day two.

More like a real day of work.  I am so tired!  And I can't even remember the last time I sat in a chair all day.  Every other job I have had since the Yiddish Book Center (and actually, lots of what I did at the Book Center) has involved being on my feet and running around all day. 

Figuring out the rhythm of the tasks I do.  It's a lot of tiny steps to get a single, small thing done.  When everything goes smoothly, it requires almost no thought.  But each box and each file that I open is different and may have any number of complications.  I'm not sure if my insane level of attention to detail and meticulousness is PERFECT for cataloging (!) or if it makes me work annoyingly slowly and ask Beth too many questions.  (Working for "free" is funny in this way...What's the incentive for doing a good job?  Besides the fact that I am a perfectionist...)  I do want to work as quickly as possible on the straighforward files because I have personally made it my goal to finish ALL the vertical files by the time the internship is over.  It seems appropriate, as the last M-LEAD intern, to be the one to complete the collection of institutional files.

Being able to get familiar with my workspace and my routines enabled me to observe Beth's way of working and interacting...which is rather anti-social.  Especially when it comes to the acquisitions assistant, who is, I think, one of those nervous talkers who over-explains everything.  I think it's kind of too bad that they are required to have regular contact with each other because their personalities could NOT be more incompatible.  Beth is so quiet I can't even hear her breathe!  If she weren't tapping away at the keyboard all day, I wouldn't know she was there.  I am beginning to develop an understanding of the technical librarian stereotype. 

Hours worked: 9am-5pm.
Records created: 24.

work description + day one.

the work:

Like previous M-LEAD interns, I will be cataloging a collection of vertical files related to art institutions, museums, and galleries.  The materials in these files have been compiled by various staff members over a number of years and consist of exhibition catalogs, press clippings, invitations, postcards, annual reports, gallery guides, and assorted ephemera.  They have been organized alphabetically but never cataloged, and are thus inaccessible.  (Deirdre Lawrence, head of the Brooklyn Museum Library, calls it a "hidden collection.")

My task is to create bibliographic records for these files in WorldCat using OCLC's Connexion and then export them to the library's public access catalog via Millenium.  The MARC codes and formatting are provided by a template, so all I have to do is assign the appropriate corporate name and subject (MARC fields 110 and 610) to each file.  The majority of the work I do involves searching the Library of Congress authority files for names.  Lacking an LC heading, name forms must follow AACR2 guidelines.  Problems arise when it is difficult to identify a single corporate or organizational "creator" of a particular thing, or when file folders have been mislabeled and/or contain orphaned items.

Here's a screen-shot of what my computer looks like all day...

day one:

...Well, my first "digital observation" is that large organizations like the Brooklyn Museum are really at the mercy of their IT departments.  I can't even begin to imagine how complex the networking and security issues are for a place this big, and I'm sure the tech department is top-notch, but I spent at least half of my first work day waiting to get my "technology packet."  Basically, this packet was a user ID and password for logging into my computer and for the email account I will probably never use.  Because we have our first practicum meeting this evening, I had to leave the museum early, and Beth and I only ended up processing two books.

The real problem was, if I understand correctly, bureaucratic rather than technical.  The person who could authorize the tech department to create my computer accounts was sick and no one else could do it...or something.  This is something I am unaccustomed to, coming from the Yiddish Book Center and having spent my life working for small non-profit organizations and independent businesses, attending tiny private schools...

Then, of course, once I was logged into my computer and had everything set up, my OCLC Connexion program wouldn't work—which is the only software vital to my cataloging job.  Eventually, they got it going.  Hopefully, next week will go smoothly now that all of this is straightened out.


Hours worked:  9am-3pm.
Records created:  only 2!

internship project identification

project abstract:

My goal is to gain experience with cataloging tools and platforms, even if the work is mostly cataloging from a template.  The intellectual questions I am interested in have to do with understanding the relationship between information and its forms.  The collection I will be cataloging is not bibliographic but mixed media material organized in vertical files.  The kind of information embodied by these unique, ephemeral items is somehow different in nature than the kind of information conveyed by books, journals, and text-dominated publications.  How, then, does the cataloger best represent the information potential of these items?  In reality, I will not have the option of individually cataloging or digitizing items.  But my final analysis will be formulated as a thought experiment regarding best practices in describing ephemera.

position title: M-LEAD cataloging intern
course:  LIS-698, Practicum/Seminar
professor:  Dr. Tula Giannini, Dean of Pratt SILS
site supervisor:  Beth Kushner, cataloger/assistant librarian
site location:  Brooklyn Museum (Libraries and Archives), 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn NY

Image: "Christopher Dresser, The art of decorative design, 1862.  Knowledge is Power."

Author: Dresser, Christopher.

Description:  xi, 241 p., 1 L. : ill., 28 plates (part col.) ; 25 cm. 

Imprint: London : Day and son, 1862.

Brooklyn Museum Libraries, Special Collections
No. NK1560 D81a