Journal, week 5
I have been fighting off a sinus infection but finally felt over the hill when I woke up this morning, so I decided to buck up and take the bus across town for my shift. There was no staff meeting again, this time because a few of the staff members were out.
I started the day finishing up the work I had left last week, namely plating and exporting three books whose records I had finished near the end of the day last week. I didn't end up finishing six items last Monday, so we set a goal of four items for today, including two largish French-language anthologies that had come in while I was out. As far as my actual work was concerned, I don't have much to report from the day. I spent the morning researching and putting together records for the items at my desk, then exported with Allison and ended by plating the books and preparing them for shelving.
Something unique I was able to experience today was watching Allison work on cataloging a trio of 18th-century atlases that JCB had just acquired. They items are two distinct printings of the same work—two of one printing and one of the other. What differentiates them as distinct printings are two words at the very end of the title page. One printing reads, "[...] maps of the world," and another reads, "[...] maps of known cities."
Working with rare books is an area in which I'm particularly interested, so I was grateful these books arrived for me to learn from. Allison explained that, unlike contemporary items, which are usually printed correctly and without major errors, the quality of older materials can vary wildly. When working with rare and older books, catalogers go through every page to make note of any errata, annotations, or other quirks. This can help to determine the item's provenance and history, and let researchers know if a particular item is the exact item they're looking for.
By the end of the day, I'd managed to catalog and prepare six items. I'm feeling much more confident and knowledgeable already.