The End . . . or is it?

Well, here I am. This is the last assignment before finals that I have to do for all of my classes this semester. Am I excited? The answer is absolutely yes! Am I sad? Well, maybe just a tiny bit. I have really enjoyed this cataloging class. I actually will kind of miss the assignments. I'm not working in a library right now, so I really don't have many opportunities to create bibliographic records. 


My latest learning journey has been through the Library of Congress Subject Headings. What do I have to say about that? Wow, there sure are a lot of headings! It was a bit overwhelming. I imagine I felt a little like Alice did when she landed in Wonderland. When I think about it hard enough, I still feel like I am in Wonderland! I'm not sure I'll ever really, truly figure out the LCSH. After I completed the assignment, I went to my retired librarian mother's house and showed it to her. She had never seen the LCSH. She was blown away by it. She mainly purchased books for her library from Follett, and always just used their MARC records for her database. It was the only place I knew before this class to find that type of information. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. 


So, here I am and class is almost over. Is this the end? Maybe in a small sense. I have the feeling it is really just the beginning of one incredible journey into the world of a librarian. 

Sunny Thoughts

First, I have to say that I wish MTSU's Spring Break coincided with Murfreesboro City School's Spring Break; however, you've got to love online courses. Today's musings are warm, sunny thoughts from Lake Carroll in Tampa, FL!

So, the Dewey Decimal System - a lot more complicated than I thought. I really only just started getting into it this past weekend. Just going by the book, it wasn't that bad. I actually like the Abridged book we are using. It's like a treasure hunt. You start in the Relative Index and you follow the clues from there - just like a treasure map. The Manual gives some explanations and points you in the right direction - just like your own personal pirate guide (personally, I'd prefer Captain Jack Sparrow). If you can't tell, I really am trying to find a way to get excited about this.

This geographic stuff is another issue. I've only looked through the presentation so far. I've go to spend some serious time next week becoming very well acquainted with it. I just feel like I'm going to get a headache when I think about it. But for now, it's difficult to get too worked up about it when it's sunny, in the 70s, and a lake is in your backyard! So, I'm off to the sun. Tomorrow it's Captiva Island for a few days (gotta love 2 week Spring Breaks). We even have wireless internet down there. So, if I get bored, haha, I can always log on and work on cataloging.

ISBD, AACR, MARC, LMNOP ;D

And I thought ESL was full of acronyms! I think I've read them enough that I might actually be able to remember what they stand for now. This past month has been a whirlwind, but I have to say that I have enjoyed it. I love formatting bibliographic records!!! The punctuation, the spacing, the capitalization, and order of information is thrilling to me. Yes, not only do I really feel that way, but I am actually admitting it. I thrive on structure and formats. That must be the accountant in me. Now to get a handle on MARC.


MARC - MAchine Readable Cataloging. It doesn't look like it will be that hard to figure out; however, I have only just begun to really get into the meat of it (I am a slight bit behind in my reading). I may be overly simplifying it, but from what I can tell so far, it appears that it is just putting the bibliographic record (that I love creating) into some type of computer format. There's that word again - format. I love it! I hope I don't jinx myself, but it doesn't look like it's that hard. I think the biggest issue will be remembering the tags. I think, and I really hope, that I will enjoy this as much as creating the record to begin with! 

And so, the fun begins....

So, I've been in class for 2 weeks and it feels like 2 months. I've never taken an online class before, and now I have 2 classes at the same time. Talk about feeling overwhelmed! This is going to be a long semester, but I'll make it through.

I finally was able to get the books for this cataloging class. I've only read 2 chapters and am already amazed at how much I did not know. I worked in an elementary school as the library assistant for a few years. My mother is also a librarian and I have helped her for years. I know about the Dewey Decimal System and I know how to look up bibliographic information for new books that come into the library. How much more could there possibly be? Apparently a lot!

I've never considered the history of cataloging. I didn't think there was anything other than the DDS. I just assumed all the information that went into a bibliographic record was part of it. Boy was I wrong. The DDS is a classification system. There is a whole separate set of rules for cataloging. I've never heard of the AARC (Anglo-American Cataloging Rules). These are the rules that govern the description of items in card catalogs. Who knew?

I do have to say that the most exciting thing I have learned so far is the reason as to why only the first word and proper nouns in a title are capitalized in the bibliographic record of a book. I actually laughed out loud when I read this. Here I was thinking it was for some deep, meaningful reason, when it really was the most simple of reasons. So here it is: back in the day, it was just too difficult to constantly capitalize words when using a manual typewriter!