Hi, I'm a librarian (science) who's volunteering at a (very) small school serving special needs students. None of the items in the library are catalogued, so I've volunteered to do the job. However, I have zero experience cataloguing (as you will probably be able to tell by reading my question), so I'm pretty intimidated by the whole thing. Anyway, I'm about to sign up with LibraryWorld and have made a few test attempts by cataloguing books using records imported from the Library of Congress.
My question: how do you catalogue books that are housed in rooms outside the library - i.e., in a teacher's classroom? Do you just give the location as "Room 122"? And, what's the best book you know of for helping a newbie catalogue a school library? Thanks.
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Julie, I've "been there and done that" (at a Principal's request) and would not do it again...at least that way. Teachers changing rooms caused problems along with the fact that I later found out the low cost of the books that took way too much time to check out and in (each fall/spring). Who normally runs the library?
How were the books purchased? Out of library funds? Classroom funds? Building funds? If they are not from library money then NO they should not be cataloged. I would suggest creating a spreadsheet with much of the same cataloging info: Title, Author, copyright date, publisher, ISBN and cost. This inventory list would be kept by the librarian and the school secretary. A printed copy would then be given to the teacher in the fall and require their signature that they have them all. In the spring, a copy of the signed sheet would be given to each teacher to locate all the books, the same as any other classroom inventory list. Any iems missing would be reported to the Principal for their direction.
The Family Resource Library could be handled either by cataloging and having parents sign a sheet with their name, phone number and the barcode # (a return date column would also be need) Items on this list would then need to be checked out by hand in the library, have old fashioned check out cards in a pocket that they must sign and place in a nearby box/holder--they would be responsible to put the card back in the book or ask the secretary to use one of the systems to see that they are checked out and returned.
One good reason you need a good list of what is in the building is for insurance purposes--Fire, Flood, etc...Having a list on a main server outside of the building is the only way the school could account for damaged items so they could be replaced in an emergency.
Good Luck.