Annual Report FY2008
Catalog Department
Highlights
Fiscal 2007-2008 was a challenging year for the VC/UHV Library Cataloging Department -- one of staff changes, high cataloging outputs and numerous project activities.
The maximum staffing level of the department remained at three employees. Our newest employee resigned to take advantage of a scholarship, so for the second time in less than a year we were challenged with filling an open position. We were lucky to hire Rebecca Holm, a Victoria resident. Rebecca comes to the library with a background in journalism. Having completed training activities and probationary status, Rebecca is already contributing to the accomplishments of the department. In the interim period, the department was periodically assisted by assistants from the Circulation Department.
Even with the turnover of staff, the department statistics reflect a continuing high level of cataloging activities this year. Total new title records added to the catalog were 4630, and new items were 6866; these additions include acquisitions and gifts. Withdrawals were equally high: 4481 titles and 6285 items were removed from the catalog database. (Collection maintenance activities, such as collection reassignments and relabeling, are not included in the numbers). 51 original records were created in the international library consortium OCLC WorldCat database.
The multi-year project of reclassification of the Texas Curriculum Collection was completed this year. This effort consisted of moving the Curriculum Collection from a local classification system to the Library of Congress classification system. To assist our frequent browsers of the collection, we minimized the quantity of base call numbers to facilitate the collocation of like items and subjects.
Major efforts continue in the cataloging of the Jack O. and Ellen Braman Miller Texana Gift Collection. This significant Texas-focused collection of regional importance requires meticulous records creation, handling and cataloging, and is therefore the highest priority, and one of the most labor intensive, of all department work efforts.
Efforts to address the backlogs of printed and electronic U.S. Documents and printed Texas Documents, awaiting cataloging and records verification, were successfully addressed this year, with the elimination of all government document backlogs.
With the publication of the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 10-Year Anniversary List of 100 Greatest Movies, we have updated the catalog records for the revised listing, as well as adding newly listed items to the media collection. [An example of the new alternative title format: Number 1 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movies (2007)].
The Cataloging Department has taken a lead role in the supervision in the application of security devices on the majority of media items in the Media Center. This project involves the delicate installation of magnetically-controlled strips directly to the media items, a superior method of security control for our Media Collection.
Another improvement for our Media Collection is the upgrading of disk and cassette container quality. New disks, particularly audio books, in thin, cardstock containers are now repackaged into higher-quality cases. We have replaced the worst of old, flimsy and worn cases with sturdier, positive securing cases. We will continue to upgrade older containers as budget permits.
Additional Media Center projects included a significant realignment of class numbers for videos from movies to adaptations, and vice versa, to better associate the video collection to the appropriate works or class number; and the collocation of paper and digital accompanying materials (materials containing content details that accompany media cassettes or disks) to a location adjacent to the Media Center counter for ready retrieval by staff.
Other department projects remain in work, but are seeing progress toward completion. Examples of ongoing projects are: U.S. Documents moving to the 3rd floor is progressing well; upgrading ebook records to include call numbers; the addition of subject, series and general notes to enhance accessibility to cataloged resources from speakers at Victoria College and University of Houston-Victoria Lyceum, American Book Review, and John W. Stormont lectures and conferences.
Finally, a major general improvement across all cataloging has been the enhancement of content and summary information in cataloging records. This increase in bibliographic record information should help resource selection by the ever-growing number of distance learners, as well as ready access to content information for onsite catalog searchers.
Collection Development
As a member of the library’s Collection Development Team, the Catalog Librarian is responsible for contributions to the Hard Sciences Collection. Additions to the Hard Sciences were 11 titles in Astronomy, 6 titles in Chemistry, and 18 titles in Physics. One major focus was the updating of the Basic Atmospheric and Weather section, where 8 titles of an introductory nature for upper-level education were added.
Submitted by Marc Vezeau, Catalog Librarian