarian, performing all ordering and processing of materials and service to patrons. Supervised 15 student assistants. Taught: Spanish, English.
- Graduate assistant, Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (1966). Assisted professor in research and class preparation.
- Cataloger, Library of Congress (Romance Languages Section, Descriptive Cataloging Division) (1966-67). Did original cataloging of monographs in Spanish, Portuguese and some Catalan, Gallegan, and Provençal. Assigned, after 9 months, as reviser to new catalogers. Trained and revised 2 new catalogers. Chosen for special 80-hr. in-service course for professional librarians overviewing entire LC operation.
- Associate Librarian, Christopher Newport College, Newport News, Virginia (1967- 70). Did all original cataloging for library (1967-70). Coordinated reclassification from Dewey to LC (1968- 70). In charge of Reader's Services, including circulation, reference, and serial departments (1967-68). Planned and supervised moving library to new building (1967).
- Instructor, Graduate School of Library Science, University of Illinois at Urbana/ Champaign (Spring 1971-Summer 1972, Summer 1974). Taught: "Selection of Library Materials," "Organization of Library Materials," and "Foundations of Librarianship."
- Assistant Professor and Assistant Head, Catalog Dept., The Library, Iowa State University, Ames (1972-75). Coordinated and supervised monographic cataloging section, consisting of 5 other professional and 7 paraprofessional catalogers, and 86 hours per week student help. Assisted in the planning and operation of entire department (38 staff members). Served as Acting Head of Dept., Jan.- June, 1973.
- Visiting Lecturer, School of Library Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Spring 1976). Taught: "Problems in Organizing Library Collections."
- Visiting Lecturer, School of Library Science, North Carolina Central University, Durham (Spring 1976-Summer 1977, Summer 1979). Taught: "Organization of Materials," "Subject Analysis," "Technical Services in Libraries," and "Introduction to Automation in Libraries" (which included the programming language PL/1).
- Assistant Professor, Graduate Library School, University of Chicago (Sept. 1981-Aug. 1986). Taught courses in cataloging, classification, and bibliographic networks. Served on several doctoral defense committees.
- Associate Professor, School of Library Service, Columbia University (Sept. 1986-June 1993). Taught courses in bibliographic control, subject analysis and classification, technical services, online systems for bibliographic control, and an issues and trends doctoral seminar. Served as doctoral dissertation advisor and on many dissertation defense committees. Served as administrator for remaining masters and doctoral students Sept. 1992-June 1993.
- Associate Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh (July 1993-Fall 1999). Taught courses in organization of information, subject analysis and classification, descriptive cataloging, library automation, online systems for bibliographic control, and a doctoral seminar in organization of information theory.
- Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh (Fall 1999-Dec. 2003). Taught courses in organization of information, subject analysis and classification, descriptive cataloging, library automation, online systems for bibliographic control, and a doctoral seminar in organization of information theory.
- Professor Emerita, University of Pittsburgh (Spring 2004- ). Teach occasionally, write, and consult.
- Distinguished Adjunct Professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Fall 2011- ).
PERSONAL LIFE
Arlene is married to Wayne Benson, a retired Presbyterian minister. They have five children between them—his three and her two—nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Arlene and Wayne have lived in Chapel Hill, NC, since 2007. Prior to that, they lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for fourteen years, in New York City for seven years, and in Chicago, Illinois, where they met in 1983.
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| Arlene Taylor and Wayne Benson. © Danielle Zielinski. |
HONORS AND AWARDS
Prof. Arlene G. Taylor has been honored with many awards for her contributions to the profession of librarianship, some notable ones are listed below:
- Selected for membership in:
- Alpha Lamda Delta (national honor society for freshman women)
- Sigma Tau Delta (English honor society)
- Kappa Delta Pi (Education honor society)
- Mortar Board (Honor/service society for 4th year college women)
- Beta Phi Mu (Library and Information Science honor society)
- Selected by Oklahoma Baptist University faculty for receipt of Rosalee Mills Appleby "Life Beautiful" award, 1963.
- Listed in Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 1963.
- Selected by Library School faculty, Univ. of Illinois, for receipt of Shapiro award for most professional promise, 1966.
- Alumni Graduate Fellowship, Graduate School, Univ. of North Carolina, 1977-78.
- 1994 Best of LRTS Award for article: "Indexing Overlap and Consistency Between the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and the Architectural Periodicals Index," co-authored with Angela Giral. Library Resources & Technical Services, 37, no. 1 (January 1993): 19-44.
- 1996 Margaret Mann Citation (given by the ALCTS Cataloging and Classification Section of ALA for outstanding professional achievement in the areas of cataloging or classification through publication, participation in professional cataloging associations, and contributions to practice).
- 1999 Profile in Excellence Award (given by Oklahoma Baptist University in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in the lives and careers of alumni).
- 2000 ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award for The Organization of Information (given by ALA and the Highsmith Company in recognition of a book published in the preceding three years that represents the best contribution to the literature).
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| Arlene G. Taylor - ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award |
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| Arlene G. Taylor - ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award |
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| Arlene G. Taylor - ALA/Highsmith Library Literature Award |
- 2001 ALISE/OCLC Library and Information Research Grant Award.
- "A Tribute to Arlene Taylor" published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 32, no. 3 (2001): 73-85.
- Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Grant Recipient, Thailand, February 2002.
- Fulbright Senior Specialist Program Grant Recipient, Israel, April 2004.
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Alumni Association, 2011.
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| Arlene G. Taylor receiving Distinguished Alumnus Award from John M. Unsworth, Dean, University of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science |
GRANTS RECEIVED
- Principal investigator. OCLC Library School Research Equipment Support Program, 1987-88. Title of research: "Extent of Variations in Personal and Corporate Names Found in the OCLC Bibliographic File." Award amount: Equipment worth an estimated $6875 plus delivery and installation costs and modem charges for a year.
- Project director. Department of Education HEA II-B grant, September 1, 1988- November 30, 1989. Title of project: Library Career Training--Fellowships. Award amount: $10,800.
- Co-principal investigator. Council on Library Resources Faculty/Librarian Research Grant, October 1, 1988- December 31, 1989. Title of research: "Empirical Study of the Overlap Between the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and the Architectural Periodicals Index." Co-principal investigator with Angela Giral, Director, Avery Library, Columbia University. Award amount: $2990.
- Co-principal investigator. OCLC/ALISE Library and Information Science Research Grant, February 2001-February 2002. Title of research: "Identification of Resource Types of Web Accessible Information." Co-principal investigator with Hong Xu, Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. Award amount: $10,000.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Present Memberships
National Offices and Chairs Held
National Committee Memberships
Past Memberships
Board Memberships
International Activity
Papers and Workshops Presented
Invited Participant in National Meetings
Consulting
University-wide:
Committee for the following doctoral dissertations:
Academic program advisor for the following doctoral students:
Columbia University
Major Advisor for the following doctoral dissertations:
Rutgers University
University of Chicago
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Iowa State University
- Beta Phi Mu (1966- )
- Association (ALA) (1971- ), including membership in:
- Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS)
- Library Information and Technology Association (LITA)
- Library Research Round Table (LRRT)
- Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) (1976- ) American Library
National Offices and Chairs Held
- Member-at-Large, ALA/RTSD Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS) Executive Committee (1978-81)
- Chair, Nominating Committee, ALA/RTSD/CCS (1984-85)
- Convener, Women in Librarianship Special Interest Group, ALISE (1984-85)
- Chair, LITA/CLSI Scholarship Jury (1986-87)
- Chair, LITA/CLSI Scholarship Jury (1986-87)
- Chair, ALISE Teller's Committee (1991)
- Chair, Subject Analysis Committee, ALA/ALCTS/CCS (1992-94)
- Chair, Catalog Form and Function Committee, ALA/ALCTS (1995-98)
- Chair, Subject Analysis Committee Subcommittee to Plan 1997 SAC Annual Conference Preconference (1996-97)
- Member-at-Large, Library Research Round Table Steering Committee, ALA (1998-2002)
National Committee Memberships
- National Library Week Committee of the Virginia Library Association (1969-70)
- Commercial Processing Services Committee, ALA/RTSD (1975-79)
- Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access, ALA/RTSD/CCS (1977-81)
- Margaret Mann Citation Committee, ALA/RTSD/CCS (1981)
- Authorities Institutes Planning Committee, ALA/RTSD (1981-83)
- Education Committee, ALA/LITA (1983-87)
- Nominating Committee, ALA/RTSD (1984-85)
- ALA Committee on Election (1986)
- LITA/CLSI Scholarship Jury (1984-88)
- Subject Analysis Committee (SAC), ALA/ALCTS/CCS (1990-94, Chair 1992- 94)
- SAC Subcommittee to Plan 1991 Program (1990-91)
- SAC Subcommittee on Form Data (1991-94)
- SAC Subcommittee on SAC-Sponsored Institutes (1992-93)
- SAC Subcommittee on Order of Subdivisions in LCSH (1993-95)
- SAC Subcommittee to Plan the Subject Analysis Regional Institutes (1993-96)
- SAC Subcommittee to Plan 1995 SAC ALA Conference Program (1993-95)
- SAC Subcommittee to Plan 1997 SAC Annual Conference Preconference (1996-97)
- SAC Subcommittee on Form Headings/Subdivisions Implementation (1995-2000). [Web page maintenance for Form/Genre issues 1996-2000]
- SAC Subcommittee to Promote Subject Relationships/Reference Structure (1997-2000)
SAC Subcommittee on Subject Reference Structures in Automated Systems (2001-2004) - SAC Subcommittee for the Evaluation of FAST (2004- )
- SAC Subcommittee on the Future of Subject Headings (2006- 2009)
- Catalog Form and Function Committee, ALA/ALCTS (1995-1999, Chair 1995- 98). [Web page maintenance for CFFC, 1995-1999]
- ALA/ALCTS/CCS Nominating Committee (2002-2003)
- Dewey Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee (2000-2008)
- Panel to Select Best Article from CCQ v.44 (2008-2009)
Past Memberships
- Oklahoma Library Association (1963-65)
- Virginia Library Association (1967-70)
- Iowa Library Association (1972-75)
- North Carolina Library Association (1976-81)
- Southeastern Library Association (1978-81)
- Chicago Library Club (1981-86)
- Illinois Library Association (1982-86)
- New York Technical Services Librarians (1986-93)
- American Society for Information Science (ASIS) (1993-2002)
- Pennsylvania Library Association (PLA) (1995-2002)
- Advisory Board, Library Quarterly (1986-89)
- Editorial Board, Library Quarterly (1981-86)
- Editorial Board, Journal of Academic Librarianship (1999-2003)
- Editorial Board, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (1979- )
International Activity
- Served as consultant for setting up a new library for the Baptist Convention of the State of Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, December 11, 1978-January 5, 1979.
- Presented a paper for and participated in the Japan-U.S. Library Conference: Electronic Information Environment and Academic Libraries, Tachikawa, Japan, September 3-4, 1996.
- Served as consultant on use of MARC Format with Librarians at the Biblioteca Central, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, October 21, 1997; and presented a paper for professors and students of the Curso de Biblioteconomía, Faculdade de Comunecacão e Biblioteconomía, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, October 22, 1997.
- Served as consultant on organization of Web pages for the Oxford University Libraries and the Bodleian Library, September 10 - October 18, 1999. Report: "Oxford University Libraries' Web Site Organization: A Report, with Particular Attention to the Bodleian Library Pages" (October 26, 1999).
- Served as workshop leader for workshops on online cataloging and Web teaching and as consultant concerning strategy for revision and updating of curriculum of the School of Information Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, Khorat, Thailand, February 2002, under the auspices of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program.
- Presented a paper for and participated in the International Authority Control Conference, Florence, Italy, February 10-12, 2003.
- Served as workshop leader for workshops on metadata and ontologies and as colloquium speaker for the Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, April 2004, under the auspices of the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program.
Papers and Workshops Presented
- Served as speaker and section leader at a workshop: "Chapter 6: A Seminar on ISBD and Its Implications for Your Library," held by the University of Iowa School of Library Science, February 21, 1975.
- "Processing and Automation at LC: a Report," presented to the Duke University Librarian's Assembly, April 7, 1976.
- "The Effect of Automation on the Role of the Professional in Cataloging," presented to the Technical Services Division, Maryland Library Association, at the annual meeting in Baltimore, Md., April 29, 1977.
- "Options for Use of Copy Following Abandonment of Superimposition by LC," presented to the staff of the Library, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, May 26, 1977.
- "The Role of the Paraprofessional in Cataloging," presented to the staff of the Library, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, June 3, 1977.
- "Options in Subject Heading Control," presented at the RTSD Cataloging and Classification Section program, ALA Annual Conference, Detroit, June 19, 1977.
- "Teaching Serials Within Traditional Library School Courses," presented at the RTSD/LED Education for Resources and Technical Services Committee program, ALA Annual Conference, Detroit, June 20, 1977.
- Served as moderator for the College and University Library Interest Group: Commercial Processing Services: Will They Work for Me?" program of the RTSD Commercial Processing Services Committee, ALA Annual Conference, Detroit, June 20, 1977.
- Served as speaker for "Cataloging with Copy Workshop," held in Phoenix, Arizona, March 7-8, 1978.
- "Construction Call Numbers" and "Meshing Local Cutters with LC's," presented for "Library of Congress Classification System Conference," held at the School of Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, May 19-20, 1978. (Also planned, organized, and moderated the two-day workshop.)
- "AACR 2: What the Rules Are and What They Imply," presented to Iowa librarians at the Iowa State University Center, July 14, 1978.
- "AACR 2: Fact and Fiction," presented at the Doctoral Seminar, School of Library Science, UNC/Chapel Hill, October 3, 1978. Also presented to the library staff of Duke University, October 18, 1978.
- "The Challenge of Professional Writing," presented at the School of Library Science, North Carolina Central University, Durham, November 15, 1978.
- "Heading Control in 1981," presented at the D.H. Hill Library, North Carolina State University, February 6, 1979.
- Speaker and discussion leader for: "Planning for Change: A Conference on Closing the Catalog," at Guilford College, Greensboro, NC, April 27, 1979.
- Discussion leader for: "AACR 2: An Introductory Program; A Preconference," at Dallas Convention Center, June 21-23, 1979.
- Discussion leader for the North Carolina Library Association preconference on AACR 2 at Charlotte, October 17, 1979.
- "What If We Had A Crisis and Nobody Noticed? Implementation of AACR 2," presented at the Georgia Library Association Conference, Savannah, October 26, 1979.
- "The Effects of AACR 2 on Cataloging with Copy," presented to the Copy Cataloging Discussion Group, ALA Midwinter Conference, Chicago, January 22, 1980.
- "The Impact of Integrating AACR 2 Headings into a Local Catalog," presented at an AACR 2 workshop, North Carolina Central University, Durham, June 3, 1980. (Also served as coplanner for the two-day workshop.)
- "A Five-Year Projection of the Impact of the Rules for Form of Heading in AACR 2 Upon Selected Academic Library Catalogs," presented in various forms between June 1980 and June 1981 at the American Library Association meeting in New York; for a group of public librarians in Hickory, NC; for the Illinois Library Association and for the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in Chicago; for the South Carolina Library Association in Columbia, SC; for the Southeastern Library Association in Birmingham, Alabama; for the Kansas University Library Consortium in Hays, Manhattan, and Lawrence, Kansas; for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the School of Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; for the Virginia SOLINET Users Group in Blacksburg, Va.
- "AACR 2--The Answers," one-day workshop conducted for the North Carolina Community College Learning Resources Association in Fayetteville, NC, March 31, 1981.
- "Catalogers and Standardization in the Age of Networking," presented to the Technical Services Group of the Chicago Academic Library Council, Illinois Institute of Technology, November 11, 1981.
- "Problem Solving Through Procedures Analysis," one-day workshop conducted with David R. Dowell for the Technical Services Section of the American Association of Law Librarians in Detroit, June 15, 1982.
- "Network and Vendor Authority Systems," presented at the RTSD/LC/CRG Authority Institute, held in San Francisco, September 14, 1982, and in Ft. Lauderdale, November 16-18, 1983.
- "Automated Authority Control," presented for the Technical Services Division, Indiana Library Association, South Bend, May 5, 1983.
- "Authority Control in the Online Environment -- Current Research," presented for the Technical Services Directors of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group, American Library Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, June 24, 1983.
- "Accuracy of Library of Congress Cataloging: comparison of CIP- originated cataloging with Non-CIP originated cataloging," presented with Charles W. Simpson for the LC-CIP Advisory Group, Washington, D.C., January 8, 1984.
- "Potential of CIP for AV materials," presented with Charles W. Simpson for the American Library Association, RTSD, AV Cataloging Committee, January 10, 1984.
- "Accuracy of LC Cataloging - Update on Research," presented with Charles W. Simpson for the LC-CIP Advisory Group, Dallas, June 24, 1984.
- "Online Authority Control Systems on the Market," presented for the ALA, RTSD/ LITA Discussion Group on Authority Control in the Online Environment, Dallas, June 25, 1984.
- Convenor and Moderator for "No Love Lost: Library Women vs. Women Who Use Libraries," ALISE Women in Librarianship Interest Group / Library History Interest Group joint session, Washington, DC, January 4, 1985.
- "Responding to User Needs: the Complementary Roles of Authority Control and System Design," presented for the Music Library Association Preconference: Authority Control in Music Libraries, Louisville, KY, March 5, 1985.
- "Classification and Copy Cataloging," presented for the ALA/RTSD/CCS Classification Preconference, Chicago, July 5, 1985.
- "Bibliographic Control Theory and Practices," presented for the Columbia University Libraries CLR Staff Development Program, New York, April 15, 1988.
- "Report on Extent of Variations in Personal and Corporate Names Found in the OCLC Bibliographic File," presented for the LITA/RTSD CCS Interest Group on Authority Control in the Online Environment, New Orleans, July 12, 1988.
- "Education: Teaching Principles," presented for the ALISE Technical Services Education Special Interest Group, Washington, D.C., January 5, 1989.
- "Report on Extent of Variations in Personal and Corporate Names Found in the OCLC Bibliographic File," presented for the LITA/RTSD CCS Interest Group on Authority Control in the Online Environment, Dallas, June 25, 1989.
- "Extent of Variations in Personal and Corporate Names Found in the OCLC Bibliographic File: An Interim Report," presented for the OCLC Office of Research and the OCLC Office for Quality Control, Dublin, Ohio, October 2, 1989.
- "Authority Control in Online Catalogs," presented for the Westchester (NY) County Library Association Annual Meeting, May 4, 1990.
- "Potential for Machine Correction of Errors in Personal Name Access Points in the OCLC Bibliographic File," presented to the LITA/ALCTS Interest Group on Authority Control in the Online Environment program: "The Evolving Catalog: Expanding the Breadth and Depth of the OPAC," Chicago, June 24, 1990.
- "What is Authority Control, and What Are We Controlling?" presented for the Authority Control Forum, Rutgers University Libraries' Conference on Authority Control in the Online Environment, New Brunswick, NJ, November 16, 1990.
- "Authority Control and the Online Catalog," presented for the Librarians' Association of the Columbia University Health Sciences Library, New York, NY, February 14, 1991.
- "The Information Universe: Will We Have Chaos or Control?" presented for the faculty and students of Wayne State University, Library Science Program, Detroit, December 7, 1992.
- "Research in Bibliographic Control: A Question of Indexing Consistency," presented for the faculty and students of University of Pittsburgh, School of Library and Information Science, January 11, 1993.
- "The Information Universe: Will We Have Chaos or Control?" presented for the faculty and students of St. John's University, Division of Library and Information Science, Jamaica, NY, March 24, 1993.
- Moderator for "What's Another Word for Thesaurus?" [program sponsored by the Subject Analysis Committee, Cataloging and Classification Section, ALCTS], ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 28, 1993.
- "Developing a Research Question" and "Research in Authority Control," presented for the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Preconference: "Research in Cataloging and Classification: Ways and Means," ALA Annual Conference, New Orleans, June 25, 1993.
- "What Is the Subject of This Item? The Process of Subject Analysis," presented for the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services regional institutes: "Demystifying Subject Cataloging": Anaheim, CA, November 10-11, 1994, Minneapolis, MN, April 2-3, 1995, and Rochester, NY, October 24- 25, 1995.
- "Education for Cataloging," presented as part of a panel for the ALCTS/CCS/Heads of Cataloging Discussion Group, Philadelphia, February 6, 1995.
- "Introduction to the Crisis," presented for the ALCTS/CCS/SAC program on "Crisis in Subject Cataloging and Retrieval," Chicago, June 25, 1995. (Also served as moderator for the program)
- "Access to Networked Documents: Catalogs? Search Engines? Both?" presented for the OCLC Internet Project Cataloging Colloquium, San Antonio, TX, January 19, 1996.
- "Electronic Information Environment and Academic Libraries: A World of Disappearing Boundaries," presented for the Japan-U.S. Library Conference 1996, Tachikawa, Japan, September 3, 1996.
- "A World of Disappearing Boundaries: Traditional Organization of Information in an Electronic Environment," presented for "Organizing Information in the 21st Century, a Symposium to honor Arlene G. Taylor, recipient of the 1996 Margaret Mann Citation," School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, May 30, 1997.
- "What is the Subject of This Information Package? The Process of Subject Analysis for Electronic Resources," presented for the ALA preconference: "Demystifying Subject Cataloging Of Electronic Resources," presented by the Cataloging and Classification Section, Subject Analysis Committee, San Francisco, CA, June 26 and June 27, 1997.
- "History, Theory, and Practice of Form/Genre in Subject Analysis," presented for the ALA program: "Everything You Wanted to Know about Form/Genre, But Were Afraid to Ask: Analysis, Access and Display," presented by the Cataloging and Classification, Subject Analysis Committee, Subcommittee on Form Headings/Subdivisions Implementation, San Francisco, CA, June 28, 1997.
- "A World of Disappearing Boundaries: Traditional Organization of Information in an Electronic Environment," presented to professors and students of the Curso de Biblioteconomía, Faculdade de Comunecacão e Biblioteconomía, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, Brasil, October 22, 1997.
- "Incorporating Metadata into Organization of Information Courses," prepared for the ALISE Technical Services Interest Group, New Orleans, LA, January 9, 1998.
- "Where Does AACR2 Fall Short for Electronic Resources [Especially Internet Resources]?" presented for the Networked Resources & Metadata Committee/Collection Management Development Committee/Computer Files Discussion Group Discussion Forum, Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 1999.
- "Overview and History of Form/Genre Terminology in Subject Cataloging," presented for the ALCTS/Cataloging and Classification Section/Subject Analysis Committee/SAC Subcommittee on Form Headings/Subdivisions Implementation Educational Forum on Form/Genre, New Orleans, LA, June 25, 1999.
- "Authority Control: Where It's Been and Where It's Going," presented for "Authority Control: Why It Matters," College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, sponsored by the NELINET Cataloging and Technical Services Advisory Committee, November 1, 1999. Paper available: http://www.nelinet.net/conf/cts/cts99/taylor.htm
- "Teaching the Organization of Electronic Resources at the University of Pittsburgh," presented for the panel "Teaching the Organization of Electronic Resources," at the ALISE annual conference, San Antonio, TX, January 13, 2000.
- "Cataloging: Ticket to the Past, the Present, and the Future," presented for the Resources and Technical Services Forum, Iowa Library Association Annual Conference, Ames, Iowa, October 20, 2000. Available: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/Institute/Taylor/index.html
- "Identification of Resource Types of '.edu' Web Pages," presented by Hong Xu and Arlene G. Taylor, for the Cataloging Norms Discussion Group, American Library Association Midwinter Conference, New Orleans, January 19, 2002.
- "Online Cataloging." Workshop, Suranaree University of Technology, Khorat, Thailand, February 21, 2002.
- "Using Blackboard to Create Web-based Instruction." Workshop, Suranaree University of Technology, Khorat, Thailand, February 22, 2002.
- "Teaching Authority Control." Paper and slide presentation presented at the International Authority Control Conference, Florence, Italy, February 10-12, 2003.
- [Presentation on teaching Dewey]. Presentation for "DDC 22: International Knowledge Organization System Workshop for Library Educators," OCLC, Dublin, Ohio, May 8 - 9, 2003.
- "Metadata, Ontologies, Taxonomies, Oh, My!" Presentation for the ALCTS Symposium “Preparing 21st Century Cataloging and Metadata Professionals,” San Diego, CA, January 9, 2004. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/MetacatWorkshopHandout.pdf
- "Practical Applications of Metadata." Presentation for a Workshop: Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel, April 20, 2004.
- "Modern Tools for the Organization of Information." Presentation for a Colloquium: Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel, April 21, 2004.
- "Ontologies and Taxonomies (etc.): Theory and Practice." Presentation for a Workshop: Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel, April 28, 2004.
- "What Have We Got to Lose? The Effects of Controlled Vocabulary on Keyword Searching Results." Presentation for the LITA/ALCTS Authority Control in the Online Environment Interest Group, ALA Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida, June 27, 2004. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/SubjectKeywordHandout.pdf
- "Metadata, FRBR, and New Challenges." Presentation for the Missouri Library Association Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, October 28, 2004. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/FRBR-handout.pdf
- "Information Organization Research: Topics and Questions." Presentation for Doctoral Seminar, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, September 22, 2005.
- "FRBR: Re-thinking Bibliographic Description and Access for the 21st century." Presentation for The Getty, Los Angeles, Calif., October 25, 2005.
- "Comparison of Keyword Searching Using FAST vs. Using LCSH," presentation for the ALCTS CCS Program: "FAST: A New System of Subject Access for Cataloging and Metadata," Annual ALA Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, 24 June 2006. Available: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/fast/ala06-taylor.ppt
- "Lessons from Implementation of AACR1 and AACR2." Presentation for the ALISE Technical Services SIG, Boston, Mass., January 15, 2010. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/AACR-Implementation-Lessons.pdf
- "The Effect of Controlled Vocabulary on Keyword Searching." Co-Presentation with Tina Gross and Daniel N. Joudrey. Presentation for the ALSCT CCS Forum, Midwinter ALA Conference, Boston, Mass., January 15, 2010.
- "Cataloging Family Pictures Using Google's Picasa(TM) Web Albums Site." Presentation for the Roots Group, Carol Woods Retirement Community, Chapel Hill, NC, March 17, 2011.
- "Controlled Vocabulary in the Age of Google? Really?" Presentation for the School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, November 7, 2012. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/ControlledVocabularyInAgeOfGoogle-SlidePresentation.pdf and http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/ControlledVocabularyInAgeOfGoogle-NotesAcompanyingSlides.pdf
Invited Participant in National Meetings
- Graduate School of Library & Information Science, UCLA. "Conference on the Conceptual Foundations of Descriptive Cataloging," February 14-15, 1987, Los Angeles.
- Council on Library Resources. "Improving Bibliographic Access," November 2, 1990, Washington, D.C.
- OCLC. "Conference on Research Issues for Authority Control," March 31-April 1, 1996, Dublin, Ohio.
- OCLC. "Dewey 21: Workshop for Library Educators," May 9-10, 1996, Dublin, Ohio.
- OCLC Seminar: "Knowledge Access Management: Tools and Concepts for Next- Generation Catalogers," Dublin, Ohio, November 17-19, 1997.
- NISO/ASI/ALCTS. "Electronic Thesauri Workshop," November 4-5, 1999, Washington, D.C.
- School of Information and Library Science, San Jose State University. "Institute on Digital Distance Education," January 18-29, 2000, San Jose, CA.
- Library of Congress. "Bicentennial Conference on Bibliographic Control for the New Millennium," November 15-17, 2000, Washington, D.C.
- OCLC. "DDC 22: International Knowledge Organization System Workshop for Library Educators," May 8-9, 2003, Dublin, Ohio.
- OCLC. "FRBR Workshop," May 2-5, 2005, Dublin Ohio.
Consulting
- Consultation concerning technical services functions in an integrated system. University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 6-7, 1997. Report submitted February 24, 1997.
- Consultation concerning strategy for cleanup of database created for the retrospective entries for the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Avery Library, Columbia University, March 16, 2001.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES
University of Pittsburgh
University-wide:
- Commencement Marshal, 2000.
- SIS Representative to University Faculty Assembly, 1995-98.
- SIS Representative to University Faculty Senate Council, 1996-98.
School-wide:
- Beta Phi Mu Portfolio Award Committee, Spring 2003.
- Beta Phi Mu Portfolio Award Committee, Spring 2002.
- Panel for the 2001 Catherine Ofeish Orner Award.
- Panel for the 2000 Catherine Ofeish Orner Award. SIS Planning and Budgeting Committee, Summer 1999.
- Panel for the 1999 William Z. Nasri Award. (Chairperson)
- SIS Faculty advisor for student group: Doctoral Guild, 1998-99.
- SIS Faculty advisor for student group: Open Mind, 1995-2005.
- SIS Faculty advisor for student group: LISGO, 1996-98.
LIS Department:
- Distance Education Committee, 2001-2003.
- Peer Evaluation of Teaching Committee, 2001-2003 (Chairperson, 2002-2003)
- Corbett Award Committee, 2000-2001 (Chairperson, 2000-2001)
- Curriculum Committee, 1993-94, 1998-99, 2000-2001 (Co-chairperson, 2000- 2001); 2002-2003.
- Ad Hoc Committee on a Weekend Program, 1999 (Chairperson, 1999)
- Evaluation of Teaching Committee, 1997-99. (Chairperson, 1997-99)
- Research and Colloquium Committee, 1995-96. (Chairperson, 1995-96)
- Financial Aid Committee, 1994-95, 1996-97. (Chairperson, 1994-95)
- Library Task Force, 1993-94. (Chairperson, 1993-94)
- Doctoral Studies Committee, 1993-2003.
Dissertation Committees:
Major Advisor for the following doctoral dissertations:
- Daniel N. Joudrey. "Building Puzzles and Growing Pearls: A Qualitative Exploration of Determining Aboutness." Proposal defended Fall 2003. Dissertation defended Fall 2005.
- Tiffany Evans. "An Organizational Development Analysis of the Formation of OhioLINK - A Statewide Interinstitutional Library Consortium." Proposal defended Fall 2003. Dissertation defended Summer 2004.
- LingLing Lai. "Knowledge Organization by IT Consultants - Exploring and Discovering the Organizational Aspect of Knowledge Management." Proposal defended Fall 2001. Dissertation defended Spring 2004.
- Ali K. Shaker. "Non-Roman Scripts in Library OPACs: A Survey of Availability and Functional Requirements in Academic Libraries." Proposal defended Summer 2002. Dissertation defended Fall 2002.
- Essam Mansour. "Internet Use by Students in the South Valley University (Egypt): A Baseline and Descriptive Study." Proposal defended Spring 2002. Dissertation defended Fall 2002.
- Narumol Ruksasuk. "The Relationship of Characteristics, Participatory Interaction Modes, and Learning Outcomes of Thai
- Students Involved in Web-based Instruction in Library and Information Science Distance Education." Dissertation defended Spring 2000.
- Yushiana Mansor. "Issues in Developing a Cooperative Cataloging Program in Malaysia: An Analysis of MARC Records in Three University Libraries' OPAC Databases." Dissertation defended Spring 1999.
Committee for the following doctoral dissertations:
- Patrice A. Clemson, "The Relationship Between Backlinks and Persistence on the WWW: A Bibliometric Approach." Dissertation defended December, 2003.
- Yuko Sato, "Culture, Social Networks, and Information Sharing: An Exploratory Study of Japanese Aerospace Engineers' Information-Seeking Processes and Habits in Light of Cultural Factors." Dissertation defended March, 1998.
- David H. Thomas, "The Effect of Interface Design on Item Selection in an Online Catalog," defended June, 1997.
Academic program advisor for the following doctoral students:
- Daniel Joudrey (Fall 2001 - Fall 2005)
- Tiffany Barnes (Spring 2000 - Summer 2004)
- LingLing Lai (Summer 2000 - Spring 2004)
- Ali Shaker (Fall 2000 - Fall 2002)
- Essam Mansour (Fall 2000 - Fall 2002)
- Daniel Frederick (Spring 1997 - Summer 1999)
- Patrice Clemson (Fall 1995 - Fall 2000)
- Cynthia Porter (Spring 1995 - Fall 1998)
- Jane Greenberg (Fall 1994 - Spring 1997)
Columbia University
- Committee on the Doctorate, School of Library Service, 1986-93. (Chairperson, 1991-93)
- Committee on Instruction, School of Library Service, 1986-89. (Chairperson, 1988-89)
- Committee on Admissions and Awards, School of Library Service, 1987-88.
- Representative to University Senate, 1987-89.
- University Senate Community Relations Committee, 1987-89.
- University Senate Committee on the Libraries and Academic Computing Facilities, 1987-90.
- Committee on Appointments, School of Library Service, 1986-87.
Major Advisor for the following doctoral dissertations:
- Sherry L. Vellucci. "Bibliographic Relationships Among Musical Bibliographic Entities: A Conceptual Analysis of Music Represented in a Library Catalog with a Taxonomy of the Relationships Discovered." Proposal defended April 1991. Dissertation defended November 1994.
- Yang Qian-Qian. "Characteristics of Materials Used by English Speaking Linguists in Their Publications: A Citation Study of Literature Requirements, Citing Functions, and Citing Needs." Proposal defended May 1991. Dissertation defended November 1995.
- Susan M. Hayes. "Towards Enhanced Catalog Access to Fiction: The Multi-Dimensional Subject Analysis of Imaginative Literature Represented in a Library Catalog." Proposal defended May 1992. Dissertation defended November 1995.
- Mary Ellen Chijioke. "Theoretical and Practical Considerations in Shared Authority Files for Special Collections Cataloging: An Evaluation of the PACSCL NACO Project." Proposal defended May 1992.
- Committee for the doctoral dissertation of Nancy Baldwin, "The Information- Seeking Behavior of Securities Analysts," defended September 1995.
- Served as second reader for several dissertations and served on and/or chaired numerous dissertation defense committees (approximately 25), 1987-93.
Rutgers University
- Committee for the doctoral dissertation of Lourdes Collantes, Graduate Program in Communication, Information, and Library Studies, defended Spring 1991.
University of Chicago
- Faculty Representative to Dean's Alumni Advisory Committee, 1983-85.
- Visiting Lecturers Committee, Graduate Library School, 1983-84.
- Curriculum Committee, Graduate Library School, 1981-82.
- Served on several dissertation defense committees (approximately 6).
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Doctoral student representative, Doctoral committee, September 1977-December 1978.
North Carolina Central University
- Chairperson, Library Committee, School of Library Science, 1976-77.
- Orientation Committee, School of Library Science, 1976-77.
- Seminar Committee, School of Library Science, 1976-77.
Iowa State University
- Catalog Council, Library, 1972-75.
- Technical Services Council, Library, 1972-75.
- Selection Committees for various library positions (served as chair of some of these committees), 1972-75.
- Dean's Council, Library, 1972-73.
- Committee to Study Options for Display of Locations in the Main Library Catalog, 1972-73.
PUBLICATIONS
Prof. Arlene G. Taylor has an extensive publication record of refereed articles, books and book chapters, and research reports, and she has given more than 90 guest presentations for national, state, and regional library associations, as well as library schools.
Books Authored
- Cataloging with Copy: A Decision Maker's Handbook. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1976. 295p.
- Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 6th ed. Co-authored with Bohdan S. Wynar and Jeanne Osborn. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1980. 657p.
- AACR 2 Headings: A Five-Year Projection of Their Impact on Catalogs. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1982. (Based on dissertation.) 145p.
- Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 7th ed. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1985. 641p.
- Cataloging with Copy: A Decision-Maker's Handbook. 2nd ed., with the assistance of Rosanna M. O'Neil. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1988. 355p.
- Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 8th ed. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1992. 633p.
- The Organization of Information. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1999. 280p.
- Wynar's Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 9th ed. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 2000. 552p.
- Wynar's Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. Revised 9th ed. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 563 p. (includes updates for AACR2R, 2002 ed. with 2003 update pages)
- The Organization of Information. 2nd ed. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 417p.
- Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 10th ed. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2006. 589p.
- The Organization of Information. 2nd ed. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2004. 417p. (Translated into Chinese and published: Beijing: Ji xie gong ye chu ban she, 2006. 286p.)
- The Organization of Information. 3rd ed. Co-authored with Daniel N. Joudrey. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2009. 512p.
- The Organization of Information. 3rd ed. Co-authored with Daniel N. Joudrey. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2009. 512p. (Translated into Vietnamese and published: Ha Noi: Nha Xuat Ban The Gioi, 2014. 668p.)
- Introduction to Cataloging and Classification. 11th ed. Co-authored with Daniel N. Joudrey and David P. Miller. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Libraries Unlimited, 2015. 1048p.
- Summary: Not many books merit an eleventh edition, but this popular text does. Newly updated, Introduction to Cataloging and Classification provides an introduction to descriptive cataloging based on contemporary standards, explaining the basic tenets to readers without previous experience, as well as to those who merely want a better understanding of the process as it exists today. The text opens with the foundations of cataloging, then moves to specific details and subject matter such as Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), Functional Requirements for Authority Data (FRAD), the International Cataloging Principles (ICP), and RDA. Unlike other texts, the book doesn't presume a close familiarity with the MARC bibliographic or authorities formats; ALA's Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd Edition, revised (AACR2R); or the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD). Subject access to library materials is covered in sufficient depth to make the reader comfortable with the principles and practices of subject cataloging and classification. In addition, the book introduces MARC, BIBFRAME, and other approaches used to communicate and display bibliographic data. Discussions of formatting, presentation, and administrative issues complete the book; questions useful for review and study appear at the end of each chapter.
- The Organization of Information. 4th ed. Co-authored with Daniel N. Joudrey. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2017.
- Summary: This latest edition of The Organization of Information is a key resource for anyone in the beginning stages of their LIS career as well as longstanding professionals and paraprofessionals seeking accurate, clear, and up-to-date guidance on information organization activities across the discipline. The book begins with a historical look at information organization methods, covering libraries, archives, museums, and online settings. It then addresses the types of retrieval tools used throughout the discipline—catalogs, finding aids, indexes, bibliographies, and search engines—before describing the functionality of systems, explaining the basic principles of system design, and defining how they affect information organization. The principles and functionality of metadata is next, with coverage of the types, functions, tools, and models (particularly FRBR, IFLA-LRM, RDF) and how encoding works for use and sharing—for example, MARC, XML schemas, and linked data approaches. The latter portion of the resource describes specific activities related to the creation metadata for resources. These chapters offer an overview of the major issues, challenges, and standards used in the information professions, addressing topics such as resource description (including standards found in RDA, DACS, and CCO), access points, authority control, subject analysis, controlled vocabularies—notably LCSH, MeSH, Sears, and AAT—and categorization systems such DDC and LCC.
Books Compiled/Edited
- Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information: Definition and International Experience. (Co-edited with Barbara B. Tillett). New York, Haworth Information Press, 2004. 651p.
- Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 186 p. (Translated into Korean by Dong-Geun Oh, Jeong-Hyen Kim, Ji-Suk Yeo, Yeong-Hwal Bae and published in Korean in 2010.)
- Cataloging Nonbook Materials: Problems in Theory and Practice, by Carolyn O. Frost. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1983.
- Notes for Serials Catalogers, compiled by Nancy G. Thomas and Rosanna O'Neil. Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1986.
- Subject Determination during the Cataloging Process, by Alenka Sauperl. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002.
Articles in Refereed Journals
- "The Two-Year Master's: Perspectives and Prospects." Journal of Education for Librarianship 18, no. 4 (Spring 1978): 324-335.
- "The Impact of AACR 2: A Review of Research." Library Research (Summer 1981): 107-122.
- "Authority Files in Online Catalogs: an Investigation of Their Value." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 4 (Spring 1984): 1- 17.
- "Network and Vendor Authority Systems." (co-authored with Margaret Maxwell and Carolyn Frost). Library Resources & Technical Services 29, no. 2 (April/June 1985): 195-205.
- "Looking Back: Implementation of AACR 2," co-authored with Barbara Paff. Library Quarterly 56, no. 3 (July 1986): 272-285.
- "Accuracy of LC Copy: A Comparison Between Copy that Began as CIP and Other LC Cataloging." (co-authored with Charles W. Simpson). Library Resources & Technical Services 30, no. 4 (Oct./Dec. 1986): 375- 387.
- "Implications of Current Reference Structures for Authority Work in Online Environments." (co-authored with Mark R. Watson). Information Technology and Libraries 6, no. 1 (March 1987): 10-19.
- "Research and Theoretical Considerations in Authority Control." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 9, no. 3 (1989):29-56.
- "Variations in Personal Name Access Points in OCLC Bibliographic Records." Library Resources & Technical Services 36, no. 2 (April 1992): 224-241.
- "Enhancing Subject Access in Online Systems: The Year's Work in Subject Analysis, 1991." Library Resources & Technical Services 36, no. 3 (July 1992): 316-332.
- "Indexing Overlap and Consistency Between the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and the Architectural Periodicals Index." (co-authored with Angela Giral). Library Resources & Technical Services, 37, no. 1 (January 1993): 19-44.
- "On the Subject of Subjects." Journal of Academic Librarianship 21, no 6 (November 1995): 484-491.
- "Where Does AACR2 Fall Short for Internet Resources?" Journal of Internet Cataloging 2, no. 2 (1999): 43-50.
- "Teaching Seriality: A Major Educational Challenge." The Serials Librarian 41, nos. 3/4 (2002): 73-80.
- "On Teaching Subject Cataloging." (co-authored with Daniel N. Joudrey). Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 223-232.
- "Teaching Authority Control." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 38, no. 3/4 (2004): 43-57.
- "What Have We Got to Lose? The Effects of Controlled Vocabulary on Keyword Searching Results." (co-authored with Tina Gross). College & Research Libraries 66, no. 3 (May 2005): 212-230.
- "Teaching the Dewey Decimal Classification System." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 42, no. 3/4 (2006): 97-117.
- "Knowledge Organization in Knowledge Management Systems of Global Consulting Firms." (co-authored with Lingling Lai). Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 49, no. 5 (2011): 387-407.
- "Still a Lot to Lose: The Role of Controlled Vocabulary in Keyword Searching" (co-authored with Tina Gross and Daniel N. Joudrey). Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 53, no. 1 (2014): 1-39. [link to accepted manuscript version]
Research Reports
- "Variations in Personal and Corporate Names in the OCLC Online Union Catalog." Annual Review of OCLC Research (July 1987-June 1988): 53-54.
- "Extent of Variations in Personal and Corporate Names Found in the OCLC Bibliographic File." Submitted to the OCLC Library School Research Equipment Support Program, November 1989.
- "Empirical Study of the Overlap Between the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and the Architectural Periodicals Index." Final Report to the Council on Library Resources on Award No. CLR-4039, June 1990. (co-prepared with Angela Giral).
- "How Many Subdivisions Represent the Form of an Item? Results of a Research Study." Submitted to the ALA/ALCTS/Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information Committee (MARBI), January 1995. (Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/ala/subfldv.htm)
- "What Have We Got to Lose? The Effect of Controlled Vocabulary on Keyword Searching Results." (co-prepared with Tina Gross). August 2004.
Chapters in Edited Books/Proceedings
- "Authority Control and System Design." (In Policy and Practice in Bibliographic Control of Nonbook Media, edited by Sheila S. Intner and Richard P. Smiraglia. Chicago: American Library Association, 1987, pp. 64-81.)
- "Responding to User Needs: the Complementary Roles of Authority Control and System Design." (In Authority Control in Music Libraries: Proceedings of the Music Library Association Preconference, edited by Ruth Tucker. Canton, MA: Music Library Association, 1989, p. 71-91.)
- "Classification and Copy Cataloging." (In Classification of Library Materials: Current and Future Potential for Providing Access, edited by Betty G. Bengtson and Janet Swan Hill. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1990, p. 81-98.)
- "Cataloguing." (In World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services, edited by Robert Wedgeworth. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1993, p. pp. 177-181.
- "Books and Other Bibliographic Materials." (In Guide to Indexing and Cataloging with the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, edited by Toni Petersen and Patricia J. Barnett. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 101-119.)
- "A Quarter Century of Cataloging Education." (In Technical Services Management, 1965-1990: A Quarter Century of Change and a Look to the Future, edited by Linda C. Smith and Ruth C. Carter. New York: Haworth Press, 1996, pp. 299-306.)
- "Access to Networked Documents: Catalogs? Search Engines? Both?" co- authored with Patrice Clemson. (In Proceedings of the OCLC Internet Cataloging Colloquium, 1996, available: http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2003/07/21/0000003889/viewer/file9.html)
- "The Electronic Information Environment and Academic Libraries in the U.S." (In Electronic Information Environment and Academic Libraries: Proceedings of the Japan-U.S. Library Conference 1996, Tokyo: Kinokuniya Company, 1997), pp. 131-140; and in Japanese: pp. 11-19.
- "Teaching Seriality: A Major Educational Challenge." (In E-Serials Cataloging: Access to Continuing and Integrating Resources via the Catalog and the Web. Jim Cole and Wayne Jones, eds. New York: Haworth Information Press, 2002), pp. 73-80.
- "L'insegnamento dell'authority control." (In Authority Control: Definizione ed esperienze internazionali: Atti del convegno internazionale, Firenze, 10-12 febbraio 2003. Edited by Mauro Guerrini and Barbara B. Tillett, with the collaboration of Lucia Sardo. Florence, Italy: Firenze University Press, 2003), pp. 47-60.
- "Teaching Authority Control." (In Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information: Definition and International Experience. Arlene G. Taylor and Barbara B. Tillett, eds. New York: The Haworth Information Press, 2004), pp. 43- 57.
- "Introduction: From Catalog to Gateway to ..." (in From Catalog to Gateway: Charting a Course for Future Access: Briefings from the ALCTS Catalog Form and Function Committee. Chicago: Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, American Library Association, 2005), pp. 1-5.
- "Much about Metadata," with Daniel N. Joudrey (in The Whole Library Handbook 4. George M. Eberhart, ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 2006), pp. 303-313.
- "An Introduction to Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR)." (in Understanding FRBR: What It Is and How It Will Affect Our Retrieval Tools. Arlene G. Taylor, ed. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2007), pp. 1-19.
- "Organization and Representation of Information/Knowledge." (in The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts. Ken Haycock and Brooke Sheldon, eds. Westport. Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2008), pp. 98-111.
- "Cataloging," with Daniel N. Joudrey (in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd ed., edited by Marcia J. Bates and Mary Niles Maack. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010), pp. 798-807.
Other Publications
- [Article in] Krieger, T., ed., "Catalogs and Catalogers: Evolution through Revolution." Journal of Academic Librarianship (September 1976): 174-175.
- "Integrating Outside Cataloging Copy into an Existing System." Catholic Library World (May/June 1977): 416-418.
- "Staying Open in 1981." HCL Cataloging Bulletin (March/April 1979): 11-15.
- "Discrepancies in CIP: How Serious is the Problem?" Library Journal (November 1, 1979): 2281-2287.
- "What If We Had a Crisis, but Nobody Noticed? The Impact of AACR 2." Georgia Librarian (May 1980): 5-8.
- "The Implementation of AACR 2: Some Questions," co-authored with Arnold Hirshon and David Gleim. RTSD Newsletter (September/October 1980): 57-59.
- "A Five-Year Projection of the Impact of the Rules for Form of Heading in AACR 2 Upon Selected Academic Library Catalogs." SPEC kit 68 (October 1980): 1-19; also in Alternative Catalog Newsletter, nos. 24-26 (December 1980).
- "The Impact of LC's Implementation of AACR 2." Technicalities (December 1980): p. 4-6.
- [Letter to Editor] "AACR 2, Dowell, Gorman, etc." Library Journal (December 1, 1980): 2445.
- "AACR 2 Countdown: A Decision-Maker's Checklist." Public Libraries (Winter 1980): 101103; reprinted in Southeastern Library Services' Regional Rag (April/May 1981): 4-6.
- "AACR 2 Checklist for Decision Makers." Technicalities (February 1981): 16+.
- "Authority Control and System Design" [English original title; published article in Japanese - translated into Japanese by Ito Yoko] MLAJ [Music Library Association of Japan] Newsletter 11, no. 6 (March 1990): 1-12.
- "Definition of ‘Form,’ ‘Genre,’ ‘Physical Characteristics’." Paper written for the purpose of discussion by the SAC Subcommittee on the Nature and Use of Form Data, January 1992. (Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/ala/form-mss.htm)
- "St. John's Congress for Librarians." ALCTS Newsletter 2, no. 5 (1991): 52-53.
- "The Information Universe: Will We Have Chaos or Control?" American Libraries 25, no. 7 (July/Aug. 1994): 629-632.
- [Letter to Editor] "Gays Deserve Praise Not Scorn." American Libraries 26, no. 10 (Nov. 1995): 1010.
- "A World of Disappearing Boundaries: Traditional Organization of Information in an Electronic Environment." Paper and slide presentation written for "Organizing Information in the 21st Century, a Symposium to honor Arlene G. Taylor, recipient of the 1996 Margaret Mann Citation," School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, May 30, 1997, and also presented for the professors and students of the Curso de Biblioteconomia, Faculdade de Comunecacao e Biblioteconomia, Universidade Federal de Goias, Goiania, Goias, Brasil, October 22, 1997. Available: (paper: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/world- disap/world-bound.pdf) and (slide presentation: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/world-disap/index.htm)
- "Access to Form Data in Online Catalogs." [Paper written by Harriette Hemmasi, David Miller, and Mary Charles Lasater; edited by Arlene G. Taylor.] ALCTS Newsletter Online 10, no. 4 (July 1999). Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/ala/papers/HemmasiFormData.pdf
- "Authority Control: Where It's Been and Where It's Going." Paper written for "Authority Control: Why It Matters," College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA, sponsored by the NELINET Cataloging and Technical Services Advisory Committee, November 1, 1999. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/NELINET-1999.htm
- "Cataloging: Ticket to the Past, the Present, and the Future." Slide presentation written for the Resources and Technical Services Forum, Iowa Library Association Annual Conference, Ames, Iowa, October 20, 2000. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/iowatalk/index.htm
- "Our Trip to Thailand (February 2545 B.E.)" (with A. Wayne Benson). Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/Thailand/index.html and also linked to from the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program page.
- "Pictures from Tuscany, Italy, February 2003" (with A. Wayne Benson). Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/Italy/index.html
- "Metadata, Ontologies, Taxonomies, Oh, My!" Presentation for the ALCTS Symposium “Preparing 21st Century Cataloging and Metadata Professionals,” San Diego, CA, January 9, 2004. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/MetacatWorkshopHandout.pdf
- "Israel: Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, April 16-30, 2004" (with A. Wayne Benson). Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/Israel/index.html
- "Fulbright to Israel, April 16-30, 2004." Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/Israel/Fulbright/index.html
- "Metadata, FRBR, and New Challenges." Slide presentation written for the Missouri Library Association Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, October 28, 2004. Available: http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/presentations/FRBR-handout.pdf
- "Comparison of Keyword Searching Using FAST vs. Using LCSH," presentation for the ALCTS CCS Program: "FAST: A New System of Subject Access for Cataloging and Metadata," Annual ALA Conference, 24 June 2006, New Orleans, Louisiana. Published June 2006 by OCLC: http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/fast/ala06-taylor.ppt
- “LCSH Strings: Some Thoughts” (with Daniel N. Joudrey), in Library of Congress Subject Headings Pre- vs. Post-Coordination and Related Issues, prepared by the Cataloging Policy and Support Office, Library of Congress, March 15, 2007. Available: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/pre_vs_post.html
- [Letter to Editor - Response to Dorothea Salo's "Name Authority Control in Institutional Repositories"] (with Richard P. Smiraglia) Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 47, issue 8 (2009): 760-763.
- "Implementing AACR and AACR2: A Personal Perspective and Lessons Learned,"Library Resources & Technical Services 56, no. 3 (July 2012): 122-126.
Reviews
- Review of AACR 2: An Introduction to the Second Edition of Anglo- American Cataloging Rules, by Eric J. Hunter (London: C. Bingley, 1979), in American Reference Books Annual, 1980 (Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited).
- Review of AACR 2 and the Catalog: Theory--Structure--Changes, by Wesley Simonton and Marilyn Jones McClaskey (Littleton Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1981), in Library Quarterly 52, no.2 (April 1982): 192-193.
- Review of Authority Control: The Key to Tomorrow's Catalog, edited by Mary W. Ghikas (Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, l982), in Library Quarterly 53, no.1(January 1983): 66-68.
- Review of The Bibliographic Record and Information Technology, by Ronald Hagler and Peter Simmons (Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1982), in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 4 (Spring 1984): 90-92.
- Review of Cataloging Music: A Manual for Use with AACR 2, by Richard P. Smiraglia (Lake Crystal, Minn.: Soldier Creek Press, 1983), in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 5 (Summer 1985): 90-91.
- Review of Cataloging of Audiovisual Materials, 2nd ed., by Nancy B. Olson (Mankato, Minn.: Minnesota Scholarly Press, 1985), in RTSD Newsletter (Winter 1986): 7-8.
- Review of The Nature of "A Work": Implications for the Organization of Knowledge by Richard P. Smiraglia. Library Resources & Technical Services 50, no. 3 (July 2006): 216-217.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Arlene G. Taylor
Professor Emerita
Library & Information Science Program
School of Information Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: ataylor@sis.pitt.edu
Professor Emerita
Library & Information Science Program
School of Information Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: ataylor@sis.pitt.edu
ARLENE G. TAYLOR IN WORLDCAT IDENTITIES, VIAF, AND LCNAF
WorldCat Identities: WorldCat Identities has a summary page for every name in WorldCat (currently some 30 million names) including named persons, organizations and fictitious characters. The pages include information derived from WorldCat and other sources (VIAF, FAST) plus with unique data derived or created through a variety of special processing activities (e.g., WorldCat Identities provides statistical data about how widely held a work is). A typical WorldCat Identities page will include a list of most widely held-by-libraries works by and about the identity, a list of variant forms of name the identity has been known by, a FAST tag cloud of places, topics, etc. closely related to works by and about the person, links to co-authors, and more. Titles listed are linked to WorldCat.org, and in many popular WorldCat Identities pages, links to the corresponding Wikipedia (English language) article are provided.
VIAF: The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).
LC Name Authority File (LCNAF): The Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF) file provides authoritative data for names of persons, organizations, events, places, and titles. Its purpose is the identification of these entities and, through the use of such controlled vocabulary, to provide uniform access to bibliographic resources. Names descriptions also provide access to a controlled form of name through references from unused forms
A CHRONICLE OF MEMOIRS
The Multi-faceted Arlene Taylor
Professor Emerita, University of Pittsburgh
Once upon a time (OuaT), a library educator, Bohdan Wynar, decided to start a publishing company to make sure that students in library programs had excellent textbooks. He asked Arlene Taylor to join him co-authoring a new edition of his cataloging book.
OuaT, Arlene Taylor decided that what was critical to the profession was a textbook for students and even more experienced librarians to learn about organization of Information, and, after a great deal of discussion with Dr. Wynar, he published Arlene’s book with that title. This moved librarians into the forefront of information scientists who had new technologies to store information but really weren’t taught how to organize it before they stored it.
OuaT, Arlene, a new library educator joined the faculty at the University of Chicago only to find that with the introduction of computers, education of future librarians would no longer be needed, and they closed the school, She moved to Columbia University only to find the Provost agreed that computers would provide all the information that would be needed and closing the school would save a great deal of money. At both institutions, she was sought after by doctoral students who wanted to conduct their research in cataloging.
OuaT, a search committee at the University of Pittsburgh thought they had found a suitable candidate. The applicant, after telling Arlene to please not apply because this person wanted the job, did not take it.
OuaT, a new search committee with a different chair quickly, actively, aggressively, recruited Arlene, and she accepted the position.
OuaT, in the manner of many universities, Arlene was appointed as a non-tenured associate professor because that was her rank at Columbia. However, Arlene was quickly reviewed and granted tenure, earning promotion to Professor six years later.
OuaT, professors and students at Pittsburgh observed Arlene spending long hours with students who had difficulty mastering the art of cataloging and organization of information. Quietly she gathered excellent students to follow in her footsteps.
OuaT, a retired library educator joined the editorial staff at Libraries Unlimited to work with library educators and their textbooks. This meant meeting Arlene, my former colleague at Pittsburgh, as a beloved author of LU’s best, bestselling textbooks, someone who introduced me to her Pitt graduate, Danny Joudrey, and everyone knows the ending of that tale. What a great pair of authors to “shepherd”
through the creation of new editions of their works. What beautiful works Arlene and then with Danny offered to the world of persons needing to learn about organization of information.
What is missing from my story is the impact Arlene Taylor has made on the profession through her work as a leader in organizations who crafted the rules and regulations of organizing information. I leave that up to the others. What I do know is that Arlene is an incredible friend to her former students, and in this case, her former colleague as well as her former editor who was delighted that she joined the faculty at Pittsburgh and has remained my incredible colleague and friend.
.
Tribute to Dr. Arlene G. Taylor
Professor Emerita, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
I also had the opportunity to invite Dr. Taylor to contribute to a festschrift in honor of her own cataloging teacher, Illinois faculty member Kathryn Luther Henderson. Her article, “A Quarter Century of Cataloging Education,” appeared in Technical Services Management, 1965-1990: A Quarter Century of Change and a Look to the Future (Haworth Press, 1996). In 2011, 45 years after she earned her MS in Library Science, the Library School Alumni Association at Illinois presented Arlene Taylor with the Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizing an individual alumnus of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of library and information science. This was a fitting way to celebrate Dr. Taylor’s many accomplishments.
Arlene G. Taylor: Colleague, Collaborator, and Friend
Barbara B. Tillett, Ph.D.
Former Chief of the Library's Cataloging Policy & Support Office, Library of Congress, July 2020
In late 1970’s, while Arlene was working on her dissertation research about changing headings to AACR2 and that impact on library catalogs of the time, we first corresponded. She was Arlene Dowell then.
At the time I was head of technical services at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, University of California, San Diego and active in the American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division (now ALCTS) and ALA’s Library Information and Technology Division. I was particularly involved in research on authority control and had an extensive bibliography that I shared with Arlene, as I found it included some things she had not yet discovered in her bibliography. And so began our collaborations, particularly in the area of authority control, but also with cataloging education texts (descriptive cataloging, classification, and subject indexing).
I followed her work on authority control from 1981-1983, when Arlene was on the Authority Institutes Planning Committee for the American Library Association, and I attended one of the Institutes. I appreciated her data gathering to help promote cataloging changes, such as her 1981 Ph.D. dissertation, which helped convince libraries that they could switch to the “new” Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition, and her 1982 survey of library system vendors regarding authority control, which led to increased awareness among the vendor community of the need for authority control in library systems, which in fact they later implemented. Building on that momentum, I started the LITA/RTSD (later LITA/ALCTS/CCS) Interest Group on Authority Control in the Online Environment (ACIG) within the American Library Association, in which meetings Arlene regularly participated.
We both attended many of the same conferences over the years, including the February 2003 international conference on authority control, “Authority Control: definition and international experiences,” organized by Mauro Guerrini in Florence, Italy. She and I collaborated on the publication of the proceedings¹ from that conference with the assistance of Mauro Guerrini and Murtha Baca. Her contribution to the conference was a presentation on teaching authority control.
When she collaborated with Bohdan S. Wynar on his text, Introduction to Cataloging and Classification, she invited me to update a couple of chapters: in the 8th edition, ch. 26 “Processing Centers. Networking, and Online Systems,” and ch. 27, “Catalog Management.” I again updated and reworked “Processing Centers, Networking, and Online Systems,” for the 9th edition (ch. 19).
I consider Arlene a friend and continue to admire her many contributions to the profession.
Personal coincidences:
As children, we lived in Oklahoma for part of our early lives (different cities – I was twice in Muskogee and she was in Okmulgee, Shawnee, and Tulsa) and later in the Norfolk (me) /Newport News (her) area in Virginia.
Typed card sets for cataloging classes when we were in library school and did all the original cataloging for libraries – she at Christopher Newport College and I at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Worked for the Library of Congress during our careers
Taught in library schools
International travellers and lecturers
Interest in tacking down family histories, genealogical research
For decades we have continued to stay in touch through our exchange of annual Christmas letters about our activities and family events, and we managed to get together, accompanied by our husbands, a few times when we were in the same city at a meeting.
¹Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information, edited by Arlene G. Taylor and Barbara B. Tillett, with assistance of Mauro Guerrini, Murtha Baca. (Simultaneously published in New York by Haworth Press and as Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, v. 38, nos.3/4, 2004 and v. 39, nos.1/2, 2004.)
¹Authority Control in Organizing and Accessing Information, edited by Arlene G. Taylor and Barbara B. Tillett, with assistance of Mauro Guerrini, Murtha Baca. (Simultaneously published in New York by Haworth Press and as Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, v. 38, nos.3/4, 2004 and v. 39, nos.1/2, 2004.)
Tribute to Prof. Arlene G. Taylor
Professor, Department of Libraries and Information, South Valley University, Egypt
Until now, we have been communicating with each other via e-mail providing each other with news and events, especially from her side when she informs me of her annual report with regard to her family and professional life, including her health affairs. She is truly a great woman who understands the meaning and value of communicating with others, particularly those who have been embraced by her scientifically and educationally. For my firm belief and recognition of her role, I have taken her as a reference. This is highly due to my confidence in her knowledge and wise opinions. I almost cried affected by her, remembering my stay next to her being educated and benefiting from her knowledge and the style of her administration in supervision and teaching.
Professor Taylor is not just a number and a degree in our field, but a person who combined science, ethics, modesty and kindness. She is really a dream for every library student who wants to develop and influence his/her society. Please, allow me to dedicate my scientific works published in the major American and British periodicals (attached with this e-mail) to the wonderful teacher and compassionate mother, Professor Arlene. I ask God to perpetuate her life and make her always enlightening for all those who pursue useful knowledge.
Tribute to Prof. Arlene G. Taylor
Barbara Paff
Former Cataloger, Iowa State University
Although we have been personal friends for many decades, my professional connection with Arlene Taylor was relatively brief.
I graduated from University of Maryland’s School of Library and Information Services in 1967, with minimal training in descriptive cataloging, because the “new rules” (AACR) were coming out, and as the professor pointed out, by the time we students got jobs the current rules would be outdated.
After having worked several years in Acquisitions at Colorado State University, I was hired in 1973 at Iowa State University as a cataloger, with no cataloging experience to speak of. It was my great good fortune to have Arlene as my supervisor. She said she would rather train someone from scratch than have to “un-teach” someone! She was a phenomenal teacher, which will surprise no one who knows her. She was unfailingly crystal-clear and thorough in her explanations, patient, and eager to challenge me with more complicated material. We quickly became good friends, and remained so, despite the fact that she soon left ISU to move on in her career.
When the “rules” were changed again and implemented in 1981, Arlene asked me to work with her on an article analyzing the effect of AACR2 on maintaining card catalogs. At that point I was head of Catalog Maintenance, still at ISU, and my primary role in this project was to gather data and provide it to Arlene, reporting the numbers and types of headings that required changing/refiling, cross references needed, various levels of authority work needed, etc. The result was “Looking Back: Implementation of AACR2,” published in Library Quarterly, July 1986.
It was a pleasure as well as a great privilege to work with Arlene. She taught me to dearly love cataloging. The training she provided me proved to be invaluable in my later positions as well, particularly in instigating and managing the retro-conversion of some 70,000 volumes in the Rutherford Hayes Presidential Library. Her encouragement has been a blessing to me through the years.
Prof. Arlene G. Taylor: A Cataloger, Librarian, and Teacher on a Mission to Organize the Information of the World
Salman Haider
Creator, Librarianship Studies & Information Technology, a blog of Library and Information Science
Dr. Arlene G. Taylor’s intellectual works are great reference sources in the field of Library and Information Science. I have been reading her works which are stimulating and educating me since I started my studies in the Library and Information Science. I started my education in library and information science in 2001. I did my Bachelor of Library and Information Science and Master of Library and Information Science in 2001 and 2002 respectively in India. During my studies, I was especially interested in library cataloging and classification. I developed my knowledge of cataloging and information organization by reading books by Dr. Taylor.
My article titled "Library Cataloging, Classification, and Metadata Research: A Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations" was published in the first issue of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly (CCQ) for the year 2020. It has a provision to e-mail me if I had missed a description of some doctoral works which I can then update in the bibliography. One fine day, I received an e-mail from Dr. Taylor giving me a bibliographical description of two doctoral works that were researched under her supervision to be added to the bibliography. Thus our communication started and she appreciated some of my quotations about libraries and librarians. It was like a dream to communicate with the person whom I admire a lot, whose books helped me in developing my knowledge of cataloging and reaching the place in my career where I am today.
I tried to read more about her in the information available online. I got an interview of her taken by David Miller which was published in the Cataloging & Classification Quarterly in 2016. At the same time, I continued communicating with Prof. Arlene. In communications with Dr. Taylor, I could trace the history of cataloging in the United States. In her CCQ interview it was mentioned that when she was a child, she made pockets, check-out cards, and date due to slips for all her children’s books and checked out the books to her dolls. Just imagine how wonderful is this to think that there is a girl who when aged between 10-15 while playing with her dolls made due date slips herself and then checked out books to her dolls.
The knowledge gained by communication with her and reading about her was like knowing about the history of cataloging in the United States which obviously impacted greatly the practice and education of cataloging and information organization all over the world. I thought that all this information should be documented, hence came the idea of this biography and festschrift. I wish all the very best to Dr. Arlene G. Taylor and thank her for her contributions to the field of cataloging and cataloging education.
Prof. Arlene G. Taylor:
Prof. Snunith Shoham (PhD UC Berkeley)
Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University, Israel
I am Prof. Snunith Shoham from Bar-Ilan University, Israel, serving also as a Chair of the Israeli Center for Libraries. I received my PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Librarianship and Information Studies. Upon my return to Israel I was a senior Lecturer and professor at the Department of Information Studies, Bar Ilan University, in which I served for 7 years as the Head of the Department.
I wish to focus my comments on Prof. Arlyne Taylor's international relations and worldwide influence.
Arlene was a lead author or co-author of many widely-used texts, especially in the field of the organization of information. These include the Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (6th to 11th editions) and The Organization of Information (four editions) as well as an extensive publication record of refereed articles, books and book chapters, and research reports. In Israel, her books and publications are extensively utilized in the education of future librarians and information specialists.
We heard from other academics in many Information and Library schools around the world, that Arlene's publications are a part of their academic courses' reading lists, often used as mandatory text books, This is Arlene's forte – the ability to clearly, coherently and systematically explain the theoretical foundations, as well as the intricate details of application of information organization. This has gained for Arlene prominent international influence on the understanding and building of knowledge organization, classification, cataloging and the creation of metadata.
Arlene's publications are compulsory reading for me, keeping me updated with each new edition and there have been many editions! They form an essential part of the bibliography for my cataloging and classification classes. It is not me and my students only, her books are essential texts which were used all over the world.
Arlene Taylor was very active on the international scene. Taylor's international activities include serving as workshop leader, teacher, and/or consultant in Brazil, England, Thailand, and Israel. In Israel we met in 2004 when she came on a grant from Fulbright Senior Specialist Program. She was the guest of Bar Ilan University, while at that time I was the Head of the Department.
In the report of her Visit to Bar Ilan University the professional elements are described:
"Two workshops and a colloquium were scheduled. The first workshop was titled "Practical Applications of Metadata" and was held on Tuesday, April 20, and the second, held on Wednesday, April 28, was titled "Ontologies and Taxonomies: Theory and Practice." The two workshops were attended by master's and doctoral students from the Information Science department, some faculty who teach in the area, and practicing professional catalogers, database managers, bibliographers, and library managers from around the country. The colloquium, held Wednesday, April 21, was titled "Modern Tools for the Organization of Information." It was attended by many school faculty members and students and also by librarians from the area. A special treat at the colloquium was my being introduced by the late Sara Fine, Professor Emerita of the University of Pittsburgh, who at that time was teaching at Bar-Ilan University. Sara showed the audience pictures of Pittsburgh and the University to show them the place where she and I had taught together for about five years during the 1990s."
Her visit to Israel was also a religious and spiritual experience for Arlene and her husband who are devoted Christians. They traveled in the steps of Jesus and the tour has become a bit of a pilgrimage for them in the Holy Land.
Since our first meeting we have remained in contact professionally collaborating in a number of areas. Prof. Taylor agreed several times to judge a number of our students' doctoratal dissertaions, dealing in the area of her expertise.
We also corresponded on a personal level, including her annual New Year's letters, detailing the personal events of the past, as also mentioned by our Egyptian colleague. Arlene's letters were always very detailed, with regard to her family and professional life, including her health affairs. Every family member was mentioned and all this was accompanied with photos of all those mentioned. I would always reply, sending her my yearly report. This yearly custom added to our personal connection and these friendly feelings enhanced our work and professional connections.
Tribute to Dr. Arlene G. Taylor
Richard P. Smiraglia
Senior Fellow and Executive Director, Institute for Knowledge Organization and Structure, Inc., Lake Oswego, OR, USA
I first met Arlene Taylor in the upheaval over the
implementation of AACR2 (the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2d edition),
which, if I recall correctly, was implemented in 1981 by the Library of
Congress but had been implemented at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign (where I worked as music catalog librarian) in 1979. I
remember that we both were involved in a sort of informal speakers’ circuit at
the time, and that allowed me to learn about the amazing and careful empirical
work she had done to predict what the impact of implementation would be.
I think our earliest collaboration was as part of the ALA committee known as CC:DA (Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access), which was in charge of the ALA’s stewardship of the cataloging rules. We found ourselves on the same (the one true I might say) side of the problem about representation of works as we both understood it, although at the time the controversy was about the description of microforms. We lobbied and argued and worked very hard to convince colleagues that the appropriate path was to describe the item in hand with reference to any works it contained. In the end we lost that battle to the Library of Congress, which had settled on its own internally pragmatic approach. Decades later people involved in that decision-making admitted their error. Oh well, one might say.
It was the beginning of my decades of research on the problem that we now know as the instantiation of information objects. My own interest in the problem arose from the implementation of uniform titles for musical works, and eventually led me to the research on derivative bibliographic relationships that occupied my PhD dissertation. It was Arlene’s comprehension of the details of the problem and her encouragement and advice that kept me on that path, through my first empirical study of musical works conducted in her seminar at Chicago and on through my dissertation and subsequent research career.
But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. The other early interaction between us also took place somehow or other (I don’t recall the details any longer) in the AACR2 days. I remember that we were both on some panel or other, and while we waited for the program to begin we were sitting at the table gripping our notes tightly and chatting a bit. I had just participated in a large study of the implementation of music cataloging in OCLC. The study was successful in many ways, but as I told Arlene at the time, it had been quite difficult to iron out details of the methodology. I remember her looking me straight in the eye and telling me I ought to get a PhD and learn how to conduct science properly. You see, she had recently completed her PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taken up a faculty position at the famous Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago. I don’t recall the rest of our conversation, but I do remember arriving on her doorstep in Chicago not long after, to begin an interview at GLS to consider becoming a doctoral student there.
I remember meeting her family, and I remember helping her complete some chores so we could move along to GLS. I bring this up to demonstrate the immense generosity with which our long collegial relationship began. It was on this occasion that I learned that she made her own most excellent tomato juice and that she knew the magical proper way to fold a fitted sheet, something I still can’t quite do properly although every time I try I remember watching her and just being amazed. I think it’s important to emphasize these recollections here, because the guidance and mentoring I received from Arlene that compelled and propelled me through my whole career always was grounded in reality, even when we dared tackle theoretical heights.
I did become her doctoral student at GLS. I remember sitting in Arlene’s office there (in the GLS headquarters at Regenstein Library) and discussing everything imaginable but I very clearly remember spending hours discussing the outline of a theory of bibliographic control, not to mention details of bibliographic relationships, empirical research and especially the problems of sampling from catalogs, and on and on. It was a heady time in my life—hers as well I think. Of my mentors at GLS Arlene’s influence was the most profound.
I began my doctoral studies using my mother’s handed-down portable typewriter. I remember working with Arlene on a potential grant proposal. What I remember most is hand-writing reams of notes on legal pads until I developed a serious case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Somewhere around this time Arlene bought one of those new-fangled home computers—a Kaypro. She even bought a modem! So, when I began the aforementioned study of musical works by searching OCLC relentlessly I did all of that research from the Kaypro in Arlene’s dining room. Along the way we had many long conversations and I learned even more from her watching in amazement as she flew in from school and generated meals for all of us in what seemed like a heartbeat. Eventually I bought my own Kaypro with Arlene’s guidance and it was from that machine that my dissertation research was born, and on that machine that Music Cataloging was composed.
But, as usual, I digress. After three years or so of coursework I passed my comprehensive exams and set about composing a dissertation proposal. Like most of the doctoral students I later mentored I was in no particular hurry about it until one day the phone rang. I remember clearly that it was a sunny day and I was in the upstairs of my Urbana home. It was Arlene, calling to tell me she was leaving Chicago for a new appointment at the School of Library Service (SLS) at Columbia University. The gist of her message was that I had better finish and defend a proposal before she left (excellent advice as it turned out). Various intersecting whirlwinds of activity took place in the aftermath, after which I successfully defended my dissertation proposal in time, and was myself hired at SLS.
There we redesigned the entire cataloging curriculum, separating resource description from subject analysis, the better to give each its due, but also to separate the “how to” of both from the broader introductory course in bibliographic control that was required of all students. That was the germination of decades of education in what became information organization for Arlene and knowledge organization for me.
Arlene taught me how to teach. I had already been teaching at UIUC as an adjunct, and I had been teaching individual students to catalog music in a practicum, but at SLS I suddenly faced large full classrooms. Arlene wanted both of us to succeed and she gave me every note she had, every lecture, every exercise, etc. Her generosity was amazing and I never forgot, as I over the years handed the whole business to every junior professor I worked with. As for my own teaching, Arlene sat in on my classes and then sat me down and told me the truth. She said I knew what I was talking about and I was very articulate but that I tended to hit them over the head with theory until their eyes glazed over. She told me I had to introduce them to theory gently by approaching it from examples they could grasp empirically (I don’t think those were her words but that was the lesson). It was a terrific lesson. I laughed decades later when some of my doctoral students told me they thought when they asked me a question in class and I removed my glasses it was because they had asked a dumb question. No, I told them, it was because they had asked an excellent question and I had to look inside to think of a way to explain the answer.
Another thing Arlene taught me and I didn’t like it at all at the time was that male students had an unfair advantage in the classroom. She was right and although it took me awhile to grasp the truth of the situation it eventually made its way into my philosophy of teaching. I and my students owe her a great debt for this most important lesson.
In 1991 SLS was closed (in the aftermath of the closure of GLS), and by some accident of fate Arlene and I were the last two faculty left to mop up the remaining graduates. I don’t remember the time clearly, except that I was furiously working on my dissertation (yes, almost ten years after I had started it!) and we both were working on whatever would come next.
Most of what I’ve written here began to crystallize for me
when I finished The Nature of a Work
in 2001, and I wrote some of this in the acknowledgments as I became more
clearly aware of Arlene’s influence on my work and my life. I am indebted to
Arlene for bringing me into the theoretical paradigm at Chicago and for
teaching me to approach science with caution but also with joy. I am grateful
to Arlene for the opportunity to sit on the steps at Butler Library during
Columbia commencement and think to myself “oh my goodness I’m teaching here!”
But I also owe her immense gratitude for teaching me to teach and to mentor,
lessons that extended into my decades as a journal editor. And as I hope I have
made clear, it was Arlene’s guidance and faith that helped me develop the
theory of instantiation of information objects that formed the core of my
research agenda.
SEE ALSO
- Biographies of Famous Librarians : Who's Who in Library and Information Science
- Library and Information Science Encyclopedia
REFERENCES
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science, "Arlene G. Taylor," https://sils.unc.edu/people/alumni-profiles/arlene-taylor (accessed July 3, 2020).
2. University of Pittsburgh, "Arlene G. Taylor Home Page," http://www.pitt.edu/~agtaylor/ (accessed July 3, 2020).
3. Arlene G. Taylor & David P. Miller (2016). An Interview with Arlene G. Taylor, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 54:8, 521-536, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2016.1237399 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639374.2016.1237399
3. Arlene G. Taylor & David P. Miller (2016). An Interview with Arlene G. Taylor, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 54:8, 521-536, DOI: 10.1080/01639374.2016.1237399 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639374.2016.1237399
CITATION INFORMATION
Article Title: Arlene G. Taylor
Author: Salman Haider
Website Name: Librarianship Studies & Information Technology
URL: https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2020/07/arlene-g-taylor.html
Last Updated: 2020-07-24
Original Published Date: 2020-07-03
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