Beacher Wiggins Interview
April 3, 2012
For this week's mailing, we decided that it would be interesting to
interview Beacher Wiggins, the chief of the ABA Directorate. There have
been interviews before, but most of them focus on specific programs here
at LC, not so much on the man himself. So we came up with a list of
questions that tells us more about Beacher Wiggins the person as well as
his work here at the Library of Congress. I hope you find them
interesting as well. (My biggest frustration is that we had to limit
ourselves so much! Having found out he was assistant to Henriette Avram
makes me want to ask a whole lot more just about that part of his time
here.)
The questions were put together by the Editorial Team as a whole, but
Carolyn Croons conducted the actual interview and put together the text
below.
**
**
1. *You have worked at the Library for forty years. What do you regard
as one of the most interesting positions you have had during this time?*
**
During the forty years that I have worked at the Library of Congress,
the most interesting positions I held were Cataloging Director,
Acquisitions & Bibliographic Access Director, and Special Assistant to
Henriette Avram. I could not identify just one!
**
2. *What is the biggest change you have experienced in your "lifetime"
at LC?*
**
The biggest change that I have experienced in a "lifetime" at the
Library of Congress were the implementation of AACR2, the implementation
of the ILS, and the reorganization of the former Acquisitions
Directorate and Cataloging Directorate into one directorate,
ABA---Acquisitions & Bibliographic Access Directorate. Again, I could
not single out just one!
**
3. *What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your current
position as Director for ABA?*
**
The biggest challenges that I have faced as Director for ABA are the
implementation of RDA, the reorganization of ABA, and compensating for
loss of staff in November resulting from the VSIP/VERA retirements.
**
4. * What do you see as the benefit of implementing /RDA: Resource
Description and Access/?*
**
Implementing /RDA: Resource Description and Access/ will allow LC
cataloging staff to create cataloging data that will not only be useful
for LC and other libraries, but also for the non-library communities,
such as the Semantic Web and linked-data communities.
**
*5. Now that you are in charge of acquisitions, what is the most
intriguing part of acquisitions work?*
**
The most intriguing part of acquisitions work is learning an area of
technical services that I have not before given focus. Helping to build
the Library's collections through acquisitions processes is very
satisfying. Since assuming responsibility for acquisitions, I and the
acquisitions staff have had to deal with expending Library funds for the
purchase of materials within a single year. Originally, the Library had
no limit on when the money would expire. Several years ago, Congress
changed the life of this money---referred to as GENPAC---to three years,
and then to just one year.
**
6. *What are you doing to process electronic resources?*
**
One thing that is being done to process electronic resources is having a
pilot Electronic Resources Team in the US Anglo Division to process
electronic resources. Staff are rotated on to the team to help increase
the number of staff with expertise in processing e-resources. I am also
a member of the Management Oversight Committee that has responsibility
for addressing policy issues related harvesting and cataloging web
resources.
**
7. *Just as a point of curiosity, how many committees are you actually
on? Here at LC and outside of LC?*
**
The total number of committees that I am on within LC and outside the
Library is ten or more.
**
8. *What brought you to a career in librarianship, and how did you
first come to work at the Library?*
**
What brought me to a career in librarianship was my high school getting
its first certified Librarian when I was in the 11^th grade. She showed
the students what a real library could be and how exciting it was to
have access to a library. I knew quickly that librarianship was for
me. When I went to Library School in 1970, my first professor of
cataloging inspired me to love cataloging. I came to work at the
Library by luck. I was advised to check out the Library of Congress,
since I planned to settle in Washington. So, while on travel for
Christmas recess, I stopped by the Library and asked about employment.
I was offered a position in either acquisitions or cataloging. I
accepted the cataloging position. I was hired and the rest was history.
**
9. *How should young people today prepare themselves for a career in
librarianship/information work?*
**
Here are my suggestions to young people today on how they should prepare
themselves for the career in librarianship/information work:
·Get a degree in Librarianship
·Understand technology and social media
·Know the principles of project management
·Be able to multi-task
·Be very flexible and be able to deal with all types of personalities
·Be receptive to change**
**
10. *What do you enjoy doing outside of work?*
**
**What I enjoy doing on a personal level are cooking, theater, movies,
and going out to eat.
