Update: work and workshop

I didn't write a posting last week, but rest assured, I've been busy. Last week Ralph Papakhian and Sue Stancu hosted a cataloging workshop for music scores and sound recordings here at the music library. About 10 Librarians from all over the U.S. (and one from Canada) came to Bloomington to learn from the best. I was able to sit in on some of their sessions, eat some of the catered goodies brought in for the event, and solidify some of the more esoteric principles of cataloging. Particularly helpful were the sessions on formulation of title proper, uniform titles, and subject headings with free-floating subdivisions. It is in these areas in particular that music cataloging is so challenging.

I worked independently last week because Ralph was busy with the workshop. I actually got through a lot of scores, but now must wait to make sure I did them right before doing the final steps of bringing them into the local ILS, assigning a local call number, and preparing bindery instructions for them. One of the most challenging of these scores was a photocopy of a holograph by Motoyuki Takahashi, for which there was no record in OCLC. I did some original cataloging, creating not only a bibliographic record for the score, but also a name authority record for Takahashi, and a name-title authority record for the work. That was fun.

I've been working on a stack of books that has been on my desk since I started the internship, but with the work by Takahashi, I finished the pile. I tried to use an old list showing the items in our Frontlog (i.e. backlog that circulates) receiving the most use, but the items on the list receiving the most use were no longer in the Frontlog, having been cataloged sometime between now and the last time that list was made. So, I was able to arbitrarily choose some scores from the huge Frontlog. That was really fun; I chose some items that will give me experiences with facsimile editions, collected works items, non-roman scripts, technical manuals on music playing, some Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Stockhausen, and other interesting things. Ralph is also having me catalog some student doctoral and master's degree musical works. The second half of my internship should be full of good learning experiences.