A picture is worth a thousand words...

Today is my last day at the library for my internship. (Sad day.) I have had a lot of fun working here again. I have definitely been missing it.
Anyway, while I was working on getting some of my internship stuff situated, Brian from Special Collections came down and suggested a great picture: me sitting in my old corner with the current person looking angry:

Oh the mayhem... :D

Overall, it was a great day even thought it was my last day. Debbie bought pizza for the cataloging/acquisitions department. I still answered some reference questions at the desk. There was one lady who was not use to using a computer at all and was about to go after the public computer Office Space style...I'm glad I was there to help her out though. :)

Day 19 - June 7

(June 7th? Already?!) *Sheesh - where did time go?....
Today I was working on cataloging DVDs:
Life and works of Michelangelo
Horse sculpture of Deborah Butterfield
What's race got to do with it?

For the 'Horse Sculpture' record, there wasn't an authority record for Deborah Butterfield, so I got to create one. :)
We got a new version of ALEPH and had to get that set up and working OCLC so that I could export my records. :) I didn't get to exporting all my DVDs today, so I will have to do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is already my last day. (Crazy! Time goes by too fast...)
I got into a discussion with Shelby about some more things with RDA, specifically how things are translating for it and that some changes needed to happen because of the ONIX books peoples.

In the afternoon, I was at the reference desk. Most of the questions that took longer than others was helping patrons use the Microsoft product, Word and Powerpoint.
There was a time capsule sealing ceremony today as well at the library. (See post about Time Capsule.)
I worked with Victor in the evening at the desk. We got into a discussion over doing reference at various types of institutions and federated searches like UA has for their OPAC and various other related topics.
I also discovered the marker drawer. Today was a great day! (Apparently those draw erase markers work on water bottles very well...)

Day 18 - June 6

Today I was only at the reference desk. I mostly answered the phone and questions at the desk. One of the fun reference interactions if you will was hunting down a particular book. It's really nice to see if the library has that particular book or where a person might get it. I don't remember the titles at the moment but the library had one of the books they were looking for, but not the other.
Otherwise, I was modifying some of the LibGuides for one of the reference librarians here. :)

125th Anniversary Time Capsule for UND

People now have another excuse to come to the library! Well, those who are interested in history, particularly the time capsule for the 125th Anniversary for the University of North Dakota. They had a sealing ceremony here at the library in the 'Fish Bowl'.
What's really neat is that the capsule itself is going to be staying here at the library! So people will always be able to see the capsule. Neat! :D
The pictures are of the capsule itself in the 'Fish Bowl' and the handout that they had for the ceremony.

Day 17 - June 4

Today I worked on cataloging more DVDs. (Hey! They're fun! Sometimes they require me to watch part of it to get the record correct!)
With hand & heart
Life after oil
One of the records from yesterday was being exported into ALEPH, but didn't work out so well. Shelby even tried to export it with her highest level password, and that didn't work. We got it worked out though. Involves creating a new record and moving order records to the new record and deleting the old record.
Later in the afternoon I was at the desk again answering patron questions. One of the reference librarians had a question of how Google Docs works and I started to show her how to use that service. :)
(I didn't stay as long as I'd like to today due to something going on out at Firestarters in Ottertail, MN. So I left a couple hours early in order to get there.)

Day 16 - June 3

Well I have pretty much finished all the different types of cataloging projects that I was assigned. For cataloging I worked on cataloging more DVDs:
Art 21 : Season 5
Lascaux, a new look
Art of the American West

I was at the reference desk again for the afternoon. (Dictionary man strikes again!)
Long story other than there is a person in the area who likes to call all the libraries almost every day with a question about a word. They call us to find out the meaning of any word or how a word should be used. We don't know who it really is, but it's more of a nickname that was given.
Aside from phone questions, I started to work on the reference binder again. I tried to work with a wiki for the binder but I'm not having very much luck. I went to our resident computer guru for some help - I know he's very busy but he'll help in anyway he can with the time I have left.
I also worked on understanding how Meebo would work for the reference librarians and how that gets embedded into the LibGuides and what not.
Oh which reminds me - I embedded a Meebo chat thats really me on the Online Reference Tools LibGuide so that they could see how it functions.

Day 15 - June 2

Well, my list of things of cataloging projects is coming to an end. I added some fields that were needed for Paul Kannowski - there were some of his works that were published that were donated to the library; he is a UND alumni and professor for many years here at UND. After I added those notes, I got to see how children's and young adult literature is cataloged here at the library.
A long time ago, there was a library school here for about 10 years or so in the 1960s. With that being said, there were children's and young adult literature that was collected. After the library school here got the ax from the university, all the books needed to go somewhere and they were moved over here to the main library. The main collection of the library is done with Library of Congress classification. This collection however is done with Dewey. (Or at least that's how I remember what Joan was telling me. She's the one who gets to catalog all those items. How fun!)
One really cool thing that I learned was more ways to search OCLC for records. A lot of fields of what is needed for regular books are pretty much the same, such as a 100 or 245 field. Fields that are added to children's / young adults records are 520, 521 and 082/092 fields (well and 700 for illustrators.)
Anywhoozers, searching in OCLC:
to search an author, you need the first 4 letters of the last name, first 3 letters of the first name and middle initial.
to search the title, you need the first 3 letters of the first word of the title, first 2 letters of the second word, first 2 letters of the third word and first letter of the fourth word.
Author and Title search, first four letters of the authors last name (comma) and first four letters of the title.
Corporate bodies, such as American Quarter Horse Association, can be searched as well, but there are some stop words. Stop words are ones that there are so many of them that its not searched, such as American or Society.
/ can be used as well with years or types of materials that are being searched. / can be used multiple times.
(Very useful way of searching if you ask me!) I did learn some more way of how you can search WorldCat Local as well with the advanced and expert search. He uses this at time to see what is not held by the library for developing the collection in his areas.
There was another reference meeting today as well. I showed the reference librarians my LibGuide of the Online Reference Tools. There were other issues that they discussed in the meeting as well such as funding and things specific to the library.
Afterward, I was at the desk again and worked on LibGuides for and the reference binder that is here at the desk.

Day 14 - June 1

Today I was working on the manuscript records again (Kannowski records). For the Frances Kannowski record, we wondered if we should add a subject field about Kannowski park here in Grand Forks (park named in her honor, from what I gather). I needed to find more information from more reliable sources than Wikipedia and I came across what I thought was another Kannowski record. Well, turns out there were additional donations to that record. So I had to fix and add quite a bit of my original record for her. Good thing I went through part of additional donations to the original donation of Paul Kannowski to know how I had to build and fix this one.
In the afternoon, I finally finished the LibGuide for the Online Reference Tools - which is a collection of useful sites by topic, such as Dictionaries or News. Yay!! :D
I also worked on LibGuides for one of the other reference librarians and finished ones for Communication Sciences and Disorders and Economics. Well they are mostly completed - resources that are in print will be added. :)

Day 13 - May 31

Today was a shorter day again due to the Memorial Day holiday. I worked at the Reference Desk with Sally. I worked on LibGuides again - which I have almost finished! Yay!!
This LibGuide has been taking awhile to complete since its from the Reference Online Tools tab from the OPAC. They termed the Reference Online Tools as Website (and some databases) that would be useful to a person, by topic. Such as Encyclopedias, Employment or News. :)

Day 12 - May 28

Today was a shorter day, where I was working on the Kannowski records again. :)
I got into a discussion with Shelby about and ILS systems. One was Ventura - they are vendor that that she said has tried to get FRBR. (Ah yes, that FRBR has raised it's complicated head once more!)
I don't know what prompted but I showed her UA's library opac with the Discovery Search. We agreed that it could be helpful for those who don't know how to do searching or what they are searching for.
(Today was a shorter day because I needed to get to Fargo to get in touch with my shop at the Guard, and get set up for my last online class. Today was also marking one year since Jarrett and I started dating. Yay!)

Day 11 - May 27

In the morning, I was working on the Kannowski records again. I found that with Paul Kannowski, there were 3 separate donations. So I had to create a main record with all the donation information on them. (Pick an easy record to start with? Nope!)
After, getting as much as I could in those records - I put them back in save in OCLC. Shelby and Beth are going to look over them to be sure that they are good to go since there was so much stuff that had to go into them.
Shelby then started to talk about ContentDM. Oh another thing to wrap my brain around! :)
In the afternoon, I started to work on the LibGuides again. Sally talked to me about the Business Librarian position - there were 56 applicants for the position. Wow! She talked about how they look at the applications and rank them with points. I didn't rank high enough, which was fine with me. I didn't think I'd stack up enough against those applicants who already had their ALA degree and experience as a Business Librarian, even though they know me. Meh. :)
Well, that prompted me to show her about the position that is currently open at MSUM in Moorhead, MN. She wanted me to work on applying for that as well. :) It's a big help to get all that put together and get some feedback about what to do and not do with my resume and what not. Win!

Day 10 - May 26

This morning, I spent some more time with Special Collections trying to figure out the particulars with the MD Bulter record. I guess there was a main company, but there was stores in two different towns, Tolna and Brocket, ND, and these stores went by different names. It got worked out though!
After that record, I started to look at other records to do. So I started with Frances Kannowski. However, when starting it, I found that there were related records for:
Max Kannowski and Paul Kannowski.
The neat thing about putting together records is seeing what kind of people they were and needing to do alittle research inorder to get have a nice record of what the donation was about. :)

In the afternoon, I was out at the reference desk again. There was a reference meeting as well that I presented the Reference Department about using some social networking tools in the library - Meebo, Facebook and Twitter. We had a good discussion about it and it sounds like something that they may start using. Yay!

Day 9 - May 25

Today was different from the other days. This morning I spent with Reference and the afternoon with Cataloging. I spent this morning with Reference due to helping out Janet S. with teaching her class. It was suppose to be 9-11a - however it turned out to almost be 3 hours instead. Some of the students started to do research and they needed our help. One thing I found with some of the students was some of the students didn't really know what they were asking with their research questions. It really made me think about "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and their quest of knowing the question in order to know the answer.
After getting the students to think about their question more, we were able to get some of the answers they were seeking. And it was like a light went on in their heads of our purpose. Ding!
In the after lunch, I started to catalog some of the manuscripts that are held up in Special Collections - specifically the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection. I worked with Beth with the record for MD Butler. We had to go pull the record in order to get a fuller idea of how to catalog this particular record. Its said Paper, but found that it really was Records of his business, MD Butler and Co.

Day 8 - May 24

Today I finished cataloging the 2 eBooks I was given:

Aerodynamic design of transport aircraft by Obert

Multitasking myth: handling complexity in real-world operations by Loukopoulos

After I completed the eBooks, I looked at eJournals:
Jewish Journal

Italian Voice

The titles are now searchable in the OPAC now. :)
After I completed that - I started to look at how manuscripts are cataloged.

In the afternoon, it was back to the reference desk and working on LibGuides. :)
It's kinda slow right now...well alright, lets face it - it's slow. Summer semesters at the moment are generally like that from what I remember and what I hear from the Reference staff. But if things get too crazy I have a handy dandy button to push to call them from their offices in the back. :)

Day 7 - May 23

This was a short day today. Well it's also Sunday and I didn't get to the library as early as I'd like to (laundry and driving from Fergus Falls, MN took up my time today...)
I worked with Janet S. at the Reference desk. We started to look at preparing for her class that will be on Tuesday. The class is an English class, I believe is ENG 120-something, Business Writing. From the sounds of it, the class will be looking at non-profit organizations in groups and doing some research about them. We put together some websites that were about non-profits and found the sites to specific organizations such as the Red Cross.

Day 6 - May 21

Today I spent my time with the cataloging department with my original record for the DVD talked about yesterday.
One really neat thing was I got to create 2 authority records for the DVD! Yays! They're actually a lot easier than I thought they would be. :) One thing about them is, once you submit them, it takes awhile to update them if you happened to misspelled name or found more information. Yikes!
I started to look at how eBooks are cataloged as well today. :) I'm going to have to figure out my U-Mail password now to get into the system to get to those books that I need to catalog... can't remember that crazy 15 digit thing they made us UNDers change to a couple years ago...

Day 5 - May 20

Today I was doing some original cataloging for a DVD - Combined heat and Power .
There was also a cataloger's meeting of all the catalogers for the library. We covered various issues , such as with Theses and eBook records.
Later in the afternoon, I was at it again with answering reference questions at the desk and working on the Online Reference Tools LibGuides.
One of the reference librarian, Kristen, had a class come into the library. I was able to sit in and see how she teaches her classes. It was really insightful to see an approach of how you can try to teach incoming students who would rather be on Facebook or doing something else when the class is really to their benefit for their research...
Just before the library closed, there was an email question that came in about a journal article. Turns out the library has it, but unfortunately its only in print.

Day 4 - May 19

Today, I'm still working on the DVD cataloging. Some of the DVDs have brief records in OCLC, which means I get to add and change all sorts of stuff to make the records all pretty. :) There will be six DVDs in all that I am working on:
Seraphine
Summer Hours
Night & Fog
Alternative Energy (Green Works)
Guerrillas in Our Midst
Adlerian Therapy
While I was exporting some of the records, I thought I broke ALEPH, which didn't completely surprise me. I remember it acting pretty finicky when I was here a couple years ago. What it was doing was not creating item records for these DVDs. ...I later figured it out... I missed something when I exported... Wow it had been awhile since I cataloged with ALEPH!
In the afternoon with Reference, I was assigned the fun task of putting together a libguide for the Online Reference Tools. Doesn't look very pretty... may take a little while...

Day 3 - May 18

Well I started to put some records together for the DVDs I was given. But then I got distracted by an OCLC presentation.
The OCLC presentation was about their services that they could offer the library (Web-scale Management Services and cooperative cataloging.) It was good and I was able to follow what they were talking about.
After lunch, I was talking with Sally and she asked me about using social networking tools for this library. I discussed this with the other reference librarians here, who seemed to be mostly for it. Today I answered my first real reference question too!! The patron was looking for a specific book. It turns out that the library did not have it but I found that the Grand Forks Public Library had it!
I used WordCat to find it. Don't remember the name of the book now but eh I found it. Win! :)
I started to learn about LibGuides and started to build them for the library here. The one for English was the first one that I did, and I suggested that they could do: add print resources to their specific guides and as well as work with the specific departments for more resources. :)

Day 2 - May 17

Today I exported those "Why?" radio records into the catalog. I had to be set up with an ALEPH username and password again. Yays! :)
After I got that all straightened out, I started to look at how DVDs are cataloged. (Wow and are there a lot of specific rules...)
I also got it figured out how I'm going to divide my time between Cataloging and Reference. In the mornings I will be cataloging and in the afternoons I will be at the Reference Desk.
In the afternoon, Sally, the head of the Reference department, took me around the department. Some things have changed and some haven't in the couple years that I've been gone. It was good to hear about what's going on now. I got to work at the desk with Will, who is actually our new resident computer wizard, who will does reference at times as well.
At this library, they are going through the process of going through applicants for the Business reference librarian position. Since I am in the process of applying for librarian positions, they gave me some pointers of when it comes to applying. Win! (I would very much like a job back here in the frozen tundra I call home...even if it doesn't end up being in Grand Forks...somewhere in the Red River Valley area would be just fine.)

Day 1 - May 14

(I know this is a little after the fact, but...)

Yea! It's my first day of my internship. I started out the day with cataloging. Oh but not just your regular copy cataloging like I did so many years ago..ok well like 2 years ago...
I got set up with one of the computers in the back more on the Acquistions side of the department (which is a little different for me...I got so use to my little corner facing Shelby's office...)
I started cataloging streaming audio records for a radio show called "Why?" I did episodes 13-16:
"Why? Episode 13. Ideology and curriculum: 30 years of a discussion [electronic resource]"
"Why? Episode 14. The humanities in America: the case for public funding [electronic resource]"
"Why? Episode 15. The profession of philosophy [electronic resource]"
"Why? Episode 16. Empathy, the Constitution, and sexual orientation [electronic resource]"

I also talked with Janet Spaeth, one of the reference librarians here at the Chester Fritz Library. She talked to me about helping her teach a class at the library about how to use the libraries resources on May 25th.
I will be able to get some reference desk time, but I'm still trying to work out a good schedule with that. :)