LibraryThing Catalog

Reading this post from the Cataloguing Librarian has gotten me thinking again about how the Friends library can use LibraryThing for their library. I had lunch with Mary a few weeks ago, and she told me she was still adding new books to their LibraryThing account. We were just exploring the options when I got my new job and couldn’t go the Meeting House on a regular basis anymore. They do use Surpass to catalog, but they’re not interested in spending the money for an OPAC based on that catalog at this point. (We both agreed, however, that it was important to have the quality full cataloging somewhere, even if it wasn’t being overtly used at this point.) Most of the patrons are in the Meeting House every week for Meeting for Worship, so they can browse the catalog locally on a laptop in the library. LibraryThing might encourage more people to take a look at the collection, though, and would also let members know when new books are added. I guess I’m just not sure whether they need to incorporate LibraryThing into a website, like Palmerston North City Library, or just promote their LibraryThing account more. I would venture to say the latter, since, as I said, they are fortunate in having a membership that is in physical proximity to the library every week.

Friends

I am very excited to say that we were invited to join the Quaker Meeting Libraries Group on LibraryThing! I hope that we will be able to share practices as well as form a community for Quaker readers around the world. Right now, 2 of the libraries in the group are in Australia; the rest are in the U.S.

I haven’t seen Mary in a few weeks because I was on vacation two weeks ago, and she was away last week, but I hope to see her this week and figure out if we will indeed be upgrading our account so we can put our whole library on LibraryThing.

In other (non-)news, we are plugging away at getting all of the books in the Surpass catalog; the volunteers have worked their way almost through the J’s! (Our classification system is A-J.) However, we had initially skipped over A’s (Quakerism) and B’s (Biographies) because of anticipated difficulty with copy-cataloging. So I have been working on the A’s, and I think the volunteers are ready to tackle the B’s.

I would love to see the catalog complete and visible on LibraryThing before I’m done, except… when am I done? Clearly my field placement is long over, and I’m now another volunteer. I expressed to Mary my desire to keep working with the library, but I don’t know how that works, if I’m not a Friend. Of course, Friends are very welcoming, and it’s doubtful they would turn away someone who wants to help.

17 July 2008 (on site): 1:30pm-4:30pm
24 July 2008 (on site): 1:30pm-5:30pm
31 July 2008 (on site): 1:30pm-4:30pm
14 August 2008 (on site): 10:00pm-3:00pm

Friendly Things

More Quaker libraries on LibraryThing:

• Henry J. Cadbury Library of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
• Newtown (PA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Milwaukee Friends Library
• Frankford (PA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Perry City (NY) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• North Seattle Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Part of Northwest Yearly Meeting)
• Strawberry Creek (CA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• New Market (TN) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (part of Wilmington Yearly Meeting)
• Twin Cities Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Harrisburg (PA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Moorestown (NJ) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Williamsburg (VA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• Richland (PA) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
• (Not sure who this is yet: the name is “LR_Friends”)
• Lancaster Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends

10 July 2008 (on site): 1:30pm-3:30pm
10 July 2008 (on site): 6:00pm-9:00pm (Library Committee meeting)

The Thing

So, yes, it turns out that we do not have our own dedicated, accessible server, and so the solution to providing online access to the catalog will be through Library Thing. I’ve set us up, and some of the catalog is here:
www.librarything.com/catalog/PittsburghFriendsMtg.

If they were going to pay for a web-based OPAC from the Surpass company, then I hope they will decide to pay for an upgraded LT account. I’ve found some other Quaker libraries on there, too, like… the West Australia Regional Meeting of … (Quakers). Okay, that’s the only one so far that I can tell is actually a meeting library.

More soon.

03 July 2008 (on site): 1:30pm-4:30pm

Beginnings

After last week’s somewhat confusing start, I have a better idea of how the Surpass software works. Mary and I decided that I will come on Thursdays around 11 or so to overlap a little bith with the volunteer staff hours; they will work on copy-cataloging and processing, putting aside complicated items or those items needing original cataloging. When I arrive they can brief me and ask questions. Then I’ll research or catalog the items they’ve left me as well as work on subject headings.

As for subject headings… Mary gave me a few suggestions for places to look for thesauri ideas, namely the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Catalog, Earlham College, Quaker Theological Seminary, and maybe Haverford and Swarthmore. We also discussing putting the collection on LibraryThing so it can be shared as soon as possible as well as to generate interest in and awareness of the library.

I also became aware of a big problem: The catalog is stored on the laptop, and nothing is being done in terms of backing up the files. I don’t know if this is within my scope of responsibility, but I don’t feel comfortable moving forward without taking steps to ensure that the files will be safe. Hopefully this can be resolved next week.

Thursday, 10 January: 9:00-12:30, 6:30-8:30 (onsite)