Ganache with Panache

2011-08-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Girls Weekend in Vegas

2011-07-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

Traveling light this time.

Yummy Starbucks. The only way to start my day.

These people are crazy.

We start them young in our family.

Wow, my own private buffet.

Check out my castle.

Hanging out my friend Bob.

Bowling rematch

2011-04-25T22:02:00.001-07:00

Alique

2011-02-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

pics

2011-02-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

cartoons 2

2011-02-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

cartoon pics

2011-02-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

more and more pics

2011-02-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

2011-01-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

2011-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

art2

2011-01-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

art

2011-01-16T20:43:00.001-08:00

Internship Log: July 30 (Day 20)

2009-08-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: I got in early because I had to drop off my awesome parking pass to Mickey in the Library Administrative Office on the 3rd floor. I'd also made a thank you chocolate bouquet for the Dean, and a red rose for Mickey (better than cards right?). Then I wound my way up to the fourth floor, to my last day at TS.

Today's meeting was scheduled with Luiz and Dianne, who head the Electronic Resources. Luiz teaches at UCLA and I know that he always comes in late, so I decided to nip things in the bud and went to see Dianne first thing in the morning to see how they wanted to proceed. Dianne said that they'd discussed it, and since Luiz wanted to meet with me first, it would be better if I continued with y cataloging project until he came to "get" me. This was fine, since I was still working on the United States code congressional and administrative news, and had the American law reports annotated, second series (Digest), American law reports annotated, second series. Later case service, the Supreme Court reporter (you need to click view additional copies to see my work. Vols. 1-59 never made it up to TS), and the Federal energy guidelines (FERC Reports) waiting. I wanted to complete my project.

Luiz came in around 10:30 AM, and said he was ready for me. He wanted to straighten some things up and he'd come back and get me in 5 minutes. 5 minutes turned to well over an hour. When he came back, he asked when I usually went to lunch, which was at 12PM. Since it was almost lunch time, we decided to just meet up after lunch (anyone surprised?). While waiting for Luiz and Dianne, I did manage to finish updating the records of all the law books, and was glad I was able to complete my final project for Helen. Plus, I got a chance to pass out the thank you chocolates I'd made for the people who spent the day with me. The TS Chair, M. Helfer got a chocolate bouquet of daisies and a butterfly, Gina got a bouquet with a chocolate frog and tulips, Helen got a bouquet of white daisies, and everyone else got a white or dark chocolate pansy. It was a nice way to say thank you and good-bye.

After lunch, I went to my cubicle to check my mail before heading over to Luiz's office. To my surprise, Luiz walked in with one of the science bibliographers, and invited me into his office. As head of electronic resources, Luiz has a lot of work to do. He discussed a lot of things, and much of it was overwhleming, considering it was my last day. We discussed the kinds of electronic resources (e-books, databases, journals), Open URL, and ONIX. He stressed the importance of learning about metadata, and showed me a presentation he'd made that succinctly decsribed electronic resources and their importance in libraries. I must admit most of it didn't sink in, cause it was so theoretical. When I met with Dianne, she showed me more constructive things. Without Dianne, no one will have access to all the e-resources the library pays for. For example, with databases and journal aggregators, Dianne has to ensure an item is subscribed and paid for. She then activates the account, sets parameters such as specific journal titles and dates, and sets up the Find(Get) Link, which will connect the user to the article. If she misses a step, or the publisher changes something, the information can't be found. Becasue there are so many titles, it is impossible for one person to keep up with everything, so she relies on other librarians and the patrons to let her know when there's a dead link. While this seemed complicated, I realized it wasn't once Dianne "did" one. You just need to remember the steps.

There wasn't much else for her to show me, and we chatted for a while. The main topic of the day were the campus-wide furloughs that were being instigated as part of budget cuts. The furloughs are basically unpaid vacation days, and equal a 10% salary cut. While everyone was pessimistic, Dianne chose to look at the bright side, and use the days to get to things and run errands she wouldn't have time for otherwise. Oh well...

I still had a little over an hour until my internship came to an end, so I took up Christina's offer to help her find more open source science journals. Christina is one of the science bibliographer, and she asked me to cross-reference the open source journals available through the Directory of Open Access Journals with the ones already in the library OPAC. She was working towards finding more resources for sustainability, and I was able to find multiple websites for environmental organizations, and universities. Wikipedia also had a good article.

Internship Log: July 28 (Day 19)

2009-07-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: Here we go again...I was meeting with Donna, the Accounting Supervisor. I got to the library early, and had enough time to check my email and the CSUN listservs. Donna's cubicle is only two away from mine, so it took me less than a second to swing around and see that she wasn't there. I went back to my desk, and got to work updating the bib records for the law books. I plugged away at Corpus Juris Secundum and waited for Donna to come in, which didn't take much effort since I sit by the door and can see all who enter and leave. Donna walked in around 10:30 AM. I'd already sent her a reminder email about our meeting, and she quickly came over to me, I guess as soon as she read my email. She had me down for Thursday, the 31st, and went to check with Doris. So, here's what happened... Donna never received the revised schedule, so she still had me down for July 31st, which is Thursday. She'd been told by Doris and Gina not to worry, that I had a sizable project I could work on if she wasn't prepared. Since she didn't have any money to pay for anything and couldn't show me some hands-on things anyway, we decided to get together after lunch.

When I walked over to Donna's cubicle at 1:00 PM, she was reading a book. That's how busy accounting is during the summer. OK, so the library accounting is pretty complicated, but also straightforward. Donna reports to Doris, the TS chair, and also to campus accounting, who technically cuts the checks. The in-house accounting basically makes sure the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted, thus reducing the paperwork and man hours of the main campus financial office. Donna can only spend the money they give her. Also, since campus accounting uses a different software, Donna must do double work, using the campus system and also the library's ILS, Innovative Millennium. On top of this, because CSUN is a CSU campus, and there are constant audits, Donna needs to keep almost every scrap of paper as a physical back up. There are file cabinets full of invoices from years past, and there's also a master, fire-proof lock box. Donna showed me how the different funds Meredith went over look in both systems. While Millennium has each different book fund labeled, all campus cares about is total money spent on books (or monographs). I was surprised that up to a few years ago, library's needed to "hide" evidence of some of the creative accounting they did with deposit accounts. Most institutions frowned upon giving a vendor large amounts of money without seeing a return. However, for a library, this was one of the few ways to ensure that unspent money wouldn't be lost in the new fiscal year. Now, deposit accounts act like savings accounts, and actually earn a tiny bit of interest, which, apparently, appeases the parent institution and makes everything OK. Of course, Donna stressed that the library wouldn't deposit a large chunk with just anyone, especially now that there's a fear that some vendors may go under.

All I know is that Donna must spend more than half her workday making charts and spreadsheets. Everyone wants to know where the money is going, and each time she has a meeting with someone (the Library Dean, the TS Chair, the accounting office, the Collection Development Coordinator, etc.), she needs to make a report. Since everyone is looking for something different, she must tailor each report to that specific person or group. It's a lot of work, but she said she enjoyed doing them, and would often be on the phone with people to find out exactly what they wanted the report to show. She'd email them a copy, ask if it's what they had in mind, and then tweak it.

We chatted for a while, discussing things like library school and job opportunities. Donna recently got her MLS, and was looking for a change. Because I have a background in art history, she also showed me some examples of the XML schema, Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA). Interesting, specialized stuff, developed by the Getty.

Once we were chatted out, I thanked Donna and returned to my cubicle to finish the Corpus Juris Secundum. That done, I began updating the United States Code Congressional and Administrative News. As I shut down my computer at 5:00 PM, all I could think was that Thursday was my last day. The internship flew by.

Internship Log: July 23 (Day 18)

2009-07-23T14:29:00.001-07:00

9:30 AM-12:00 PM: I had cataloging for the first part of the day, and a meeting with Mary, head of Collection Development at 1:00PM. I got to my desk a tiny smidgen after 9:30, and noticed that the trucks I'd left out on Tuesday had not been picked up by Circ yet. I finished another truck, and halfway through my second of the day, emailed Gina to let her know the trucks were going to take over the entrance, at which point, she notified Circ that they could come by and take them away. When the guys finally arrived, I directed them to the trucks, and instructed them to return our trucks. By the time the first guy cam back with the trucks, I'd finished another one. This one, lucky for them, was on a Circ truck, so they didn't have to return it. I must say, the Circ trucks are TOO HEAVY. They are made of solid wood and hard to maneuver. I'm so glad we have the light metal ones. (When the librarians have those truck dancing contests at conferences and conventions, which ones do they use? I hope it's metal.)

Here's a list of the titles I'd finished by lunch (including what I did Tuesday). I'll include the permanent Oviatt Library links so you can see what a busy beaver I've been :)

12:30-5:00PM: Since I was a little late in the morning, I came back from lunch early, and got some cataloging in before my 1:00PM meeting with Mary. As 1:00PM neared, I heard Mary announce to someone that she was leaving for lunch. OK, she forgot about me last time too, and I figured she'd just pick up a sandwich again and get back quickly. I had enough to keep me busy anyway. I drove by her office occasionally, but she didn't return until a little after 2:00PM. I'd already sent her an email reminding her of our appointment, and told her we could play it be ear and just to let me know when she wanted me to pop in. When Mary came back to the office, she walked by my desk and informed me that she had a major project that was due tomorrow, and had spoken to Doris (Helfern the TS Chair) about rescheduling me. Doris was supposed to let me know, but had not. No big thing, except she'd seen me multiple times that day and I doubt it would have taken too long to get me up to date. Besides, I'd brought a bunch of art catalogs and artist monographs that I had, and was going to offer them to Mary for the collection. Those suckers were heavy and I had to carry them all the way (while juggling my morning coffee and handbag, which is much larger than my hand). Now I'm second guessing the donation 'cause I already had misgivings about parting with them.

Oh well, back to making the collection more accessible for the user. I will now begin work on the Corpus Juris Secundum: a complete restatement of the entire American law as developed by all reported cases. (technically complete up to 1991.)

Internship Log: July 21 (Day 17)

2009-07-21T14:18:00.001-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: Hello :) Well, you won't believe it. I was scheduled to spend the day with Meredith Lyon, the Order and Receiving Specialist. Meredith lasted much longer than the other people I met with, most of whom averaged 30 minutes. I spent over 2 hours with Meredith, as she walked me through the order process. While Paula deals with approvals (ie Yankee and Blackwell deposit accounts), Meredith does firm orders, and also has more pots from which she can allocate or appropriate funds. OMG, the acquisitions budget is one of the most confusing things I've ever encountered. There's the funds from the university (or I guess the CSU gives the campus a "huge" sum and the President dishes it out to whoever). Out of approx. $400,000.00, monographs get $40,000.00. The rest goes for subscriptions and e-databases. WOW!!!!!!!!! Then there are state funds, theoretically. They also get lottery funds, sometimes. Actually, Meredith said they got this year's lottery funds last year, so they were able to dump a lot into deposit funds. So, then, they get money from donations and trusts, and also endowments, of which they use the interest. Sounds like a lot, but Meredith and Paula ordered a little over 10,000 books last year. For a medium-sized university library, that's so not a lot.

OK, how are all the funds kept straight? That's Meredith's job. Each bibliographer has a subject code (actually they have multiple subject codes since they cover multiple subjects), and each code gets a designator. For example ####d, is deposit fund, ####l is lottery, etc. There are a total of 240 funds from which Meredith can pull money. Paula is stuck with the deposit funds, but her job is much simpler than Meredith's. Meredith has to shop around and figure out which funds to use. Paula doesn't have any choices. I liked how Meredith thought of her job as a game. At the end of the year, if most of the funds are near $0, she wins, and by default, so does the library.

Oh, Gina just popped her head in and asked if I was busy, since they have a new project for me. I just finished Mary's replacement project so the timing is perfect. So, for now, I am AFK.

I am back. I think I've mentioned the shift project. Books with low use are moving into storage and high use storage items are getting placed on shelves. A lot of law related books are going down to storage. The bibliographer, Eric, decided that prior to the shift, the catalog should reflect more information than just a volume number, so that users aren't forced to have every volume pulled. When these books are on the shelf, it's a simple process to scan the spines to find the volume you want. Dates, and beginning and ending letters/words are right there. So Eric brought a print sheet by, in which he designated how each title will be amended. That's where I come in. My new project is to add the information. It's pretty easy once you figure out what Eric wants, and find it on the spine or tp. Then you call up the record and plug in the information next to the volume number. Oh, and don't forget to save. The ones with dates went by very quickly actually, since I copied and pasted and just changed beginning and ending dates. I did 3 trucks in 2 hours. Woo hoo, only 7 more to go.

Actually, I really liked this idea, since it shows that the librarians are thinking about the users and making it easier for them to find the items they need. Here's an example of how this change will look on the OPAC. Let's take The statutes, from the twentieth year of King Henry the Third to the [tenth chapter of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth years of King George the Sixth] A. D. 1235-[1948., which I just finished. If you click here, you will directed to the OPAC entry. Notice how each volume also contains date information, versus just a volume number, which provides little content identifying info. If you click on view additional copies, you'll get a list of the entire title holdings. (A very interesting title that any history buff should peruse.) This is much more useful than the Encyclopædia britannica entry, for example, which doesn't provide any info other than volume number. Of course, these are on the shelf, so patrons can browse the spines. However, I do have to say that having the ID info on the OPAC would be helpful to students who are finishing a paper late at night and realize that they failed to include the volume number of their source. I've had instances where I've had to do a virtual reference chat and ask the librarian to get me the volume info and number.

Internship Log: July 16 (Day 16)

2009-07-16T13:12:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: I was scheduled to spend the day with Philip, who is in charge of Periodicals and Bindery. Philip has also taken over the management of the student workers. They used to be Del's responsibility. I actually thought Philip would have some projects lined up for me, and that I'd get some hands on experience checking the periodicals, and maybe even doing some processing. He did have me for the entire day, which is why I had hesitated to RSVP to the summer party (which, as you guessed it, is today). Alas (too much HP lately), I was mistaken. My session with Philip lasted close to half an hour. I could have stretched it if I had more questions, but everything is pretty self-explanatory. OK, so basically, Philip does a lot of delegating to the student workers. He has 5 this summer, and will probably have 6 or 7 in the Fall and Spring Semesters. This sounds like a lot, but considering the work these kids do, they need more hands. The student workers process everything and make them shelf-ready. Granted, some of the books come somewhat shelf-ready, but they still have to make sure all items have the property stamp, check in/out card, barcode, call number, and tattle tape. Some items arrive complete, others semi-complete, while most firm orders require total processing. On top of that, they are the ones who check in the periodicals, which can be a full time job in and of itself. They also have to keep track of which titles/issues need to be pulled and prepared for binding. For example, the weekly or monthly issued periodicals stay loose on the shelves for 3 months, and then get bound, with three months worth of issues in one volume (I think that's how it works). All this info is in the item record in the Integrated system (ie Millennium). It seemed like Philip, himself, had a lot of busy work to do. He had to double check the students' work, ensuring that the correct issues were in the packet bound to be bound. He also did the claiming for missing issues. He showed me the LARS bounding software. This software lets him print the binding order according to CSUN specifications. He includes that with the material, or he can send it directly to the bindery, so they know what they are doing. For issues that have yet to be received, before he claims them, Philip will sign in to Ebsco and check the title by ISSN, to see when/if the issue in question was published and sent out. He'll then decide to claim it or make a note in Millennium to claim at a later date. Basically, he went back and forth a lot, inputting things into Millennium, and then looking at the patron side of the OPAC to ensure the information was presented correctly, and clean it up if it wasn't. He also showed me how he checks in newly bound items, which get added to the catalog like any new item. This was similar to what Yvonne showed me, and also to what I was doing with the gift books.

So, after my session with Philip, I went back to my desk and continued to work on the missing art books, my project from Mary. I wonder how much time the bibs actually spend on these. It would also be easier to make decisions if I knew what classes were being offered. For example, Mary told me that the European Art History instructor (and my thesis advisor, Jean-Luc Bordeaux) recently retired, and they haven't hired any FTEs to replace him. Therefore, should I pass on Romanesque and Rococo art books, which are pretty expensive anyway?

I shot over to my sister's house for lunch. She lives across the street, but it took me 3 minutes to drive back to campus because of the long light and all the pedestrians. I spent some time with my niece, and borrowed a pair of shoes, since my slippers were proving difficult to walk in.

We are now up to date. I'm back from lunch, and the summer party is scheduled to start at 2:00. The party just ended, and it is 4:00. We walked in, and everyone got a raffle ticket for showing up. Then you had the choice of buying more when you were in the ice cream line. Here's how the summer ice cream party went...you stood in line to get a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream. They had tables set up with napkins, spoons, water, and toppings already laid out. The topping choices were fudge, caramel, sprinkles, nuts, whipped cream, brownie bites, and cherries. I sat with Gina and the TS gang. It was OK. They also had a sheet of beach (?) lingo. Did you know that a Queenie is the Queen Bee, or that Nectar refers to someone who looks good in a bikini? Anyway, we played beach bingo, which took forever. There was also a white elephant auction, and they had items that were to be raffled off. All you did was put your ticket in the corresponding bucket of whatever it was you oped to win (of course, you had to keep the stub). Most were gift cards, all worth $10.00 each. I had my 2 door tickets, bought 10 tickets for a total of $2.00, and was given three more by the Library Dean, who was passing them out at random. I "bid" on 2 Trader Joe's cards, and 3 iTunes cards. OMG, I won 2 of the 3 iTunes cards. Not bad. Everyone kept joking that my internship finally paid off. Overall, the party was fun, but took too long. Plus, since the tables were set up, you couldn't mingle that much.

Back to working on the missing books...

Web site of the day

2009-07-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty steady with this lately. Will wonders never cease? Here's a fun site for all you art lovers. At Warholizer, you can upload your own images and the program will morph the color and apply the silkscreen effect that made Warhol famous (for more than 15 minutes BTW). There are some Photoshop tutorials out there too, but you need more patience and a steady hand (check out my posts from Nov. 4, 2008, to see those results).

Gift Books update

2009-07-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

I recently ran my session stats for my first month, and I cataloged 318 gift books.

The modified records are for the 440/490 Series project I worked on.

Internship Log: July 14 (Day 15)

2009-07-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: I was scheduled to meet with Geneva in Serials this morning, and Paula in Acquisitions this afternoon. When I went into Geneva's cubicle, she didn't even invite me to sit down. We spoke for ten minutes or so, during which time she told me that she didn't know what Doris (Helfer, TS Chair), expected of her, since I'd already met with Yvonne, and the two did the exact same thing. Geneva asked if I had any questions from my session with Yvonne, and I did. Since most of the serials were subscriptions, and Yvonne or Geneva processed the items when they were received, I wanted to know where Marivic, the serials cataloger, came in. Writing things up now, I wish Doris had replaced Yvonne or Geneva with a session with Marivic. Oh well. So, after our ten minutes of conversation, Geneva informed me that she'd spoken to Paula, who'd asked to meet with me in the morning, instead of her scheduled time of 1:00-5:00PM. That was fine by me, and (gasp) Geneva walked me to Paula's cubicle on the cataloging side of TS.

Yes, I noted that Paula is in Acquisitions. She is the Approvals Specialist. But she's also an LAII cataloger. Basically, Paula works with two vendors, Blackwell and Yankee (GOBI). Once the budget is set and Mary applies her formula to see who gets how much money, Donna (in accounting), deposits the money into each bibliographer's vendor deposit fund. The bibliographers then select the items they want purchased and add them to their selection carts on the vendors' web sites. Paula then goes in, double checks that the items aren't already owned, and then goes through the ordering process. She checks the notes that the bibliographers write, and orders rush or circ notify items first. There is this complicated process of ordering from each fund, going back to the integrated catalog and encumbering funds, paying funds, posting and exporting records, sending them back to the vendor, getting them back, etc. Since she didn't have any money to buy something, it was hard to really get it, but I was assured that Meredith (firm orders) would have money and hopefully show me the exact process when I meet with her next Tuesday. Paula and I chatted for a while, and I returned to my cubicle to work on the list of missing books Mary had given me. FYI, Paula purchased over 8,000 books last year.

After surfing the net for a bit, I dove into my bibliographer's project. If you remember, Mary gave me a list of the missing art books and asked me to use resources like WorldCat to decide whether I, the bibliographer, would replace the missing copies, purchase other titles, or leave things alone. I already went through the Oviatt catalog and checked for multiple copies, newer editions, and comparable titles, so all I had left to do was check WorldCat for the number of holdings. WorldCat is kind of like an aggregator, and it keeps track of ALL library holdings worldwide. It's part of OCLC, so every time a library uploads an OCLC record, WorldCat is updated too. This is useful for InterLibrary Loan, and also to see which libraries in your neighborhood have the book you want. Sometimes it's faster to go there yourself, instead of wait for the ILL to get through. Now that everyone knows what we're talking about, we can get back to the missing list. There are only 116 missing art books, and I went through 90 of them today. WorldCat also shows which vendors (ie Baker & Taylor or Yankee) have the item, as well as the price. As of now, I (the bibliographer) have decided to purchase 12 books (out of 90), costing an estimated total of $350.00. Some of these are new editions. I could make a better decision if I knew what the budget was, but nothing is certain yet.

Web site of the day

2009-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here's one for travelers. Now, you can crop any good picture of yourself to use for your passport photo. Just upload it to ePassportPhoto.com and it will format your pic for you. Plus, it's set up so you get 6 pics from a 4x6 photo. Once you get the pic you like, you can save and print yourself or via your favorite developer (mine is snapfish, which is offering 50 prints for 50 pennies RIGHT NOW).

Library Awards

2009-07-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

The Oviatt Library staff has received a lot of recognition lately. Doris Helfer, the Chair of Technical Services and a Reference librarian, was honored with the CSUN Distinguished Teaching, Counseling or Librarianship Award for 2009. It was the first time the award went to a librarian. Her TS team won a Team Award for their work-flow study in Technical Services. Click here for a pic. This way, you can put some names and faces together. Aren't you all excited?

Internship Log: July 9 (Day 14)

2009-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

The CSUN campus is crazy. There are kids (OK, preteens), everywhere. It's very quiet at Oviatt though. Many of the librarians left for ALA, and won;t be back until Wednesday. I saw the chair, Ms. Helfer earlier, and wondered why she wasn't at ALA yet, but maybe she is leaving later. You'd think the chair of TS would attend, right?

9:30 AM-?: There's a question mark for the end time because I was supposed to spend the day with Delphia (Del) Williams, the Acquisitions Supervisor. Del is a recent graduate of SLIS, but has opted to stay a non-librarian in her current position. This way, she has more free time and leeway when it comes to her 2 daughters (from the pictures I saw, I can tell you all that they are adorable). I got into TS a little early to get acclimated and check email and stuff before I sent the day with Del. So, I get to her cubicle, do the equivalent of a knock, and realize Del has forgotten all about me :( She asked me to sit down, and went through her responsibilities. Del is in charge of subscriptions, both print and e. She makes sure we're invoiced, that Donna (July 28) gets the OK to pay them, and she creates catalog entries in Millennium for the e-journals, so all are aware of the holdings. She showed me one, and I noticed that she'd written the name of the vendor, in this case Ebsco, on the 245 line, and then used multiples 246's for each journal title. The catalog can also get extra info like subscription costs, procedures for dealing with the vendor, etc. All of this is important stuff that helps make subsequent decisions, and will also make sure policy remains constant, even if staff doesn't (provided they are good notes). Del is also the contact person for vendors. This means that if a title ceases print publication, is now only carried by only one aggregator, or undergoes a major price shift or title change, Del is the one who is told. She will then pass the info to whoever it affects, usually the bibliographer.

Del and I also discussed the current job market, the SLIS e-portfolio, and the advantages and disadvantages of professional conferences and networking (YES if you're an academic librarian). She mentioned that she did attend some of the more hands on workshops, and confirmed my notion that most MA programs were theoretical and didn't prepare you for real world work. In the course of this internship, I realized that my SLIS classes didn't prepare me for the job as much as my Library Tech Certificate did. Everyone wants you to show them the paper though, and come December, I should have mine in hand.

Del is also in charge of monographs that require mending or binding. Circ usually brings up a couple a day. I also ran a couple of gift books by her during my run. These were usually duplicate copies in worse condition than the ones the library already owned, and she had to decide if paying for them to be mended was worth it. Regarding her current bunch of to-be mended books, she explained that the bindery budget was at $0, so the books would have to wait, and that periodicals and journals had first dibs anyway. It sucked, since the books came up from Circ, meaning that people had tried to check out, or were returning the books.

Our session lasted until 10:00. Del even mentioned at the beginning that she didn't think she'd keep me long and didn't know what Doris (the TS chair) expected from her. She could have asked, but it wasn't too big a deal, since I still had the list of missing books from Mary.

10:00 AM-5:00 PM: I spent the rest of the day going over the missing books list. Mary said I should approach it as an art bibliographer (she gave me the art books), and decide which books should be replaced, upgraded, etc. What I'm doing now is checking the catalog to see if there are dupes, and also what the other holdings are by shelve browsing (by catalog number). I'll probably donate my artist catalogs to the library. (I'm not using them, nor did I pay for them ;)

Internship Log: July 7 (Day 13)

2009-07-07T13:05:00.001-07:00

9:30 AM-12:05 PM: This morning, I was scheduled to do cataloging until lunch and meet with Mary Woodley, the Collection Development Coordinator, after. This is because Mary usually doesn't get in until 11:00 or 12:00. Luckily for me, there was a cataloger's meeting this morning, and Gina had left me a note asking me to attend. She'd also left some books for me to catalog until then. The books were fairly straightforward, except for an algebra textbook that was a custom publication for a CSUN math class. Obviously, there wasn't an OCLC record, but I was able to write an original one, although I haven't uploaded it to OCLC, since Gina would have to OK it. While I was doing that, I also figured I'd try my hand at the other 2 books that lacked good records. That leaves one item for me to figure out.

The meeting was pretty interesting. Milton and Gina talked about the workshops they attended. Milton's was for Spanish language cataloging, and the thing he left there with was the fact that you don't have to know a language to catalog an item written in it. You just need a working knowledge of common cataloging terms and good resources like babelfish (anyone read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?). Gina discussed the AACR2 440/490 series rule change, and also went over RDA procedures from her workshop. Helen then segued into the in-house procedures for series, and asked for suggestions as to how to revise the policy. Then she moved to the rush policy, and discussed new procedural options. This was a lively discussion and it seemed like everyone had an opinion. Luckily, the opinions weren't too varied, so a consensus could be reached. I went to lunch after the meeting, and returned a little before 1:00 to prepare for my meeting with Mary.

12:50 PM-5:00 PM: Mary caught me at my desk and informed me that she'd kind of forgotten our meeting, and hadn't grabbed her sandwich. I told her to take her time, and then ran into her in the restroom. I returned to me desk and listened to Colleen and Donna's conversation regarding Donna's upcoming vacation to Cancun. Colleen was giving her these cute tips about not filling her in-room jacuzzi with hot water, and what kind of shoes to wear on the beach, or how to deal with the sudden rains. It was nice, and reminded me of my trip to Playa del Carmen, which is 20 miles or so from Cancun. When Mary came back, she asked for 5 minutes, because she hadn't filled out her travel papers and the deadline for reimbursement was today, so she needed to get them done.

Sidebar: I saw a kid wearing a Spongebob t-shirt on the ferry to Cozumel. It read "Bob esponja, de pantalones esqueras." It still makes me giggle.

OMG, Mary is such a sweetie. She is the Art bibliographer as well as the Collection Development Coordinator, and we have a lot in common. The meeting was very easy going, and we chatted like old friends. Since I got my MA from CSUN, she knows all my old professors. Plus, she used to work at the Getty Research Institute (GRI), where I spent a lot of time writing my MA thesis. I was also part of the first class of docents when the Getty Center reopened on the hill, so we both had insider info. I must admit though that I was shocked to learn that the GRI abandoned the BHA.

Anyway, Mary walked me through bibliographer responsibilities, selection aides, purchasing procedures, and the allocation of funds. She demonstrated one of her processes for selecting books through a vendor, and the difference between adding an item to the CSUN Oviatt purchase queue and the shopping cart/wish list. She also told me the procedures for evaluating the existing collection, and that the most important factor was user or circ statistics. The Oviatt collection supports the curriculum and faculty research. Therefore, it must be user driven. I also learned that not all allocation formulas work the same, and that Mary uses a simple one that only utilizes circ stats that are grouped by discipline, and the number of students registered in each department that coincides with that particular discipline. This patron driven plan is also the reason why the library decided to go with MyiLibrary for e-books (see past posts for more info). This way, she can get a better idea of what patrons want, and also judge how ILL is impacted. Finally, Mary showed me her missing/lost spreadsheet, which consists of over 2000 items. She broke them down by discipline, and since we are both art historians, my job will be to go over the art books (or the N's for LCers), and check various databases and resources to decide whether I, the bibliographer, would replace them with new copies. It's a judgment call, based on replacement costs, availability, currency, price, circ stats prior to it going missing, and what other libraries carry the title. I have an hour to work on it today (until it's time to go), and a couple of weeks to get it done, since Mary is leaving for ALA on Thursday, and we're not scheduled to meet again until July 23rd. Plus, I can always work on it from home if I get into a time crunch.

Internship Log: July 2 (Day 12)

2009-07-02T12:59:00.001-07:00

9:30 AM-12:00 PM: No cataloging today. I met with Allan Gilbert, the Database Maintenance Specialist. Allan actually wears many hats. He's in charge of Authority Control and replacement books. Basically, he decides if an item is so damaged that it must be replaced by a new copy. He's also the one you call when you find a damaged item, or if an item has somehow made it to the shelves but skipped some of the processing steps. For example, he showed me a book Circ sent to him that was missing a barcode. In his spare time, Allan also does copy cataloging.

Allan ran me through his responsibilities. He has to keep the catalog up to date with the authority records, so that the users will see everything possible when they run a search. He cleans up bad records, and ensures that Authority records and 4XX fields match. Those who have taken LIBR 248 will remember that this will then show the user the "See" and "See Also" references. He updates bib headings, and his reports help him see the cracks, such as records with a new heading that isn't in the system. This would generally happen if a book that is added is written by a first-time author, or an author who's making his/her first appearance in the catalog. Allan has to search for the name, as author and as subject, in the catalog first, and then check OCLC for the right record. He also checks the catalog for invalid headings, blind references (usually when the item is deleted but the record still exists), duplicate ARs, multiple 4XXs, and near matches (according to Allan, these are a pain in the butt;).

1:00 PM-3:00 PM: I'm about to meet with Yvonne, who is in charge of Serials. She shares the duties with Geneva, with whom I will meet on July 14th, although I'm not sure if she will have anything new to show me. I'm actually surprised that there is enough work for both of them, considering they don't deal with Periodicals. That is Philip's job, and I will be spending all day July 16th with him. OK, so not all of July 16th, since that's the day of the Oviatt Library Ice Cream Beach Party, from 2:00-3:00 PM. It's the summer staff party, and there will be door pries, games, raffles, and lots of ice cream. Did I mention that everyone got a personalized invite rolled up in a plastic bottle. (They made such a big deal but it was obvious as to the ultimate use. Think of something original people.) The committee sent out a listserv message asking everyone to bring in plastic bottles (220 to be exact). Sorry, I got off track; back to Serials and Yvonne.

There weren't many items on the shelves to check in, so Yvonne walked me through her process. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything for me to really do, but it was OK. The process was similar enough to what I've been doing with the gift books, at least when I add a duplicate copy. The only difference was that Yvonne first has to check the serial in, to make sure they are getting what they paid for. The staff had created automated check-in cards that have the issue date, expected reception date, volume number, etc. This way, they also know when something is late, or hasn't been received, and make the appropriate claim to the vendor or publisher. She also showed me how that was done, and stressed the importance of keeping a paper (email) trail. Some of the items went straight to the Ref stacks, and one thing that was really interesting was the fact that all the item records had notes that stipulated how long the earlier issues were to be retained. For example, one serial was issued every 3 years. When the new one arrives, the old one gets placed in the circulating stacks, replacing the now 6 year old version in the stacks. For the particular title (a statistics book) she showed me, the 6 year old one would get sent to a professor in the math dept. That was a deal they'd made, and was no big deal, since the library wouldn't retain the old one.

Compared to books, serials have a slight processing difference as well. Loose issues get a date stamp on the inside, and Yvonne prints the call number on a label she affixes to the top left corner of the serial. Stand alone serials that will not be rebound into a larger volume go through the same cataloging process as books, but since they contain timely information, are rushed through processing. They are also sent to the Reference Room, and not the stacks. Yvonne showed me where the rush stuff was placed for processing, and gave me a good overview of her responsibilities. I was supposed to spend the rest of the day with her, but we finished sooner than I expected. We chatted at her desk for a while, relating horror stories about the thesis process: one of my thesis committee members died right before signing off on mine, and her husband's thesis chair started going senile his final year. As I went back to my cubicle, I tried to think of ways to occupy the last two hours of my day, when I remembered I still had a few hundred series records to double-check. You all remember my 440/830 project from Helen?

3:00 PM-5:00 PM: I spent the rest of the day double (sometimes triple)-checking my work.

Photo by Allan Gilbert

Sidebar: They removed that huge beehive this morning. As I walked to the arbor for lunch, I noticed a lot of bees milling around. At least with the hive, they were all in one place, instead of everywhere. It was kind of sad too. I guess they sprayed the hive and the surrounding area with something, because there were bee carcasses all over the floor. Some of the poor things were still hanging on, flat on their backs, their wings fluttering helplessly. Oh, but guess this. I checked my internal email when I returned from lunch, and Meredith, the Order & Receiving Specialist (scheduled for July 21) had sent an email informing us that the bees had already started to rebuild the demolished hive.

Photos by Meredith K. Lyon

Web site of the day

2009-07-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Or of the week, month, year. Depends on how often I post them. If you're bored or looking for a new word with which to impress someone, check out verbotomy.com. It's a create-a-word website that provides you with a definition. All you have to do is come up with the word, its etymology, and use it in a sentence. Users then vote on the best word.

More Random Thoughts...

2009-07-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else suffering from family and wedding overload? Since the last week of May, I've already been to 3 weddings, 1 engagement, and 2 Christenings. I get to look forward to a baby shower this weekend. Who has a baby shower on 4th of July weekend? Anyway, after that, the birthday parties start, which are for the kids and lots of fun. Once the last birthday cake of the year is eaten, we roll right into Thanksgiving and the holidays, finally getting a break in Jan/Feb. Then the birthday season gets rolling again in March. Seriously, my cousins need to stop procreating or I'm going to go broke very quickly. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't invited to the shindigs, but the kids love me.

Internship Log: June 30 (Day 11)

2009-06-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: The library is preparing to shift material from the stacks to the ASRS (storage) and vice-versa. On my way up to the 4th floor, I noticed some signs posted on the 3rd floor, and was curious enough to go in. Signs noted that a special project was taking place and there may be noise. Student workers armed with clipboards, rulers, and pencils, were measuring all the shelves. I guess they were determining how much available space there was per subject area, or something like that. All I know is that it did not look like fun, and every time I went to the 3rd floor stacks to check on the condition of an item, one of the student workers was shifting the books from the shelf I needed to consult. It sucked.

Today is the end of the month, obviously, which means it's the last day to get credit for the gift books. When I came in this morning, my truck was FILLED with gift books. Each shelf was double-wide, and I got straight to work. Charles, the intern from UCLA, had started on Monday, and the dear lad had neglected to shut down the computer we will be sharing. Since we have to log in with our usernames, a new user can be locked out. It must have gone to sleep, and allowed me to log on, but I did leave Charles a note reminding him to shut down. I was nice, don't worry. I also told him he could help himself to the candy and gum I keep in the drawer, and the hand sanitizer I have on the desk. Books are dirty.

By lunch time, I had only done 25 books. I'm getting pretty familiar with the donors though. I googled a couple of names, and they were professors/emerita of CSUN. Don't think this means they donated old, very used stuff. A lot of the books were in excellent condition, and many were new. If anyone is wondering, Java books begin with the LC call number QA76. I can't tell you how many I cataloged. The bibliographer for that topic is the Chair of TS, and she must have gotten behind due to her vacation and conference, so they'd piled up. I also did a lot of health and nutrition. I finished my truck by 4:30 PM. I was proud of myself, since I had managed to find a lot of obscure records, and only put aside 2 items that I couldn't catalog. One was a Home Economics Career Guide published by the CA Dept. of Education, and another was an advanced, pre-pub copy of a Computer Science book. I'm thinking this one will go to the book sale, since a duplicate, post-pub copy was also donated. That eaves one final item on my truck, a book that Gina is going to help me original catalog when we get together later this month.

Internship Log: June 25 (Day 10)

2009-06-17T22:01:00.002-07:00

Okay, I got a late start this morning. I slept in a little, and then the weather turned out colder than expected, so I was forced to rethink my outfit. No flip flops today. Then, as I was backing out of the garage, I opened my rear view mirrors too early, and banged into one of the columns so hard, the shell popped off. I've hit it there before, but apparently not that hard. I was able to put the shell back, but did sustain some scratches on the black plastic part that holds the mirror. This time, it won't be too easy to buff it out. Anyway, everything works fine, and the mirrors still go in and out when I press the handy little button on the door. I'm not too worried about the "damage." I've barely been driving my car since I started the online program, and have barely gotten to 10,000 miles. I'm turning it in this December, so considering the minimal mileage and the pristine condition (and the fact that no one is buying new cars), BMW better give me a really nice deal on my next automobile, although I like my current car so much, I might just get the same one in a different color. Currently, I drive a Titanium Silver coupe, which is a good color for me because the car doesn't look too dirty. This is important since I do my part to save the planet by getting it washed once a year.

9:35 AM-5:00 PM: Not counting the number of steps I take in the parking lot, going from my car to the main path, it takes 432 steps to reach the library doors. During my daily promenade at lunch, I'm going to count the number of steps from the faculty lot near the Engineering building. If it's about the same, guess where I'm parking from now on. It will cut my drive by two minutes or so as well, since I can enter campus from a side street. Every little bit helps.

They are filming a Bank of America commercial this week. The quad was full of people and trucks, and according to one of our listservs, they will also be filming on the second floor of the library. My favorite part is the fact that a librarian is "stationed with them to be on hand as the library liaison to keep things running smoothly and help any patron needing materials from this area." I took some pics with my phone, but will wait until I get home to upload them since I don't want to email them to myself and get charged, especially when I can data transfer. OK, here are the pics, taken from inside the library ...

Helen had replied to my email regarding the Series records that had duplicate or multiple 830's, and basically reaffirmed my thoughts. It's good to know I'm still on the right track. I may be a cataloger after all. She also forwarded a couple of emails about new MARC rules and also the status of RDA. I cleaned up all the records, and am awaiting my next assignment. As of now, cataloging only has me for a couple of more days, so I'm not sure if I'd get a big project. I also overheard my site supervisor speaking to some of the Acquisition Staff regarding the rest of my schedule. I wasn't eavesdropping...their cubicles are right behind mine. From what I understood, the head of Acquisitions switched her vacation around, so she can't meet with me on the original days scheduled. I'm also wondering if I'll get any hands on experience in this sector. I'm going to be bouncing back and forth between all the different sections, and it seems like I'd basically be watching them do their jobs, and maybe ask a question now and then. My schedule is tentative, so I'm pondering asking to stay within the confines of the cataloging department. It's the Chair's first few days back from her vacation and SLA, so I'll give her a chance to get caught up first. It's time for lunch anyway. (OMG, all the European and Latin staff members were huddled around the TV in the library lobby watching soccer, ur, oops, sorry, futbol.)

Back from lunch...There are exactly 432 steps from the engineering parking lot to the library as well. WEIRD. I also counted the number of inside the parking lot steps, starting from where I'd be most likely to get a spot, which is 170 steps, bringing the total to 602 steps. But, if I park in that same lot and use a different walking route, that's 550 steps to the library and 35 or so steps within the parking lot, for a total of 585 steps. Now, it all depends on the number of steps I take inside the parking lot where I currently park. Any bets? The answer is 75-100, depending on where I park, for a total of 507-532 steps. So, it seems like I've been parking in the right place after all.

Hee, I didn't check my internal email as soon as I returned, so I missed an opportunity to sit in on a serials webanaire. I'd asked what they wanted me to do next, and Gina had left a note at my desk, and more gift books, so I didn't bother checking mail, and I missed the invite to sit in on the meeting, which is already halfway over. I got back from lunch at 1:15 and checked my mail at 1:30. The thing was from 1:00 to 2:00 PM.

For the rest of the day, I get to catalog and add more gift books. Then I will go over the Series records one last time to make sure nothing was missed or overlooked. If I have time left today, I will look at all the TS Cataloging Policies and Procedures posted on the CSUN Intranet and flag any that have outdated rules, or that are now irrelevant.

Internship Log: June 23 (Day 9)

2009-06-17T22:01:00.001-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: I forgot to mention something that deals with management, or LIB 204 for the SLISers. With Ms. Helfer, the TS department chair, gone for SLA (plus vacation before/after), we have acting chairs. Since she'll be gone for two and a half weeks, Ms. Helfer appointed Mary Woodley, Collection Development Coordinator, for week 1, and Helen Heinrich, Cataloging Coordinator, for Week 2. Kimberly, a newly tenured librarian at TS, gets the half week. I think that was a great way to spread the management around.

The buzz all day has revolved around a couple of beehives that have been spotted outside the library. They are on the outside ceilings, and can be seen from the wing windows. There's actually one on either wing, and people keep popping in to get a look at ours, which isn't even that big. Here a picture courtesy of Meredith Lyon, the Order/Receiving Specialist.

On to more important matters. Until bibliographers OK more gift books, cataloging at my end is at a standstill. Instead, I focused on cleaning up the Series 490/830 records. I did almost a thousand today and I am still patting myself on the back for having the foresight to put eye drops in the small cosmetic pouch I leave at my desk. My eyes are killing me. I don't know what kind of program they used to convert the 440's to 490's, but I found 33 records that had rogue 440's, so I'm waiting to find out what they want me to do with those. I already prepared and emailed report for Gina and Helen, with a list of records with the 440, and also some with MULTIPLE 830's. I bet they're going to be sorry to miss this busy little bee (couldn't help it). Cataloging only has me for 2 more days, since I move to Collection Development in July (I think).

Sidebar: I just went over all the emails from the various CSUN listservs, and there was one from the Provost discussing the CA budget cuts. CSU is facing a $683 million permanent cut, which, percentage wise, is 13%. In her budget notes, MS. Helfer mentioned the total cut would be 23%, so that still leaves a 10% decline due to lack of donations or reduced enrollment (I'm guessing).

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the internal listserv system in detail. There are listservs for every department, team, and committee. The summer party committee keeps sending messages asking for clean, clear water bottles. They're probably going to use them to send out invites or something. It can be overwhelming at times, with people sending announcements for everything from changing the water in the break room to asking for a ride, or forwarding a professional newsletter or interesting bit of info.

My immediate supervisor Gina just forwarded an interesting piece of information regarding the availability of OCLC's Cataloging Service Bulletin, from the LC's Cataloging Distribution Service. Issues from as far back as 1978 are now available as free pdf's.

Internship Log: June 18 (Day 8)

2009-06-17T21:32:00.002-07:00

9:30 PM-5:00 PM: I split my day between cataloging the books left on my truck from Tuesday and cleaning up the series MARC records. I finished the books by 10:30, and since I hadn't seen Gina, I emailed her to find out how she wanted me to spend my day. The OL has multiple internal listservs that are packed with information. You have to check your email multiple a times a day to make sure you don't miss out on anything, so I knew email would be a good mode of communication. I'd emailed Gina a suggested course of action, and she agreed with it. Basically, I was going to work on the serial records until lunch, and then we would get together to go over the books I had questions about. I actually got through over 200 records before Gina came over with more gift books. There weren't as many as usual, and when I commented on it, Gina said that with my help, they had cataloged more gift books than they'd anticipated, and the student workers were behind in sorting them and sending them to the bibliographers for their OK. This made me feel good. I was exceeding their expectations. Once again, my questions were about finding the perfect record. I also had a couple of books whose call numbers needed to be tweaked, and Gina gave me the OK to Cutter them as I saw fit. She had some good suggestions, and when I showed her the book I'd come across that lacked any useful record, she told me to put it aside. She promised to show me how to create a new/original OCLC record for the book. Can't wait for that. With less gift books to deal with, I ended up fixing 500 series records. It went by pretty quickly since many of them were the same title and I didn't have to do a lot of reading. It was mostly a fishing exercise. Staring at the computer screen for too long did result in a headache though. I need to remember to take some breaks and rest my eyes.

Sidebar: One of the bibliographers sent an fyi email regarding apps and the iPhone. Universities and libraries are doing some interesting things. UC San Diego has an iPhone app, and the The University of North Texas and the Learning Technologies Department is supposed to be teaching an iPhone applications course. Duke University has launched DukeMobile 1.1, which will allow their Libraries to format the university digital image collection for an iPhone or iTouch (read the Press Release here).

Internship Log: June 16 (Day 7)

2009-06-17T21:32:00.001-07:00

This is where the student workers sit and process the material that is cataloged. I get to listen to their conversations all day long. Is it really eavesdropping when they are working in the open and know that people can hear them? Whenever I get bored, I try to place their accents. They are all international students and all they talk about in the morning is what they are going to eat for lunch. After lunch, they go over what they ate and compare the foods of different cultures.

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: Today went by pretty much the same way as day 6. Once again, I came in to find my truck replenished. I spent the day searching Millennium, editing, uploading and exporting OCLC records, and preparing the books for processing. I'm finally getting the hang of the barcode scanner/reader and no longer have to wave the barcode all over the place before it's read. The highlight of my day was when I came across a book that was marked up, and after deliberation with Gina, we decided to send it to the Friends of the Library, who would sell it. It was too damaged to be included in the OL collection. I also came across a couple of donated titles that the library already owned, but had been circulated over 200 times each. Needing to stretch my legs anyway, I went into the stacks to check the conditions of the two books. Unfortunately, one of the copies was in the Music room on the 2nd floor, and without a library card, I couldn't check it out. The copy was really worn, with a lot of water damage. I made a note of its condition, and took the other book back to TS, and gave them to Allan, who would make the final decision as to whether or not the donated books would replace the damaged one, or if both copies would be placed on the shelves.

I then went back to my desk and continued cataloging and adding books until Helen and Gina came by. They had a new project for me. I was to clean up the library's series MARC records. With the change from the 440 field to the 490/830 fields, the OL catalog's indexing underwent multiple changes. Additionally, the 490 field was going to e indexed only if it had a 0 indicator, so extra info went into 490's with a 1 indicator, which wasn't indexed. Now, the 490 with indicator 1 is going to be indexed. Also, if I understood correctly, the 490 indicator 0 will no longer be indexed, so catalogers will be using this field to input info that will be accessed in-house only. Since the rules say that a 490 indicator 1 is only used when traceable (accompanied by 830), the records need to be changed so that everything is recorded by the book. Most of the change was done automatically, but close to 1,500 records slipped by. My new responsibility was to go through these records and determine which of the 490 indicator 1's matched the 830. The other 490 would then get the indicator 0. At first I was excited that I'd get to search OCLC authority records, but Helen told me that I didn't need to do that. All she wanted was for me to use my judgment. Right now, it was important that each record have one 490 0 and one 490 1. Another computer program would later make sure that everything was right. This seemed like extra work, especially since it wouldn't be too hard to do the authority check, but I'm sure Helen knows what she's doing.

I worked on close to 50 of the MARC records, but focused on finishing the books on my truck until it was time to go.

Internship Log: June 11 (Day 6)

2009-06-17T21:31:00.002-07:00

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: Not much to tell about today. I came into my cubicle to find my truck almost overflowing with books. I booted up my computer and prepared for a day of cataloging. I quickly realized that Gina had put in some tougher books. There were a couple of titles that had very bare bones OCLC records and I had to figure out which to use, and I would second-guess myself because the one I liked wasn't as "widely" held as another one, so I made note of the record numbers and put them aside to ask Gina. I went through the majority of the easy ones before Gina stopped by, and we went over the tough ones. I was surprised that Gina agreed with my record choices, and gave me some leeway in adding and editing them. The day went by quickly enough. I didn't finish all the books in my truck, but I certainly made a huge dent, and I also gained a lot of confidence in my cataloging ability, especially after I found a couple of errors in DLC MARC records and Gina showed me how to send error reports to OCLC. (The current AACR2 cataloging rules state that you should transcribe title and author name exactly as it appears on the title page. This is for the 245 field, so any spelling errors on the t.p. must be transcribed as is. Corrections can be made in the authority fields 7XX, added fields 6XX, and notes area 5XX. I found misspelled author/editor last names on the 245 fields of 2 records, and after checking the t.p., verified that it was a transcription error from the side of the cataloger, and not the publisher.)

Internship Log: June 9 (Day 5)

2009-06-17T21:31:00.001-07:00

My view... I see everyone come and go.

9:30 AM -11:00 AM: Gina met me at my cubicle a few minutes after I walked in. Her daughter had a wardrobe malfunction at school and Gina was running home to help. Since she barely had time to take care of things and get back in time for our Catalog meeting, she let me do some cataloging on my own until we could get together later. I had a good grip on the procedures, so I was fine. I'm an intern after all, and no one expects me to be perfect, so I could put the tough cases to the side and ask for help later.

11:00 AM-12:00 PM: I was invited to sit in on the catalog meeting called by Helen, the Team Leader/Cataloging Coordinator. Helen discussed how the changes to FRBR's terminology would impact cataloging processes, especially in light of the anticipated move to RDA (versus AACR2). RDA will be based on the definitions created by FRBR. Basically, the main issue is that instead of the current use of "entity," FRBR has a hierarchical series of terms...We focused on "entities." Right now, in terms of Group 1, catalogers use everything from "item," "book," "edition," "work," "publication," etc., to refer to an entity. The entity is made up of

work: an idea or story. The distinct intellectual or artistic creation
expression: a publication, film, translation. The intellectual realization of a work.
manifestation: a particular edition. The physical embodiment of an expression.
item: the item in hand. A single example of a manifestation.

The definitions are a bit confusing and take some getting used to, but ideally, it will make things clearer in the long run. This also brought up a discussion of how the OL catalog would reflect the new RDA rules and what was going to be done with the existing records created with AACR2 rules. Helen merely stated that they'd cross that bridge when they got to it, and the main thing to keep in mind from the day's meeting was that the catalogers should be prepared for changes. As I mentioned in other posts, Helen's main responsibility is to make sure the user finds whatever s/he needs. She stressed that FRBR facilitates user discovery, since it groups together all items by title, which is usually how the user searches. Users don't care about edition or publication date. They just want to know if the library holds a particular title. That's where FRBR's new definitions come in. All items are consolidated under a uniform title: there's a master record and all manifestations (or items/copies owned). A interesting tool she recommended we explore in order to get an idea of how this collocation works, was OCLC's fiction finder (search for any title you can think of), which is a pilot project that is FRBRizing records to show how this change would be reflected in the OPAC, which is what the patron will use. There's also a useful word cloud with popular subject tags, and you may end up spending much more time on the site than you'd originally intended. (Remember, you can make your own word clouds @ wordle.net.)

The next item on the agenda dealt with something more pressing: the MARC rules regarding fields 440 and 490, for series. 440 is no longer used, as has been replaced by 490, with an 830 if traceable. In the past, OL catalogers used to put a lot of junky info in the 440. It was for their use and wouldn't be indexed. With 440 becoming obsolete, they moved all that info to a 490 field, with a first indicator 1, since the system didn't index these. A 490 with an indicator 1 means it's traceable, so only the 830 and the 490 with indicator 0 would be indexed. Much of the change could be automated, but catalogers needed to be aware of the change and still had to deal with Authority records, which determine what goes into the 830 field. Helen restated that this wouldn't be too difficult to keep track of, especially with the e-journals, since their independent contractor, Serial Solutions, was in charge of updating and maintaining those MARC records. Additionally, OL outsourced permanent authority control to MARCive. It was all actually more interesting than it reads in print, especially if you are doing the cataloging.

The meeting went a little longer than anticipated, but we soon adjourned and almost everyone went to lunch afterwards.

12:45 PM-5:00 PM: I went back to cataloging the books on my truck. Gina came by around 2:30, and I showed her some of the books I'd already cataloged. I also pulled out the items that had confused me. I had them all separated by type of question, so the session went by pretty quickly. My questions weren't too complicated, just procedural things like "If I find a good OCLC record that lacks info like the 300 field, should I add it myself before uploading or do I have to pass it to another cataloger?" Another question that kept coming up had to do with call number. The OL is an LC library, and some of the records I was finding didn't have the 050 field, which contains the LC call number. Gina pointed out that the coop records sometimes put the call number in the 090 field, and in that instance, it was good form to copy the number into Millennium and make sure it fit with the OL's current numbers and didn't overlap with something already held. She also said I could dig around in other, older records, for call numbers and paste them into the record. All I'd need to do was change the date. This was all I needed to know, and by the end of the day, I'd cataloged everything on my truck and deposited it on the "to be processed" truck.

Internship Log: June 4 (Day 4)

2009-06-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

9:30 AM-10:30 AM: My day started with a Technical Services meeting. The meeting was more casual than the Reference meeting last week. Since it was a department wide meeting, the only place large enough to hold it was in the main aisle, around the long mail table. It was kind of funny actually, because everyone had to walk over with their chairs. We didn't have a written agenda, and the chair, Ms. Helfer, started the meeting by communicating various things to her staff. She went over a recent meeting she and other chairs had with human resources. The main topic at this meeting was the staff assessment and performance guidelines and explanations. HR revamped the various definitions, and Ms. Helfer went over the main sections that pertained to TS. For example, the dress code section outlined proper dress as slacks or a skirt with a nice shirt. Since TS works often with dusty books, and does not co mingle much with the public, this dress code is not always applicable. Everyone usually comes in wearing jeans. While discussing the annual reviews, Ms. Helfer also suggested that reviewers meet with staff during the year to set goals and discuss pluses and minuses prior to the review, so that the staff member will have room for improvement.

The next item on the agenda was the budget. As chair, Ms. Helfer wanted to reassure everyone that the CSU's weren't in as bad financial shape as the UC's. She said that CSUN would be thwarting the budget crisis by reducing enrollment and classes. Although this would result in less revenue from tuition, it would also mean that the campus would require fewer lecturers and resources. She discussed how the OL was in OK shape due to "creative fiscal management." However, she did urge her librarians to look closely at all resources, databases, and services to ensure that they (and the users) actually needed them. For example, in some instances, the OL has both the print and electronic versions of particulars journals. Because users and instructors favor the electronic version, she urged Collections Development to switch to electronic only, provided the database is stable. According to Mary Woodley, the Collection Development Coordinator, this will not only save money in the long run, but it will also help the library get better usage statistics. It's also hard to maintain two formats, so print is getting dropped unless it is in an aggregated, unstable database. Mary also brought up a new resource called MyiLibrary, which allows library users access to LOTS of e-books. The OL banks funds with the company, and when its users access (and check out) an item twice, it is automatically purchased and uploaded to the catalog. (MyiLibrary is an experiment.)

10:30 AM-5:00 PM: After the meeting, I caught up with Gina. She told me to continue cross-checking my books with the catalog, and that she'd stop by after lunch to see how things were going. For the next hour and a half, I sat at my desk and filled out the ADD/Donor slips and watched my piles get bigger.

Gina met up with my at my cubicle. She asked about my progress, and after going over my piles, we decided to work on the books that were new and lacked bib records. I showed her the OCLC records I had saved. Most were pretty straight-forward, and Gina appeared happy with my work and progress. I was given the OK to proceed on my own, and no longer needed to wait for Gina to upload OCLC records. If I encountered anything that I had a question with, we decided I would put it aside and bring it to her attention at our daily pow-wows. Gina had a short day because she runs her daughter's carpool on Thursdays, so she showed me where to place the cataloged books, and left me to my work. By the end of the day, I had cataloged more than 90% of my truck, and was feeling pretty good.

We put the cataloged books here to await processing.

Internship Log: June 2 (Day 3)

2009-06-17T21:29:00.002-07:00

My first day of "real" work at my library internship. I was supposed to start by cataloging the gift books. The library gets a lot of donated items, and these need to be cataloged and processed in a timely manner. Since the library is a college of the university, it has annual fund-raising responsibilities that must be met. Gift books come in here. For every gift book accepted and placed on the shelf, the OL receives a specific amount of fund-raising points, and items with a donor name attached get more points. In 2007-2008, the total number of Gift books donated was 16,248, but I have no idea how many points that added to. I know I won't have to catalog that many, but with June 30th marking the end of the OL's fiscal year, I do need to get cracking.

According to my schedule, I was spending the day with Gina, the Cataloging and Database Maintenance Supervisor. Due to her own hectic schedule and responsibilities, I didn't have a chance to meet Gina during the course of my first week, but I knew where her cubicle was, so once I got myself situated at my desk, I sought her out to let her know I was in and ready to get down to business. Luckily, I found Gina at her desk and introduced myself. She was really nice, and told me she'd meet me back at my desk in 20 or so minutes. She had some emails to catch up on. Fine by me.

Gina finally came by with a truck filled with books, and we parked it in my cubicle.

This is my truck. It holds the gift books I should be cataloging, and I plug away at the Sisyphusian feat. It seems like every time I leave my desk to take the books to processing, my truck gets magically refilled.

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: Gina and I discussed the OL's procedures for adaptive or copy cataloging. She explained that this is an expedient way of making items available to users. She gave me a sheet of paper that contained all my passwords, and I opened OCLC Client and the OL's Millennium Integrated Catalog, to start my training. Gina pulled out a couple of books and walked me through the gift book cataloging process.

When a book is received, it gets a slip that includes the donor name, and various sections for notes. The student workers are supposed to check the catalog to see if the OL already owns the item, if it's a duplicate copy, or if it's a different edition or volume. If a title is already in the system, then notes are made regarding the number of copies and how many times each particular one has circulated. All of this is passed on to the various bibliographers, who decide if the gift should be accepted, or should be sent to the Friends to be included in a book sale. Then the items are resorted and either cataloged and processed or sold. All the books on my truck were "ADD"s, but to familiarize myself with the different programs and the process as a whole, Gina figured it would be better if I did the initial checking too. After all, if a book was a duplicate copy, the cataloging process was different than if it was a new edition or totally new book. Gina showed me how to search in Millennium by title. Although the interface looks different from the OPAC that patrons see, it wasn't too difficult to figure out and navigate. We went through the books and sorted them into duplicate and new copy piles. Once that was done, Gina showed me how to add the duplicate copies to the system, attach barcodes, assign call numbers, and give the record a gift designation. It was pretty straight-forward. We even went out into the stacks, to check the condition of a couple of books that had been circulated over 120 times each. Since we now had additional copies of the same item, we wanted to check whether the old ones needed to be replaced. One book was in fair condition, but the second was beyond repair. Gina pulled it off the shelf, and when we returned to TS, she and I took the old and new copies over to Allan, who's in charge of making the add/replace decision. Allan showed me how to delete the barcode for the damaged item and insert a new barcode which would be attached to the new book. By switching books but retaining the original record, Allan explained that the circulation records would be salvaged. Makes sense. It was now time for lunch, and as we left Allan's cubicle, Gina showed me all the trucks that contained gift books awaiting cataloging.

Here are a few of the trucks containing books waiting to be cataloged. The slips of white paper peeking from their tops are the Add/Donor slips that bibliographers sign off on.

After lunch, Gina met me back at my cubicle and we started searching OCLC for the bibliographic records of items that weren't already in the OL catalog. After searching by ISBN, Gina showed me how to choose the best record. Among other things, I needed to look at the number of holdings, and make sure the 245, 250, and 300 fields matched. The best records were the ones with DLC symbols in the 040 field, although lccopycat or pcc in 042 was acceptable too. Gina watched as I matched records, and she made sure they were the right ones before showing me how to add a 948 field with my initials, upload the record to show that the OL now held it, and then export it to Millennium so I could finish adding the book. She then showed me how to find the exported record in Millennium and add the item to the catalog. Once I got the hang of it, she showed me how to create a macro in OCLC Client so that I wouldn't have to manually input the 948 field every time. Since I learned the process pretty quickly, Gina brought me truck full of books. My assignment for the rest of the day was to search for the titles in Millennium and separate the books by duplicate title, different edition or volume, and new. I also went through OCLC and saved records for new items, but didn't upload or export anything when Gina wasn't with me. I was actually having fun and the hours flew by. I was glad I picked everything up quickly and was pleased that my cataloging class had provided my with the appropriate skills and knowledge.

Internship Log: May 28 (Day 2)

2009-06-17T21:29:00.001-07:00

I am not a morning person. I'm lucky a 3 credit internship only entails 135 hours. I actually considered breaking it up into multiple afternoon sessions, but then I'd end up spending all my time figuring out what to wear every day. Thankfully, I live 5 miles from CSUN, and Ms. Helfer was able to get me a primo parking pass that lets me park anywhere on campus. So, counting the drive, the time spent parking and walking to the library, my commute is 15-20 minutes. An added plus is the fact that my sister lives across the street from the main campus entrance, and I can walk to her house for lunch and play with my 9-month old niece.

9:00 AM-10:00 AM: Today started earlier than I'd like. I was scheduled to meet with Sue Curzon, the Dean of the OL. Due to her schedule, she could only free up an hour for me, so I had to take it. The Dean's office is in the Administration (West) Wing on the third floor. Going into the meeting, I figured the Dean would start a discussion like Ms. Helfer had done. I'd written down a few questions in case the conversation lagged. Was I glad I had those questions. Why? After pleasantries, the Dean invited me to sit at a table, where she joined me and then asked me what I was interested in learning. The first thing that went through my mind was "Crap!" I think I mentioned that I had a couple of questions prepared, so I started with those and hoped the Dean was long-winded. The session ended up being very informative. I was most interested in learning about the Dean's responsibilities, especially with the day-to-day operations of the Library. I also left thinking I'd never want her job. Her day starts with meetings and ends with following-up on those meetings, like making the information known to her staff and librarians, or ensuring that a proposed project gets funded and is seen through. However, Dean Curzon did mention that her number 1 priority was resources, namely personnel and the budget. She discussed how all the CSU libraries purchase resources together and that helps cut down on costs, especially in regards to e-resources. I could tell that Dean Curzon enjoyed her job and her main goal was to keep the OL viable to its users. The library watches the user, conducts user surveys, and really listens to the students and believes that this helps create lifelong library users. When I asked the Dean if she had days when she wished she was just back at the Reference Desk, she said her job required that she always look forward, not back. Like Ms. Helfer , she stressed association membership, stating that it helped refresh the organization through new ideas. Most importantly, she told me that regardless of one's position, managers and support staff should have well-developed project management skills. For this reason, she said it was imperative to take part in association and organization committees, and build specializations. Towards the end of our meeting, we discussed some things I had learned from my Library Management course. I had mentioned that we'd learned that managerial skills weren't inherent and could be learned. While Dean Curzon agreed to an extent, she did state that some things probably couldn't. Here is how she defined the management skill set:

extroverted
well-organized, ability to follow-up
good communicator, with staff and outsiders
excellent PR and marketing skills
be concerned with library image
personal commitment to good service, community service, customer service

Our conversation soon died down, and after thanking the Dean for her time and her excellent advice and information, I made my way back up to Tech Services, where I was scheduled to meet with Helen Heinrich, the Head of Cataloging.

10:00 AM-12:00 PM: Helen and I discussed the cataloging practices at the OL for about 30 minutes. While Helen had me for the rest of the day, she had to leave at 10:30 to attend a workshop (professional development). After a brief overview, she gave me a couple of articles to read and I finally got a chance to sit at my shiny desk in my own cubicle until we broke for lunch.

My cubicle is right at the entrance, so I can see everyone who comes in or goes out, unless they use the back stairs. Since I'm in plain sight, I have to keep it clean. Plus, come July, I will be sharing it with Charles, an intern from UCLA (known as "The Other School" around here). Luckily it won't get too crowded, as Charles will be in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while I come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This way, I have a nice 4 day weekend. It is summer after all.

I met up with Helen in her office after lunch, and she went into a little more detail about what she does as Cataloging Coordinator. She's also the Bibliographer for Russian Books, but that consists of mainly ordering whatever is asked for by the faculty.

The running theme among managers at the OL is to put users first. As head of cataloging, Helen is aware that her user base is undergraduate students who may never have used a library before. It's up to her and her staff of 10 to make sure the catalog will provide the right type of information. There are 9 Library Assistants, adaptive catalogers who also deal with other database concerns. These catalogers are overseen by Gina, the Cataloging and Database manager. Gina is the one who will train and supervise me for the cataloging portion of my internship.

Basically, the OL has automated many of it technical services, outsourcing to various vendors. Approval orders through Blackwell and YBP come processed and shelf-ready. The OL provides the vendors with property stamps, barcodes, date slips, etc. Even the MARC records are co-oped. When the material is about to be shipped, the vendors provide OCLC with a title list, and the OCLC sends the library catalogers the record files that match the CSUN OL record profile that Helen set up. She told me that she will only accept LCC or PCC cooperative records. The vendor and OCLC records are merged and then downloaded by the library. While this entire endeavor restricts the library's ability to send back items, both Helen and Ms. Helfer informed me that they historically only returned 1% of approval items anyway, and the savings in resources more than balances out having one or two not-so-good books in the collection. While the costs are pretty much the same, it now takes 1 week to get the material on the shelves, versus 1 month when processing in-house.

The material not purchased through the above-mentioned vendors usually requires nothing more than really good copy cataloging. At the OL, this adds up to about 5,000 items annually. Because the OL is mostly an undergrad academic library, most of the acquired items are fairly mainstream and catalog records already exist. However, the OL does have an archival and special collection. Annually, catalogers do original cataloging (or create new catalog records) for 1,000 items. With over a million books and hundreds of thousands of electronic resources, it could be very difficult to keep up with all the records and update them as changes come up. For this reason, the TS Dept. at OL has outsourced to Serial Solutions to obtain and update their electronic journal titles lists. The library will also be using Serial Solutions for a similar service they provide for e-book collections.

All of these new relationships demand more of Helen's time. She is constantly in contact with vendors and goes through tons of email daily. She has to negotiate with multiple vendors before she gets a good deal, and must also communicate with the head of Systems Administrations to ensure that all the technology works together and no major issues come up.

2:00 PM-4:00 PM: At 2PM, many of the TS bibliographers, including Helen and Ms. Helfer, had a Reference and Instructional Services Dept. meeting on the first floor. I got to tag along. Because the bibliographers are subject specialists, they take part in library instruction, working with instructors to introduce students to library services. They also put in hours at the reference desk, so they kind of straddle both TS and Ref, although general reference librarians don't cross over to TS.

There was a printed agenda for participants to pick up and follow along:

2:00 PM-2:20 PM: Librarians discussed different ways to deal with problem patrons and also threw around ideas about possible changes to study room policies. Currently, the rooms are first come, first serve, and no one minds the time or person limit. Suggestions included sign up sheets, keys, and key cards. While no consensus was reached, the chair of RIS, Lynn Lampert, asked that librarians attending the various conferences over the summer check with colleagues to see how they have dealt with the issue. This was like taking a page from the Dean's book: using professional development opportunities to keep the home organization viable.
2:20PM-2:30 PM: The chair gave a short report, and talked about the summer survey goals and themes. She also discussed the Dept. Chair's Retreat.
2:20 PM-2:50 PM: One of the in-house committees gave a short report on outreach, kinda boring.
2:50 PM-4:00 PM: The meeting participants were treated to a demonstration of the possible redesign of the library web site. The demonstration made sense. You don't want to change something that works, and since the librarians use the site for instruction, any changes should be OK'd by them. The systems administrators were also open to suggestion. In fact, the Q & A session lasted over an hour.

4:00 PM-5:00 PM: All the TS librarians and I used the West Wing elevator to go back up to the 4th floor. Helen had phone calls and emails to catch up on and she suggested I log on to the library Intranet and read the cataloging policies and procedures, since I'd be diving in on Tuesday. I knew I'd be doing mostly gift books, so I read that section, and familiarized myself with some of the general policies until it was time to clock out.

Internship Log: May 26 (Day 1)

2009-06-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

My first views of the Technical Services Department, which is located on the West wing of the 4th floor of the Oviatt Library.

On my first day, I was scheduled to meet with Doris Helfer, the Chair of Technical Services (TS). I was pretty apprehensive, since the entire interview process took place online and I'd never met her. On top of that, I was supposed to spend the whole day with her. I had no idea what that would entail. In the end, it wasn't too bad.

9:30 AM-5:00 PM: I met Ms. Helfer, who I actually recognized as the reference librarian who I had approached when doing a project for my reference class. Anyway, we go into her office, and she starts telling me about the department, its place in the library system, and her role in keeping everything together. I was impressed that she had prepared so much for me, and was able to keep her train of thought amidst all the interruptions. Her phone was constantly ringing, she had incoming emails, and due to her open door policy, people kept walking in. This wasn't so bad, since I got to meet a lot of the librarians and TS staff.

Ms. Helfer walked me through the hiring and tenure process of an academic library. After a six-year probationary period, you need to write out an assessment report that's very similar to the e-portfolio that SLIS students are required to complete. Instead of 16 competencies though, there are only 4 categories:

professional organizations and committees
how well you do the job and teaching effectiveness
contribution to the library and university community
community service

It is very important to establish a pattern of publishing and take part in professional committees. Basically, the institution wants you to contribute to your field of study. As someone involved in the hiring process, she also stressed how important it is to wait for the right person when filling a job vacancy. According to Ms. Helfer, the most important part of a Chair or manager's job is hiring. They should always trust their gut. Something that had never occurred to me was the fact that interviewers should always ask questions that reflect the job description. She also stated that she encouraged new and young hires to join search and screen committees since they are the ones who will end up working most closely with the new hire. Librarians about to retire won't care as much about what the applicant has to offer.

While discussing issues of Human Resources, Ms. Helfer walked me through the scheduling process and job responsibilities. At TS, the librarians who make acquisitions decisions are subject specialists and are referred to as bibliographers. They work closely with faculty, and help keep the collections viable and relevant. The bibliographers also review/accept gift books. Because they have subject specializations, and are trained librarians, they are all required to work 8 hours a week at the Reference Desk, and must be available by appointment to anyone requiring more specialized assistance. In addition to these responsibilities, they are required to do 8 hours of professional development per week. This, luckily, can be aggregated and applied to things like conference attendance, workshops, and presentations. Just when I thought I couldn't process any more information,we broke for lunch around 12:15 PM, and I decided to walk around campus to see how much had changed since my graduation in 2001.

After lunch, we met in Ms. Helfer's office, and she talked a little about her daily routine, weekly meetings with the Dean, HR, annual staff review procedures, and also budget concerns. She stressed that the CSUN was in pretty good shape since they had squirrelled away the funds that were supposed to be applied to faculty raises. Although faculty wouldn't get the raise, the monies (with interest) would offset the expected 23% budget cut, so no one would get fired. We then spent the rest of the afternoon touring the library and meeting various librarians and staff members. The highlight of the tour was getting an inside view of the Automated Storage & Retrieval System (asrs). It's housed in the 1st floor East wing, and consists of thousands of steel bins in a room that's 40 feet high. (Here's a pic and more info.) Periodicals and books that don't get used too much are placed in storage and can get requested or called up with a valid library card. It takes about 10 minutes for a book or periodical to be retrieved and sent to Circ or the Periodicals room. It's all automated, with a crane that pulls out the right bin. Then a student worker pulls out the right book and gets it to the right place. When the book is returned, it is placed in any bin that has room, and the barcode of the book, as well as the bin number is scanned into the system so that the book can be found for the next patron. I got to watch a couple of books get returned to the bins and it was amazing. Such a great use of space.

Internship Log: Library Description

2009-06-17T21:25:00.001-07:00

The Delmar T. Oviatt Library (OL) is situated in the center of the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) campus. It is named for the university's first executive officer. Dr. Oviatt helped establish CSUN as a branch of the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences. Originally built in 1973, it underwent an additional phase of construction in 1991 to meet growing demand. After sustaining severe damage due to the Northridge Earthquake, it endured more construction in the Fall of 1994, and the reconstruction of the East and West wings took place between 1998 and 2000. Today, the OL is a 234,712 square foot facility comprising 4 floors plus a garden level.

The OL librarians are granted faculty status and the library itself is considered a college, with its own Dean, Dr. Sue Curzon. It is also on equal footing with CSUN's other 9 colleges. "The OL has a physical collection containing 1.4 million volumes, of which over 1.1 million are books, and over 250,000 bound periodical volumes. The Library subscribes to 34,500 online journals, nearly 1,600 print journals, over 200 online databases and nearly 154,000 ebooks. The microform collection contains 3.17 million pieces. There are over 14,100 sound recordings, 12,700 film and video recordings and nearly 60,000 pictures and other graphic materials. The archives and manuscript collection exceeds 4,200 linear feet of materials, with nearly 33,300 items housed in Special Collections" (from Oviatt Library History and Facts). There are 175 multipurpose computer workstations, as well as 3 computer-equipped library instruction labs with a total of 100 computers. There are also 150 computer workstations in various library locations. There are over 1,600 seats for in-house study. Of note is the fact that the library remains open 24/7 during finals weeks. (This was voted on by the student association.)

The OL is a popular meeting spot too. The terrace
in front is really nice, with ample shade and
panoramic views of the campus.

Internship Basics

2009-06-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

I am interning at the Oviatt Library at CSUN this summer and need to keep a log of my activities in order to receive graduate credit. To make sure I do everything on time, I'm going to post my log here, so read on if you want to learn all there is about cataloging books and working in the Technical Services Dept. of a large academic library. The Oviatt Library was also the building used for the Starfleet Academy in the latest Star Trek movie.

BTW, on my first day, I was informed that my site supervisor and my internship advisor are well-acquainted and will be discussing my activities when they meet for the Special Library Association conference in Washington, DC (which should be underway soon). How lucky am I? (Just kidding Dr. Fisher ;)

I'm taking my internship for graduate credit at SJSU's SLIS. 3 units translates to 135 hours, which I am completing by going in two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 AM-5:00 PM.

So Behind

2009-06-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah...I'm really behind in posts, but I had way too much to do in the last few months. One thing I didn't do was watch the Stanley Cup playoffs. I used to give hockey the benefit of the doubt when it came to predetermined wins and losses, but I think I'll start watching wrestling instead. It's probably the most real sport out there.

Housekeeping and Random Thoughts...

2009-02-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate it when you don't have your first f2f class session prior to the drop deadline? You're basically stuck in the class with a horrible instructor. What kind of a methods professor tells her students to log onto the Conference session at least 15 minutes prior to its start time and then doesn't set the timer to allow early access? This woman really needs an English dictionary as well. I get that English isn't her first language, but when you get your PhD from an American University, it shouldn't be too much to ask that you know the difference between "angel" and "angle." Every response to student's posts re their research topic begin with "That's an interesting angel..." It doesn't help that she sounds like she's seven and is a giggler.

How horrible was the NHL All-Star Weekend? Seriously, if Bettman wants the league to survive and grow, he need to keep Versus far, far away. ESPN, help us please...ok, so that's the end of hockey talk for a while.

Now it's all about books. I'm taking two different classes on Readers' Advisory and have to read over 75 novels and books between now and April. So far I've read 3. I may post reviews here, so stand by.

Zach is Back

2009-01-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

It looks like Zach's fractured fibula has healed. He came back in the Atlanta game against Carolina on December 31st, and got his usual 21 minutes of ice time in the home game against Ottawa on January 14th. Let's hope the kid doesn't get prone to injuries like my favorite ex-Thrasher, Steve Rucchin.

NHL All-Stars Voting Part 2

2009-01-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

So, the Eastern roster is out and I'm sad to announce that the BOSTON BRUINS, the NUMBER 1 team in the league, will be represented by only 3 players. As someone conceived in Montreal and born in BOSTON, I get the whole Montreal-BOSTON rivalry, but credit should be given where credit is due. Is it the BRUINS' fault that their fans actually have lives and jobs and couldn't stay glued to their computers to constantly vote for their players like the Canadiens' fans did?

NHL All-Stars Voting Ended

2009-01-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Voting for the NHL All-Stars ended and, big surprise, all Canadiens on the ballot got voted in. At least some of my votes on the Western front counted. While I am an Anaheim Ducks fan, I still can't believe we got 3 guys voted in. Who said the West coast wasn't a hockey market. The complete Western roster is already out, and the East will follow shortly.

Semester is Over

2008-12-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

I hadn't realized it has been over a month since my last post. Final papers took more time than I had, but I got them done. Weird thing is, the more horrible I think they are, the higher the grade I receive. I did go back and forth with one instructor who graded low because she said I'd only used sources from a sample bib she provides. I never even looked at her bib, and when I went back and cross referenced the two, I found that I'd only hit on 10 of her sources. I had over 50. She regraded it and gave me a much higher score. Some of these instructors teach at numerous institutions simultaneously, and obviously, they don't look at one's entire effort before attaching a grade to a work. You must always call them on why they did what they did. It's even easier with email. I guess that's a plus for online programs.

More Fires

2008-11-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Godfather was on the other day. Just when I thought we were out they pulled us back in too. We had just unpacked our bags and albums from the Sesnon fires, and got evacuated at 4:30AM Saturday morning because of the Sylmar/Sayre fires. I hadn't even gone to bed yet and had no idea there were any fires. How did it reach Granada Hills? How do you decide what to take? You don't, because like chips, once you start, you can't stop.

So, there I am, stuck worrying about fires again when all I'd planned was to catch up and then get a head start on the rest of the semester.

Anyone make a snowman out of ash?

Generation X Gap

2008-11-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

I need to take a break from my class discussion posts. They are the WORST part of online classes. They just suck you in. Anyway, one of my colleagues referred to herself as the Y generation, and had me thinking of my generation, X. I still don't understand why these divisions take place in 20 year intervals. Honestly, how can people born in 1962 possibly be grouped with those born in 1982? I'm right in the middle. Yeah, I know, I just dated myself, but it really wouldn't be that bad. At least I get to pick all the movies, I won't have to worry about what to wear, and I'm guaranteed to spend the night.

Don't like AM

2008-11-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

How fine or blurred is the line between love and hate? As if saying "I strongly dislike..." somehow makes it better. AM confuses people and has REALLY bad timing.

Word Clouds

2008-11-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, our Digital Humanities lecture revolved around generative aesthetics. We went into fractals, generative music, and were bouncing fun websites back and forth. Wordle.net lets you generate word clouds of any text you want. Try it. I did with this haiku...

Green mint tea leafs change
change alter bend brake fix heal
heal toe foot ankle

The Best (Lines)Man

2008-11-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

Former NHL linesman Ray Scapinello will be inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame on Nov. 10th. Ray set all linesman records and is considered one of the best linesmen ever. You may not know him by name, but if you've watched your share of hockey games between 1972 and 2004, you're sure to remember the short, helmetless linesman who would race down the length of the ice, puck in hand, after an icing. CONGRATULATIONS RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget to cast your vote for your XM/NHL All-Stars. Ballots will be available Nov. 12-Jan-2.

Another One

2008-11-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

I used a different technique for my niece's picture.

Making Andy proud

2008-11-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

I just photoshopped one of my favorite baby pictures to look like it came from Warhol's studio. It could have, since it was taken at least 10 years before his death. The colors are a bit off-- the section that's really bright yellow is cream here (and in the #$%&@ wrong spot), which is the exact shade my coffee becomes once I put the cream in. Milk won't turn it this shade, and smells like fish when mixed with coffee. Yuck!

I voted, did you?

2008-11-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

I put a lot of thought into my voting outfit and tried to wear something non partisan. A first for me was having to wait in line to sign in and get my ballot. I started chatting with an Indian lady behind me, who looked pretty familiar and I thought was my neighbor across the street, but since she didn't appear to recognize me, I didn't ask. What if I was wrong... I didn't want to be accused of stereotyping on election day.

BTW, if you go into a Starbucks today and tell them you voted, you get a free tall brewed coffee (woohoo?), while supplies last. Isn't supply another word for coffee? It's a coffeehouse, if supplies run out, aren't they out of business? Besides, I still have left over Halloween candy and will take sugar over caffeine any day.

Poor Zach

2008-11-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

The rookie has a fractured fibula and will be out indefinately. Welcome to the NHL Zach.

Zach Bogosian - Now you see him, now you don't

2008-10-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Being on the West Coast, I basically need to wait for divine intervention to catch an East Coast, or therabouts, game. Plus, since I don't have as much time as I'd like to watch (and thus, pay for) hockey, I have to rely on Versus. Versus hockey is worst than Fox hockey in 1995. ESPN, only you can end this torture!

Anyway, I was pretty excited to get home after running errands and finally catching Atlanta Thrashers rookie Zach Bogosian in action. If I'd only skipped the market, I would have actually seen him play his first, and only, shift in the game before he left with a leg injury due to getting punded into the boards. Now he's on the IR. Maybe the Thrashers should bring Zhitnik back.

Online University

2008-10-29T17:41:00.001-07:00

If anyone tells you that taking online classes is easier than doing it the old-fashioned way, don't listen. Instructors pile on assignments and reading, thinking you have all the time in the world, never once acknowledging that you have a life, and perhaps another class or two (or in my case three).

Another thing, when I sign up for a class, I expect it to be taught by the instructor, not by me or my fellow classmates, who have to divvy up the topics and take turns leading class lectures and discussions each week. I am actually convinced that the majority of these instructors use their students as free research assistants.

Last Baseball post in 2008

2008-10-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

Is anyone even watching this World Series?

Forget Baseball, on to Hockey

2008-10-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

OK, so the Red Sox are out. Anyone can have an off year. At least now I can watch more hockey. I was so busy with classes and my sister's baby that I didn't have any free time to post the ALCS scores. I'm not a sore loser, really.

ALCS: Red Sox lose Game 3 (Big Time)

2008-10-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Rays' magic number is 9. All the Red Sox need to do is keep the Rays to 8.

Game 4: Tuesday @ Boston
Game 3: Red Sox 1, Rays 9
Game 2: Red Sox 8, Rays 9 in 11
Game 1: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

Update on Sesnon Fire

2008-10-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

The helicopters keep coming and the house keeps shaking.

The fire's moving pretty fast now, and is about 3 miles away from here. Two of my cousins live by the fire and I know one had to pack up her kids and leave because the smoke got so bad. Don't know about the other, but I'm wondering if they'll have to cancel the surprise birthday party/casino night this weekend. No way am I spending the evening outside breathing in fire, and worse, cigar smoke.

FIRE!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

If you look close enough, you can see flames.

The October winds have barely started here in Los Angeles, but the fires are at full strength. Helicopters woke me up this morning and the house shakes every time they fly by. I'm watching the air get thicker and thicker as the smoke from a very close fire on my Northwest clouds the sky. These pictures were taken from by backyard.

ALCS: RED SOX win Game 1, lose Game 2

2008-10-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, the Bruins lost earlier today, and of course, the Red Sox insist on following suit. The Bs have played 2 games and have already allowed 8 goals against (although they're 1-1).

Lots of homework, so I've been behind in posting the scores. Plus, hockey season started and I now have a lot of juggling to do.

Game 3: Monday @ Boston
Game 2: Red Sox 8, Rays 9 in 11
Game 1: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

ALDS: RED SOX Win Game 4 and the Series

2008-10-06T20:30:00.001-07:00

It's 75 degrees in Tampa.

Not exactly a fun game to watch, but they got it done. Apparently, removing my niece's picture as my phone's wallpaper brought indescribable bad luck to my team yesterday. She was back on this morning.

Game 4: Red Sox 3, Angels 2
Game 3: doesn't matter
Game 2: Red Sox 7, Angels 5
Game 1: Red Sox 4, Angels 1

Minor Changes

2008-10-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so as much as it pains me to say this, The New England Patriots have one of the worst web sites I've encountered. I'm taking it off the Sports Ticker.

ALDS: Red Sox lose Game 3

2008-10-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Whatever, it's just one game.
Game 4: Monday @ Boston
Game 3: Red Sox 4, Angels 5 in 12
Game 2: Red Sox 7, Angels 5
Game 1: Red Sox 4, Angels 1

ALDS: RED SOX Win Game 2

2008-10-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

Game 3: Sunday @ Boston
Game 2: Red Sox 7, Angels 5
Game 1: Red Sox 4, Angels 1

Update: Baby Pink

2008-10-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

The wait is over and the fun begins!!!!!!! My sister gave birth to a 4.5 pound, 19 inch baby girl last week. Mom and noodle are doing fine. Dad can't believe someone so small can eat so much.

ALDS: RED SOX win Game 1

2008-10-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Game 2: Friday
Game 1: Red Sox 4, Angels 1

Hold on to your Sox!!!!!!!!

2008-09-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's another red October. Happy Birthday to me. What a way to close the doors of Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox victory today ended New York's string of 13 consecutive playoff appearances. Perhaps the Yankee ghosts are upset over the move. Is there a new curse brewing in the AL East? Keep watching...

Baby Blues, or Pinks

2008-09-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

So, my sister is expecting her first child, which should arrive by next week if the doctor's calculations were correct. It's like waiting for the next earthquake. You know it's coming, just not exactly when, so you're constantly bracing for the inevitable. It would be nice to get it over with so we can all go on with our lives and stop being anxious every time the phone rings.

"Is it a boy or girl?" you ask. Well, your guess is as good as mine, since they want to be surprised. They're having a doubly tough time figuring out names and I'm stuck buying pink and blue candy and cigars. Once this is over, I'll be like the dollar store trying to sell 2008 Lakers Championship merchandise.

Update

2008-09-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

So, obviously, classes are taking more of my time than I expected this semester. 3 months to go until winter break. If I visit family on the Atlantic coast, not only will I save money on a hotel but I'll actually get to wear the gloves, hats, and coats I never get the chance to in L.A. I'll need a bigger bag.

Aloha

2008-08-19T12:29:00.001-07:00

I made this Hawaiian Shirt Cake for Father's Day.
It was a butter cake with a cherry and meringue filling, pistachio frosting, and sliced almond flowers. Sooooooo yummy!!!!!

It's the closest I got to Hawaii all summer.

One of the reasons I went back to school was to get more time off in the summer. Summer classes quickly put an end to that, so all I got was a two-week staycation, which doesn't really count, no matter how pretty my backyard is. It's like the bull people who didn't get into college feed you by saying they'd rather attend the University of Life. ...just not the same...

Matisse Fever

2008-08-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

This painting, inspired by the work of Henri Matisse, is my version of the myth of Icarus.

...enamored by the Bee Gees, the youth mistook the sun for a giant disco ball...

Perceptions from Dante

2008-08-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Every time you look at a work of art, as the viewer, you're supposed to engage it in some kind of personal dialogue. Art speaks to you, and the message can change depending on your mood and new experiences.

While reading Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, I happened to catch sight of one of my untitled paintings, which I refer to as Magic. As I kept looking at it from different vantage points, it began to change and I saw two legs sticking up, fighting with flames dancing across the soles. (See "Canto XIX" of Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno.)

Now, with a simple shift in perspective, the painting can be Untitled-Magic (portrait) or Untitled-Canto XIX (landscape). It just goes to show that we should not be scared to change the way we look at things.

La Serenissima

2008-07-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time, I'd just arrived in Venice, Italy for a month-long summer language program. I'm having Venice withdrawals. Too bad I couldn't go back this summer even if I'd wanted too. I blame summer school and the weak dollar. Besides, the Art Fair's not in town this year and there's nothing to do in Venice once the sun goes down. No one actually spends the night on the lagoon. The tourists go back to their cruise ships and sail away, or they meet their tour group and go back to their hotel on the mainland. If you do get to spend the night in La Serenissima, you might want to take a book or two along.

My picks...

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann...A must read if at the hotel Des Bains, Lido.
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare...How often do you get to experience a work of literature in the original ghetto that inspired it?
Stravaganza: City of Masks by Mary Hoffman...A tale of time travel depicting a parallel Venice. Pair this with your side trip to Torcello, Murano, and Burano.
The Titian Committee by Iain Pears...A contemporary art history mystery set in Venice.
A Venetian Affair by Andrea di Robilant...A novel of forbidden love in the time of Casanova. Based on old letters found by the author.

Happy Travels.

Introduction

2008-07-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. Those of you who have a sweet tooth may be surprised to learn that I will not be blogging about chocolate. Ganache is a play on my name and it means green in Armenian. As for panache, you've got it or you don't...