Public and Academic Library Cataloging Collaboration in Ohio’s NACO Funnel Project

Catalogers at The Ohio State University (OSU) Libraries, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), and Cleveland Public Library (CPL) are collaborating through the Ohio Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) funnel to create personal name authority records that directly benefit library patrons. Although OSU provides training and review, all three libraries receive value from the collaboration. There have been obstacles, however, such as cataloging training and workflow differences between public and academic libraries. This article will discuss the challenges and benefits of this interlibrary cataloger collaboration from the point of view of all three libraries, plans for the future, and best practices for other libraries that are interested in public/academic library collaborations of this kind.