Lesson 10

This lesson was all about cataloguing and the various methods this can be done. I created a posting discussing how lucky I was to be working in a district that has a district wide processing system. When I first started in the library I did not have any course work or experience. The head librarians were there for me to answer my questions. Give me support and answer any of my questions. I could focus on the lessons and learning how to run the library. The head librarians did the processing. Over the past few years I have learned how the system works.

In my district it is a union based one using the Follett/Destiny system, where we can all see the materials at each school. I find this system to be excellent!! I love how I can borrow materials from other libraries. We use Titlepeak to show the book covers and get more indepth summaries.

This system is good too as the head librarians are importing the MARCs from Follett. Usually they can scan the barcodes/ISBN number or the book is already in their system. However, when discussing with my head librarians they said sometimes they have to go to other sources to get info, such as: LCC, CIP, etc.

I was discussing with a private school TL about this and often they have to do most of this themselves. That is a huge task to take on with not much experience. Plus they have to purchase the systems and have someone maintain the webpages for them. We have a resource centre to do the purchasing (group rate is cheaper) and maintaining the webpage.

I am very happy where I am and knowing that I can pass off this task to someone who is very experienced in this area. This way I can focus on creating excellent lessons and not worry about going to ULS or getting CDroms or copy cataloguing from somewhere.

The lesson discussed using Titlewave and ULS for looking at your collection. This was discussed in another class of mine. I posted comments on this too. However, I feel for me right now, this is not useful.   I have a great understanding of my users and my collection. I know the weak points and the strengths. By using these systems, you plug in your inventory to the webpage and they tell your where you can update you collection and make suggestions for you to but from them. So it is a money maker for them. However, I do feel this is a useful tool in the right time. For me it would be if I moved schools. It would be a much faster way of seeing the weaknesses of a new collection. Of course I would also be running historical stats for the collection age and usage via Follett to compliment this.

This lesson also talked about repairing books.... this was tough for me. When I started I wanted to mend/repair as much as I could. Then when I started weeding and learned how to get 'tough' on books and my collection I became much more brave and just deleted the copy and bought a new one. If it happened again, I would stay away from it if I could. The "Bone" books are good examples of that, they fall apart so easily. This is a time factor too. Time spent fixing the books vs re-ordering. I find it easier to buy a new one plus it looks nicer. Much like the time factor in importing MARCs... spend the money, and put the human time into people and not into data processing.

Finally, in dealing with donated materials, I will tell them upfront, that if I can use it I will, but I will look at my collection, the book condition, and the published date. If I cannot use it I tell them I will try to find a good home for that book. When I started I was tempted to take all donations, but with experience comes the knowledge.