the cataloger's plight

The article,"Information technology and the de-skilling of librarians," states that the need for catalogers has greatly diminished and the remaining catalogers are dealing with new responsiblities or a lack thereof. However, it has been my experience that some special libraries or special collections still have a great need for the traditional cataloger. These libraries utalize the traditions of the past where, "cataloguers usually specialized in subject of language ares, reviewed all the materials acqured in those areas and cataloged both the "hot" items (to get them in circulation quickly) and the difficult ones..."(3). Libraries containing collections of materials in foreign languages or from centuries long since past require the expertise of those who are able to best descern the contents within. While there are many libraries where, "Now...the cataloger has to work in several subject areas because there are not enough items that require original cataloguing in most disciplines to warrant subject-specialization,"(3)there are still plenty of intances where there is room for the old alongside the new.