Applying the User-Centered Paradigm to Cataloging Standards in Theory and Practice: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Dervin and Nilan’s (1986) article, “Information needs and uses,” has been an influential article in Library and Information Science (LIS), because it calls for a paradigm shift in LIS away from research that focuses on systems and standards to research that focuses on users. This article also has been influential on library and information practice. Librarians and other information workers are called on to be user-centered and place users at the center of library programs and services. Conforming to the user-centered paradigm, however, has been problematic for broad representational systems, like library cataloging, that must meet the diverse needs of global users. Despite calls to focus on users, the cataloging field has not taken a user-centered approach in research or in the development of cataloging standards. Instead, the responsibility to meet users’ needs has been placed on cataloging practitioners, who are encouraged to customize bibliographic records to meet their local users’ needs. Dissertation research by Hoffman (2008) suggests that catalogers are limited in their ability to customize bibliographic records, because catalogers do not know who their users are and cannot identify their users’ needs. In addition, library administrators discourage customization in favor of efficient cataloging processes. There are limits to LIS’s user-centered paradigm in the area of cataloging, and perhaps it needs to examined and reconsidered. Is the user-centered paradigm still applicable to cataloging? How should cataloging meet users’ needs? This paper will examine the problems of the user-centered paradigm in cataloging.