"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!)