Some More Hands-On Experience with Cataloguing

 Log 6

Student: Austen Esch

Supervisor: Shelley Barba

 

February 26, 2025

I decided to wear some of my Texas Tech merch that I collected years ago when I was attending the university. I am making good progress working on subject headings in this computer lab.

              My focus has now shifted because I am fully done with this first batch of subject headings. Before officially considering myself done, I check with Shelley to make sure that what I have been doing with the subject headings is up to snuff with what she wants. Specifically, there are some subject headings in a title format that I have to transform into LCSH. I simply take the significant topics in his semi-title and ensure that they are Library of Congress compliant. I thought I would bring them up with her since they were unlike any other preformatted subject headings I had experienced. I also get her feedback on my decision to substitute a specific serum with the Library of Congress Subject Heading “serum.” I was worried that I would lose too much context if I didn’t find some way to specify the serum more, but Shelley told me that what I did was the best move. With all of that out of the way, I declare myself officially done with the sports-related subject headings. Shelley tells me to email her the Excel sheet, so she can check them. I am now ready to move on to the next batch that I already possess: personal financial planning theses and dissertations.

I continue my work on the subject headings in the new Excel sheet. While the previous theses was about sports, this batch is about personal financial planning. Shelley tells me that many other thesis topics are grouped into Excel sheets for me to work on once I have finished this one. Another topic that I might have in the future are theses and dissertations about mental health, depression, and abuse. However, Shelley tells me that I do not have to use these subject headings if I’m too uncomfortable with the topics included. She explained to me that she actively chose not to give me this batch first because she thought that it would be very off-putting. Instead, she wanted me to start off on a lighter side of theses and dissertation topics. I think that once I have finished this second batch of subject headings, it will be okay for me to do the other ones as well.

 

February 28, 2025

I am at the printer as the instruction papers for the workshop are being printed off. These instructions were from when Shelley had previously conducted this workshop.

              It is the Friday of the workshop, and it is being held in the dean’s conference room on the third floor of the Texas Tech Library. Shelley came to the front of the library and helped me find the conference room, which is very large, with TVs at each end of the room. I noticed snacks laid out on one of the tables against the conference room’s wall because Shelley had gotten snacks such as Swedish Fish, Goldfish, and cookies for everyone attending the workshop, including me. I brought my laptop with me so that I could follow along as she demonstrated the Open Refine. The participants of this workshop include Magregor, another digital librarian that I had not met yet, and me. There was meant to be another librarian attending, but she was unable to attend at the last moment. Shelley explained that she had not given this workshop since 2020, and back then, she was doing it with a fellow librarian who was more familiar with the application. As a result, she warns us that she will be somewhat relearning over the course of the workshop.

Shelley printed out two different sheets for each of us which had the instructions that the workshop followed back in 2020. Together as a group we move through the sections on the two pieces of paper. While Shelley has warned us about her rustiness in teaching Open Refine, she was actually very knowledgeable and easily demonstrates the functions of Open Refine. I came to learn that this application was first developed by Google during the 2010s in order to simplify data cleaning. However, Open Refine was eventually abandoned by Google, as it has done to many of its projects, according to Shelley. As a result, the application became open-sourced, and it is now managed by a community of like-minded individuals who saw the possibilities of Open Refine as too important to allow it to end. Shelley told us that Open Refine is still very much alive all these years after first being abandoned by Google and is, to this day, still being updated and improved by the cataloging community. It seems like this is a very popular application among librarians, and I think that Shelley’s attempt to expand knowledge of Open Refine at Texas Tech is a noble cause. Personally, I was amazed at the ease of using it and the possibilities for cutting work time that come with its clustering feature.

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