by Laura Kohl and Joseph Lane
Technical Services, which handles the ordering, receiving, and cataloging of material, is in many ways the backbone of the library. Tasked with making library material accessible to our patrons, there are multiple people and steps associated with getting that material out to our UNM community.
 Animal Farm (First Ukranian Edition) by George Orwell, 1947 |
Ordering items such as books, periodicals, and online resources starts with the Acquisitions Department after a piece is selected to order through multiple channels (Library Selectors, faculty and student requests, On Demand through ILL). Acquisition staff place the order, sometimes performing an in-depth search to locate that title, receive the shipments, inspect the invoices, and record the necessary information for payment to each vendor. Though some of the material we purchase is Shelf-Ready, meaning that it comes in pre-catalogued, labeled, and ready to be shelved, often a title requires the attention of the cataloging staff. Acquisition and cataloging staff work together to coordinate which items are ready for the shelf and which items need to be reviewed. Even the simple job of assigning a call number or reclassifying a title to a new call number can have an impact on that item’s accessibility within our collections. It’s important that catalogers review new titles for accuracy so that they will eventually make their way to the right location. |
Within the bibliographic universe that is OCLC’s Worldcat, not all metadata is created equal. The bibliographic record in its most basic form is a description of the item displaying information such as author, title, publisher, place of publication, and number of pages. The cataloger’s role is to enrich a bibliographic record with as much useful and accurate data as possible in order to make that title discoverable in the public catalog. Along with encoding the basic description about a piece, we also perform an intellectual evaluation of the content so that we can make the appropriate links and connections to other titles, therefore broadening the user’s ability to find relevant information. Much of this work involves authority control, whereby the cataloger creates, selects, or authorizes the appropriate access points in a record.
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Theatrvm orbis terrarvm (Theater of the World) by Ortelius, 1595 |
The CULLS Cataloging Department has undergone extensive training and maintains membership in the Library of Congress’ Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) – including active participation in both the BIBCO (Bibliographic Cooperative Program) and the NACO (Name Authority Cooperative Program) programs. Libraries that hold membership in these programs go through thorough training administered by LC in order to learn to encode PCC level metadata for both bibliographic records and authority files (personal names, subjects, names of corporate bodies etc.). Though these programs have seen increased participation in recent years there are still fewer than 200 libraries nationally that hold this status, with UNM being one. In any given year the CULLS cataloging staff will produce hundreds of authority files, ranging from the creation of a NACO file for a local New Mexico scholar to an artist publishing in Latin America. We take a lot of pride in this work and it remains one of the most important aspects of cataloging as we continue to highlight UNM’s unique collections to the world. |
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Historia de la vida y hechos del emperador Carlos V (History of Charles V) by Prudencio de Sandoval, 1614 |
The cataloger will ‘receive’ a book in the WMS (WorldShare Management System) system and ensure that our library holdings are assigned to the best ‘full level’ record. When there is not an existing bibliographic record within OCLC’s database we perform ‘original cataloging’ and create the record. Not all metadata fields are visible to the user but each data element has a specific purpose and is carefully chosen for input. This work might include linking to the appropriate authority heading (or creating it), choosing subjects, writing a detailed summary of the piece, and assigning the proper call number. Once the bibliographic record is complete and the names and subjects are authorized and linked, we create the item record, known in WMS as an LHR (Local Holdings Record). Along with enhancing the bibliographic record, the call number is also checked to ensure that there is not duplication in our shelf list. If a call number is already in use in our catalog for a different book, we alter the number appropriately to fit the collection within that shelving area. |
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Mexico or New Spain by J. Gibson and Emanuel Bowen, 1758 |
Each item is then barcoded, labeled, tattle taped with a magnetic security strip, and finally stamped to show ownership by the University of New Mexico. It is only after all of these steps are complete that a piece makes its way to Access Services for shelving within the collection.
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