Since August 2015, I have held a specialized secondary assignment as a Video Game Cataloger. In this role, I catalog video games along with their associated consoles, peripherals, and ephemera, processing an average of 200 titles per year. One of very few catalogers worldwide who focuses exclusively on video games, I actively contribute to the field by sharing specialized expertise through professional conversations, collaborative projects, and standards development.
From 2016 to 2018, I served as a member of the ALCTS Working Group on Genre Headings for Video Games, where we developed and established dedicated genre headings for video game cataloging.
In January 2023, I reached out to Marcia Barrett, a cataloger at UC Santa Cruz, to discuss the GAMECIP vocabulary—particularly opportunities to update its controlled vocabulary for gaming consoles. Upon finding out that this vocabulary would not be updated to include new consoles, such as PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, Joshua Barton and I decided that I would use Wikidata’s controlled vocabulary for consoles that are not part of GAMECIP.
Following our initial contact, Marcia invited me to consult on an OLAC video game cataloging best practices document she was authoring. Although she possessed strong cataloging expertise and had gathered input from video game specialists, she sought the perspective of a dedicated video game cataloger to synthesize the information into cohesive, comprehensive recommendations. I provided an hour-long consultation in February 2023, sharing practical insights from my daily cataloging work, and later responded to two additional questions.
Policies and Procedures
In consultation with the Video Game Coordinator, I established a flexible and expandable numbering convention for non-Rovi video game consoles, games, and peripherals.
I created MSU’s policies and procedures for video game cataloging, which includes both Rovi and non-Rovi games.
Instructions for video game cataloging in Folio:
Link to the instructions for video game cataloging in Sierra
Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) Pilot Program
From January to July 2018, I participated in a pilot project alongside Autumn Faulkner, Tim Kiser, and Nicole Smeltekop to evaluate the feasibility and value of adding Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) to bibliographic records in the 385 (Intended Audience) and 386 (Creator/Contributor) fields. During the pilot, we applied appropriate LCDGT terms to records we created. I specifically focused on assigning 385 terms to describe the intended audiences for video games. At the conclusion of the project, we authored a report detailing our findings and recommendations. The pilot ultimately determined that adding these terms was not practical at the time due to limitations in the LCDGT thesaurus, as well as constraints in our OPAC’s ability to effectively display and enable meaningful patron access to the terms. We recommended revisiting the use of LCDGT fields in the future as both the vocabulary and system capabilities evolve.
Sample Records
Authority Records
I create corporate body name authority records for companies involved in the development and publishing of video games. This includes handling complex authority work such as name changes and corporate acquisitions—for example, Treyarch, which was originally founded as Treyarch Inventions before being acquired by Activision. Authority control for video game-related corporate bodies remains an underserved area in cataloging. While there are numerous companies in the industry—particularly smaller indie developers—very few catalogers have the specialized knowledge or capacity to perform this work. I take pride in contributing high-quality authority records that improve discoverability and consistency for video game materials.
Original Cataloging
I did original cataloging for Turfgrass for the video game Jack Nicklaus golf course & design.
I collaborated with our Japanese-language cataloging expert, Michael Sipek to create a record for the game Baldur’s Gate 3, since this version of the game was in Japanese.