Riot Librarian

Tag: cataloging

  • Know Your MARC

    I’m deep in the midst of a project that involves dealing with a lot of MARC records, and I know I’ve said it many times before, but seriously? How is it possible that this “standard” involves so many un-standard elements? Sure, a lot of the core data really is in the same place in every…

  • The Holdings Forum

    The days since my trip to ALA are increasing, and I still haven’t completely finished writing up my thoughts on some of the things I attended and learned there. I kept wondering if it was really worthwhile to write all of this up, but it helps me organize my thoughts and impressions, so here we…

  • Library Linked Data

    Over the last year I’ve read and heard a fair amount about library linked data, and I have not yet been able to form a whole and coherent picture of what this means for libraries. I see examples, and I understand the idea and the benefits, but I don’t see how the examples and the…

  • The Future of Tech Services in Academic Libraries

    I had a carefully planned out schedule for my first day at ALA, and as it turned out, most of it got thrown out the window, largely because I misunderstood some of the session descriptions. Thankfully, I didn’t have too many newbie errors like this during the week, and the sessions I attended were interesting.…

  • I’d say they’re displeased

    I’m doing some research for a paper I’m hoping to write (in the next 10 days…) and I came across this quote that I can’t help but call prescient. I’m reading Julian Everett Allgood’s 2007 article, “Serials and Multiple Versions, or the Inexorable Trend toward Work-Level Displays” (yes, it’s thrilling), and he writes, Probably the…

  • The Un-standard Standard

    I’ve been working with a lot of MARC records lately, from a handful of different libraries, and a handful of different library systems. Over the next few months, I’ll be working with MARC records from approximately 80 different libraries. And what is really striking to me, as someone who is fairly new to libraryland, is…