Crossing the bridge from cataloguing to programming: is it essential for metadata specialists?

National Library and Information Technicians Symposium, 27-29 September 2017 North Sydney: bridge to knowledge
 
This paper discusses the resource description skills library technicians need to acquire to remain relevant in the workplace.
 
Library cataloguers have a strong tradition of meeting user needs through the use of consistent and robust cataloguing tools unique to the library industry. More recently, there is an emphasis on breaking down the barriers between library bibliographic repositories (library catalogues) and the World Wide Web (WWW). Discussion has focussed on using Linked Data, with its applicable data structures and metadata languages. It is timely to consider how important it is for cataloguers to become familiar with standards and structures outside the traditional library bibliographic universe and thereby be considered metadata specialists in an online, digital world.