Copy Cataloging Unit
Annual Report 2009/2010
FY2010 has been a quieter year than the past few with no major changes in workflow or personnel. The unit has continued adjusting to the loss of one full-time position. Our DLC/PCC level records are still being cataloged by two very able student assistants (Aamer Shareef and Gisselle Rosa). During FY2010 the unit employed on average 7 student assistants during the fall and spring semesters. We have begun to explore new ways in which we can utilize the abilities of our student assistants who have for years been integral to the unit’s work. During FY2010, student assistants began to help Authorities and Database Maintenance (with a great deal of help from Gerald Langford) by make corrections to headings in the catalog, accelerating the pace of the work considerably. Students searched the vast majority of the new material coming into the department.
The unit cataloged about the same number of titles in FY2010 as in FY2009. A total of 13,136 new titles were catalogedr, including 11,088 monographs, 92 serials, 136 sound discs, 1,013 videos (VHS & DVD) and 779 electronic theses and dissertations. In addition, the unit reclassed 594 titles.
Below are some of the unit’s activities in FY2010:
- One goal of the unit throughout this fiscal year has been finding more efficient methods for cataloging ETDs. The ETDs are very time consuming to catalog because of factors involving the loading of the records into Aleph and the limitations of Aleph and Connexion themselves. We worked extensively with Gerald Langford (who in turn worked with FCLA and the Graduate Office) and Michael Jay for several months to resolve a host of problems in both Aleph and Connexion and to devise a method for loading the ETDs into OCLC. The effort was generally successful; although, we are still trying to improve the workflow.
- The unit has worked close with Michael Jay in IT to improve the macros used in the creation of virtual bookplates. Macros have been improved, responsibility better distributed and a mailbox created for the submission of virtual bookplate requests.
- Student Assistants began to help the Authority and Database Maintenance Unit with the correction of heading under Gerald Langford’s supervision as an on-going responsibility.
- Working with Betsy Simpson and FCLA staff, a much improved procedure was devised for dealing with the problem of rushes being requested via the request button in the catalog. With the help of everyone in the unit, the rush procedure in AlephPro underwent a major revision.
- Doug Smith trained several people in basic copy cataloging: Ryan Litsey, Donna Reynolds, Cynthia Bowker and Amy Polk
- Judy Rummel worked with John Nemmers on the creation of EADs for the Braga Collection
- Working closely with Michael jay from IT, much of the year was spent trying to perfect the macros and overall procedure for the loading of bib notification records in to Aleph. After a number of setbacks, a stable macro was developed.
- Two named collections were part of the unit’s cataloging responsibilities: the John W. Lindell Collection (780 titles) and the Graham and Brian Child Collection (1,100 titles). Two other large collections, the Panama Canal Museum Collection and the Institute of Black Culture collection, arrived at the very end of the fiscal year.
- Committees:
- Judy Rummel and Fern Carlson served on the Cataloging Department’s Party Committee.
- Doug Smith served on the the UF Libraries Job Competencies Working Group and the Cataloging and Metadata Department Training Committee (chair--relinquished in the spring of 2010).
