[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: the invisible cataloging system



The Culinary Institute of America has a collection of about 1000 rare
books relating to cookery, domestic science, winemaking, brewing,
etc., that are not currently listed in the online catalog, and
probably will not be for quite a while. They are arranged on the
shelves by main entry (or by what the person who did this arrangement
many years ago thought was the main entry...). When I took over the
collection about a year and a half ago, there was a card catalog for
the books, with one section by main entry and one by date of
publication. There were also two MS Word documents that listed some of
the books (author, title, place of publication, publisher, date) in
main entry order. In going through these, I discovered that there were
two more groups of book for which I did not have word-processed lists,
and made lists for those groups, also (at some point, the four groups
of books need to be rearranged into one, when I find time). I have
also been working on achieving better bibliographic control of the
collection: checking various catalogs such as LC to determine the
correct main entry, etc.

This system is not perfect, but the collection does not get a whole
lot of use, and is small enough that I can use the lists as an access
point. Having them as word processed documents allows me to pull up
the list on my computer and search for a word, such as an author's
name, etc., when I am looking for something specific. I can give them
to users who want to get an idea of what all is in the collection; for
this purpose, they are actually better than an online catalog.

Eventually I plan to put rare book identification strips (available
from Gaylord, etc.: strips of acid-free paper specifically made to
insert in rare books: can be bought plain or with a pre-cut tab that
ensures that they stick out the top) into the books with
identification to help me when I'm trying to locate one whose identity
is not obvious from the spine.

Eventually I also hope to have some sort of database for the books.
But since they don't get a lot of use, the word-processed lists at
least give adequate access to the collection.



Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer
Special Collections Librarian/Archivist

Culinary Institute of America
1946 Campus Drive
Hyde Park, NY  12538
(845) 451-1757
c_crawfo@culinary.edu

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>