What is a Professional Cataloger? Perception Differences between Professionals and Paraprofessionals

This paper examines the roles of professional and paraprofessional catalogers as they are perceived within the cataloging community. A survey was sent to all catalogers in member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries. In presenting these results, the authors consider whether a difference still exists between professional and paraprofessional catalogers beyond the master of library and information science degree and, if so, the nature of any such difference. In the process, the authors also examine issues such as whether catalogers feel that their work is valued and how cataloging work is evaluated