I have hit a bit of a lull this week with the cataloging portion of my internship. Because the department that enters our records into the database has been short staffed, I have not received any new records to catalog. Also, the staff member who sends new records to catalog has not received base MARCs. Therefore, I have not have any new records to catalog. In the meantime, I have been conducting research for my final paper. All of the Mitinet interns are required to write a position paper on a topic of our choosing. I thought it would be interesting to research careers that involve cataloging and trends related to cataloging or metadata jobs. A large portion of my research so far has been looking through job lists for jobs pertaining to cataloging or metadata. While some may feel like cataloging knowledge is no longer a necessary skill set, I have found the opposite to be true. I will report more of my findings as I continue my research.
On top of writing my paper, Mitinet is getting ready to introduce a new website that we will use in our cataloging process. We were told it should streamline the process and allow us to catalog more quickly and efficiently. My site supervisor is comparing all the intern and independent cataloging contractor schedules to set up training sessions for all of us to learn how to use the new technology. Fingers crossed it won't be too complicated!
Unfortunately having lulls in the work you can complete happens--then you are rushed to get the work done when it is finally sent on to you. It is good you have a paper to work on. I wonder if you'd be willing to share a summary of your findings through the virtual internship blog Melissa edits for the school. Maybe you could provide a paragraph or two written summary and some slides? That would be of interest to students considering cataloging careers as well as the faculty who teach it. Let me know if you are willing to do this. Pat Franks
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