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Follow a Book Through Tech Services
From ordering ... to cataloging ... to covering... to you!
Do you ever wonder how books, tapes and CDs get into the library?
First, the Adult and Youth Service librarians search through catalogs of new books and tapes and decide which items are best for the collection. They mark the ones they want and send the marked catalogs to the Technical Services Department.
In Technical Services:
1. The Acquisitions Manager gathers these book and audio-visual catalogs.
2. She and the Acquisitions Asst place orders online or over the phone with the book vendors (Baker and Taylor, Books on Tape, Inc., etc.)
3. When the orders arrive, the Acquisitions Asst opens the boxes. She updates each online order to indicate that the item has arrived and distributes the items to shelves for the catalogers.
4. The catalogers take the books and a-v materials to their cubicles.
5. With a cart full of books or a-v items, a cataloger logs onto OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). Ohio-based OCLC is an online database of millions of electronic records that include descriptions of each item: author, title, publication information, number of pages, etc. The catalogers search the OCLC database for a record for each item on their cart, and download the records into the WRL database.
6. Once records have been downloaded, the catalogers determine where to shelve each item. Using books or CD-Roms with listings and explanations of the Dewey Decimal Classification system and Library of Congress Subject Headings, they edit the record to include the call number and subject headings we will use.
7. Catalogers link the actual item to the record by placing a barcode on the back of the book or somewhere on an a-v item and entering the same barcode number in the computer. The cataloger prints the call number labels you see on the spines of books, on the videos, the compact discs, and the cassettes.
8. Once the books are cataloged and labeled, they are sent to the Technical Services Assistant. Books with dust jackets receive mylar covers, and paperback covers are taped inside and out.
9. The Technical Services Assistant places green dots on the backs of books for the James City County Library, gold dots for the Bookmobile, and no dots for the Williamsburg Library.
10. The catalogers design and create the paper insert covers for the cassettes, particularly the books-on-tape. They choose designs and borders from a computer graphics program that help illustrate the subject of the cassette. Summaries of the plot are also added to this cover.
When the books, videos, compact discs, and cassettes are processed, they are checked for holds. Then the shelvers in the Collections Services Department shelve them according to their spine labels and dots.
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