Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
labyrinth of codified rules and regulations to complete the task. After a little probing, the
original catalogers informed me how little they thought management appreciated this
difference. This feeling was based on their new “production” standards—the number of
topics they were expected to process in a day. Some original catalogers explained that
they felt they were working in a dying profession. They explained that every new topic
is already cataloged by the Library of Congress for the copy catalogers and that they are
cataloging only the old topics from before the Library of Congress “took over.” Many
original catalogers believe they are simply working themselves out of a job. This type of
cultural knowledge is invaluable in trying to understand the inner workings of a complex
organization, including its stresses and strains.
2. The term
informant
has its roots in anthropological work conducted in colonial
settings, specifically in African nations formerly within the British empire (Evans-
Pritchard, 1940, 1951; Pi-Sunyer & Salzmann, 1978, pp. 451-453). The term also con-
jures up images of clandestine activities that are incompatible with an ethnographic
approach.
