FROM THE PRESIDENT
Cathy Gerhart
As I sit down to write my first column for the OLAC Newsletter I must admit that it is a bit daunting. I have been an OLAC member since 1986 and have served in five different roles in the organization. As a brand new librarian I began service to OLAC as the Audience Observer to CC:DA, moving on to become a CAPC member before being elected OLAC Secretary. When my term as Secretary ended I was appointed CAPC Chair and had a challenging few years doing that as I chaired the Local Arrangements and Program Committees for the OLAC 2000 meeting here in Seattle. So, you would think after writing columns in dozens of OLAC Newsletters over the years, writing a few words as the new President of OLAC should be a breeze. Yet, addressing on paper the challenges that face us catalogers of "different" materials is daunting to me.
OLAC has become for catalogers around the globe a beacon for sound, reasonable, and conscientious cataloging advice. As the membership of OLAC has increased, CAPC and the OLAC Executive Board have become ever busier, working to keep up with the increasing demands of the media/nonbook/AV cataloging world. The complexities and innovations in the materials we catalog continually provide our association with challenges that require a great amount of devotion and hard work from its members. We will only be up to this challenge if OLAC can fulfill its primary purpose: enabling communication and working towards common understanding between catalogers. It will be through a successful Website, a well-thumbed Newsletter, and well-attended OLAC membership meetings that OLAC will keep the wheels of progress moving toward a future where catalogers have the tools they need to catalog anything that passes over their desks.
On a lighter note, if you attended the Toronto conference, you will have been treated to a wonderful conference. Toronto was a welcoming, wonderful place to visit with excellent public transportation, friendly people, great food, and many programs not to be missed. The OLAC meetings were particularly exciting this year as the Board and CAPC scrambled to cover for a number of missing key players. We missed you Kay, Iris and Jan, but it was a good opportunity to see how well our OLAC Handbook addressed the problems that arose out of such difficulties. In some cases things went smoothly, but I think there will need to be some Handbook changes that more clearly lay out contingency plans when unavoidable absences take place. I would like to thank all of you that attended the Toronto meeting (or tried to). Your loyal support of OLAC and Toronto, a city in need of our understanding and support, was greatly appreciated.
One of the memorable moments of the OLAC Membership meeting was the presentation of the Nancy B. Olson Award. It was a pleasure this year for OLAC to give Jean Weihs this Award. More about the presentation of this year’s Award can be found elsewhere in this issue, but I would particularly like to thank Jean for her devotion to the cataloging of materials near and dear to all of our hearts.
I am looking forward to the OLAC meetings in San Diego in January and, in particular, being more prepared and organized for them. I hope many of you will join us for some winter warmth and some sharing of information. Remember to bring your cataloging questions for our Q&A session at the Membership Meeting.
Finally, I promise that future columns from the President will not be this lengthy. If you have thoughts about anything I have addressed in this column or about anything else of interest to OLAC please feel free to e-mail or call me at: <gerhart@u.washington.edu> or (206) 685-2827.
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Last updated: September 3, 2003
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