"Record Authentication as a Barrier: Reflections on Returning to CONSER" by Christopher H. Walker

Christopher H. Walker's humorous essay on his career in serials both entertains and makes some relevant observations on the frustrations faced by catalogers in non-CONSER institutions who discover mistakes and needed updates to CONSER-authenticated bibliographic records in OCLC's WorldCat database. He concludes:

CONSER authentication remains valuable as a guarantee that the bibliographic description is the work of one or more catalogers with significant training. But because serials continue to develop and change until they cease, it may be time to look for strategies, as a cataloging community, to share more widely the burden of keeping those records up-to-date.

This article is published in Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 2 & 3 (Feb. 2010), pages 161-168.
DOI: 10.1080/01639370903535684