12/13
Troubleshooting and problem-solving continued: I got reasonably well situated on the PC, and got the Voyager Cat preferences set correctly with the guidance of Melissa VT. Tag tables and record formats specified, my bibs are now save-able, but the macros are still off and I was still saving to pdf and printing off the laptop which was networked to the office printer, unlike my workstation. Flo is sending emails about the issue to IT people. Tom was passing through when I was trying to remember how to do authority checking so he helped me out there. (Everyone here has been such a pleasure to work with!) It also turns out I am doing full level cataloging... the records I looked at were ‘materials not examined’ so hopefully my neophite efforts are actually contributing to the quality of these bibliographic records.
Big-picture take-away: MARC records are nice, but ultimately what matters is how it looks in the OPAC. I learned this after I added second copies of selected duplicates from the J. R. Paul boxes, with item records and 590 (local notes) with descriptions such as provenance, ex libris, stamps, inscriptions (in fancy 19th Cent. cursive handwriting with dip pens... a challenge to read!) At the end of the day, I still had to look up all my records in Orbis, see how they read, marvel at the inconsistencies and typos that slipped in despite my best efforts; go back to Voyager and re-edit, re-save, re-print (on the laptop nextdoor) the actual Orbis view.
I got to work with the 'Dead docs book' searching for physicians whose names where inscribed in, or printed on Ex Libris plates, in the books. I find I do not have the vocabulary for this seemingly simple task. 'Book trader's tag' does sound much better than my 'dealer's sticker'. Now is the time to learn more about rare books, and Melissa G. equipped me with just the resource I need available as free pdf here:
ABC for Book Collectors / John Carter, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1995
I also saw Melissa G. help a student researcher from Barnard with her honors project on the history of the hospitalization of childbirth. They met by appointment in the reference study room, where Melissa had gathered materials for the student. She provided ID and filled out a form, then proceeded to photograph the selected obstetrical instruments, plus my favorite, a small ivory anatomical mannequin of a woman and her fetus. You could lift the abdominal wall and remove the child, which was attached by a thin twine to -of all places- a nail inserted somewhere in her chest. Obviously not intended as an umbilical cord, rather to keep the bean-sized ivory fetus from getting lost... there was something sad but precious about the babe on a string, its mother serenely lying there nailed to the wooden base, with eyes closed...
P.S. I still like Melissa and she still says things like “and that’s a cranioclast, another instrument of destruction” and lucky for me, I do appreciate the humor!
Troubleshooting and problem-solving continued: I got reasonably well situated on the PC, and got the Voyager Cat preferences set correctly with the guidance of Melissa VT. Tag tables and record formats specified, my bibs are now save-able, but the macros are still off and I was still saving to pdf and printing off the laptop which was networked to the office printer, unlike my workstation. Flo is sending emails about the issue to IT people. Tom was passing through when I was trying to remember how to do authority checking so he helped me out there. (Everyone here has been such a pleasure to work with!) It also turns out I am doing full level cataloging... the records I looked at were ‘materials not examined’ so hopefully my neophite efforts are actually contributing to the quality of these bibliographic records.
Big-picture take-away: MARC records are nice, but ultimately what matters is how it looks in the OPAC. I learned this after I added second copies of selected duplicates from the J. R. Paul boxes, with item records and 590 (local notes) with descriptions such as provenance, ex libris, stamps, inscriptions (in fancy 19th Cent. cursive handwriting with dip pens... a challenge to read!) At the end of the day, I still had to look up all my records in Orbis, see how they read, marvel at the inconsistencies and typos that slipped in despite my best efforts; go back to Voyager and re-edit, re-save, re-print (on the laptop nextdoor) the actual Orbis view.
I got to work with the 'Dead docs book' searching for physicians whose names where inscribed in, or printed on Ex Libris plates, in the books. I find I do not have the vocabulary for this seemingly simple task. 'Book trader's tag' does sound much better than my 'dealer's sticker'. Now is the time to learn more about rare books, and Melissa G. equipped me with just the resource I need available as free pdf here:
ABC for Book Collectors / John Carter, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 1995
I also saw Melissa G. help a student researcher from Barnard with her honors project on the history of the hospitalization of childbirth. They met by appointment in the reference study room, where Melissa had gathered materials for the student. She provided ID and filled out a form, then proceeded to photograph the selected obstetrical instruments, plus my favorite, a small ivory anatomical mannequin of a woman and her fetus. You could lift the abdominal wall and remove the child, which was attached by a thin twine to -of all places- a nail inserted somewhere in her chest. Obviously not intended as an umbilical cord, rather to keep the bean-sized ivory fetus from getting lost... there was something sad but precious about the babe on a string, its mother serenely lying there nailed to the wooden base, with eyes closed...
P.S. I still like Melissa and she still says things like “and that’s a cranioclast, another instrument of destruction” and lucky for me, I do appreciate the humor!
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