Automation Project cont.

Since the automation project requires that each book be examined individually, we are using this time to locate titles that the librarian wants to do something with, for example:
- new titles that have not been checked out more than twice are pulled for display instead of being re-shelved
- books with mold anywhere in them are pulled to be discarded as they are a health hazard
- books whose covers are mangled are pulled for repair
- books that are incorrectly shelved or cataloged, such as books that are E for Easy but have been shelved with F for Fiction need to be replaced.
- This library also separates paperback from hardcover and so we pull any that are mixed up as well .

Things I'm Learning: Displays

Although the copy cataloging itself is rather boring, it leaves ample opportunity to speak about other library issues. Over the last few days we have spent time discussing various topics that I was curious about. Some are tips of the trade that all librarians learn along the way, others are innovations that the librarian has devised or are personal preference.

Displays: I did a very poor job of displaying our new books. I realize this after seeing the amount of effort that the librarian puts into her new titles.
- new titles get displayed face out, similar to book store shelves, with fiction and non-fiction separate to make it easier for kids who are into one but not the other.
- exciting covers get displayed first and most prominently. Also books that are culturally relevant, since this is a main focus of the school community. The librarian also points out that the students do gravitate towards books that have pictures of kids who look like them on the cover.
- books get re-shelved with the general collection after they have been checked out 3-5 times!

This is one area that I would like to improve on in my own library next year. My new collection shelving needs to be more dynamic and I will find better ways to show off new titles.

For each book that we enter into the system it is important to encode the correct information. Any mistakes can render the item impossible to locate. This process is called copy cataloging since we import the information from a MARC search. Since some of the copies are very old we occasionally have to do original cataloging, which is substantially more time consuming as I must create the record from scratch. Fortunately the Alexandria electronic catalog comes with the capability to locate MARC records online based on a books ISBN number. Then you match the Title, Author, Publisher, year and edition to ensure that the information applies to the copy in the library. I also look for the MARC record that includes a summary as this can be extremely important for teachers and students who are browsing for a book. The record is then imported. Manually we enter the local barcode, and price for replacement. This work is rather monotonous and I would not wish to do it at length. Fortunately I will only have to complete this process with titles I wish to add to my own libraries collection as the previos librarian and aid undertook the automation process!