For the last couple of years, I've been working at MassCat cleaning up the catalog. When I started, I was given a printout of probable duplicate records in alphabetical order by title. I look up each title and, if they are in fact duplicates, I merge them. After working 10 hours each week for the first year and 15 since then, today I reached the letter D. There are a lot of duplicates.
It's really not as bad as it seems. I have other duties in addition to merging duplicates. When a member library needs to add their holdings to a bib record but can't find one, they send the relevant information to me. I find a record and import it into the catalog. If I can't find a record, I create one. In the course of searching for records, I often find a duplicate (or two or three) and merge them on the spot. So there are lots of records beyond the letter D that have already been merged.
There are many reasons for all the duplicates. The entire catalog was run through a program that automatically merged duplicates, but the software (Koha) is extremely sensitive and only merged records that it was absolutely, positively, unquestionably sure were duplicates. Some records don't have ISBNs. Some have different ISBNs (which is often okay), and some just don't have enough information to work with.
Many MassCat members are school libraries. They are usually small and previously had a very simple automated catalog. These libraries never envisioned being part of a network. If they owned a title, all they cared about was that they owned the title. It didn't matter if the book was hardbound or a mass market paperback or who published it or when - they owned the title. That's fine for a single, standalone library. But once you're part of a network and loaning your items to other libraries, those things matter. Some people want only large print books; some (including me) don't like mass market paperbacks; sometimes it's important to have the latest edition or the title that's part of a specific series. Each of those must have it's own bibliographic record and the record needs to be detailed enough for the patron to determine what they'll be getting.
With the MassCat catalog, I think I have a job for life. I merge records when I determine they are exactly the same; I enhance records that have minimal information; I correct mistakes (sometimes accent marks do not import correctly and look more like swears than words). There are typos, too. There's lots of work to do, but I keep reminding myself that someday this will be the cleanest catalog anyone has ever seen.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Anniversaries
Today - June 17 - marks 3 anniversaries for MC and me.
Twenty-five years ago today, we first met at a little Italian restaurant in No. Amherst. We liked each other well enough that, after dinner, we went to a swing dance. He had been planning to go anyway, but I had the option of bowing out if I wanted to. I didn't.
Two years later we decided to move in together. Actually, the story is a little more complicated, but that's the condensed version. In order to keep things simple and not have to remember too many different dates, we made it official on June 17.
Every year on June 17, we go out to dinner and renew our living together arrangement for one more year. One year at a time seems to take away most of the pressure.
Over the years as June 17 approached, we discussed getting married. Of course, we'd have to do it on June 17. Never mind that we had bought property together and built a house together, that our lives were inextricably intertwined, we still renewed the arrangement annually.
And then three years ago, on our 20th living-together anniversary, we did get married. To us, however, marriage was a formality, legalizing something we had been living for a very long time. After the brief but sweet ceremony, we went out to dinner and agreed to live together for one more year.
Tonight, we will go to dinner and renew for yet another year.
What can I say? It works.
Twenty-five years ago today, we first met at a little Italian restaurant in No. Amherst. We liked each other well enough that, after dinner, we went to a swing dance. He had been planning to go anyway, but I had the option of bowing out if I wanted to. I didn't.
Two years later we decided to move in together. Actually, the story is a little more complicated, but that's the condensed version. In order to keep things simple and not have to remember too many different dates, we made it official on June 17.
Every year on June 17, we go out to dinner and renew our living together arrangement for one more year. One year at a time seems to take away most of the pressure.
Over the years as June 17 approached, we discussed getting married. Of course, we'd have to do it on June 17. Never mind that we had bought property together and built a house together, that our lives were inextricably intertwined, we still renewed the arrangement annually.
And then three years ago, on our 20th living-together anniversary, we did get married. To us, however, marriage was a formality, legalizing something we had been living for a very long time. After the brief but sweet ceremony, we went out to dinner and agreed to live together for one more year.
Tonight, we will go to dinner and renew for yet another year.
What can I say? It works.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Gardening
In my younger and more energetic days, I went through a long period of trying to live off of the land as much as possible. I knitted all of my own sweaters, socks and mittens. I made a lot of my own clothes. And every spring I would have a large patch of the back yard rototilled and I planted a vegetable garden.
While I was a student, the vegetable garden was a literal life saver as most of the food I ate came from there. Lettuce sandwiches anyone?
Post-student years, I continued the garden out of habit, but soon realized that I was spending most of my summers weeding, trimming, and fussing trying to have the most perfect garden and then I ending up with more vegetables than I could consume, freeze or otherwise preserve. I longed to take weekend jaunts to the Berkshires and visit museums and listen to concerts on the lawn.
As luck would have it, I moved into a condominium and discovered container gardening. Quick! Easy! Minimal time and effort! As for fresh vegetables, I live in an are where there's a farm stand about every 10 feet. Why should I sweat and hurt my back when, for a few dollars I can buy exactly what I need for the next day or two and then head for the nearest tag sale or flea market? After all, I'm not a poor graduate student any more but a gainfully employed professional (semi-retired). And why not contribute to those who have vegetable gardens and excess vegetables?
So now, after some purchases and a few weeks of dividing, repotting and rooting, I have lovely, colorful begonias, petunias, impatiens, and geraniums on the decks, patios and along the walkways. I no longer live in a condominium, but I much prefer container gardening. On the screened-in porch off of the kitchen, I have ceramic pots of basil, parsley and rosemary.
What do I look for at those tag sales and flea markets? Why more pots, of course!
While I was a student, the vegetable garden was a literal life saver as most of the food I ate came from there. Lettuce sandwiches anyone?
Post-student years, I continued the garden out of habit, but soon realized that I was spending most of my summers weeding, trimming, and fussing trying to have the most perfect garden and then I ending up with more vegetables than I could consume, freeze or otherwise preserve. I longed to take weekend jaunts to the Berkshires and visit museums and listen to concerts on the lawn.
As luck would have it, I moved into a condominium and discovered container gardening. Quick! Easy! Minimal time and effort! As for fresh vegetables, I live in an are where there's a farm stand about every 10 feet. Why should I sweat and hurt my back when, for a few dollars I can buy exactly what I need for the next day or two and then head for the nearest tag sale or flea market? After all, I'm not a poor graduate student any more but a gainfully employed professional (semi-retired). And why not contribute to those who have vegetable gardens and excess vegetables?
So now, after some purchases and a few weeks of dividing, repotting and rooting, I have lovely, colorful begonias, petunias, impatiens, and geraniums on the decks, patios and along the walkways. I no longer live in a condominium, but I much prefer container gardening. On the screened-in porch off of the kitchen, I have ceramic pots of basil, parsley and rosemary.
What do I look for at those tag sales and flea markets? Why more pots, of course!
Monday, June 2, 2014
Mission Accomplished
I spent the month of May (non-MassCat days) at the Springfield City Library cataloging materials for the ECRC (Early Childhood Resource Collection). What fun!
The highest priority were the Storywalks. There are only 6 of them at the moment. They consist of short (30 pages or so) children's books with illustrations that take up most of the page and one or two sentences of text. Each book comes in a tote bag. Also in the tote bag is a laminated sheet of each page with velcro on the back. The intent is to post each page on a stick along a pathway and tell the story as the group walks.
Then came the books and DVDs about early childhood education, child development, and parenting. They took the longest time since there were so many of them and they had to be re-packaged into locking cases.
And then came the toys, games, puzzles and puppets. My favorite was the Sensory Ball Set. I loved the colors, the variety of sizes and the textures. I probably spent more time than absolutely necessary cataloging them because I wanted to look at them and handle them.
I want a set for myself.
The highest priority were the Storywalks. There are only 6 of them at the moment. They consist of short (30 pages or so) children's books with illustrations that take up most of the page and one or two sentences of text. Each book comes in a tote bag. Also in the tote bag is a laminated sheet of each page with velcro on the back. The intent is to post each page on a stick along a pathway and tell the story as the group walks.
Then came the books and DVDs about early childhood education, child development, and parenting. They took the longest time since there were so many of them and they had to be re-packaged into locking cases.
And then came the toys, games, puzzles and puppets. My favorite was the Sensory Ball Set. I loved the colors, the variety of sizes and the textures. I probably spent more time than absolutely necessary cataloging them because I wanted to look at them and handle them.
I want a set for myself.
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