Journal, week 1
This was my first week of work and it was devoted essentially entirely to onboarding and troubleshooting. I got in a few minutes early with this in mind; Allison, walking with an orthopedic boot after a car accident, brought me across campus to the ID Services office at Page-Robinson Hall. After I was issued my Sponsored ID Card, Allison and I took a break at the cafeteria across the street and chatted about my professional experience and goals. We also took the time to get to know each other properly; she’s also not from Rhode Island, and we bonded over our dealings with some of the state’s peculiarities. Once we’d finished our coffees, we headed back to the library.
Back in the basement, we started the process of setting up my computer for cataloging use, which, owing to the age and condition of the tower I’d been issued, was a bit of an ordeal. I ended up registering my Brown University account and email address on my phone while the computer set up; I’d say it took about an hour for me to be able to log in and reach the desktop, after which we also had to install OCLC Connexion and Google Chrome and connect my account to the OCLC database and the library’s intranet. Finally, halfway through the day, I was able to get started.
This is a cataloging internship and I’m starting the work without any actual cataloging experience. In preparation for it, I had been reviewing my notes from my “Organization of Information” class, specifically what I’d read from Magda El-Sherbini’s 2013 text, RDA: Strategies for Implementation. JCB contributes to WorldCat through OCLC Connexion, which means I’ll be using the MARC 21 format; indeed, Allison walked me through cataloging a single item that José had given me: An Irish Rebel in New Spain, a 2022 book by Andrea Martínez Baracs translated from the Spanish by Hank Heifetz. Essentially, she and I “went down the list” of applicable MARC fields, pulling data from a Library of Congress record and supplementing it with my own research and information as necessary. This is work I had done in the cataloging class I’d mentioned but working with an actual physical item in front of me made the record-creating process much more intuitive.
To finish, we prepared the book itself for shelving. I wrote the call number on the inside rear cover, stamped the library’s initials on the title verso page, wheat-pasted a plate on the inside front cover, and put together a loose tag with the call number. A sheet of wax paper prevented the drying plate from sticking to the first leaf of free endpaper at the front. With this done, we reached the end of our first day.