Reference Questions, 12/8/09

This is my last shift of the semester and year. Yay! Next semester I will no longer be taking reference training. This makes me happy.

1. A student was looking for the Multicultural Center. It is in the EUC.
2. A student was looking for books for adult literacy, not about it.
3. A student was looking for science fiction film journals.
4. (Chat) A student had an APA citation question. (Not a fan of chat citation questions.)
5. A student had a question about checking out journals.
6. A student had a question about free printing.
7. (Chat) A student had an APA citation question.
8. A student had a question about what part of the library is open all night.
9. A student wanted to know what day it was. It's that time of year I guess.
10. (Phone) Someone wanted to speak to Jenny.
11. A student was looking for the circulation desk.
12. (Chat) A student had an APA citation question.
13. A student needed resources for a paper she was writing on Joan of Arc.
14. (Phone) A patron was looking for and issue of the United States Naval Institute Proceedings from 1931.
15. A student wanted to know where the nearest bathroom was located.
16. A student was looking for books on resume writing.
17. (Chat) A student had a question about accessing a database.
18. (Chat) A student had a complaint about a loud student in a quiet area.

See you next semester. :)

Reference Questions, 12/5/09

This is my last weekend shift of the semester. Monday is the last day of classes. Let's hope for a calm shift. I am still not 100% from my stomach illness.

1. A student had pulled the names of the books she wanted out of the catalog, but had not written down the call numbers. She wanted me to go find the call numbers in the catalog for her, even though she had just been in the catalog and could have done it herself. Her handwriting was not the best and I kept typing in the incorrect names for the books and she never told me that what I was typing was incoreect. She just kept saying over and over that they had been in the catalog when she looked earlier. A loving interaction to start off the shift.
2. (Phone) I had to put this person on hold because I had 2 people at the desk and when I went back he was gone.
3. A student had a question about finding the full text of an article.
4. (Phone) A student was having trouble printing a pdf file.
5. A student had a question about APA in-text citations.
6. A student needed a government document and had a question about where to find a book.
7. A student wanted to know if the library was hiring for the winter break. I sent them to the circ desk.
8. (Chat) A student had a question about finding scholarly articles.
9. A student wanted to know if the library is open tomorrow.
10. A student was looking for articles on Russia's military reform in the Concurrent Digest of the Post-Soviet Press.
11. A student wanted to know how to access their R drive from their own computer. It's myfiles.uncg.edu
12. (Chat) A student wanted to know what time the library closed tonight. 10:00 p.m.

I have been feeling worse as this shift has progressed. I hate the thought of having to go to the doctor about this stomach problem. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great Christmas break.

Reference Questions, 12/1/09

The first day of December and only a week left in this semester. I've been fighting a terrible stomach flu for the past several days. Hope I don't pass out at the desk. And the library is packed! Oy vey.

1. A student needed to find a poem written about a painting, or a painting painted about a poem. I directed her best I could.
2. A student had been locked out of their computer.
3. A student wanted to know how the signal in the Stacks and Basement were.
4. A student wanted to know where the newspapers were located.
5. (Chat) A student wanted to know if microfilm could be checked out from the library.
6. A student was looking for a Webster's Dictionary.
7. A student was looking for a book by Helen Vendler.
8. A student was looking for a book on reserve.
9. (Phone) A nursing student needed help searching CINAHL.
10. A student had a question about searching the databases.
11. A student was looking for a book on reserve.
12. An A&T student wanted to know where the bathroom was located.
13. An A&T student wanted to know what books were on what floors.
14. An A&T student wanted to know where the Music Library is located.
15. (Chat) A student wanted to know if there was a scanner for students to use anywhere.
16. A student had a question about registration.
17. A student wanted to make some people in a group study area be quiet. Sorry it is a group study area. I told him where the quiet study areas are.
18. A student had a question about checking out a locker in the library.
19. (Chat) A student was looking for a list of Ph.D. program in New York.
20. A student was looking for his lost keys.
21. (Chat) A student was looking for a performance review of Death of a Salesman.
22. (Chat) A student was having trouble logging into a database.

Only one more Tuesday shift left in the semester. :)

Reference Questions, 11/24/09

This is a short 2 hour shift because this is Thanksgiving week! I am thankful for this short shift. :)

1. (Phone) An adjunct LIS professor called and wanted me to put a sign on the Citi lab. He was supposed to have class in there tonight, but since we are closing early he decided to move it back to the regular class room.
2. A student wanted to know what time the UTLC closed tonight.
3. A student was looking for the Singer Sewing Book, and we in fact had it.
4. (Phone) Someone wanted to know what time the library closed tonight. We close at 7. :)
5. A student was looking for an article entitled The Corleone CHRONICLES.
6. (Phone) An adjunct LIS professor called and wanted me to go check in the Citi lab and make sure none of his students were in there waiting for class to begin.
7. A student wanted to borrow a pencil.
8. A student wanted to know what time the library would be open tomorrow.
9. A student wanted to know what time the library would be open tomorrow.
10. (Phone) Someone wanted to know what time the library would be open tomorrow.
11. A student wanted to know what time the library would be open tomorrow.
12. A student wanted to know when the library closed tonight. In 10 minutes dude!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away! Yay for turkey!! I am also thankful for the fact that most people seem to have left campus and that this was a pie of a shift. :)

Reference Questions, 11/21/09

Well, today is my grandpa's birthday, but instead of going out with the family, I'm here on the reference desk. A librarian's work is never done. :(

1. (Chat) Took over a chat from Darryl. I do not like taking over chats. : The student had a question about majors and the abbreviation lic.
2. A student was looking for sources on ethics in social psychology research and experiments.
3. (Chat) A student was looking for a book entitled American First Ladies Their Lives and Their Legacy edited by Lewis L. Gould.
4. A student was looking for resources concerning hip hop and language for and English class.
5. A student had a question about accessing an article.
6. (Chat) A student had a question about registration and tuition bills.
7. A student wanted to know where she could access the towers.
8. A student was looking for a book. She already had the call number. She also wanted to know what the E represented. American History of course. And she also wanted to know what range African American history would be located in.
9. A student had a question about finding books.
10. A student wanted to know if you could print from the reference computers.
11. (Chat) A student wanted to know if the Citi Lab computers had Microsoft Office.
12. A student was looking for resources on the song Strange Fruit that was sung by Billie Holiday and the poem that was written about that song by Joy Harjo.
13. Showed a student how to unlock their computer.
14. A student needed books on the Erie Canal.

Pretty slow night. Had a few bursts of people here and there, but overall it was quiet. Just they way I like it. :)

Reference Questions, 11/17/09

Had a crazy time getting here. Ever heard of 4 o'clock traffic? Nice...

1. Two students wanted to know where they could make copies and how much it cost.
2. A student was looking for sources for a research paper on the G20 summit and the current economic crisis.
3. A student needed a pair of scissors.
4. A student needed me to continue holding 2 books at the ref desk for her.
5. A student needed help with a research paper that he was writing on Somolian pirates. It was for a PolySci class so his class had a Course Guide ready to use. (Lynda is awesome!) I showed it to him and then showed him how to do some searches.
6. Showed a student how to work the microfilm machines.
7. The student from #6 had a printing problem with the microfilm machine. Microfiche is wonderful. ;)
8. A student paid for some printouts and then had a question about reserving microfilm.
9. A student was looking for furniture journals.
10. A student needed to writing a viewpoint paper about election spending. Opposing Viewpoints to the rescue.
11. A student was looking for Hunted, Book 5 of the House of Night series. We did not have it so I helped her ILL it.
12. (Chat) An undergraduate student wanted to know how many books they could check out at once, the answer is 300.
13. A student was looking for sources on illegal dumping off the coast of Africa.
14. (Chat) A student wanted to know how to check their flex account.
15. (Chat) A student had a question about the SSRN database.
16. A student wanted to know where the bathroom is located.
17. Two students were looking for the Something About the Author books.
18. A student wanted to know where a certain book was located.
19. A student was looking for books about Walt Disney.
20. Two students were looking for books on West African colonization.

Reference Questions, 11/10/09

The crunch is on. So much work due this month. My sanity is hanging by a thread.

1. A student was looking for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
2. A student had a question about ILL.
3. A Guilford College student had a question about checking out books.
4. A Grimsley High School student was looking for books and/or articles on the IRA, the Irish War for Independence, terrorist and guerrilla tactics.
5. A student was having trouble finding his topic in the Encyclopedia Britannica. The book he needed was not there.
6. Two ENG 106 students were looking for publications by poets during the years 1912-1922. Their poets were Witter Bynner and Arthur Davison Ficke.
7. An LIS student needed to use the computers that had the STAT USA software on them.
8. A student needed to see UNCG's Undergraduate Bulletin and had a question about how to access the online course catalog.
9. A student was looking for a fax machine. According to Lynda there is one in the EUC and the Dining Hall. (possibly)
10. A student was looking for articles on energy production along the coast of NC. I directed her to the Biology databases. She said it was for a biosphere class.
11. A student was looking for a book Becoming New Yorkers. It was checked out so I explained to her about ILL.
12. A student was looking for a book in the reference department.
13. A student had a question about APA citations. I had to use the book. I am not a fan of the book.
14. A student had a question about accessing an article in Web of Science.
15. A student was looking for books on justice, human rights and transitional justice.
16. A student was having trouble finding articles on solar power in NC. I'm afraid I wasn't much help. There is not much out there on it.
17. A student was looking for books on Christian Dior.
18. (Chat) A student was looking for a video on why Central America has limited jobs. I could not find a single one.
19. A student was looking for food safety statistics for Guilford County. I couldn't find a thing. So frustrating.
20. (Chat) A student had a question about an MLA citation for a web page. I hate citation questions.

My brain is still operating at the speed of molasses. I can't wait to see the end of this semester.

Reference Questions, 11/8/09

AASL is over, thank God. I have not gotten a good night's sleep since Monday night. I hope I do not fall asleep at the desk.

1. A student wanted to know where the Teaching Resource Center was located.
2. A student was looking for books on vampires in modern literature.
3. A student wanted to know where Special Collections was located.
4. A student was looking for the APA Citation sheet that we make.
5. (Chat) A student was looking for books on the history of sororities at UNCG.
6. (Phone) A student was looking for articles on traumatic brain injury and risk factors.
7. (Chat) lost a chat while I was on the phone.
8. (Chat) A student was looking for Palestine By Joe Sacco.
9. A student was having trouble logging into the ref computers.
10. A student was looking for resources for an ENG 106 assignment that has been plaguing the ref desk this week. the students have to find an author in Poetry magazine (1912-1922) and then go and find books of poetry written by them from that same time period. it is a very labor intensive assignment.
11. Another student came up with a question about finding sources for the ENG 106 poetry assignment.
12. Yet another question concerning sources for the ENG 106 assignment. (same student from #10)
13. A student was looking for books on Augustus Caesar and his army reforms.
14. A student was looking for books on African languages, specifically Bamara.

Glad this was a slow night. My brain has been having trouble functioning all night. I desperately need sleep. I am so glad to be home. Sleep will be had tonight, finally.

Reference Questions, 11/3/09

After sitting in traffic on I-40 for 50 minutes I am finally here. I leave for AASL today. I wish this week would just end! :(

1. A student had a question about ILL.
2. An LIS student had a question about where to find a reference book, the American Reference Books Annual.
3. The student from #1 had another ILL question, she wanted me to check and make sure she had filled the form out correctly.
4. A student was looking for the nearest bathroom.
5. A student was looking for the sheet music to Sunbonnet Sally and Overall Jim by Frederick G. Johnson. UNCG doesn't have it, but I found it online at Mississippi State University. i helped the student ILL it.
6. A student had a question about APA citations.
7. A student was looking for books ans scholarly articles on African-American soldiers and the Civil War.
8. A student was trying to find information through Google on Happy Meals Farm in North Carolina.
9. A student was looking for scholarly articles and books on gender roles and fairy tales.
10. A student was looking for books on children and fairy tales.
11. A student needed her computer unlocked.
12. A student needed a stapler.
13. A patron needed a username and password for a guest computer.
14. A student wanted to know where to find some books she had looked up in the catalog.
    
15. (Chat) A student was having trouble accessing UNCGenie. They were trying to register for classes, along with everyone else. I couldn't get it to load either, so i am assuming that it's just getting overloaded with all the requests.
16. A student was looking for the lost and found.
17. A student was looking for the bathroom.
    
18. A patron needed a username and password for a guest computer.
19. A student was looking for the nearest postal facility. (His words not mine.)
    
20. A patron needed a username and password for a guest computer.
21. (Chat) Someone typed some gibberish then closed the chat. Funny.
22. A student needed the microfilm for Vogue for the years 1940-1944. We only had 1944, someone else must have 1940-1943.
23. A student was looking for journal articles on world hunger and poverty. It was for a PSC class and the wonderful PSC librarian had made a research guide for his class, so i just directed him to it and he was very happy about it. :)
24. A student needed help with a journal, the British Medical Journal.
25. A student needed help finding an article that her professor had told her about.
26. More assistance with the British Medical Journal.
    

Now I'm off to Charlotte for AASL to see the culmination of 3 semesters worth of work. I'll be glad when it's all over.

Reference Questions, 10/31/09

Halloween on the reference desk. Let's hope it doesn't get too scary. ;)

1. (Phone) A student was looking for peer reviewed research articles on sports injuries (sprains and strains) and research articles on motor development. SPORT Discus is the place.
2. A patron needed a guest username and password.
3. A student was having trouble finding a book in the basement.
4. A student wanted to know how to access the Oxford English Dictionary Online.
5. A patron was looking for one of the books that are noted in the display case across from the reference desk.
6. (Phone) A professor had a question about accessing an ebook. Then she realized that she has checked the actual book out and said she was going to go find it. Strange conversation. :)
7. A student needed help finding articles on autism, intervention and research. She was a grad student in the School of Ed., and very nice as well.
8. A student wanted to know where she could catch the GTA 1 bus on campus.
9. (Chat) Got a chat while helping the grad student (#7) and didn't get a chance to help them before they had already found the answer themselves.
10. A student was looking for sources on the Mariel Boatlift of 1980.
11. A student was looking for the bathroom.
12. The student from #10 had another question about databases.
13. The student from #10 was having trouble resetting his password.

Not scary at all, just a slow shift. Now off to the LIS Dept. Halloween party. :)

Independent Study, 10/28/09

Today is the last day of interviews on authority control with the cataloging staff at Jackson Library.

Cindy Zaruba

Cindy Zaruba is the Multiformats Cataloging Assistant for Jackson Library. She has also recently taken on some of the music cataloging as well. Cindy had some very interesting authority control stories. The first on she told me involved a UNCG faculty member. This faculty member had previously been married and since divorced. He and his wife had both hyphenated their names after that marriage. He had been published under that hyphenated name. The other day he contacted a reference librarian about the situation. I guess he had been searching the catalog and realized that his hyphenated name was still being used as the “official” form of his name. The reference librarian brought the situation to Cindy’s attention. She went to his authority record, and put the correct form in the 100 field and then moved the hyphenated form to the 400 field. She was able to change it in the UNCG catalog, however other libraries that have his books will have records that still use the hyphenated form of his name. It will have to be changed in OCLC. Paul Hessling will need to change it in OCLC.

In name authority records the 1XX fields contain the official form of the name, the 4XX fields contain the old form which is no longer authorized and the 5XX fields contain an older form of the name that is still a legitimate form for use. The best example of that is the UNCG authority file that was created by Paul Hessling.

Paul Hessling

Paul Hessling is the Special Collections/Chief Monographic Cataloger for Jackson Library. Paul repairs the authority records that already exist in UNCG’s catalog. He is also responsible for changing the authority records in OCLC. After changing the records in OCLC he then must wait for them to update the records. However, this whole process usually takes quite a while so Paul usually just changes the records in the catalog himself. His goal is to try to get the necessary authority records in at the same time as the items are cataloged, but that is not always a reality. In order to make a change in OCLC, it first must be reported to the Library of Congress with the proper documentation. If a library is a member of or takes part in a cooperative program such as NACO or BIBCO, then they are able to put records in or change records in OCLC.

Paul is also in charge of creating the library’s local authority records and the series authority records that UNCG uses, such as the Girls’ in Books Series authority records or the Women’s Detective Fiction Series. Many of the Women’s Detective Fiction Series was written by author’s who were writing under various pseudonyms. According to Paul, the Library of Congress is slow to realize that a pseudonym is a valid entry point. Therefore, he has created records for those pseudonyms himself.

Carolyn Bowen

Carolyn Bowen is the Multiformats Cataloger at Jackson Library. She is in charge of cataloging the library’s map collection. Maps offer an interesting authority problem. Geographic headings are either juristic or non-juristic. Juristic geographic headings are political, usually appear in the 1XX, 6XX or 7XX fields and a capable of authorship. Non-juristic geographic headings are used for geographic features such as mountain ranges or rivers, and are used in the 6XX field. Juristic headings can be difficult to pin down. For example, borders can change over time due to conquests, war, etc. Carolyn said Russia is a good example of this. Due to this problem, it can be challenging to figure out which geographic heading should be used. It is often a judgment call. Carolyn looks at similar records and consults the Subject Heading Manual and the Library of Congress Rule Interpretations to help her decide which headings are appropriate.

Reference Questions, 10/27/09

Lets hope chat is not as busy as it was Sunday. Oy vey, that was a chat nightmare.

1. A student had a question about APA citations.
2. A patron needed a guest username and password.
3. A student had another question about APA citations.
4. A student was looking for his course guide on the library website.
5. A student had a question about printing.
6. A student needed to use the print card. 10 cents please. :)
7. UPDATE: The library catalog just went down. Oh no! This is going to be a long night. :(
8. (Chat) A student needed a suicide assessment tool. I directed them toward the Mental Measurements database. Thank God she didn't need the catalog.
9. A student was looking for the reserves. Circ desk, next desk on the left. :) He had been trying to look the book up in the catalog, but I told him it was down. Then he said it's on reserve, so that one was easy.
10. A student was looking for the book Evening Thoughts. Thank God for Worldcat.
11. (Chat) The student from #8, still having trouble locating his assessment tool. I suggested he search a few full text databases and he may get lucky. I'm afraid the assessment he is looking for is copyrighted. and he may have to pay to get it. :(
12. A patron needed a guest username and password.
13. A patron was having trouble with a guest computer.
14. (Chat) A student was looking for books on modern dance.
15. A student was working on a paper on "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and depression and creativity. A very interesting topic for an ENG 105 class. I help her for a while and missed 2 chats in the process. Oh well.
16. A student had a question about how to email items he had found in a database to himself.
17. (Chat) A student was trying to search the catalog. It's still down. :( So I had to direct them to Worldcat, and explain to them how to use it.
18. Three students from Guilford College (including the one that insulted my accent a couple of months back, no I didn't forget) needed to use the guest computers for research.
19. One of the Guilford College students needed to print.
20. A student had a printing question.
21. (Chat) Lost another chat while helping #19 and #20.
22. Another printing question.
23. (Chat) A student was having trouble accessing the eHRAF World Culture database. They were because we discontinue its service.
24. (Chat) A student was looking for videos on Israeli culture.
25. (Chat) A student was looking for scholarly articles on why is prison rape prevalent.
26. A student was looking for music books and magazine articles in Billboard and Rolling Stone.

Busy night. :)

Reference Questions, 10/25/09

Sunday evening on the reference desk, take 43.

1. A student wanted to know if there was a color printer in at the reference computers. No there is not, but there is one in the SuperLab.
2. (Chat) A student wanted to point out that Edgar Allan Poe's name was misspelled in an ad on the library website.
3. (Chat) A student had a question about Chicago style citations for articles online.
4. (Chat) A student needed to find industry information on the magazine industry and the cosmetic/beauty product industry.
5. A student wanted to look at the new APA style guide.
6. A student was looking for primary sources and personal narratives of the Japanese during World War II.
7. (Chat) A student had a question about parenthetical citations in MLA style.
8. (Chat) A student had a question about accessing e-reserves.
9. The student from #6 returned and he decided to change his topic. He wasn't finding as many sources as he had hoped for. He is now looking for sources on the Normandy invasion.
10. A student needed to find issues of Poetry magazine from 1913-1923.
11. A NUR 210 student needed articles on Nurse practitioners and communication and Hispanics. CINAHL to the rescue.
12. (Chat) A student was looking for the EBSCO Newspaper Plus.
13. (Chat) A student looking for articles about the Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte. And how to do an outline in APA.
14. (Chat) A student wanted to know how to get abstract w/o clicking on articles.
15. (Chat) A student looking for articles about the Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte.

Most of these chats came at the same time and they all lasted for several minutes. Oh, what a night. :

Independent Study, 10/21/09

The authority control interviews continue. My observations a Jackson Library thus far are that some catalogers deal with authority control a lot more than others. For the most part though the concerns and issues are the same. The main concern is to make sure that every field is authorized and contains the correct forms of the titles, names, subject headings, etc.

Katherine Nunnally

Katherine Nunnally is the Serials Cataloging Team Assistant at Jackson Library. Her primary job is to handle serials, electronic journals and Journal Finder. She is also working on the government document project that several other catalogers are also working on. Every month Katherine gets the list of the journals that W.T. Cox has added to Journal Finder. The list is available in the administrators view of Journal Finder. After she has this list, she then checks the catalog to make sure that Jackson does not have these titles. For the titles that are not in the catalog, she creates records and links for them so that they can be searched for in the catalog. She uses copy cataloging for this. before adding the record she always checks it over to make sure that the subject headings used would benefit the students searching for it. Occasionally she has to translate the records from another language if she is dealing with a foreign journal. She simply uses Babelfish for this. Katherine deals more hands on with the only print journals. She is in charge of making sure their records are correct and that all the fields have been controlled. W.T. Cox handles all of the electronic journals. They are responsible for making sure that the links are active and that all of their fields are controlled.

When dealing with the government document cataloging project, Katherine has run into many of the same problems as the other catalogers have. The available records are very poorly cataloged. The government documents that they are cataloging are old, so there may have been department or name changes. Many of them have no subject headings whatsoever. These both present problems and make these records more difficult to catalog properly.

Edward Waters

Edward Waters is Serials Cataloging Assistant at Jackson Library. One of his responsibilities is to handle the transfer of serials from on department to another. For example from the reference department to the Stacks. He also takes care of the books being withdrawn from the collection. He also handles the serials that are cataloged as monographs. These titles have their own separate records for each book, instead of only one record for an entire set of books. These include titles such as the Dictionary of Literary Biography. The DLB titles are classed together meaning that the entire set is kept together. There are also serials that are classed separate, this means that for whatever reason, the library has chosen to separate this collection. An example of this is the Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications. These books will all appear in the Q's, but they will not be together. Authority control issues very rarely come up in the work that he typically does.

Edward, like many of the catalogers in Jackson library, is also working on the Government Document cataloging project. He says the same things that the other catalogers are saying about this project. The records are messy. There are very few DLC records available for these items, so the records have to be throughly checked to make sure that they are controlled. OCLC is used for confirmation. Oftentimes when working on the government documents he just has to work out what is right.

Reference Questions, 10/20/09

Get start to the shift, on the way over here I got cussed by a relative. Hopefully things will improve from here.

1. A student had a question about an online reference tutorial.
2. A student wanted to use the phone at the desk. When I told him that we are not allowed to let patrons use the phone, he grew irratated. I told him he could use the payphone in the lobby. He went to use the payphone, it took his money so he was then really upset. He demanded that we contact someone and get his 50 cents back. Lea then said he could use the phone. I took his contact information and Lea contacted the assistant dean of administrative services about the incident.
3. A student was having trouble opening a file he had on a flashdrive. He said he thought the file had been messed up some how so I sent him to the SuperLab.
4. A student wanted the library hours sheet.
5. A student needed books on the Greek symposium. A hard topic, I was able to find only two books and two articles, but he seemed satisfied with that.
6. An LIS student pointed out that one of our Express Machines was down. We restarted it, hope that fixes it.
7. A student needed to borrow a highlighter.
8. A nursing student needed help with searching databases and the catalog. Her topic was horizontal violence and nursing.
9. A student was looking for an NC doc. It was available online though, so I showed her how to access it.
10. A patron was looking for articles by Courtland Lee, who is a psychologist. He also needed a guest username and password.
11. A patron needed a guest username and password.
12. A student was looking for a Spanish/English dictionary she said was in the Reference Dept. However, after she took the book, she tried to check it out. Reference books cannot be checked out, so she needed to find one she could check out.
13. A student needed to borrow a pencil.
14. A student needed to borrow a pencil.

A slow shift. Things calmed down after that disgruntled student. I don't know why people feel they need to take their frustrations out on others. I'm just glad that kind of thing doesn't happen much.

Reference Questions, 10/18/09

A Sunday on the desk. Why am I so sleepy.

1. A student was looking for STD statistics by county. NC LINC is a great source for these type of questions.
2. (Chat) An LIS student wanted to kow which database they could use to find how many times an article had been cited by other articles. Social Science Citation Index of course.
3. (Chat) A student wante dot know how to look for popular novels in the collection.
4. (Chat) A student was having trouble with an EBSCO database.
5. (Chat) A student wanted to search magazine articles from the 1970s. This is a good source for that: https://library.uncg.edu/depts/ref/handouts/primary.asp#indexes
6. A student wanted to know how to cite a picture in MLA. I could not find anything on that.
7. A student wanted to know where the bathroom was located.
8. A student wanted to borrow a highlighter.
9. A student was looking for room 247B.
10. A student was looking for the elevators.
11. An LIS student was looking for an encyclopedia that dealt with multiculturalism. I suggested the Encylcopedia of Multicultural Education.
12. A student was looking for books on Ralph Ellison.
13. A student needed help with database searching. He was a grad student and his topic was obesity in African-American males in the Southern US. His class had a research guide so that made it easy.
14. A student was looking for the group study area. We have several. She was supposed to meet her group at the circulation desk, so I pointed her in that direction.
15. Two students were looking for the collaboratories.
16. A student wanted to know how late the library is open tonight. It's open all night.
17. A student had the call number for a book and wanted to know where she could find it. It is in the Basement. I believe that's where they put all the books they don't want checked out. :)
18. A student was looking for books on censorship and the theatre.
19. A student wanted to know where the TRC was located.
20. A fellow LIS 650 student had a few questions about becoming a GA.
21. A student had a question about using a business database. I'm afraid the information she wanted just wasn't available through the database she was trying to use. I suggested that she contact her professor.
22. A student needed books on neonatal nursing.

Lynda took chat after question 5, because she said she wanted me available to the people who would come by the desk. No complaints from me. I am no fan of chat reference. This shift felt extra long for some reason. I am so glad it's over.

Independent Study, 10/14/09

Today I continued interviewing the cataloging staff about their dealings with authority control.

Clara Kelly

Clara Kelly is the Monographic/Special Collections Cataloging Assistant at Jackson Library. She handles cataloging the Girls’ Books in Series and the Women’s Detective Fiction collections for the Special Collections and University Archives. This collection consists of books that have been donated and that Special Collections have collected. Many of the books in these collections are much older, and therefore may not have authority records. Special Collections decides what names are used for the author, uniform title, etc. Another problem that these books have is that many of the authors used numerous pseudonyms during their careers. Notes of these various pseudonyms are made in separate 700 field entries. Clara has a card file that was started by Special Collections that contains the official uniform entries for authors and titles that they have chosen to use. As new authors are acquired, Clara adds to this card file so that a record can be kept of all authority records created or used. Special Collections may decide to call a series by a different name than the one used by OCLC. This is also kept up in the card file that Clara uses. Clara goes by the form that has been established by Special Collections for these series. Recently Special Collections began adding a 690 field to the Girls’ Books in Series collection, making it so that when someone searches Girls’ Books in Series as a keyword search all 2,706 books in the collection are retrieved. Special Collections is also in the process of working on a list of all the series that are contained in this collection.

Cynthia “Cindy” Slater

Cindy Slater is the AV/TRC Cataloging Assistant at Jackson Library. She catalogs books with LC Classifications of J, K, PR and PS. The PR and PS books are the fiction books of the collection. According to Cindy, fiction books were not routinely given subject headings until the 1970s or 1980s. With the new books she catalogs, she has very few authority issues. They are all copy cataloged so as long as there is a DLC record for them and it looks like it is in order, everything is fine.

Cindy is also the cataloger for the Teaching Resources enter (TRC). The TRC does things differently in comparison with Jackson Library. For starters, call numbers are handled much differently. The TRC uses its own system for call numbers. For example an easy book by an author with last name Andrews would be cataloged as E – AND. When this collection first began, only the first letter of the authors last name was used. This systems creates many duplicate call numbers, which can be very confusing for people looking for a specific call number. (I speak from experience.)The TRC also has lots of kits or other unusual items that have to be cataloged. All sorts of various formats are available in the TRC. For these unusual items, Cindy consults the object, a publisher’s website or she tries to find similar items that have already been cataloged in OCLC. It is important that these items be cataloged so that they can be searched in the catalog.

Cindy has recently taken on cataloging scores, recitals and other AV materials for the Music Library at UNCG. Much of this cataloging is original and has to be done from scratch. The item being cataloged is used for information, but Cindy also will consult a similar record (with DLC cataloging) if she can find one. These types of records have many headings that must be verified. The scores and recitals offer a challenge due to the fact that these were recorded here at UNCG so often there will be no authority records available for the musicians, etc. that are performing the pieces. Many of these recitals do have programs that can be a valuable source of information for these pieces. Cindy has a book that she uses that lists the uniform titles for every composition created by very popular composers, such as Mozart. She consults this book when cataloging the recitals so that she is sure that she is using the accepted title for each piece. If there is ever a questions she will consult a similar DLC record.

Scott Hinshaw

Scott Hinshaw is the Monographic/Archives Cataloging Assistant at Jackson Library. Scott works closely with the University Archives in cataloging materials that originated here at UNCG. The university has had six name changes since its inception in 1891. (1891-1897, North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School; 1897-1919, North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College; 1919-1932, North Carolina College for Women; 1932-1963, Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina; 1963- , University of North Carolina at Greensboro) the 110 field is where UNCG would be located in a MARC record. Subfield b of that field would be where the department of school would be specified for the work being cataloged. Local authority files are created for many of the departments and schools here on campus. Paul Hessling is in charge of creating those authority files. When cataloging an item for the first time, the name that is the accepted name now is used. For example, the university is now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Now an item that was written and first cataloged in 1919 would use the name North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College. Serials when cataloged always include the preceeding and subsequent names of the serial is necessary. The authority record for a uniform title does contain all alternate spellings and names. For example, the authority record for UNCG contains all of its previous names as well. When an authority record does not exist for an item the records is still formated as if one does exist. If the record needs to be created then Paul will go back and create one for it at some point. Local authority records also contain any local practices that pertain to the library that they are created in. Scott also works some with the Special Collections on their Women Vets collections. A problem that he runs into with these is that the Armed Forces have many branches and divisions. These have to be looked up and checked.

Reference Questions, 10/6/09

This is my first weekday sight ever on the reference desk. I switched shifts with Erin so that I could leave for NCLA this afternoon. I am usually only on the reference desk in the evenings during the week. Let's see if there are any differences.

1. A student had an appointment with Lea and was looking for her office.
2. A student was looking for the CITI lab.
   
3. (Chat) A grad student had a question about ILL.
   
4. A fellow LIS student needed the Rand McNally Road Atlas that we keep in the reference office.
   
5. A student needed to know how to use PubMed for a class Wiki page she was working on. She needed articles on Osteoporious. I had a major blonde moment while helping her. I could think how to get the full text of the articles I pulled up. How embarassing. Anyway we both laughed about it, because she didn't know either. I figured it out in the end. :)
   
6. Student from #5 wanted to use one of the guest computers because all of the ref computers were full. Well she did until I told her that the guest computers didn't have Word. Oh well. :(
   
7. An LIS student had a question about APA citations. We then talked about cataloging for 30 minutes and LIS education in general. :)
   
8. A student wanted to know which floors are quiet floors.
   
9. An LIS student needed to know where Contemporary Authors is located.
   
10. A student was looking for the Reading Room.
    
11. A student was looking for Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.
    
12. A student was looking for the Lost & Found.
    
13. A student was looking for books on human sexuality and the gay community.
    
14. A student was looking for the TRC.
    
15. A student needed me to pull all 31 rolls of micrfilm from the Women and Word War I collection. Agh!
    
16. A student wanted to use a computer to check his email real quick. I pointed him in the direction of the Express Machines.
    
17. A student was looking for Special Collections.
    
18. A student was looking for the Reading Room.
    
19. A student was looking for a Bible so she could confirm that a certain verse was correct.
    
20. A student was looking for books on the Trail of Tears.
    

Not a bad shift. Truly there wasn't much difference from an evening shift. The reference department computers were a little more crowded, but other than that it was about the same. This is the first weekend that I have not had to work, and Fall Break is next week. I need to be lazy!

Reference Questions, 10/4/09

Sunday on the reference desk. Oh joy. ;)

1. A patron wanted to know how he could access NC Wise in the library and how to access wireless in the library.
   
2. A student needed help locating a book and also wanted to know if her husband could check out book.
   
3. A student was looking for book on the history or algebra and calculus for a paper.
   
4. A student was looking for books on Lagos, Nigeria.
   
5. (Chat) A student wanted to know what the library's hours were on the weekends.
   
6. A student needed a book that was kept in room 102, Lynda's office.
   
7. (Chat) Someone just popped up and said hi, then closed the chat.
   
8. (Chat) A student wanted to browse the psychology e-journals.
   
9. (Chat) A student was looking for Doctor Who books.
   
10. A student wanted to use the stapler.
    
11. A student wanted change for a $10 bill.
    
12. A student had a question about printing.
    
13. A patron needed a username and password for a guest computer.
    
14. A fellow reference intern wanted to know who had the desk after me.
    
15. (Chat) A student was looking for books and scholarly articles on matriarchal and patriarchal views of motherhood.
    
16. (Phone) Melvin wanted to know when Harlod Martin, chancellor of A&T was born. I told him to call on Monday. He's not allowed to call on the weekends.
    
17. (Chat) A student was looking for the Opposing Viewpoints database.
    

Independent Study, 9/30/09

The interviewing continued today.

Kathy Shore

Kathy Shore is the Monographic/Maps Cataloging Assistant. She also deals a lot with series cataloging. Authority control is not really an issue with her. Her concern are the 400 fields. She checks the series information. If the record was downloaded from Library of Congress then it is taken without question. If the record was obtained from another source then the record will be carefully checked. The only thing she has ever ran into is sometimes author names in the 100 fields do not have dates attached to them. This is a red flag because often times names without dates will not control and so they must be checked out in OCLC to make sure they are in fact correct. OCLC recently decided that the 440 field would no longer be used for series information. They are now using the 490 field. The 490 field now contains the non-authoritative version of the series and the 830 field contains the authoritative form of the series title.

Jason Alston

Jason is the Diversity Resident at Jackson Library. This is a new position that was just created and Jason is the first to occupy it. He has been working closely with Paul Hessling who is the Special Collections and Chief Monographic Cataloger. Jason has been working with finding aids for the archives and manuscripts using EAD (Encoded Archival Data). He works with EAD in NoteTab. EAD is being used now as a set standard for cataloging archival or special collections materials. Before the Library of Congress established EAD there were no set standards for cataloging archival or special collections materials. Most institutions set their own individual standards. This meant that no two institutions standards were the same. This caused many problems when information was shared or users went from one archive to another.

Reference Questions, 9/29/09

It is I once again here providing reference services to the UNCG campus at large. On this episode of Irma Knows Best...

1. A student needed books on English monarchs and Marie Antoinette.
2. (Phone) A student had a question about how to cite an online source in APA format.
3. A student needed to know where the bathroom was located.
4. (Chat) A student was looking for books on myths and legends in England, specifically werewolves, vampires, fairies, etc. I could not find a thing. :(
5. A student was looking for a textbook on microeconomics.
6. A student wanted a newspaper she could have to take out of the library. I pointed her in the direction of the Carolinian.
7. A patron needed a guest username and password.
8. (Chat) A student was looking for articles and books on Commedia dell'arte and masks used in production of it. She was having trouble accessing the databases from home. She said she'd come in later.
9. A student wanted to know where the closest water fountain was located.
10. A student needed a copy of Jane Eyre.
11. A student needed to know where Tower 2 was and where he could check out books.
12. A student wanted to know where to take overdue books.
13. A student wanted to know where Tower 6 is. They really need to change these things in the catalog. Just say 6th floor tech services! The tower thing confuses people.
14. A student wanted to know where the bathroom is.
15. A student wanted to know where 274B is.
16. A ref intern wanted to know where he could find his graded homework.
17. A student needed articles that were on a 7th grade level for a lesson plan she needed to create.
18. (Chat) Person said whaddup Minerva and then went away.
19. A student was looking for books on the Cuban military and North Korean military.
20. The student from #8 came in to look at the articles I had found for her.
21. A student wanted to know if she could access the R drive from the reference computers.
22. (Chat) A student had a question about how to access EndNote from home.

I'll be back Sunday. :)

Reference Questions, 9/26/09

I completely forgot that the Fall Fest was today. I had a little bit of trouble finding a parking space. I was not able to park in my normal area, and had to park further away. :( Any way I'm here on another Saturday missing football.

1. A student wanted to know if she could access our online journals from home.
2. A student was looking for a classical comedy by Plautus.
3. (Chat) A student was looking for students that give music lessons.
4. A history professor was looking for a Spanish/English Dictionary in the reference room.
5. (Chat) A student was looking for info on hospital policies and patients living wills. Of course this was a nursing student. They always come up with the hard questions. Thankfully Lea had created a guide for this assignment, so I steered them toward that.
6. A student wanted to know when the ILL office was open.
7. (Chat) A student needed to get a book that was at UNC CH. ILL to the rescue.
8. (Chat) A student needed to know if you could rent headphones at Jackson.
9. (Chat) An LIS student needed help finding when the last time RI voted for a Republican for president.
10. (Phone) A student had an APA citation question.
11. A student wanted to know where to return books.
12. A student wanted to know where the fiction books were located.
13. (Chat) A student was having trouble with the library website's security certificate.
14. A student was looking for a book, Political Behavior in Organizations by Andrew J. DuBrin.
    
15. A student needed help finding a book in the reference department.
16. (Chat) A student needed help finding transportation to PTI.

Ok a fairly painless shift. Now to go home and catch up on the football. ;)

Independent Study, 9/23/09

Today I began interviewing everyone in the technical services department about authority control.

Marcie Burton

I began by interviewing Marcie Burton. She is the Electronic Resources Cataloging Technical Assistant for Jackson Library. Marcie works mostly with copy cataloging. She is responsible for cataloging the electronic theses, websites and e-books. The electronic theses and dissertations require her to do original cataloging. She typically handles most of them in May, August and December when UNCG holds graduations. She often uses ProQuest to get information she might need to catalog these items. After being cataloged they are accessible through the catalog and online at NC DOCKS. NC DOCKS is the North Carolina Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship. It is a collection of the publications, theses and dissertations from ASU, ECU, UNCG, UNCP and UNCW. After Marcie catalogs the theses and dissertations for NC DOCKS Anne Marie puts them into the institutional repository (IR) for UNCG within NC DOCKS. For items that are already in NC DOCKS that need to be cataloged, Marcie uses MarcEdit. MarcEdit is a free MARC editing utility that was developed by Oregon State University’s library. With MarcEdit all Marcie has to do is to take the information out of UNCG’s IR in NC DOCKS and put it into MarcEdit to create a MARC record. That record can then be downloaded into the catalog. It is as simple as that.

As far as authority work goes, Marcie’s main job is to load the authority records into the catalog when Marcive sends them in. This happens once a month. Marcive will send an email saying the records are ready for download. The email also tells her how many records are available. She will receive an email for each title authority records, subject authority records and name authority records. Each email has a link that will take her to an FTP (file transfer protocol) site to download the record. Marcie then opens WorkFlows. She goes to Utility then to MARC Import. She then fills out the source and destination for the files. When it is done downloading a screen pops up that tells her how many records have been downloaded. She then double checks the number with the email she received to make sure the right number of records were downloaded. Marcie then must run the Load Authority Record Report in order to load the records into the catalog. This report creates records that do not exist and updates old records that need updating. At the first of each month Marcie has to extract any records that have been created by catalogers at Jackson Library and she must send this out to Marcive for authority control. There is another company that records are sent to in order to get any table of contents information that might be available.

Anne Marie Taber

Next I interviewed Anne Marie Taber. She handles most of the new book cataloging at Jackson Library. She is the Electronic Resources and Metadata Cataloger. She is the main cataloger for the NC DOCKS projects. She handles all of the faculty profiles as well as uploading the articles, etc. into UNCG’s IR for NC DOCKS. Most of the information that NC DOCKS had on UNCG’s faculty was pulled from Soldona. According to Anne Marie, Soldona is what the faculty use to list information about themselves. This information in entered by the faculty themselves. So when this information was pulled into NC DOCKS there were many inconsistencies. This caused many problems with searching, etc. To counteract this problem, Anne Marie created a NC DOCKS name authorities list. This list contains the uniform title for each school and their departments here at UNCG. It also includes the university’s independent units and their programs. Now that this has been created, whenever a department or school changes their name or merges with another(for example, Music, Theatre and Dance are getting ready to merge into one), ERIT can change all of these entires at once. Also when dealing with the NC DOCKS Anne Marie always checks the professor’s or student’s name to see if they already have an LC Name Authority File. If they already do, then of course that is the file that will be used when the file is cataloged.

Jennifer Ormsby

Jennifer Ormsby was next on my list to interview. She is the Processing Manager and Copy Cataloger. Jennifer spoke with me about the old government documents that she has been cataloging lately. Jackson Library has many old government documents that have not been cataloged, so they are not in the catalog and they cannot be searched. She said her main problem with these items is that first off the cataloging rules have changed since the items were published. Second, the groups that were originally responsible for the publication of many of these items have either changed their names, are no longer in existence or have merged with other organizations. This poses a huge problem when trying to find a uniform title for the corporate name that is attached to an item. Jennifer must do lots of research in OCLC in order to make the best guess on what the corporate should be in the MARC record.

Mac Nelson

Mac Nelson is Jackson Library’s Cello Music Cataloger. He works mostly with original cataloging since much of the material he is working with is held exclusively by UNCG. He catalogs many collections of sheet music. Mac deals with authority control issues frequently. The 700 field is a very important field in music cataloging because music items often contain unrelated works, and these unrelated works will be noted in the 700 field. Another use of the 700 field includes a work of music that is known under many titles. The established title under which items that have been published under various titles is placed in the 240 field. Alternate titles are placed in the 700 field, as are arranger and performer listings for a piece. The 240 field contains the uniform title under which the work is now known. The 400 field is also used to list alternate titles the work has been published under. Mac also must make the decision when dealing with theses and dissertations, from the School of Music, if the item is in fact a book or a score. Mac believes that authority control is so important to music cataloging because if you consider classical music, consider the number of languages it is composed in, the number of centuries that have gone by since much of it was written, the whole notion of what is classified creates a published history that is mind numbing. Bibliographic intellectual content is a complete mess without authority control. Physical content varies so authority control is also very important where that is concerned too. What hope does scholarship have without authority control? There must be rules that are followed so that order can be brought to the chaos of information.

Reference Questions, 9/22/2009

Life is grand, for now. I got approved for funding for both of the conferences I am attending this semester. Hopefully my good luck will continue on the reference desk this evening.

1. A student needed to know how to cite an electronic source in Turabian. I wish everyone would just switch to APA. It does so much better for websites and such. Plus it is one I am somewhat familiar with.
2. (Phone) They wanted to speak with someone about the ACS journals. I gave them the Chemistry librarian's info.
3. A student wanted me to find an article that she had found previously, but she didn't know the which database she had found it in. These are always fun questions. However I was able to find it for her.
4. A student had a question about printing.
5. A student wanted to know where to pick up ILL books.
6. A student wanted to know where the print jobs are going since the ref printer is down.
7. A student wanted to know the time.
8. A student needed help finding an article in journal finder. He then wanted to know where the nearest bathroom was located.
9. A student wanted to know what an abstract was.
10. A professor wanted to borrow the Chicago Style Manual for her class.
11. A student wanted to know where ENG 701 was meeting. She thought it was the CITI lab. I pointed her in that direction.
12. A student needed an industry report. Yay! I knew how to help thanks to LIS 613. :) S&P it is.
13. A Guilford College student needed a guest username and password.
14. A student wanted to know where LIBR 032 was located.
15. A student wanted to know where LIBR 032 was located.
16. A patron needed a guest username and password.
17. A student wanted to know where the nearest water fountain was located.
18. A student needed to know how to search the catalog for book by Tennyson.
19. A student wanted to know where LIBR 032 was located.
20. A student was looking for some PolySci reference books.
21. A student needed a stapler.
22. (Phone) A GTCC student was looking for some articles in 2 different sociology journals. I can be a really nice person when I want to be.
23. The student from #20 wanted to leave those PolySci books she had found at the ref desk while she ran to the ATM.
24. A student wanted to know where he could check out a reference book. Sorry, but you can't do that.

Yay, another shift completed. :)

Reference Questions, 9/20/2009

Sunday on the reference desk. I have lots of these this semester.

1. A student wanted to know where the new books are.
2. A student was looking a The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. It said it was in the New Book section, but it was not.
3. A patron wanted to see the collection of Woodstock photos that are on display in the library. They are upstairs outside of the Special Collections and Archives.
4. (Phone) A student was having trouble using the Multisearch option off-campus.
5. (Phone) A student need access to 2 entire journal that the university does not have access to. I told him to try ILL.
6. Two students wanted to know when the Caf is open today.
7. A student needed a color printer. There is one in the SuperLab.
8. A student was having trouble finding a book in the stacks. I sent him to the circulation. :)
9. (Chat) A student had a question about an APA annotated bibliography and about how to search for peer reviewed articles.
10. (Chat) A student wanted to know who or what was iMinerva.
11. A fellow LIS student had a question about a class I took last semester.
12. (Chat) A student wanted to know how to view articles in a database.
13. (Phone) A student had a question about an item on reserve.
14. A student wanted to know when the library closed tonight. Today begins the 24/5 so the library does not close tonight.
15. A student wanted to know how to get to the basement.
16. A student wanted to know if she could access UNCG databases from home.
17. (Chat) A student wanted to know from how far away the library could loan a book.
18. A student wanted to know how to search the library's catalog.
19. Two students were looking for the place where you can rent movies for free. They wanted the UTLC, so I told them all about it. :)
20. (Phone) A new resident of Greensboro wanted to know what she had to do in order to be able to borrow books from the library. She has to join the Friends of the Library.

I'll be back again Tuesday. :)

Independent Study, 9/16/09

Today I worked with an two separate Excel spreadsheets. One was on genre headings and authority work and the other spreadsheet was the 655 field report for the UTLC (University Teaching and Learning Center). We are going to use the genre headings and authority work spreadsheet to see which headings are correct and which ones are no longer valid.

While going through these headings, I found interesting patterns during this exercise. We did not have 155 authority records for most of these records. However, when I looked at the actual bibliographic records the 655 fields did not come up UNAUTHORIZED. Mary Jane is going to contact Marchive about this.

I was thinking that maybe they are seen as authorized, because they are cross-referenced in some authority records as 455 fields. I cannot think of any other explanation for this strange occurrence.

Reference Questions, 9/15/09

Another Tuesday on the reference desk. Anyone who has a question, come back after 9. ;)

1. Two students needed to know where the copiers where and where Tower 4 was located.
2. A student was having trouble with wireless access on her laptop. I sent her to the SuperLab.
3. (Facebook email) A friend emailed me on Facebook and needed to know the service population and circulations of both Greensboro Public Library and High Point Public Library.
4. A student was wanted to know how to find research libraries on the internet. Jason to the rescue. He suggested that we try http://www.arl.org which is the website for the Association of Research Libraries. They had a listing of member libraries. Yay!
5. Oh my what a question...A student was looking for a report that was done in May 2005 about the Doe Run Co. in La Oroya, Peru concerning toxic blood levels among the children of the town. I was able to find lots of articles about the study, but no the actual study done by St. Louis University. I was able to eventually find a study that the CDC put out about it and an article that the university wrote about it. Hopefully he can use some of the contact info that was in the article and contact someone and get the study that way. I worked with this guy for nearly 45 minutes.
6. A student was looking for a book on box joints. It is located in the basement. I hope she can find it. If not I told her to come back and I would come down and find it for her.
7. A student was looking audiobooks. They are located in the Reading Room.
8. A student was looking for books on sign language and children and medical aspects and history.
9. Had to retrieve a SUDOC for a student. Had the worst time finding it. It was a microfiche and it was filed incorrectly.
10. (Chat) A student wanted to know what it was called when you use the terms AND and OR to search. That Boolean baby. :)
11. A student wanted to know where she could access her flash drive.
12. A patron needed help printing.

Yep, still tired from Sunday's shift.

Reference Questions, 9/13/09

Oh yes, the midnight shift baby. Well technically it's just 9 to midnight, but you get the idea.

1. A student was looking for the 2006 edition of The Almanac of American Politics. It's on the 5th floor.
2. A student was having trouble with a computer in the Reading Room. It had locked up and I unlocked it for her.
3. A patron needed a log in for a guest computer.
4. A student saw my Starbucks and wanted to know if they were still open. I didn't get mine on campus though so I couldn't tell him. He did come by later with one and said yes they are still open. :)
5. A student wanted to know where the new part of the library is located. She was supposed to meet a group in the new part of the library. ?
6. (Chat) A student wanted a copy of the NC Constitution of 1787. The best I could find was 1776.
7. A patron needed a log in for a guest computer.
8. (Chat) A student wanted to know when the university was chartered and when the library opened. I directed them to the UNCG Timeline website.
9. A student wanted to know where the Teaching Resource Center was located.
10. A very nice MBA student was looking for marketing articles on GE.
11. The MBA student had another questions about searching the databases.
12. A student was having trouble with a computer in the Refernce Room. It had locked up and I unlocked it for her.
13. (Chat) A student needed help finding sources on STD/HIV testing for a Public Health class.

I'll be tired all week because of this. :(

Independent Study, 9/9/09

This morning Mary Jane and I went over some of the questionable subject headings I ran across last week. We corrected some of the bibliographic records that contained the Kosovo (Serbia or Republic)--History--Civil War, 1998-1999 headings. They need to be changed to Kosovo War, 1998-1999. I started a Guide to Subject Headings that can be Changed by Students, so that student workers can go in and change these subject headings at a later date.

Another problem heading I ran into was Utah Expedition, 1857-1858. This heading was changed from a subject heading to a name heading. Mary Jane and I believe that is why the heading did not change over automatically like they were supposed to. The fields changed from a 650 to a 611 and this caused confusion in the authority records.

Last week I had also run across some name authority records (100 and 700) that were not in the system. Today Mary Jane instructed me in how to download these records and add them to the system. I downloaded three records using SmartPort in the SirsiDynix Symphony WorkFlows system. (Hartmann, Michael E.; Parajon, Christina; Farkas, Evelyn N.)

I worked in the Catalog Service Bulletin again today as well. I only changed three records though. Last week I changed 96. Mary Jane said I just got lucky. When she has went through these in the past, she typically only finds very few. Today I changed (2 records) Contrast media to Contrast media (Diagnostic imaging) and (1 record) Contrast media to Radiographic contrast media.

I also worked with cataloging new books as well. I cataloged 11 new books total today.

Reference Questions, 9/8/09

I hope today is better than Saturday was. I never want to see a day like that again in the reference desk.

1. A student wanted to know where a quiet study area was located.
2. A student was having trouble with wireless access on his laptop. I tired to help him only to find out he didn't have his laptop with him. I told him to contact 6-TECH. I think he was high.
3. A faculty member was looking for a color printer to use. I directed him to the Superlab.
4. A student was having trouble accessing a journal article she had found. I tried to recreate the search with no luck. She said she had printed off the abstract of the article and would bring that in later. She had left it at home. I told her if she brought that in we should be able to find the article no problem.
5. A student had a printing question.
6. A student needed help finding parks and rec case rulings for a class. LexisNexis Academic to the rescue. :)
7. The student from #4 returned having found the article she was looking for. I downloaded it to the computer and emailed it to her.
8. (Chat) Someone was looking for a list of e-journals that they could publish in. They had left before I could get to the chat.
9. (Chat) A student was looking to access the NCLive video collection. It's in the databases under P for PBS Video Collection via NCLive.
10. A student had a question about the FirstCard chip to strip change that happened the end of last semester.
11. (Chat) A student was looking for articles from teh 50s about the Cold War. That the second request I've had for that this semester.
12. A student had a question about saving an article.
13. A student wanted to know where he could pick up a book he ILLed.
14. A student wanted to know how to search for a book.
15. A student was having problems with a quiz in Blackboard. She was using IE, thus the problem. She switched to Firefox and the problem was solved.
16. A student wanted to link the sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans to a decline in tourism during that time. Jenny suggest he look at NY Time Historical database, while suggested Stat Abstract for the year(s) after the sinking of the ship.
17. A student needed to know how to make a line chart in Excel.
18. A student wanted one of the Stacks Location sheets.
19. Two patrons needed guest log ins.
20. The student from #18 wanted to know what Tower 5 meant.
21. A student wanted to know what time the library closed tonight.
22. A student was looking for Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
23. (Chat) Someone was just trying the chat box out.
24. A student was looking for books on international law, the UN and nuclear weapons.

Starting to get lots of real reference questions. Still a little gun shy after last Saturday. I'll get over it soon enough.

Reference Questions, 9/5/09

The first Saturday of College Football season and I'm the reference desk. How did this happen? Mendy said it has been slow, we'll see...

1. A patron wanted to know who he should contact about getting grants to go to college. I told him to contact the UNCG Financial Aid Office.
2. A student needed to know where Tower 2 and 8 were.
3. A Guilford College student was looking for information on Buffalo Soldiers. He was interested in finding primary sources.
4. Someone once again wanted to browse the art books. People will never learn.
   A student from GTCC wanted to thank the librarian that helped her the other day. However, she didn't know her name and all she did know is that she had brown hair. ?
5. The Guilford College student from question #3 had a printing question.
6. The Guilford College student (#3) needed me to go get a Government doc on Buffalo soldiers for him.
7. A nursing student needed an article on light therapy and depression. She then needed a guest log in because she couldn't remember her Novell username and password.
8. (Phone) A student wanted to know if we had any APA Quick Reference Guides at the Ref Desk.
9. The Guilford College student (#3) wanted to know if he could go up on the Stacks.
10. (Phone) A student was having trouble accessing an journal article off campus.
11. A patron wanted to know where all the library science classes were held.
12. A mother and daughter were touring the campus and had some question about locations for different buildings on campus.
13. A patron wanted to know what an e-book was.
14. The student from #9 (who is a Greensboro College student) wanted the APA Quick Ref Guide she had requested over the phone. She also was looking for some mental diagnostic books we had in the Ref Dept. However she wanted to check them out. I was able to find an older copy for her in the Stacks.
15. Two patrons needed guest log ins.
16. A student was having trouble accessing an e-book she checked out. Access Services sent her over saying I was the e-book person. Not. I had no idea how to help this person. I suggested that she send an email to NetLibrary, and that she ILL the book. She had already done that.
17. (Chat) A student wanted to know if the library was open on Monday.
18. A student had a printing question.
19. A student had a question about accessing journal articles via IE.
20. One of the patrons from question #16 wanted to know if there were any guest computers that had Word on them. No there are not.
21. A student had a question about shutting down the guest computer.
22. A student had a question about free printing.
23. A student had a question about the location of the reserves.
24. (Phone) A faculty member from Elon wanted to check out a DVD from the library. I gave her the number to the UTLC.
25. (Phone) A student wanted me to look up a book on Worldcat. I had to put him on hold, because the two phone reference questions I got came at the same time. (Second time this has happened today. When I went back he had hung up.
26. A patron wanted to know where he could get ratings on answering machines. There was nothing in Consumer Reports about answering machines. The only thing I can think of is Google it.
27. A student wanted to know if there was anywhere he could post flyers or place free newspapers. He then asked me if I was a Deacons fan. No, I just decided to wear this shirt because I hate them.
28. (Chat) A student wanted to know how to get SPSS to work. SPSS is a statistics software that is installed on many UNCG computers. I told them to contact 6-Tech.
29. A GTCC student wanted to check out headphones. Access Services had sent her over to me to do this. As far as I know we do not check out headphones at the ref desk. I am not too happy with access services today.
30. A student wanted to clarify what time the library closed today and wanted to know what time we open tomorrow.
31. A student wanted to know where she could get educational videos.

Today reminded me once again that I truly want to be a cataloger. I honestly cannot remember I more busy, stressful day on the ref desk. This was a crazy shift. Had a few run ins with Access Services too, all in all a bad day. :(

Independent Study, 9/2/2009

September 2, 2009

Today I worked solely on LC Subject Headings. Using the Cataloging Service Bulletin that is put out by the Library of Congress, I went through the catalog and replaced the subject headings that had been revised with their new subject headings. The cataloging department at UNCG's Jackson Library uses the newest version of WorkFlows to maintain their biblographic records. To search for subject headings I entered the Modify Title screen and browsed by subject.

I changed a total of 81 records today. In the bibliographic record, if a subject heading is no longer vaild it will say UNAUTHORIZED out beside of it. The subject headings that I worked with are as follows:

• Kosovo (Serbia) to Kosovo (Republic). I changed 34 bibliographic records that had this as its main subject heading. I only changed the main heading. I did not alter any sub-divided headings that used this subject. For example aNationalismzYugoslaviazKosovo (Serbia) was not changed, but aKosovo (Serbia)xEthic Relations was. These were the most involved records that I worked with today.
• Soap operas to Television soap operas. I changed 30 bibliographic records with this subject heading. This subject heading was very simple, and I found no instances of it being sub-divided. I was just surprised we had so many books on soap operas.
• Soap operas to Radio soap operas. One (1) bibliographic record changed.
• Television serials to Television series. One (1) bibliographic record changed.
• Prize to Prizes (Property captured at sea). Seven (7) bibliographic records changed.
• Prizes to Prizes (Property captured at sea). Nine (9) bibliographic records changed.
• Pluralism (Social sciences) to Cultural pluralism. Two (2) bibliographic records changed.

I checked other subject headings as well that did not need revising. Jackson Library outsources its authority control to an outside vendor. It is their job to make sure that the library's authority records are in fact correct. I will have to look at many more records before I decide whether or not they are doing their job. Tomorrow I will be attending a department meeting.

Reference Questions, 9/1/09

First day of the month. ;) The weather is actually cool out, has been for the past two days. I wish it would last, but alas it's not Fall yet. I'm sure things will be busier on the high desk today.

1. A patron needed a guest log in.
2. A patron need a guest log in.
3. A student wanted to know how to search the catalog.
4. A student wanted to know where the reserves are kept.
5. (Chat) A student wanted to know if the library carried a book they needed for class. They were looking for Aging: Concepts and Controversies.
6. A student was looking for a book for class. The was Diversity Amid Globalization.
7. A LIS 620 student was looking for the atlas case.
8. A student was looking for the Superlab.
9. A student was looking for the CITI lab.
10. A student was looking for his RPM 611 class. He thought they were meeting in the library, but he couldn't remember where.
11. An LIS 620 student wanted to know if the reference questions in class get easier. Not really...
12. (Chat) A student wanted to know if Irma is allowed to give advice (she's not), then wanted to know how to declare an Art minor.
13. A student was having trouble connecting to the Internet from her laptop.
14. A student had a printing question.
15. A student had a printing question.
16. A student wanted to know how to put money on their card.
17. A student was looking for microfilm of newspapers (Boston Globe and the Richmond Times-Dispatch) from the 1920s. I told her she was in need if ILL.
18. A student was looking for a textbook, Concepts of Athletic Training. He was lucky, we had an older edition he could check out.
19. A patron needed a new mouse. The one on his computer was not working.
20. A student needed to know their PO Box number and combination. That can be found on their UNCGenie site.
21. A student wanted to know where to check out books. She then wanted to know where the books are.
22. A student was looking for Tower 2. They really should rename those in the catalog.
23. A student was looking for the copiers.
24. Two students were looking for books for their classes. Unfortunately the library did not have them. :(
25. A student had a printing question.
26. A student had a question about putting money on their SpartanCard.
27. A student wanted to know where to find a particular book. She had the call number.
28. (Phone) A student was looking for the book Art From Ashes. It was checked out.
29. A student had a printing question.
30. A student was looking for a stapler.
31. (Chat) A student wanted to know if I was real. I answered yes and they immediately closed the chat. Crazies...
32. The guard needed a phonebook.
33. A student had a question about putting money on his SpartanCard.
34. A student wanted articles from 1955 on the Cold War. New York Times Historical to the rescue. :)

Things were really busy from 5 to 7. Then after that it slowed down a bit. I'll be back on Saturday for the Labor Day weekend shift. I wonder if it'll be dead. I guess we'll see.

Reference Questions, 8/30/09

Today I am offering support for one of our new reference interns. I get to sit on the lower desk. I've never done that before. I feel so special. :) Lynda didn't want him by himself on a Sunday. Sundays are usually busy days on the reference desk. Since I am on the lower desk, I'll probably have less questions than Will who is on the high desk. We'll see how it works out today.

1. A student was looking for a textbook on reserve.
2. A student needed general info on water fleas. I sent him to the encyclopedias, and told him if he needed more detailed info to come back.
3. A student needed help finding a book in the Basement. It is very easy to get lost down there.

Yeah, things are slow on the low desk. At least I was able to knock out some work. :)

Independent Study, 8/26/2009

My independent study on authority control has begun. I will be in the cataloging department every Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. While there I will be under the supervision of Mary Jane Conger who is the head cataloger. I will be working on authority control for UNCG's Jackson Library. I prepared for this independent study by reading articles on authority control. Some of the articles I read include"Authority Control to the People!" by M.E. Bates which appeared in EContent and "Series Authority Control at Oregon State University after the Library of Congress's Series Policy Change" by R.E. Saphon-White which appeared in Library Resources and Technical Services. Both articles were published in April 2009. I have also checked out some books from the library on authority control so that I may better understand it.

August 26, 2009

After meeting with Mary Jane briefly in her office, I was taken around the department and introduced to everyone. I then took the OCLC tutorial on Authority Record Searching. After completing that Mary Jane and I worked on replacing subject heading in the catalog that had been changed by the Library of Congress. The subject heading we worked on today was Adventure Films has been changed to Action and Adventure Films. There were 12 records in the catalog that needed to be changed.

At 11:00 a.m. I began working with Anne Marie Taber on new book cataloging. Anne Marie walked me through the process. she then watched me do one on my own before leaving me with a cart of books to work on by myself. I worked on those until time for me to leave at 1:00 p.m. Anne Marie will be on vacation next week, so we thought it best that I return tomorrow to go over the new books I had cataloged. Hopefully I did not make any mistakes.

August 27, 2009

Seven out of the 12 books I cataloged were perfect. The 5 that had problems were very minor. On one in the 300 field the word maps was supposed to be map. Most of the mistakes were similar in nature, so overall I was pleased with how well I did, and Anne Marie was as well.

Reference Questions, 8/25/09

My first day on the desk during the Fall semester. I expect mostly directional and how-to questions, nothing difficult. We'll see...

1. A student wanted to know when the new book cart would be returning to the Reading Room.
2. A student wanted to know where the reserves are kept.
3. A student came to the desk looking for a book. It is being kept on reserves.
4. (Chat) A student was looking of the link to the Research Guides by Subject.
5. A student came by with a flyer he wanted to put up in the library. We do not post flyer in the library. It was on Socialism.
6. A student was looking for her textbook in an online version.
7. A student was looking for textbooks, and also wanted to know where the Tower was that the H.E.A.T. bus picked up at.
8. A student was looking for The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
9. A student wanted to know where to find the reserves.
10. A student wanted to know where to find the reserves.
11. A student was looking for lost and found. He had lost his keys. Yikes.
12. A student was looking for the Music Library.
13. (Chat) A student was looking for the TRC.
14. A student was looking for the UNCG soccer schedule.
15. A student was looking for a textbook. He was lucky, it was on reserve.
16. A student was looking for a textbook. Not so lucky, already checked out.
17. A student was looking for Arabic language self instruction books.
18. A patron wanted to use the phone. That is not allowed. :(
19. A student was looking for an article that his professor had placed on e-reserve. However the Blackboard site was not up yet. I was able to find the article on Google Scholar, so he can access it there. I am Superwoman. :)
20. A patron was looking for a library schedule.
21. A student was looking for the book Give Me Liberty by Eric Foner.
22. A student was looking for the reserve books.
23. A student wanted to use the phone. That is not allowed. :(
24. A student didn't know what her email address was, she had never checked it, didn't know how to access Blackboard, etc. I sent her to the Superlab. I am the Queen of the Superlab referral. :)
25. A student wanted to know where she could access her free printing. Free is good on in the Superlab. Yay!
26. A student was looking for a textbook.
27. A student wanted to know what time the library closed. We are open all night. Crazy I know.
28. A student was looking for a textbook.
29. A student had a question about printing.
30. A student wanted to know where the reserves are kept.
31. A student was having trouble logging on using her Novell username and password. I sent her to the Superlab! :)
32. A student wanted to know where the bathroom was located.
33. (Chat) A student needed an article on Fresh vs. Frozen Fish.
34. A student wanted to know where he could put cash on his Spartan Card.
35. A student was looking for a textbook.

Mostly just textbook, reserve questions and directional questions, nothing too tough. I'll be back Sunday helping out a first semester ref intern. Fun times. ;)

Reference Questions, 8/23/09

On the reference desk the day before classes start. There was a very long line outside the door when I got here. It's going to be a long day.

1. A patron was having trouble with a keyboard on the express machines. The number lock was not one.
2. A student was having trouble logging in using her Novell username and password. I sent her to the Superlab.
3. (Phone) Some guy wanted to locate a friend of his that he has not spoken to in years. He kept insisting he may have died. Out side of Google I had no idea how to help him. A very weird phone call.
4. A student needed help logging in to a computer. Had to send her to the Superlab.
5. A student had a question about printing. She said she had a lot of printing to do, so I sent her to the Superlab to use her free printing.
6. A student wanted to know how to get to the EUC.
7. A student wanted to know where the elevators are.
8. A patron needed a guest password and log in.
9. A professor wanted to turn in an ILL book. I directed him to the circulation desk.
10. A student needed to know where the Eberhart Building is located.
11. A student had been locked out of her Novell account, so I sent her to the Superlab so she could reset her password.
12. A student didn't know what her UNCG email was, so I sent her to the Superlab.
13. A student needed to know where the Reading Room is located.
14. A student had a question about putting money on her card to print.
15. A student needed to know where the Reading Room is located.
16. A student had a question about printing.
17. A student needed to know where the Reading Room is located.
18. A student needed to know where the Reading Room is located.
19. A student had a question about H.E.A.T. routes that run to Friendly Center.
20. A student needed to know where the Reading Room is located.
21. A student needed to know where she could put money on her ID card.
22. Two students were having trouble logging into the computers. I was able to help them log in and didn't even have to send them to the Superlab. :)
23. A student enter the wrong password into the Novell log in screen too many times. I had to send her to the Superlab to reset her password.
24. A student had a printing question.
25. A student had a question about library hours.
26. A student had a printing question.
27. A student wanted to know where LIBR 032 is. We will get over a hundred questions about that this coming week.
28. A student had a printing question.
29. A student had a printing question.
30. A student wanted to know where the Superlab is located.
31. A student had a printing question.
32. A student wanted to know where she could get an undergraduate bulletin.
33. A student had a printing question.
34. A student was looking for a H.E.A.T. bus schedule.
35. A student needed help logging into a computer.
36. A student wanted to know if there was anywhere she could plug in her laptop. She also wanted to know about printing options.
37. A student had a printing question.
38. A student was looking for a book Evening Thought. It is the textbook she has to have for a class this semester and the library doesn't carry it.
39. A student had a printing question.
40. A student wanted to know where the stairs that went up into the stacks are located.
41. A student had a printing question.
42. A professor had a question about renewing a couple of books.
43. A student wanted to know if there were any other copiers in the library other those over at Access Services. They were not working for what he needed.
44. A student wanted to browse our books with pictures of art. The Library of Congress does not cater to those who are used to Barnes and Noble.
45. A student was looking for 2 books on public health. They were in the basement. What a sad place for books.
46. A student had a printing question.
47. A student wanted to know where LIBR 032 is located.
48. A student had a printing question.
49. A student needed a campus map.
50. A patron needed a guest username and password.
51. A student wanted me to suggest a quiet area to study in the library. I told her about the quiet floors in the tower. She also wanted a campus map.
52. A student had a printing question.
53. A student had a printing question.

Now this was a full reference desk block. I have never in my short reference life had that many questions. Before this I think the highest total I ever received was in the 20s. Mostly these were just the queries of confused freshmen, nothing difficult. I got a few actual reference questions, not many. I expect a similar turnout for Tuesday evening when I'm on the desk again. The semester starts tomorrow. :)

Reference Questions, 8/7/09

Summer session is out so things will be crazy dead today I'm sure. I'm here from 1 to 5. The library's still on summer hours so it closes at 5. I will again be heading home during peak rush hour on a Friday no less.

1. (1:46 p.m.) A patron wanted to know how big the library is. Well, it's big.
2. (1:51 p.m.) A student wanted to know where the Foust Building is located.
3. (2:20 p.m.) A student that will be starting graduate school here in the Fall had a few questions about how to search databases and about APA style.
4. (2:30 p.m.) A student wanted to use the phone to call the financial aid office. They had screwed her FA up. Same thing happened to me last semester.
5. (2:56 p.m.) A student wanted to know where the reference computers printed.
6. (3:09 p.m.) A student was having trouble with the reference printer.
7. (3:56 p.m.) A patron needed a guest log in.
8. (4:20 p.m.) A professor needed help searching social work databases. At Chapel Hill she was able to do this and couldn't do so on our computers so she was confused, really confused. She kept singing the praises of the UNC library. Every other sentence was about how much better it was than Jackson. That's were she went to school, well good for her.
9. (4:45 p.m.) A patron wanted a guest log in. Umm, we close in 10 minutes, but oh well. The public gets what the public demands.

I will not be returning to the reference desk until the day before the Fall semester begins. This summer drug by, but at the same time it went too fast.

Reference Questions, 7/24/09

A Friday afternoon on the reference desk. Yeah boy...

1. (2:12 p.m.) A student from Greensboro College needed book on the French colonization of North Africa.
2. (2:19 p.m.) The student from #1 had a question about how to find books.
3. (2:24 p.m.) A student was looking for books on Elizabeth Fry.
4. (2:37 p.m.) A patron needed a guest log in.
5. (2:44 p.m.) (Chat) A student was having trouble accessing the Cambridge Collections database while off campus. I was on this chat for 30 minutes. This database was having massive problems. It kept saying the subscription had expired. We didn't get it working during the chat. Tech Services is supposed to be looking into the problem. They said they'd call back in 20 minutes. Update: the library is looking at possibly cutting this database, so they have not paid the bill on it yet. That was the problem all along.
6. (3:35 p.m.) A student wanted to know what time the library closed today.
7. (4:14 p.m.) A student needed a printed sheet about Romare Bearden.

Fun times as always. This time next month things will be picking up.

Reference Questions 7/18/09

My commute this morning was atrocious. The reason that traffic is as bad on a Saturday morning as it is on a Monday morning escapes me. I was at a national conference in Raleigh in May and I overhead a woman say that when she died she didn't want to go to heaven but to North Carolina. What an idiot. Anyway, it's Saturday on the reference desk. After this morning's commute let's hope the day gets better.

1. (10:26 a.m.) (Phone) A student from UNCC was looking for primary sources on the Greensboro sit-ins.
2. (10:45 a.m.) A patron needed to pay for 2 copies and he also needed a guest log in.
3. (11:13 a.m.) (Phone) A student wanted to know what time the library and Superlab closed today.
4. (11:18 a.m.) A student attending the summer music camp needed a guest log in.
5. (11:45 a.m.) A former LIS student came by and wanted to know which floors had the small rooms you could work in. :) Floors 5-9, of course. ;)
6. (12:10 p.m.) A student from Greensboro College was looking for books on Italian syntax and lexicon.
7. (12:40 p.m.) A student wanted a couple sheets of plain paper.

Another day finished on the reference desk.

Greensboro College Practicum, Day 15 (7/15/09)

I arrived at the library at 8:30 a.m.

This morning I completed the textbook guide, (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tilE_OoTnHlFSzgnCTLoO9w&hl=en) and I finished going through the textbooks in the CMC, completing the missing publishers list. (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tSLfhTo9ZjDN6n8F7jJXldw&hl=en)

After lunch at Chick-fil-a (Jennie's treat) I began copy cataloging a set of books that are designated for the BB&T Ethics in Capitalism collection. The library received a donation earmarked for this collection. The collection consisted mostly of books on economics and capitalism.

I left the library at 6:00 p.m. thus completing this practicum. :)

I feel this practicum was a valuable experience for me for many reasons. It was my first look at how a technical services department runs in an academic library. Also it gave me a look at an academic library during a time of great financial strain and uncertainty. In today's economic climate I feel that this in itself was an important experience. Things do not always go as planned in a library, as was demonstrated during this practicum. It requires librarians to be creative and think outside of the box. Even with the absence of Classweb I was able to complete one of my main objectives, the textbook guideline. It is good to know that in a pinch there are alternatives to paid services for some situations.

This experience also confirmed that I do want to be a cataloger. I look forward to working in the technical services department at UNCG next semester. It will be interesting to see the differences and similarities between the two schools.