Receiving, accessioning and cataloguing (non-legal deposit material)

Receiving
Unpack and receive on ALEPH as soon as possible after arrival.
Act on any processing notes (eg email a reader).
Pass invoice to Jane to authorise and pass for payment.

Accessioning
Count and measure total width of the spines, then record details on the monthly new monograph accessions sheet (saved on the Q drive).
Stamp back of the title page with the date stamp (P,D or C).
Insert security triggers and a tick in pencil on the back page.
Stamp on the final page and approximately every 100 pages with the small stamp, and on the edges with the Vere Harmsworth stamp.
Remove dust jackets from hardbacks.
Put the books on the cataloguing shelf.

Cataloguing and classification
The books should be checked against the catalogue record, which should be amended or upgraded as necessary.
The shelfmark should be taken from the 050 field of the MARC record if present, and written on the first page of the book, at the bottom, in pencil. If no shelfmark is available from the MARC record, check the Library of Congress online catalogue or LOCIS (via GeoPac). If there is still no shelfmark available, one will need to be built using Classweb and the LC's online cutter table.
The shelfmark should then be copied and pasted into the labels file (saved on the Q drive under 'classification') and entered into the piece record on OLIS.
The status of the item can now be changed to 'available'.

Labelling
Once a batch of books has been processed and catalogued, their labels can be printed off from the labels file (using label sheets and the labels template on the Q drive) and stuck onto the spines. Label protectors will be needed on most books (thick books should be OK without.)

New accessions display
Put the batch of books on the new accessions display by the door.
Weed older books off there to shelve upstairs.

week 11 thing 22

I looked at two My del.icio.us gadgets (Alex Young and LabPixies) and preferred the simplicity of Alex Young's which showed my recent entries. I kept both gadgets for the time being until I learn what tools other 23ers prefer.

I still haven't taken to the visual clutter of icons on my iGoogle page but I do like the drop down menu of gadgets. It's useful to have the most commonly used on a frontpage which remembers my usernames and passwords so long as I'm careful to log out when I'm on a shared computer.

Week 11 thing 21

The instructions were clear and easy to follow.

I was somewhat chuffed when my Flickr photostream appeared - they seemed to make my Blog more homely somehow. It seems such a long time since I took the photos for thing 8 and uploaded them to Piknik and Flickr.

It was good to recall my username and password and to remember an earlier part of the course as we draw to a close.

Week 12 thing 23

What I liked most about the programme was being able to do the 23 things when and where it suited me. As a part-time worker it was the first course I have been able to do within my normal working hours. It also allowed me to join up with an online network of colleagues. I enjoyed their cheerfulness and humour as they faced the same challenges.

I particularly enjoyed using Blogger (the appearance, and autosave draft function) and Google Reader which is a real time saver on a slow connection.

What I liked least about social networking was not being able to decide on my online identity. One prosaic way round this problem could be the time-tested pseudonym eg @enquiries @librarian. Content was not a problem as we could talk about using the tools but I shyed away from the permanence that a written record gives to a passing moment. I was also ambivalent about giving personal informtion on free software sites.

On balence this reservation was a small price for the discovery of so many wonderful tools. Thank you to the organisers for discovering this course and leading us through it.

week 10, thing 20

ThinkFree Office has a look and feel similar to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. All in all, as free software it compares well to Microsoft office.

I played with the presentation software and found it familiar but it didn’t have the same defaults as Microsoft templates so I felt it was better for someone with no access to Microsoft or who prefers to creating their own design.

I noted that the default setting for a saved document was Bodley 25. I was surprised that Thinkfree.com used my network server to name a document so when I was on a quiet evening shift I did some experiments and read the notices more carefully. Thinkfree states quite clearly that it only saves to the desktop when the system crashes. When I chose the File/Save As menu, I did indeed have a choice to save in My Office on the Thinkfree site, or on the Bodley K, U or M Drive. This creates useful options for having backups of a cloud document on my hard drive, on a memory stick, as well as on a network drive. At the same time I found it somewhat scary that an unknown server could read my computer as well as my network. Let's hope it's a benign site.

I was also interested who uses this site for social networking. I viewed one site by Danielle Brigida Social Media Outreach Coordinator National Wildlife Federation. Her document (Welcome to the Social Media Bandwagon) gave an overview of current social media options and a summary of some of the tools we are doing in 23 things (Facebook, Twitter, Google alerts) as well as other social tools such as Stumble Upon. It was interesting to see the same information in a presentation and to note that other institutions are also joining the media bandwagon.

Week 10 thing 19

I wrote a short document to a fellow 23er and experimented with adding notes, sending copies to email, and making a read only and edit version.

It's important to tick all the right boxes. Google noted that I was contacting a colleague and offered to make the document more secure. I'll follow this up sometime.

week 9 thing 18

I love wikipedia. I use it to find out about any item of general knowledge, and trust it. Research compares it favourably to Encyclopedia Britannica. I like the concept of enthusiasts collaborating to create something of worth. Maybe one day I'll become a wiki volunteer.

I would like one day to explore the other areas of wikipedia(eg Help desk, reference desk, village pump) and would love to read articles in languages other than English.