Monday, March 10, 2008

Call me card cataloguer

This is what I currently work at: catalogue cards. Well, actually I work at eliminating them. The card catalogue of journals, magazines, yearbooks and loose-leaf editions (AKA librarian's enemy) was retrospectively conversed (by someone else, poor lot), and now I correct and/or enhance or approve the OPAC records. I add ISBNs and ZDB numbers, I add weblinks to the fulltext or abstracts if applicable, I annotate the "Erscheinungsverlauf" (didn't find the english expression, but it means e.g. when and how long a journal was published under which name) and gaps. I check our holdings in the stacks if there is a difference between the paper&pencil and the digital record. After that, the cards will finally be weeded (maybe I'll grant - at least some of - them asylum in my flat). Sounds dull? Well, I wouldn't want to do it for the rest of my life, but I get a great overview of the journals the library holds. I will be _the_ journal expert someday ;-)
I plan to add cover photos and otherwise "enrich" the catalogue. I also compile lists of journals for certain user groups, e.g. of journals relating to the districts of Vienna for local historians or of soccer journals (there is a European Football Championship coming, you know, and the "fan zone" will be located directly in front of my office, yippie).

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