by Scott Smid
With my time in the Belle Époque Library coming to an end, I
will be leaving LAS with a profound respect for the library and all of the
operations within it. We have accomplished a lot in the library from sorting
through boxes of old books to reorganizing the fiction section. But the task
that I have come to know very well is the daunting task of cataloguing. I will
thoroughly miss it.
The joy of cataloguing is a mysterious, but rewarding art. It is hard to explain the sense of euphoria you receive when you are searching for that Dewey decimal number, and it is sitting right there on the copyright page; or when you search for a book without an ISBN, and it turns up in record fetch. You feel like you have won the lottery when you are able to catalogue that twelve-volume set of Shakespeare’s plays and criticisms. Although these are just some of the small battles to be won in the big game of cataloguing, nothing compares to the joy of completing one of those coveted sheets of 98 spine labels. When I completed my first sheet I was overwhelmed with emotions of accomplishment. I was peeling off the spine labels to give those once lonely books a name and a home in the library stacks. The biggest reward comes at the end of the cataloguing process when you get the privilege of starting a new sheet. Ninety-eight books to go!
The joy of cataloguing is a mysterious, but rewarding art. It is hard to explain the sense of euphoria you receive when you are searching for that Dewey decimal number, and it is sitting right there on the copyright page; or when you search for a book without an ISBN, and it turns up in record fetch. You feel like you have won the lottery when you are able to catalogue that twelve-volume set of Shakespeare’s plays and criticisms. Although these are just some of the small battles to be won in the big game of cataloguing, nothing compares to the joy of completing one of those coveted sheets of 98 spine labels. When I completed my first sheet I was overwhelmed with emotions of accomplishment. I was peeling off the spine labels to give those once lonely books a name and a home in the library stacks. The biggest reward comes at the end of the cataloguing process when you get the privilege of starting a new sheet. Ninety-eight books to go!
Working in the LAS Libraries has been a great and beneficial experience. I will honestly miss LAS, and everything it has to offer.
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