"Cataloging Review - Ask at Circulation Desk"

Many of you have probably encountered an item in our catalog with a status of "Cataloging Review - Ask at Circulation Desk" before. What does it mean exactly? The short answer is that the particular item is unavailable at the moment and you cannot have it right now. But the long answer opens the door to the mysterious backroom and its happenings...

When a book (or a CD, DVD, LP, or any other library acquisition) arrives (as a gift or as an order that the library placed), it must go through a series of 5 steps before it will be available for you, voracious patron, to check out. First, we must obtain for it a good and suitable record that catalogers have created and edited so that it is eminently findable by patrons. (In rare cases no such record exists, so we must create one). Second, the item must be assigned a call number. Third, it must be given a barcode and an item record in the catalog. It is at this point that it will become visible to you with the "Cataloging Review - Ask at Circulation Desk" status. Fourth, the item must be processed. Adorned with stamps and numbers and tape and a few other accoutrements, it is almost ready for the public. Fifth, it must be reviewed and released. The review process is in place to make sure that it has been processed correctly and that all the information associated with the item is correct and adheres to strict cataloging guidelines.

The whole process then is rather lengthy, but... if you find something with this status and would really like the item sooner rather than later, feel free to request and fill out an "Expedite Item Form," available at the Circulation Desk. It will be passed on to the backroom, and we will bump up that item in line to get it out to you sooner. It includes a "Date Needed" section, and depending on the complexity of the item, we can have it for you between 1 and 5 days. (Most often, it tends to take only a day!)

Naxos Music Library on iPhone!

Naxos Music Library (NML) playlists are now available through your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Info for everyone: Naxos Music Library is a library resource that lets you listen to more than 35,000 CDs online. U of H students, faculty, and staff can get into Naxos Music Library here and start listening. (Off-campus access requires login with a UH email login/password.) You can create playlists in NML or listen to instructors’ playlists. Download the new app (below) if you want to listen to those playlists on an iPhone or iPod Touch.

More info for iPhone and iPod Touch users: download the new NML App for free, search the iTunes App Store for "Naxos Music Library," or find download/installation instructions on Naxos’s blog. (Allen staff have not tested this yet. We will post more information as it becomes available.)

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, we’d love to hear about your experience. Feel free to drop by and show us how it’s working for you! If you have questions, please contact us.

Enjoy!

Meet the Allen Staff!

Starting next week, I won't be the only one writing blog posts. We now have five full-time staff members and we'll all be contributing on a regular basis. This being the case, I thought you might like to learn who we are. We'll start with our new Head...

Tracey Rudnick, Head
Tracey just started with us about three months ago. She was most recently the Music & Dramatic Arts Librarian (and music/drama library head) at the University of Connecticut. She was a percussionist, and did her undergrad at UC Davis and graduate degrees (Musicology, Library and Information Science) at UT Austin.

Jennifer Olson, Senior Cataloger
Jen has been here since June 2001, when she was a DMA Composition student at Hartt, taking a break from studies. She has since gone over to the dark side and is nearing completion of her Master of Science in Library Science degree at Simmons College, which she hopes to finish in May 2010. She occasionally emerges from the back room when the desk staff allow her to interact with patrons.

Jennifer Crum, Public Services Coordinator
Jenny started in her current position in January 2009, but also worked in the library as a graduate assistant from 2003-2006 while persuing her MM and GPD at Hartt. She also performs in the area as a freelance cellist and is an active private teacher.

Andrew King, Cataloging Coordinator
Andrew first worked at Allen in public services as the Access Services Coordinator from the fall of 2005 to the summer of 2007. After finishing his MM in Piano Performance he returned, this time working in the back room as a cataloger. A few weeks ago he was promoted to the full time
position of Cataloging Coordinator.

And as you've probably figured out by now if you've been reading this blog, I'm Sam Cook, Public Services Librarian. I started here in September 2007, but I was also a student employee at the circulation desk and in the back room from 2003-2004. Back then I was here at Hartt finishing up a BM in clarinet performance, and then I went to University at Albany, SUNY for a Master of Science in Information Science degree (fancy name for a library degree).

So that's our full-time staff. You'll be hearing from all of us in the upcoming weeks as we each provide our own perspective on what exciting things are going on in the Allen Library. I hope you enjoy the change and, as always, feel free to comment on anything we say!

Music and Book Sale: Now Half the Price!!

Now that we're a couple of weeks into the Music and Book Sale here at Allen Library, we've decided to mark everything at 50% off. The new prices are:

Books (Hardcover) - $1
Books (Paperback, 200+ pages) - $1
Books (Paperback, 200- pages) - 50 cents
Scores (25+ pages) - $1
Scores (25- pages and mini scores) - 50 cents
LPs - 50 cents
CDs - $1
Art books - Half off the price on the blue sticker

These are ridiculously low prices, so feel free to drop in and buy lots of stuff!