In the past few years, I've been noticing a trend amongst many of the smart, talented cataloging colleagues that I know -- they are are leaving the Cataloging profession.I think there are many factors at work, but I see a few trends:

• The shifted job: Their jobs have shifted even if their job descriptions or titles have not.
• The evolved job: Their jobs and official job descriptions have shifted from "Cataloger" to something involving bibliographic services, metadata, electronic resources, digital initiatives, etc.

The Closing of Library Services... The Opening of Library Services (Free Webcast)Wednesday, Oct. 22, 3-5:30 pmBrewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and director of the Open Content Alliance (OCA) and a critic of proprietary services like the massive Google Books project, will be the keynote speaker for the fourth John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society sponsored by the University of Michigan School of Information. Mr.

So, who's going to GLA/COMO '08? For the first time in FOREVER it seems, I am not presenting. How'd that happen? ;-)Instead, I'm on the ballot (unopposed) to Chair the Professional And Continuing Education Interest Group (PACE, that is)The problem I always have with conferences is whether to go support my friends/colleagues/coworkers or whether I should only go to those that interest me, or well, those that sound like fun. I try to hit the middle ground! ;-)I'm going to the 'Taking on Technology Preconference' (sounds like fun!) on Weds.

For those at the UGA Libraries, there is an internal mentoring program via the Professional Development & Research Committee. too.New Member's Roundtable of ALA offers a mentoring program:----Have you been a librarian for 5 years or less? Do you sometimes feel you have professional questions to ask and no one to direct them to? Do you find yourself wondering, in the midst of hardcore budget season, or in that massive collection development strategy meeting...What the heck are they talking about?

Although a good portion of what I read in terms of change in libraries is cataloging/metadata/systems related (metadata for electronic & digital objects, nex-gen catalogs, rda, opensource ILS, products to enhance user experience that work with the existing catalog (e.g., vufind, etc.), changes in LC policy, etc.), occasionally an article which is more reference oriented wanders across my desk.

Friday (8/1/08) I attended the GOLD/GALILEO Annual Users Group Conference. This conference gets better and better every year and I think the session offerings get better, too.The keynote speaker was funny and enthusiastic (Cliff Landis) -- always a plus. I attended a session on website redesign, blogging, and the third, on the GALILEO Institutional Repository project.The first session was on website redesign.

Collaborating In The Cloudhttp://static.slideshare.net/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=collaborating-in-the-cloud-1211649031746821-8&stripped_title=collaborating-in-the-cloudview presentation (tags: collaboration