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!