july08b.indd


A
cataloger
and
an
archivist:
Katherine
Ryner
and
St.
Mary’s


College
of
Maryland



In today’s libraries, traditional job descriptions sometimes don’t fit the goals or budgets of 
the institution. St. Mary’s College of Maryland 
realized this when they created a new position 
of catalog librarian and archivist in 2001, with 
two sets of job duties needing two different 
skill sets. Happily for all involved, Kat Ryner 
turned out to be the perfect person 
for this unique job of a lifetime. 

A cataloger at heart 
Ryner began cataloging in the early 
1990s. “Cataloging really appealed to 
me because it is so well structured. 
I thought MARC was fascinating, re­
ally elegant, and ingenious. I liked 
learning what a 245 meant, what a 
particular subfi eld might mean, and 
what the fi xed fields meant. When 
I first started working with MARC, I 
didn’t make the connection between all those 
codes and fields and how they got translated 
into the public view. When I learned about 
that, it made it even more fascinating, because 
you could manipulate things with MARC to 
help the public better discover the informa­
tion they need.” 

Although she didn’t have archives experi­
ence, she decided to apply for the catalog 
librarian and archivist position. “I graduated 
from St. Mary’s and I loved it. I’ve lived in all 
sorts of places since I left here, and when I 
saw this job opportunity, I thought, I could go 
back St. Mary’s. I love St. Mary’s! As it turned 
out, they weren’t really expecting to fi nd 
someone with experience in both areas, so 

Katherine Ryner 

the fact that I didn’t have archives experience 
wasn’t necessarily a negative.” 

Rising to the challenge 
From the start, it was a challenging posi­

tion. “On the cataloging side, I immediately 
jumped into learning about the new University 

System of Maryland and Affi liated 
Institutions consortial catalog, 
involving 16 different libraries 
and three different ILS systems, 
all merging into one system. It 
was another two years before it 
went online, but there was a lot 
of planning and preparation for 
that. On the archives side, I went 
to the Modern Archives Institute, 
an immersion program to learn 
everything you wanted to know 
about archives. From literally the 

first day, the library director said you need to 
split your time half and half. Don’t get dis­
tracted, don’t let catalog work cut into time 
you need to spend on archives, and vice versa. 
It was hard, and it still is hard sometimes to 
stick with the thing I’m supposed to be do­
ing on any given day, especially when I have 
deadlines in one area or the other. It really 
helps to be fl exible.” 

In addition to being new for her, the ar­
chives were new to the college. “The college 
never had an official archive. There were 

Ann Wheeler is the librarian at the Maryland Department 
of Natural Resources. Have a story idea for Job of a 
Lifetime? E-mail Ann at awheeler@dnr.state.md.us 

C&RL News July/August 2008  390 

mailto:awheeler@dnr.state.md.us


people who cared that material be preserved 
somehow, so there was material tucked away 
in places all over campus and in an off­site 
storage facility, but there was no public access 
to any of it. Much of it was not organized, 
and none of it was available to anybody who 
wanted to study the college’s history.” 

Ryner established a climate­controlled 
room in the basement of a college building 
and began organizing, describing, and digitiz­
ing the collection. The response on campus 
has been very positive. “In the seven years 
I’ve been here, and especially in the last two 
years since I moved the archives into a useable 
space, the archives are being used more and 
more. One group of students is researching the 
history of a 50­year­old building on campus 
that’s going to be torn down, and they’re using 
the archives to study the history and develop­
ment of the building. There’s a student writing 
his senior honors thesis 

Participating in the University System of 
Maryland consortial catalog has also been a 
rewarding experience for Ryner. “I had never 
worked with a consortial catalog before, so 
that was new and it’s been great. I’ve learned 
so much from these people. It’s been a really 
good experience to be involved in dialogue 
with librarians at different institutions of all 
different sizes. 

“Even though I like being involved, I also 
really like it when I can have a day just to 
work on my own, although it would probably 
drive me crazy to work alone all the time. 
Ten years ago I probably would have thought 
that was my dream job.” 

With only so many hours in a day, Ryner 
has learned to find a balance. “I would say 
there’s enough time for the catalog part of 
my job, but the archives could be a full­time 
job, easily, given the growing amount of 

material we have, and 
on the history of St. Catalog librarian and archivist the growing number 
Mary’s County in the of people on campus

What: Dual job duties
1960s, and he’s using who want to use the 

Where: St. Mary’s College of Maryland the personal papers of material, and the grow­
For more information, visit: former Maryland state ing amount of material 
www.smcm.edu/library/index.htmlsenator J. Frank Raley to digitize. It took me 

Jr. as primary source 
materials. Another stu­
dent is using the archives to design a series of 
museum­quality exhibits that tell the history 
of the school for her senior honor’s thesis. 
Use of the archives and archival research has 
been integrated into various parts of the cur­
riculum more and more by individual faculty 
members who intentionally plan to use the 
archives for projects.” 

Growing and learning 
By getting out of her comfort zone, Ryner has 
learned a little more about herself. “One thing 
I’m surprised I like as much as I do is working 
with the public. When I first became a catalog 
librarian, it never occurred to me that I would 
be doing reference and instruction at all. It’s a 
big part of my job now via the archives, and 
I really enjoy it. I like working with the stu­
dents, faculty, and staff from the various offi ces 
around campus. That was a surprise.” 

a while to realize that 
there’s always going to 

be too much, but I can do what I can do, and 
try to go with the flow. I’m also lucky enough 
to have a great director who’s very supportive 
of both sides of my job, and understands what 
I’m trying to do.” 

What’s next 
As for the future of libraries, Ryner believes 
changing technology will play an important 
role. “I think technology will drive both the 
archives and cataloging fields. It already has, 
and will continue to do so in new and differ­
ent ways. I think any librarian, no matter what 
[his or her] specialty, has to be aware of what’s 
going on and potentially be a part of the new 
ideas and new ways of making information 
available.” With one foot firmly planted in both 
cataloging and archives, Ryner has plenty of 
challenges, and exciting opportunities, ahead 
of her. 

July/August 2008  391 C&RL News 

www.smcm.edu/library/index.html