Childrens Literature at the Library of CongressA presentation byAngela Murphy-WaltersSenior Catalog SpecialistChildrens Literature Section

Welcome, Introductions& OutlineOn-lineOn-siteOn the page

Online Resources for Librarians, Teachers, Parents, & Children available through loc.govReference materialLesson plansRDA, MARC, and much moreCYAC web page

On-Site Programs and ActivitiesNew Visitors ExperienceVisitor Services OfficeChildrens Literature CenterAmerican Folklife CenterRare Books and Special CollectionsCenter for the BookThe National Book FestivalNational Ambassador for Young Peoples LiteratureYoung Readers Center

On the Page: The Childrens and Young Adults Cataloging ProgramOverview of the ProgramElements of a CYAC recordWhat we do today and what may lie ahead

Elements of a CYAC Bibliographic Record008 Audience codes008 Literary form codes042 lcac $a pcc050 PZ082 Usually [Fic] or [E]520 Often, these days, publisher-supplied700 $e ill.

But especially6XX fields6XX0with $v Juvenile fiction6XX1without $v Juvenile fiction6550Graphic novels

SHM H1690, H1790, and more

The CYAC web sitehttp://www.loc.gov/aba/cyac/index.htmlIn the late 1990s, the team recognized the desirability of a web site documenting our proceduresAn intern placed pages written and revised by catalogers into a prototype web siteWith a new acting Section Head, input from the Policy Office, and help from web developers, we debuted the CYAC web site in December, 2011

ConclusionAll sites mentioned here can be reached through http://www.loc.govInquiries about the CYAC Program can be directed to amur@loc.gov or lgei@loc.govQuestions?Thank you!

Im Angela Murphy-Walters, a Senior Catalog Specialist in the Childrens Literature Section working at the Library of Congress since July of 2000. Prior to that, I specialized in nonbook cataloging at three universities, was head of the Curriculum Library at one of those three, and also spent a couple of years as Youth Services Coordinator for a public library system a job where I loved everything except the boss! I heard about this conference while I was with East Tennessee State University, attended two or three times and was a presenter at least once. Now, I have two grandnieces in Indianapolis and it was the perfect time to come back.Ill begin with a brief introduction to the Library and some of what is available through loc.gov, then spotlight some of what you might see if you were to come to our campus, and finish up by talking about the CYAC Program and what it means to you.The Library of Congress, established in 1800, is the nations oldest federal cultural institution and the worlds preeminent reservoir of knowledge and creativity. There are a lot of other talking points that I could share, but instead Ill refer you to our website. What you will hear about today and much more is found at loc.gov. I encourage you to explore on your own and find materials that will help you in your workand play!At the Librarys home page, one of the first things youll see is a list of links to Resources for various groups. You will be especially interested, I think, in the resources for kids & families, for teachers, and especially for librarians.[Show site linksKids & Families, Teachers, RDA, COOP, authority file, etc.]Next, a glimpse of what you can see if you visit LC. First and foremost is the spectacular Jefferson Building itself, with its beautiful Great Hall, reading rooms, concert hall, and much more. Upon arriving, you will enter the Library of Congress Experience, which includes exhibits staffed by experts, hands-on activities for exploring the Librarys holdings, a game-based tour, and a forum to share your thoughts with others. On-site, you will also find the American Folklife Center, the Young Readers Center (where children can actually see books!), the Childrens Literature Center, and, of course, a gift shop, cafeteria, and coffee shop. Consider coming during the National Book Festival, which is an annual celebration of books and reading held on the National Mall the third weekend of September. You know where to look for more information.[Show site linksNBF, CLC, YRC, Gift shop]For the researchers in the audience, you should know that the Library has a number of collections of rare books that include childrens materials. Contact the CLC for more information.Did you know that you have access to the Librarys collections? You need to register as a user, then request books from a Reading Room. You can even use rare booksthere are few limits. We dont collect every booknot even every U.S. publicationbut it is a vast collection.Now, for the meat of the program. Long known as the Annotated Card Program, or AC Cataloging, the LC Childrens and Young Adults Cataloging Program, CYAC, has provided cataloging records adapted for childrens and young adult material since 1965. A team of 8, including 2 technicians and 2 1/2 catalogers, produces about 10,000 CYAC cataloging records each year. We catalog materials for pre-readers through high school students, following national standards. This allows us to produce consistent and predictable records that are available from a number of sources, including the Cataloging in Publication, or CIP, often found on the verso of a books title page. (Yes, we do pronounce it sip.) A long-term team leader pointed out that we are paid to read and think. What a wonderful job description! We do read part of nearly every work in order to perform subject analysis, but we are reading for content, not for fun.CYAC cataloging differs in a couple of significant ways from standard LC cataloging. For example, we have a specialized list of subject headings that we use instead of LC headings, or that we use in a different way. We dont add United States to most of our headings, since were cataloging for US libraries. We add more headings, on average, than LC catalogers do, and double some headings with a broader term for better access. For example, a child wanting information on tree frogs might look under tree frogs, but might also search under frogs. We provide both headings even on a book that is only about tree frogs. We also have some genre headings not used by LC, although the current work on genre headings is changing that.Headings assigned as part of CYAC cataloging can be identified in a MARC record by the second indicator of 1 in 6XX fields. Some opacs display them with a term such as [juv]. On printed cards, CYAC headings generally appear in brackets.We also provide a brief, noncritical summary in most records. Although many LC records now have publisher-supplied summaries or links to websites with summaries or sample chapters, the CYAC record has included these summaries, or annotations, from the start. This is probably the most difficult thing that our team does, and not everyone hired for the team is able to master the art. The summaries we produce are in the public domain and can be used on reading lists or in book talks.So why do we do this? LC doesnt even serve children. Well, we have essentially been the Cataloging Department for most juvenile collections since 1965. Its important for LC to collect childrens literature, both for researchers and as examples of popular culture, and as long as were cataloging for ourselves, it only makes sense to provide what public and school libraries need, as well. An ALA committee has been involved in the process from the very start, and continues to advise us on desirable changes. We only recently rediscovered that Congress saw the need for increased access to juvenile materials in the 1940s, paving the way for the program.You might be interested in three other facts about cataloging at LC. One is that the Dewey Office is there, down the hall from our section. The Dewey schedules are owned by OCLC, but much of the development of those schedules occurs at LC, so OCLC funds some positions here. We add a Dewey number to each record we produce, although our juvenile collections are classed in LCC, because we know that most libraries serving children use DDC.The second fact is that we are not the Cataloging Police. Were cataloging for our collection, and you should catalog for yours. If the skeletal record we provide doesnt meet the needs of your users, change it! If you routinely make a certain kind of change, be sure you document the decision to do that, for the sake of your successor, and be consistent in applying the decisions. However, dont think that we have a secret room with a map that lights up to show us when someone has tampered with a CYAC record. Were much too busy with our own cataloging to do that, and, besides, it is right and good for you to modify our records to meet your needs.Lastly, do not assume that LC cataloging implies endorsement of any book. We catalog books as part of the CIP program that will never be added to our collections. Our guiding principal is that we be nonjudgmental in our subject analysis, so if a book in your library is challenged by censors, it will not help to tell them, But it was cataloged by the Library of Congress!Some publishers dont qualify for the CIP program; some qualify but dont submit all books, either because they are on a tight deadline or for some other reason. For example, the Harry Potter books were under such a cloak of secrecy, LC catalogers werent trusted with the galleys. I was on staff a week when a new Harry Potter title arrived and, after joking with my trainer and Team Leader about the newest member being subjected to having to catalog the book, I found myself speed-reading my way through, then working with the Team Leader, who had already read it, on the annotation.We receive, on average, 50 ECIPs per week. We currently have 2 1/2 independent catalogers and 1 in training. We have a bit of an arrearage. For that reason alone, we cant always read every word of every book. For YA novels, we find ourselves relying more and more on publishers and authors websites, as well as advance review sources. Sometimes, especially with foreign reprints, we find a good start at amazon.com. Sometimes, though, nothing is available and we must read. Yes, we get paid to read and write. With such novels, I often read about the first four chapters, then skip to the last four. If what I thought was going to happen from the beginning proves true at the end, Im all set. If there is something surprising, then I work my way backwards to see what Ive missed.It takes a long time to train someone to write a true, CYAC annotation. One supervisor said that, in her experience, it takes five years to become completely comfortable with writing them. We must capture, in one, grammatically correct sentence, what the book is about without revealing too much, and including whenever possible the main characters name or names, age or ages, the location if it is important, and if they are bears, owls, or penguins. The last part can be very tricky, since we work from text alone. Many publishers clue us in, but we often have to call a publishers representative and sometimes, when we dont think we need to call, we dont find out until were doing CIP Verification that Johnny and Suzy are earthworms.We also receive and catalog actual books, often through the Copyright Office. If there is copy available, these are cataloged by Section technicians. Original cataloging is done by catalogers as we have time. Weve each been trying to do at least 10 books per week, which isnt enough to make much of a dent. We also have SWAT comp time projects that clear out a few hundred at a time, with minimal-level cataloging. Books go much more quickly because we dont add annotations except on significant works. When copy is available, we accept almost everything as is. When no copy is available, thats often because the book wont appeal to a large audience. More about that later. Books are always a lower priority than CIPs. Lets look now at the elements that make a CYAC record different from a standard LC record.Finally, we do receive a high volume of material and we have about half the staff we had when I began. That wont improve in the foreseeable future; our budget is probably as bad as yours. For this reason, weve had to limit the scope of the program. We havent added CYAC treatment to nonfiction for about 10 years now. We dont add it to TV or movie tie-ins, repackaged editions, toy & movable books, and a few other categories. On the bright side, a Rare Books cataloger with an interest in Toy and movables, especially pop-ups, is working with us one day a week now. Others have expressed interest in learning CYAC cataloging.More exciting is that we have two ECIP partner libraries for juvenile works. BYU catalogs their own publications, including their juvenile imprints. They were our first volunteer and we worked out the kinks on them. When we sent out a request for more volunteers a few years ago, QBPL signed on. They have the luxury of a large staff in comparison with their acquisitions budget, so they have some time to catalog ECIPs. Electronic galleys are sent directly to them and they do almost exactly what we do. When they load the records into our database, we add an LC call number and review the record before the data is sent to the publisher. We started Queens with what we call the Minnesota publishers, but they asked for more and are now handling Scholastic. We also send a few other itemswhatever is oldest in the queueupon request. This has helped immensely in getting us down to fewer than 300 ECIPs awaiting cataloging, and a turn-around time of about a month. If you or your catalogers have time on your hands, you might consider becoming an ECIP Partner Library, too.The future of the CYAC Program looks bright. We hope to have a big 50th (or 75th) anniversary celebration is a few years. We are supported by our higher-ups, so you can expect to see CYAC records for a long time to come. Thank you for your time and attention, and for the wonderful excuse to visit with family.