End of the semester-

Working on the Stipe Collection turned out to be so much more than just cataloging. Because it is a unique collection of books, travel brochures, clippings, personal correspondence and other miscellaneous items held in filing drawers, it had to be treated almost as if it was a manuscript collection rather than an addition to the library. There are papers that are stapled or paper clipped together that already show rust damage. The metallic holders need to be removed as carefully as possible, and replaced with plastic clips.
However, it is also unique because it will be used by students, and not held in a closed stack environment, and could be weeded.
Looking back over the semester, I would have to say that the greatest learning experience was not the actual cataloging per se, but rather learning how to take charge of a collection in order to organize it. My greatest weakness was that I did not recognize the need for a collection development policy to be put in place as soon as possible. Once I had parameters in place for weeding, the collection began to “come together” more easily.
There is still much work to be done on the collection; I intend to spend as much time on it as possible as a volunteer over the next semester and throughout the holiday break.

December 4th, 2009

Jennifer and I met yesterday at noon to label. All the the forum journals are now on the shelves, and she labeled all of the items from the Stipe Drawer, and books that were donated. I forgot that the other practicum student's books that she cataloged for the IARC were on the cart beside the desk, but it worked out well, because Jennifer can label them in the office, and then I can carry over the completed books next week.

Also, really great news. I don't feel so pressed for time now with this collection. I wrote to Dr. Bird earlier to ask if I could continue working on the collection, and she gave me permission. However, I also asked Mary Jane if I could just work as a volunteer in IARC next semester and finish what I stared. Now I plan on working in IARC over the break (no students!), and throughout the rest of the school year.

November 20th, 2009

Took the day off from other classes just to work on my weeding. It's not easy, because I have to spend much time determining if what I am holding is either historically interesting to students, or has anything written by Dr. Stipe. I am playing it safe, and just getting rid of items that are obvious: the old land deeds from the sixties for instance.

November 25th, 2009

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday until 5:00 working. Wednesday I spent as much time on the computer as possible. I need to meet with Jennifer to get items labeled and ready to go in the drawers. Also, there is a donation of books that are going to the shelves in IARC that Mary Jane has asked me to catalog. I found the records in WorldCat instead of carrying them over to Jackson in the rain. Mary Jane asked me on the 19th if I had noticed how rainy the weather had gotten now that we had to carry so much stuff back and forth (with her foot broken)-- yes, I have! It's been ridiculous.

December 3rd, 2009

Jennifer Ormsby and I are meeting after an appointment at noon to label.

August 26, 2009

Mary Jane and I walked over to the IARC to look at the Stipe Collection in the IARC. The papers are held in three filing cabinet drawers, and are in no particular order.

The Stipe collection and papers that were donated consist of mail, personal papers, writing, some students thesis and dissertations and old books. The whole collection is in three large filing cabinet drawers, in no particular order.

The first week, I pulled large books out that looked like they would be easy to copy catalog. There were also old magazines that needed to be put into chronological order.

September 3rd, 2009

This was a difficult week to work, as there were more students using the library. I was not able to use the computer in that building as often as I needed to, and there was not much space to work.

Items cataloged include:

Report to the President and Congress of the United States (published annually)- This information was sent to Katherine Nunnally because they are serials.

Staff meeting today in Mary Jane Conger's office

September 11th, 2009

I am working every Tuesday and Thursday in the IARC. I am still getting used to the collection; it will get much easier when I find out what I am allowed to weed. Pulling large volumes to catalog. I have started putting items that I think should be weeded into files.

The hardest part is sitting on the floor and working. The computer that I can use in the IARC is a large Mac, so I go from getting off the floor to working on the computer. It's not very convenient!

September 18th, 2009

Items that were pulled to be cataloged include:

Designing open space subdivisions : a practical step-by-step approach

The national historic preservation program today

Ten courthouses in North Carolina : a part of the "adjudication facilities study of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners

8th General Assembly and International Symposium : old cultures in new worlds : Washington, District of Columbia, October 10-15, 1987

Wilmington, North Carolina, historic area, a part of the future land-use plan

Many of Dr. Stipes books are in good enough shape to be included in the regular collection for the students to use. Mary Jane determined that I could choose which items may go on the shelves and which ones need to remain in the drawer.

September 24th, 2009

I feel like I haven't gotten enough done this month. It's very frustrating having an odd working space that involves sitting on the floor to standing, to sitting at the computer. It was easier to catalog at a desk with a dedicated computer, and items on a book truck.

The student workers though are helpful in determining what I should consider putting in the file folders that I want to weed. It can be hard for me to tell. There are so many old clippings from magazines, and I don't know enough about architecture to be able to tell if the clipping should be copied onto acid free paper and archived, or just weeded.

That is probably going to be the biggest headache of this collection. All of these items were important enough for somebody not to throw away-- but, then were donated to a library, and not a special collections or archives department. So, it's a special collection that will be held and used by students.

I wonder if the easiest thing to do would be to separate some of these papers, and write a finding aide for them that could go into the drawer in a notebook?

October 1st, 2009

I am still sifting through the drawers, and finding items that are fairly easy to catalog. I had to get Mary Jane to look at some of the items which have OCLC records that will not work in the UNCG OPAC. A typical example is a calendar from the Chapel Hill Historical Society. Chapel Hill holds copies as serials, but they will not work on our shelf list. She has asked me to find items in our catalog that have photos of Chapel Hill and make up a call number. They will be held in the drawer, as I don't expect them to get very much use from students.

October 7th, 2009

I was moved to a new student desk in the cataloging department at the beginning of the semester; we have a librarian visiting from China, and she took over the space that I was using for my Assistantship. The “new” computer I use is so slow. It freezes up when there are too many programs open, and I have to keep a webpage, Connexions and Workflows open while I enter items into the catalog.

In the IARC, I pull items and search for them in WorldCat. It's easier to use the “Classic Version” because the results page gives me the information I need to determine if I have a matching item: a physical description of the book, and if it is held at UNCG. The newer version does also, but it can be harder to search because it does not have enough search fields on the first screen.

After I find a matching record, I write down the OCLC identification number (just in a notebook), and put the item aside.

In the cataloging department, I pull up those records on Connexions using the OCLC number. Or, if the item is held at Jackson, or is already in the IARC, I use WorkFlows to add a call number to the existing item.

This is an awkward method of cataloging because one is cataloging without the item in hand while physically entering it into the record. Mary Jane uses the university laptop in the IARC so that she doesn't have to walk back and forth. But, because I am more comfortable with the software set up on the computer in Jackson, I am choosing to not use the laptop.

October 9th, 2009

Working extra hours this week because Fall Break is coming up. It's irritating to have to stop what I am doing an take days off.

There was a function this week in IARC; not sure what was going on, but there were people in and out of the library all day, and I felt like I was in the way. It's extremely frustrating to me to have to work around that many people, and I don't feel like I accomplished very much. I told Mary Jane about it, and she agrees that cataloging, and organizing needs to be done in a quieter environment.

Also, there are samples of fabric all over the place, in large boxes.

October 22cd, 2009

When I started my Assistantship in Cataloging, Mary Jane told me that it was easier and more productive to work some every day. At the time, I agreed with her, but those words are really haunting me now. Even though I made notes to myself in my notebook, I still walked in this week and couldn't remember a think that I was doing before I took days off. It feels like one step forward and two steps back sometimes.

October 29th, 2009

Went into the IARC on Tuesday, but only stayed for two hours because I started feeling horrible. Now I have to play catch up again, and need to work all day til Five to make up for it.

November 4th, 2009

Mary Jane has asked me to move some of the items I want to weed into a box, so that one of the Architecture Professors can look at them and give me permission to weed. This has been probably the most frustrating experience with the collection. I am pretty sure from talking to the students that a good deal of the Stipe Collection is going to stay in the drawers unused; and as there is not much space available, I want to weed items that I feel won't be used at all. These include old deeds of trust for public land use, and many articles from magazines that are cut out. Many of the deeds are not from North Carolina, but are from other states (California, New York), and date back as far as the sixties.

I am only putting about one fourth of the items I want to be weeded in a box.

November 12th, 2009

I have determined that I am the worlds worst blogger. I don't enjoy it very much, and go home at the end of the day too tired to keep up with it. I think I enjoy the physical work of cataloging much more than writing about it. Wish I had just agreed to keep a journal instead. I have photos to put up and I think those are pretty nice looking. I need to move my hours from Google Calendar to the worksheet.
I also just got an email from Mary Jane. The Architecture Professor, Jo Leimenstoll wants to meet with us next week to review the items that I want to weed. I told Mary Jane that I am nervous about the meeting. I learned in from working in the archives that people can get attached to items that belonged to someone, particularly if they knew them and the person is dead. Dr. Leimenstoll won the “Robert Stipe” award for historical preservation, and apparently knew him; I don't know how well.

I am afraid that she is going to see all of my “want to weed” items in more of an emotional manner, rather than seeing the value of holding it in a space limited library. If she does, then the whole collection is going to need to be treated as a kind of manuscript collection held in a small satellite library. It is late in the semester, too-- so I am worried about that.

November 19th, 2009

This morning, Mary Jane met me in the IARC before 9:00AM. We had a meeting with Dr. Leimenstoll-

The meeting went extremely well; Dr. Leimenstoll wanted us to keep the scattered volumes of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the library, as she uses them. That is not a problem, they just need to be labeled with their call number (E151 .H52) and placed on the shelves. Katherine Nunnally entered them into the catalog early in the semester, when I thought all of the items were going to be kept.

The best news is that I am able to weed items that I don't consider worth keeping; she did seem a little emotional, and acted as if she recognized some of the clippings (and took a few), but was not overly sentimental about what is to be kept in the library.

The rest of the morning was spent helping Mary Jane (who has a broken foot) weed items from the library. Many of the sample books (carpet, wall covering, flooring) were determined to not be “green,” and the department only wants to keep environmentally friendly materials for the students to use on projects.

I spent the afternoon starting to weed. Have to say, it felt great. I waited all semester for this day!