Home → Cataloging in NC Cardinal → Cataloging Overview → Cataloging Permission Requirements
Last Updated 05/10/2023
The NC Cardinal consortium Governance Committee and the membership have implemented a consortium-wide cataloger training and assessment program to ensure that the same standardized cataloging practices are applied within the shared catalog regardless of which library staff import, create, edit, or delete item, volume, and bibliographic records, with the shared goal that the catalog should function smoothly and seamlessly for all patrons within the consortium.
As of August 2019, there are two types of cataloging permission groups available to staff: Item Cataloging and Bibliographic (Bib) Cataloging. To be assigned to these cataloging permission access levels in the NC Cardinal consortium, library staff must pass certification assessment(s) or be working with a bibliographic cataloger who is actively supervising their work and helping them to pass the assessment(s), according to the NC Cardinal Cataloging Policy (Feb 2019) passed by the Governance Committee.
Staff who add or delete item and/or volume (call number) records must pass the Item Cataloging assessment. This includes staff who use Acquisitions or Serials to create or import volume/item records and staff who add item records, such as for magazines and/or paperbacks, or weed (delete) any materials from the library collection.
Staff who create, import, edit, or delete bibliographic records must pass both the Item Cataloging assessment and the Bibliographic Cataloging assessment. This includes staff who use Acquisitions or Serials to create or import bibliographic records.
All staff who need to perform these duties must pass the appropriate assessments. This includes staff who do not catalog full-time and/or may only add or delete items from time-to-time. New staff who have not yet passed the necessary assessments may be assigned temporary/limited cataloging permissions to perform their assigned cataloging duties according to the NC Cardinal Cataloging Policy.
For libraries migrating into NC Cardinal, staff who perform these duties should endeavor to pass assessments before the library go live date as part of their migration preparation.
Cataloging assessments are open book, so staff may use this knowledge book, other websites, or notes (but not answer sheets) to help answer questions. The purpose is not to require that staff know everything, only to show that they know where to find the information. These are individual assessments, so staff should not be collaborating on the answers with colleagues for the assessments. Cataloging assessments can be repeated as many times as needed until a passing score is achieved.
There are 35 knowledge questions on the Item Cataloging Assessment – 25 general multiple choice questions for 1 point each and 10 questions that ask staff to match images from a resource to the best MARC record of the choices presented for 2 points each. A passing score is 43 out of 45 total points and the assessment will be scored at the end, so staff will know immediately whether they passed or not.
There are 44 knowledge questions on the Bibliographic Cataloging Assessment – 27 general multiple choice questions for 1 point each and 17 questions that ask staff to select the best way to edit a MARC record from the choices presented for 2 points each. A passing score is 56 out of 61 total points and the assessment will be scored at the end, so staff will know immediately whether they passed or not.
Staff who achieve a passing score on assessments should receive an official email from NC Cardinal staff within a week or so and account permissions will be updated as soon as possible. This is not an automated process, so the timing may vary.
Both assessments ask staff to create an account in Niche Academy by entering their name and library email address in order to go on to the questions sections. An individually assigned login access account is required for all staff using cataloging or administrative permissions. Staff in migrating libraries will not need this account set up prior to taking the assessments, but staff at established libraries MUST have an individual staff login account set up in Evergreen prior to taking the assessments.
If you do not log into Evergreen with an individualized username, usually comprised of your first initial and last name, please contact your System Login Access Manager and request that they set up an individual login access account for you as soon as possible. You can take the assessment without an individual username, but your SLAM will need to follow up by submitting a help ticket to let us know the username for the new account they have set up for you, since only Global Admins (NC Cardinal staff) can edit accounts assigned to cataloging or System Admin permission groups.
In Evergreen, staff can have more than one permission group assigned to their login access account, so staff can be in both cataloging and admin permission groups, for example. Your SLAM can assign the new individual account to the appropriate permission group you will need — Circulator, if only basic circulation permissions are needed. Cataloging accounts used by library staff include basic circulation permissions. If more permissions are required, they can assign Circ Lead or Branch Admin, which will be retained as a secondary permission group.
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The NC Cardinal Cataloging Committee members have established the Cataloging Best Practices over several years and continue to update them as needed to provide cataloging standards for the consortium. All catalogers must adhere to the standards outlined in this Knowledge Book, which is intended to be a living document that is honed and updated on an ongoing basis.
The Cataloging Committee welcomes feedback and input on these Best Practices via their individual email addresses.
Staff looking for broader cataloging training may want to check out the ABLE training courses linked in our Useful Resources page.