Progress

No manual reading today, but I did want to take a moment to say that I smashed my record for books today - 21! I'm starting to think of the mainstream shelf as kind of my territory, and as such it must be as up to date as possible! I'm also getting more confident with my cataloguing, and am being given more free reign and decision-making responsibilities, which helps a lot when it comes to motivation.

Made my way through the RAP list and have done pretty much as many as I can, barring a few random phone calls to unsuspecting publishers.

Since not getting the APS3 position, I've decided to try and keep tabs on what it is I actually do, day to day, so as to make my next job interview a good one. In no particular order, here are some of the things I can think of that my particular job involves:

• contacting publishers (promoting Legal Deposit)
• checking/assigning dewey numbers
• assigning cutter numbers and title marks
• updating CiP records
• claiming material from publishers
• sorting new books as they arrive
• organising daily mail-outs to publishers

That's most of the day to day stuff...it doesn't look like that much! But I will keep adding to the list and think about the skills I've learned on the job in the next few posts.

Questioning

After making and unintentional and avoidable mess of the RAP sheet claims yesterday, I came in this morning determined to make less silly mistakes. Unfortunately, that only lasted for about thirty minutes. Nevertheless! I have decided today to keep a list of all the questions I am asking myself as I'm cataloguing, and hopefully this will lead to me writing down and therefore remembering the answers.

• Ok, so, if you write the foreword to a book, do you get to have a 700 field?
• What about if someone has the last name 'd Chand' and you want to make a cutter?
• Complicated cover titles! What to include? Where to include it? Me oh my.
• When there are two authors and their from the same family, can you just write 'Blah and Blahrina Jones?' Or do you separate the names?
• What if a book's copyright date is a year later than it's publication date? How could that be?!
• I know I made it sound like I knew all about breaking down Deweys if they are too long, but you see, I don't. Not a single thing about it. Deweys and me are still less than friendly. In fact, you could say we're acquaintances who avoid each other at all possible opportunities.

Some answers:

• The Manual says: "Treat names containing the prefix 'de' as they appear in the main entry and ignore capitalisation." So I was right on that one.
• I checked out an earlier book I did with two authors from the same family, and I did separate the names (and no one made a fuss), so I'm going to go with that (even the AACR manual was stumped on that) .
• Looking at the AACR, it seems like a foreword contributor would get a 700 field. But we'll see how we go.

More manual fun:

• Section 6.9 of the procedures manual has some information about conference material - it sounds like I don't need to claim it. It also goes into the criteria conference proceedings need to satisfy to be taken in as a serial.
• Omg! Plates are supposed to be listed in the a subfield in 300! Not in the b! I'm pretty sure I've been doing it wrong...So it should look like: '247 p., [12] p. of plates.' I think.
• The 530 field can be used in a similar way to the 856 page to record where you can get online access to the item.

I think that's about all the thinking I can do for today. Time to check my books again and head on out of here!

Radio, tea and manuals

You know, Ceylon tea just isn't as good as English Breakfast.

Well I'll be quietly satisfied - I've finished reading through one manual! Call number allocation and end processing is done - now on to the Australian Deposit Procedures Manual (of Doom).

• I don't get retro material - what is it? Why do we get it in? Most of all, what is the Hince collection and is it any relation? This must be resolved!

Can I just say that the search within the NLA website is possibly the vaguest I've come across?

Anyways, this manual doesn't seem to have much to say ot me today, which is a good thing. But I did discover an interesting bandwhile listening to the radio!

Making friends with The Manuals Pt. 2

Well, it's Friday afternoon and there's not much else for it - it's me against the manuals again.

Ok so where were we up to? Ah yes - numbers, initials and abbreviations.

• Acronyms are treated as if they are words when making cutters (e.g ASEAN)
• Russian author names are treated differently. Crazy Russians.
• Special biography rule: If the main entry is the title, use the Cutter for the biographee and don't add a title mark. (i.e Only one life: the Peter Crofts story would be C941). And I thought I understood biographies!
• AND, biography marks are used for catalogues of art exhibitions by one artist. The cutter comes from the artist and biography mark from the author. (Art catalogues are not my friend at this stage.)
• Title marks for translations should use the original language.
• Edition marks aren't used for novels (800s).

That's about all the interesting bits I can find so far...only four manuals to go...and then there's the Dewey...oh the Dewey....

This is a tired Friday afternoon Alice signing off - until next week!

Making friends with The Manuals

So, the manuals and I haven't been getting along. I ignore them, they taunt me with their correct procedures hidden deep within library jargon. So today I'm going to spend an hour (that's right, one whole hour of manual-related fun) reading the manuals, and recording any fun facts I might find along the way. Here goes:

General Stuffs

• N means Australian stacks! I have finally unravelled the mystery of N!
• Octavo means normal sized book.
• There's a stack directory! Praise be!

Call Numbers

• Books by or about Shakespeare have a special classification system. That's pretty awesome.
• The number of digits after a deciaml point in a Dewey call number can only be eight, but you keep the full number in the 082 field (you break it at a 'logical point' - if it can't be broken and still make sense, you just shorten it as much as possible).
• Literature of New Zealand can use the NZ prefix before the Dewey.
• Captain Cook and Lonely Planet also have special rules...

Cutter Numbers

• Criticisms of a writer are given special Cutter treatment (see section C.3.2 of the end processing manual).
• Hyphenated names are treated as if they were one word.
• Names with prefixes are also treated as one word (i.e Vanbrugh), but with the prefix 'de' just follow what's been written in the main entry (ignore capitalistion).

Phew! That's only 8 pages in to the first manual! I will save more learnings for tomorrow.

Wednesday normality

Not a whole lot in terms of huge cataloguing revelations today, but I did hit a record number of books (10!), and brached out into the claimed items area, which is actually easier than the normal items area. I'm getting faster at investigating publishers for possible claims too, which is nice.

I do feel like I'm consolidating what I already know though, and getting a better understanding of how everyone on this floor fits together 'to ensure that a significant record of Australia and Australians is collected and safeguarded.' This morning we had a whole section meeting, and that also contributed to bringing the pieces of the puzzle together. I realised that I was following 99% of what was being said, and that I really wouldn't have even a week ago, let alone when I started.

Like I keep saying, it's just the same as learning another language - good thing that's something I'm happy to do!

post-interview exhalation

So, after cramming on all the aspects of the NLA that I could dig up, I now have a better idea of what the NLA is up to these days and where it plans to go in the future. The most difficult question was 'what particular project or area are you most interested in?' I couldn't choose!

Back at my desk, I'm continuing to refine my 'Upgrading a Cip' cheat-sheet of doom. Things I am now pretty comfortable with, CiP-wise, include:

• Cutters and title marks, when they occur and how to make them (including biographical Cutters, which I made friends with today).
• Knowing when one of the main fields is missing (this helps a lot!).
• Formatting of the main fields (all those wonderous semi-colons, colons, commas and full stops).
• Most of the other basic things - give me a fiction book with no curly aspects to it, and I'll be fine.

Things I am getting there with:

• Subject headings and the creation thereof.
• Dealing with books with different types of responsibilities (translators, consultants).
• Adaptations (this involved lots of mess before I understood it).

Things I am yet to understand:

• The leader field. I mean, seriously, what does any of that mean?
• Ditto some of the 008 field.
• Reprints. Which date is the reprint date? Which is the copyright date? Which do we care about? Argh!
• Knowing when to include other random information, like established series info, related corporations, and various other things that don't make sense even after a lap of the balcony.
  

The DDC continues to be a mystery in a class of it's own, but I think I just need to take an hour to sit down with some books, tea and sugary things, and try to get it. But, I did find the Dewey Decimal System blog, which is awesome!

In totally exciting news to no one but me, I claimed my first item today! That's right, send us your book, or face the not-very-scary-at-all consequences!

Slowly but surely a larger percentage of my books are coming back with less mistakes. Interviews are done. Things are looking pretty darn good.