July 1

It's been 4 years since I was laid off from CMRLS and began this blog. Am I still a Cataloger in Transition? Yes.

There's a new transition every few weeks or months. Today, I'm beginning a project for DGI that will last the rest of the summer. I'm sure the project will last longer, but in September I'll have another transition - teaching at Simmons GSLIS-west again. I've already agreed to teach LIS415 for the 2014-2015 academic year.

I liked my job at CMRLS. I very much liked the salary and benefits. I liked less the commute (an hour and twenty minutes each way). However, I like the way my work life has evolved since leaving CMRLS.

I like the variety and the flexibility. The main benefit is that I have a lot of control over what I do and when I do it. I can't ask for much more than that.

On Hiatus

It's that time of year again: the end of the fiscal year, when money runs out, but dollars for the next year's grant haven't yet come through.

So I get a break. I'm not certain for how long because DGI's client doesn't know exactly when the check is coming, though they know it will be coming sometime.

However, I'm starting a part-time job beginning in early July for MassCat. This is the same job I had last summer; then it was only temporary, now it's permanent. For 10 hours/week I'll be doing database cleanup, copy cataloging on OCLC when there is no record in the MassCat database, and original cataloging when there is no record anywhere. The job is a short commute and coffee is available for employees.

I'll have money coming in, but plenty of time to catch up on house and yard work. And I need to begin preparing to teach Information Organization in the fall. Simmons GSLIS has changed all of its software, and I need to transfer my materials from BlackBoard to Moodle. It's also a good time to work on some revisions to the course.

What was that about a break?

Of Course!

No sooner did I submit 2 applications for jobs (after several hours of refining my resume and composing cover letters) than I received an email from DGI saying they had finally received a contract they had been waiting for and was I interested in working 2 days a week. "Absolutely" I responded. Two days of work is perfect as that leaves me plenty of time to prepare for teaching LIS415.

I think I'm putting more work into that class this semester than I have before. I'm seeing lots of ways I'd prefer to present the material and have added other bits and pieces that I feel are important based on my working experience.

This week is spring break and I'm attending a 3 part webinar on RDA and learning lots about it. I've been pretty good about keeping up with reading, but there are lots of details that don't come up on AUTOCAT so some things are a surprise. And learning about these details in context makes more sense. I'm not nearly as fearful about it as I was a couple of years ago.

Library of Congress' implementation has been delayed by 3 months as they train their catalogers. It was supposed to be adopted by LC and the other national libraries on January 1, 2013. Now the projected date is March 31, 2013. Notice they chose March 31 and not April 1!

My Life on I-91

For the first dozen years of my professional life I worked at UMass/Amherst. Most of that time I lived in Northampton and the focus of my commuting attention was crossing the Connecticut River on the Calvin Coolidge Bridge. It was crowded even then. Fortunately, I was on a bus.

Then came a 5 year stint with Harper & Row Publishers. UMass/Amherst was my largest account and I continued to spend much time getting myself and my paperwork to the other side of the river via the Coolidge Bridge, this time in a car. UMass/Amherst was my largest account, but by no means my only account. There are lots of colleges in the Springfield area and even more in Vermont. Thus began my relationship with I-91.

In 1985, I was hired by WMRLS which was located in Hatfield at the time. Shortly after, I moved to Greenfield. For the next 13 years I spent lots of time on I-91 heading south every morning and north every evening.

When I left WMRLS, my first project as a consultant was as interim director of the Greenfield Public Library. However, I had just moved to Hatfield so I still spent much time on I-91, this time heading north every morning and south every evening.

Enter Donohue Group Inc. (DGI) which was then located in Weathersfield CT. Again it was south in the morning, but with a very different crowd of people. South of Holyoke, traffic on the highway becomes more dense and very fast and there's usually a major backup as everyone tries to negotiate around Hartford andI-84.

So I was very happy to join the CMRLS team. Even though the commute was longer by about 20 minutes and 20 miles, the drive itself was easier. I'd head south on I-91, but before things got too intense, I'd turn east onto the Mass Pike. And before things got too intense there, I'd exit. Piece of cake!

Now that I'm working independently, I have several different projects, but right now they all involve traveling on I-91. The biggest problem is remembering where I'm going on any particular day.

Last week, my schedule looked like this:
Monday and Tuesday: Springfield City Library - get off at I-291.
Wednesday and Thursday: DGI (in Windsor, Conn.) - don't get off till after I'm in Conn. (I have a few different exit options)
Friday: DGI project in Cambridge; meet colleagues at Sturbridge Park & Ride - get off at the Mass Pike.

Every morning as I enter I-91, I have to remind myself where I'm going. As I approach all of the different possible exits, I have to concentrate on staying on or getting off whichever I'm supposed to do that day. So far, I've only messed up once and it wasn't too bad. I had very carefully maneuvered myself into the left lane as I approached I-291 only to realize it was an SCL day and I was to get off there! I took the next exit and got back on course.

If only the rest of life was so easy to correct.

A New Project

Actually, there are two new projects both starting this week.

Yesterday, I began cataloging the collection for the Early Childhood Resource Center at Springfield City Library. It's mostly games, puzzles, toys and puppets and a surprizing (at least to me) number of them have bibliographic records in the OCLC database. In many other cases, I found similar records so that I could create what I needed fairly easily. Once these records are loaded into Springfield's catalog (an overnight process), I'll need to add holdings information and link the bib. record to a digital image of the item.

I agreed to working on this ECRC project every Monday, except for state holidays. I think that schedule will keep me from becoming overbooked. Once the semester ends at Simmons-west (early May), I can put more time into cataloging games, puzzles, toys and puppets. Funds have to be expended by June 30 (the end of the fiscal year).

The other project begins tomorrow at Donohue Group, Inc. Several of us will be working on retrospective conversion of Boston Public Library's older materials. We'll be working from catalog cards that have been shipped to the DGI office in Windsor CT. I agreed to 2 days a week back before I learned about the ECRC project.

I've been going to bed pretty early every evening and getting lots of bedtime reading done. I may be staying up later at night reading about Organization of Information and grading papers. I'm already looking forward to spring break! I won't be going to Ft. Lauderdale or anything like that. I'll just be enjoying a short respite, probably my last till early May.

Bits 'n' Pieces

I've been pretty busy lately, working one or two days most weeks. I've been cataloging music CDs at the Springfield City Library, teaching workshops for the Connecticut State Library and the Massachusetts Library System, and my former employer Donohue Group, Inc. (2001-2005) asked me to work on a cataloging project. I worked one day for them last week and am scheduled for 2 more days over the next 3 weeks. I may also become an adjunct faculty member for Simmons GSLIS-west. It looks as if I'll be teaching LIS 415, Organization of Information beginning spring 2011 at the Mt. Holyoke College campus.

My life feels somewhat scattered, but not so much that I feel frantic. I just need to check my calendar regularly so that I know to what I've committed myself and where I'm supposed to be on any given day. Also included in the schedule are meetings related to the Hatfield Board of Library Trustees, Hatfield Public Library Building Committee and the Friends of UMass/Amherst Libraries. Whew! How do people work full time and get anything else done! :-)

Because I'm not working full time, I still log on weekly to the website for the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development to claim my benefits. But something has changed in the last few weeks. Instead of taking 20 to 60 minutes to complete my claim (there's lots of waiting between pages), I've been able to finish the process in just 2-3 minutes. What happened? Has everyone found a job but me?

An On-Call Cataloger?

While perusing the Library Jobs on the site of the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners, I saw a listing for a part-time on-call Cataloger at the Springfield City Library. I've never heard of an on-call cataloger. Usually, if the cataloger goes on vacation there are back-up staff to handle rush items and everything else just waits.

I applied since that's what I'm supposed to be doing - looking for work. Other than the automatic response that they received my online application, I haven't heard a peep.

Several years ago while I was working for Donohue Group, Inc., I was sent to Washington D.C. to the InterAmerican Development Bank to be the cataloger for 1 week. The regular cataloger was out on sick leave and IADB didn't want the work to pile up. It was SO MUCH FUN! I flew down to D.C. on a Sunday afternoon, checked into a hotel on DuPont Circle and every morning took the metro to IADB. Then I flew back home on Friday evening. I felt so cosmopolitan!

Their collection is mostly on topics like sustainable development, agriculture, low-income housing, etc. Much of it is in Spanish, but they have a lot of English as well as some French and German. They also use the Dewey Decimal System, which surprised me. I would have thought they would use the Library of Congress Classification System, but then I realized that Dewey is more of an international system than LC. The people were wonderful and very helpful since every library has its own way of doing things. I actually had to get thumb-printed and use my thumb to get into the building as well as the picture ID they made for me.

Yesterday, I received my first check from the Mass. Division of Unemployment Assistance. I thought it was going to take much longer for the checks to start coming. I just signed up for direct deposit, so all future paychecks will be going directly into my bank account.

I've been pretty good about morning Yoga. Now I need to add some aerobic exercise and more strength training for a good balance.