Cataloging Staff
Kate Harcourt, Director, CAMS
harcourt@columbia.edu ; 212.854.2714
Kate Harcourt is the Director for Cataloging and Metadata Services (CAMS) and holds administrative responsibility for cataloging policies and procedures within the Division. CAMS is the home of designated categories of original cataloging, rare book cataloging, web archiving, special format cataloging, e.g, serials and music, non-MARC metadata creation and remediation, and special projects.
Kate is also the Acting Director for Butler Library Access Services.
Kate has served as Chair of the PCC Policy Committee (PoCo) and numerous ALCTS and PCC committees.
Matthew Haugen, Rare Book Cataloger, CAMS
matthew.haugen@columbia.edu ; 212.851.2451
Matthew catalogs rare books and manuscripts for the Burke Library, the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and Avery Library, and assists with NACO and SACO work. Prior to joining Columbia University Libraries, Matthew was a cataloger at the New York Society Library, and a manuscript processor at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University.
Matthew currently serves on the PCC Standing Committee on Standards (as co-chair) and the PCC Advisory Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Ryan Mendenhall, Metadata Librarian, CAMS
trm2151@columbia.edu ; 212 851 2452
Ryan Mendenhall is Metadata Librarian in CAMS and works closely with colleagues within CAMS and other library divisions to create and enhance metadata descriptions in Columbia's Digital Library Collections as well as on other library exhibition sites. Within CAMS Ryan also performs original cataloging of monographs and electronic resources, including participation in the NACO and SACO programs.
Ryan currently serves as the CORE Metadata Interest Group liaison to the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA). He is also facilitator of the PCC Sinopia Affinity Group, convener of the LD4 Wikibase Working Hour, and chair of the Technical Services Librarians Committee (TSL) at CUL.
Robert Rendall, Head of Cataloging, CAMS
rr2205@columbia.edu ; 212.851.2449
Robert supervises the Cataloging unit within the Cataloging and Metadata Services division, which includes professional and support staff cataloging special collections, art and architecture, music and audiovisual materials, and Slavic/East European and East Asian languages. He also serves as Columbia's primary serials cataloger and catalogs some monographs in European and Middle Eastern languages.
Robert previously held positions at Columbia as Law Cataloger (2004-2007) and Principal Serials Cataloger (2007-2022), and during 2019-2022 he also had an interim part-time assignment supervising technical services operations at the C.V. Starr East Asian Library.
In ALA, Robert has served as chair of the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (2014-2015) and of the Committee on Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (2017-2019, 2023-2024).
Susan Summer, Principal Cataloger, CAMS
summer@columbia.edu ; 212.854.1436
Susan catalogs monographs, sound recordings, music scores, maps, rare books, microforms, and other materials in Slavic, Baltic, Armenian and other European languages. She is one of Columbia's NACO and SACO coordinators. She assists with staff training, preparing procedural documentation and record review. She also serves as liaison to the Library of Congress.
Alex Thurman, Head, Web Collecting, CAMS
at2186@columbia.edu ; 212.851.2460
Alex is the Head of Web Collecting, building thematic web archives in topics including human rights, the NYC built environment and NYC religions and also archiving the Columbia University web domain. He also catalogs archived websites and supervises the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation staff positions (Web Collection Librarian and Bibliographic Assistant).
Alex is currently an elected member of the Steering Committee of the International Internet Preservation Consortium, as well as Co-Chair of its Content Development Group, working on the creation of collaborative web archives. He has served on several ALA committees, including a term as Chair of the ALCTS Subject Analysis Committee.
Melanie Wacker, Head of Digital Resources Metadata, CAMS
mw2064@columbia.edu ; 212.854.9676
Melanie works with her colleagues within Columbia University Libraries to ensure the integration of digital metadata with local and national systems to enable information discovery. She provides guidance on best practices, and develops, documents, and maintains standards and procedures for metadata for digital content generated within the Libraries. Other responsibilities of her position include the cataloging of electronic resources and NACO/SACO work.
Melanie is the chair of the MODS/MADS Editorial Committee, a member of the VIVO Ontology Group, and an At-Large-Member of the PCC Policy Committee (PoCo). Melanie has previsously served as PoCo chair and is currently co-chair of the BIBFRAME Interoperability Group (BIG)