... why is my desk at MassCat stacked with books, etc. that need cataloging? Sorry, I didn't take a picture.
I've been inundated with requests for bibliographic records for books, DVDs, even a local serial publication. Self-publishing is the main reason for me to create original records. Someone in town publishes a book and donates it to the public library which now needs information in its online catalog so that patrons can find the book and it can be circulated. This is in no way intended to imply they're not worthy of publication, but because these tomes are not going through the commercial publishers, they lack bibliographic records in the traditional sources.
It's not just new items that lack records; some old publications never received them. Some of the MassCat libraries are special libraries with historical collections such as the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, or the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History.
As staff go through the process of retrospective conversion, making sure that all items are accounted for in the catalog, it is not unusual to find some for which no cataloging record exists. These are the things you won't find on Amazon.com. And you may not find them in Google books. The only record of some of these historically significant items will be in MassCat.
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