Cataloging: Day 11

Today's observations:

What a wildly productive day!
Today we welcomed librarians from another Mississippi library system to help us get through the many carts of uncataloged books. Phillip (in the photo on the right) is the Director of the Lamar County Library System and Terry is Head of Technical Services for the same, and they were kind enough to make the long drive from Lamar County, which is about 2 hours to the southwest of Newton. Meredith even got in on some of the cataloging action!

I think I've hit my stride when it comes to cataloging at high speed, so I feel pretty good about being able to finish the rest of the juvenile fiction before I go. At that point I will have cataloged adult fiction, adult nonfiction, juvenile fiction, and a good chunk of young adult. Not bad for two week's work! All that will be left is juvenile nonfiction (what little remains after it's weeded) and the easy readers books.
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to the success of this project, though most of them stem from Meredith's passion for improving the libraries in her care. She did her best to show her staff that I was here to help, not to tell them how to do their jobs, and their involvement in the project has been crucial. Without Brenda and Rita's help we would still be sifting through books at Scooba, trying to decide which ones are worth cataloging. And Linda, Eliana, Maxine, and GiGi have all been encouraging and helpful. Times are tough for all libraries, especially in Mississippi, and Kemper-Newton has taken some deep cuts, but everything I've seen here confirms the survey results that I've read about in the library literature: rural librarians tend to have extremely high job satisfaction, in spite of the many frustrations they face.



Titles cataloged today: 150 (I beat Gregg!)

Titles cataloged total: 680 (plus another 148 by my cataloging comrades, bringing the final total to 828!)

Audio entertainment during the drive: Duel - Richard Matheson; Throttle - Joe Hill and Stephen King (both short stories are on the audiobook Road Rage)

New Southern discovery: I found it! The holy grail of unsweetened iced tea:

I realize that iced tea is everywhere in the South, but finding it in bulk isn't easy, and most gas stations don't make it fresh (they also rarely have bottled unsweet tea). Today Meredith brought this treasure for the cataloging marathon, and it was perfect.

Something I miss from California: Missing my friends at the Huntington, especially Jessica, Catherine, and Krystle. I hope something has come in the mail for you guys.

Cataloging: Day 10

Today's observations:
I took a break from cataloging today so that I could accompany Meredith to the very last Summer Reading event of 2016. I even helped, inasmuch as arranging fruit, crackers, and Capri Sun into neat rows is helping!

I think I can safely say that, while I enjoyed it, I am not suited to public librarianship. Meredith killed it, because she's awesome, and gave an appropriately short speech about the importance of reading and using the library. Then I got to see a political master in action. State Senator Terry C. Burton is President Pro Tempore of the Mississippi Senate, so I certainly have some serious ideological differences, but watching him was a lesson. He exudes charisma and can handle a crowd like no one's business. Additionally, he was instrumental in getting the local internet provider to supply quality internet connections to the three libraries in Newton County, one of which was still running at dial-up speed. Terry C. cares about his community - which is more than you can say about some politicians - and is aware of technological shortcomings across the state. He is rather intimidating looking, and reminds me a bit of Churchill, with the bald pate, lack of neck, and intense gaze.

Before the event Meredith and I stopped for lunch at Hibachi Japanese Express restaurant in Newton for carryout. I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I got reminded me of the "Chinese" food that we used to get at Randhurst back in the day. It wasn't quite chicken teriyaki (the sauce looked a bit more like thousand island dressing to me), but it was definitely reminiscent of the generic Asian food we would get at the mall back in the late 90s. Apparently the restaurant is the object of suspicion on the part of some locals, and Meredith pointed out that it was an odd decision on the founder's part to choose central Mississippi as the location for their new business.

Titles cataloged today: 10

Titles cataloged total: 530

Audio entertainment during the drive: The Final Rip Off - Monty Python; At the mountains of madness (audiobook from Hoopla!) - H.P. Lovecraft

New Southern discovery: This might be a rural thing, rather than a Southern thing, but there are long stretches of road where all the mailboxes are on the same side, regardless of which side the houses are on. It makes sense that a postal worker isn't going to be driving back and forth along the same long stretch of country road, but it's not something that I've encountered before.

Something I miss from California: Our couch. I know it's not super nice when it's hot (it's leather), but it is so comfortable. The sofa at the cabin seems to have lost some of its structural integrity, so sitting on it causes you to lean towards the front of it.

Cataloging: Day 9

Today's observations:
I did not catalog any books today, which is slightly disappointing, but I did print and attach labels to three full carts of books, which was probably more than 200 volumes. The mechanism for printing barcodes is just as cumbersome as it was before, but I figured out how to create a list on a book by book basis, rather than a big batch. I was trying to find the clear plastic adhesive that is placed over the spine label to keep it in place, and because the remaining roll was running low I poked around in the supplies until I found what is called book tape, but what looks like glorified packing tape to me. Brenda and I both kind of gave it the side eye before she decided to order more of the pre-cut kind.

Part of why I slowed down is that I am slightly concerned about having enough material for our cataloging marathon on Saturday. Our guests are very graciously donating their time, and it would be embarrassing if we ran out of things to catalog. Just to be sure we have enough, I went over to Scooba and grabbed all of the juvenile fiction and the uncataloged adult biographies. That should keep us busy, I think.

Juvenile Fiction, after I pulled uncataloged titles

After work, Meredith and I were trying to figure out where we could go for dinner. Philadelphia is our best bet, since it's sizeable enough for multiple restaurants and along both of our homeward drives, but she doesn't often stop there for food, so I made a suggestion. Thus, my first barbecue of this trip was from Dickeys.

The meat was pretty good, but I honestly think the Pasadena location is better. The soft-serve ice cream machine sounded like it was about to throw a gasket, and I don't even know what a gasket is.


Titles cataloged today: 0

Titles cataloged total: 520

Audio entertainment during the drive: Abbey Road - Beatles; Under the Iron Sea - Keane

New Southern discovery: These are slightly mysterious contraptions that I noticed on the way to Union today.

 On the side of the road, at the end of many driveways, there are homemade receptacles of various shapes and sizes. In the picture on the left there is a wire cage, while the one on the right has a pair of suspended oil drums. My theory is that they serve as garbage bins, since it was clearly garbage day today and there were bags in some of them. I'm not sure what their exact purpose is, though, because not all of the driveways have them. Are they supposed to keep the wildlife out? Are they used because they're sturdier than rolling garbage bins? Why doesn't everyone have them? So many questions.

Something I miss from California: My car. The rental I have is nice enough, but it would be fun to drive the Volkswagen on all these open roads. I'm also curious what kind of mileage it would get. It's probably a good thing it's not here, though, since I suspect it would be really easy to fly past the speed limit without even noticing.

Cataloging: Day 8

Today's observations:
I think that all of the adult books that will be kept have now been transferred to Union for cataloging. I picked up the last of the nonfiction from Scooba yesterday morning and was able to catalog all of them. A lot of the books are older, but even with Brenda's more flexible criteria for keeping nonfiction we're still disposing of a half to two-thirds of that section. Fortunately this will create more space for the new Young Adult section, and will allow the Kids section to spread out as well.

Oh wait, there are still the books behind the counter at Scooba which need to be weeded, but I don't think that will result in more than a hundred additional titles. For now a big part of the project is getting proper spine labels on books and getting the dust jackets covered. An anonymous commenter (was that you, CoJo?) asked for an illustration of correct vs. incorrect spine labels, and I was finally able to load photos from my camera, so...

These three pictures show examples of incorrect spine labels (or completely absent spine labels, in the first case).

This is how the spine labels should look (for fiction, at least). And they should either be underneath the dust jacket cover, or protected by a clear strip so that they won't fall off.


Titles cataloged today: 70

Titles cataloged total: 520

Audio entertainment during the drive: Another Monty Python Record; Poses - Rufus Wainwright

New Southern discovery: So, there's this thing called the Neshoba County Fair.

Its (trademarked!) tagline is "Mississippi's Giant Houseparty", and apparently it's kind of a big deal. For a week, thousands of people from all over Mississippi descend on the fair grounds a bit southwest of Philadelphia. I've been to county fairs before (Frontier Days!), but none of them were residential.

They call it a houseparty because a majority of the camp grounds are occupied by "cabins", small buildings that vary in size from little one-story bungalows to three-floor houses that look like old time hotels. They tend to be brightly painted and some have been in families for over 100 years. There are also areas that are completely occupied by RVs and tents.

I was there for a couple of the horse races and ate fried s'mores, but I suspect that you have to be there with people you know (and like) to really enjoy it.
For a couple of days all of the candidates for local political offices are given a platform to address their constituents, and many of the cabins and all of the telephone and power poles are plastered with campaign signs. Apparently Donald Trump, Jr., was here on Tuesday as well. I'm sorry that I missed that. :|

Something I miss from California: Chipotle. I know it's not California-specific, but I haven't seen one outside of Atlanta since I got here. The one in Atlanta was across the street from Emory, and part of me was tempted to run in and grab a steak fajita burrito, but we were on our way to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner, and that seemed like it might be rude. The beef kabobs were good, though!

PSA re: day 8

Day 8's summary is being delayed until tomorrow in favor of sleep. Just checking in because I know this is how some people reassure themselves that I'm alive. Til tomorrow!

Cataloging: Day 7

Today's observations:
High productivity continued today, this time with nonfiction books from the set that Brenda spared from weeding. She was a bit more generous towards the nonfiction because they seem to have been borrowed less (this is where the usage statistics that can be derived from library system data would be really handy), but the section would have been gutted if she had used the fiction criteria. Also, some subjects are less prone to change than others. The books about geology and bird-watching are about as accurate today as they were when they were published 30 years ago. People are probably less likely to borrow those books, because they can just look a rock or bird up on the internet, but they may come in handy for a patron looking for reliable print sources.
In addition to all the cataloging, I also created an illustrated step-by-step guide for creating item records in Verso. It focuses on recent fiction (like the books I cataloged yesterday) because I think that's the best place for people unfamiliar with the system to start. We're going to have a cataloging marathon in Union on Saturday (because obviously that's what the cool kids do on weekends, right?) with a couple of directors from nearby library systems and another cataloger, who have all graciously agreed to donate some time to make Scooba's online catalog a reality. Although I was planning on whipping through the fiction as quickly as possible in the next few days, I'm thinking now that I might save them for Saturday since that would make the work go faster. I feel like I'm constantly changing my priorities for cataloging, but I don't think that has impeded my progress so far.

Titles cataloged today: 81

Titles cataloged total: 450

Audio entertainment during the drive: Animals - Pink Floyd; The White Album - Beatles

New Southern discovery: You can buy boiled peanuts fresh out of the crockpot at gas stations. Not mom and pop shops either, but major brands like Shell. I decided not to try them, because I figured that I would end up spilling them on myself while driving and cause an accident.

Something I miss from California: Thai food. I went to Noodle World the day before I left and had some delicious Yakisoba noodles, but I didn't even get to eat the leftovers because I had to be at the airport so early the next. I had dinner at the community college cafeteria yesterday (it was me and about 50 football players - I felt both old and small at the same time) and they had Swedish meatballs with sweet and sour sauce and vegetables. There's a small restaurant on the eastern edge of De Kalb (one town to the west) called Rice Hot, which I think is an Asian food establishment, and I may have to try it. That name isn't doing much to reassure me, though.

Cataloging: Day 6

Today's observations:
Recent fiction is every cataloger's friend. I started working on some of the books that Rita and I pulled from Scooba's fiction section on Friday, and I was able to get through 72 titles in the morning. About 90% of them are held by other KNRLS branches, so all that is needed is the addition of an item record. I think there may be a way for Gregg to do this from afar, which would be fantastic.
In the afternoon I was working on some older books, both fiction and nonfiction, which I can go through quickly, but not at anywhere near the speed of the newer stuff. The ones that I did this morning also already had acceptable spine labels, so literally all they needed were barcodes and item records. The ones I did this afternoon are going to need new spine labels as well (either the old ones are outdated or they lack a spine label completely), and something to protect the labels, which adds more steps to the cataloging process. It would seem that no ILS has figured out a simple way to print labels and flags, though Verso's is much easier than Innovative's Sierra or Millennium. Unfortunately we also ran out of barcodes at the end of last week, so we have to wait until Brenda's order for more comes in.
Speaking of Brenda, she is a champion weeder. Libraries need to regularly weed in order to make room for new books that come in, and it can be hard for some people to part with books that they think should stay. I admire Brenda's unsentimental approach, and honestly wish I could do that with my own collection of books at home.

Titles cataloged today: 106

Titles cataloged total: 369

Audio entertainment during the drive: Transatlantic Years - Billy Connelly; finished "The gingerbread woman" - Stephen King; Physical Graffiti - Led Zepplin 

New Southern discovery: Apparently I talk too quickly for some Southerners, which is strange because I don't normally think of myself as a fast talker, but I've had to repeat myself in gas stations or restaurants more than once. Perhaps my Illinois/California accent just makes me hard to follow?

Something I miss from California: Banks. This is honestly not something that I ever thought I would miss because there are so damn many of them in L.A. that it's annoying, but it's surprisingly hard to find an ATM. The only time I've actually used one was at a gas station (surprise) and it had a $2.99 fee. I'm so used to having a Chase bank every 100 feet that I almost feel bereft. We were in Atlanta this weekend and I saw one with a drive through ATM (which there are surprisingly few of in Los Angeles), and I was tempted to use it even though I didn't actually need any cash.

Cataloging: Day 5

Today's observations:
This was definitely the most challenging day so far. Not necessarily because I didn't catalog any books today (though that is slightly disheartening), but because of how many books we brought back. Meredith had revealed last week that there was a misunderstanding between her and the branch librarian about which books at Scooba need to be cataloged, and there are far more books than she had initially supposed. On the one hand, I was happy because the number she had given me (about 350) was so small that I was worried about the poor library that had so few books. On the other hand, I was concerned about what would happen if I couldn't finish all of the cataloging. Today I was finally confronted with the reality of just how many books remain to be cataloged, and it was a touch overwhelming.
When Rita and I arrived at Scooba this morning I told her that we need to re-check the shelves for books without barcodes. We would box those up, then throw the remaining books that had already been pulled (and which tended to be older and perhaps due for retirement) in the backs of the library van and my rental car. Once I started pulling the books from fiction, though, I realized that somewhere around half of the books on the shelves did not have barcodes, which means they have not been cataloged. I decided that since the fiction titles are probably more likely to be used by patrons, they would have to be the priority. We loaded all of the boxes that Rita had been able to find, which got us as far as the letter D within fiction. The remainder would just have to be put in the cars loose, so that's what we did. After I had pulled all of the books from fiction the shelves looked barren. It reminded me of the first time that we did an inventory and pulled titles at Book Soup after Glenn died. The shelves looked empty, and I hope that someone prepares the branch librarian before she comes in next, because it could come as a serious shock. We're able to start sending books that have been cataloged back, but obviously not at the rate at which they have been removed.
Fortunately my initial pull was slightly tempered by the fact that I had missed some barcodes. Apparently the staff weren't given instructions about where to put the barcodes when they first started using them, so their placement was more haphazard in the early days. I didn't realize this when I was pulling, so I was only checking the upper right corner of the back cover. Fortunately Rita was able to spot most of those, so they didn't have to be transported unnecessarily. Anyway, there are now hundreds more books that need to be cataloged, and I need to figure out how to prioritize, which is not something I have a great deal of experience with. Meredith is constantly concerned about how I feel about this project (because she's a dear), but my attitude remains the same. There are books that need cataloging, and I can help with that. The reminder that I don't have to spend long evenings sitting in online classes to get my final credits only solidified my opinion that I made the right decision. I regret nothing. (Except possibly not wearing shorts today. It was really hot moving those books around.)

Titles cataloged today: 0  :'(

Titles cataloged total: 263

Audio entertainment during the drive: The Monty Python Instant Record Collection; Led Zepplin III; beginning of "The gingerbread woman" - short story by Stephen King downloaded on Hoopla.

New Southern discovery: I've come to the conclusion that Southern communities revolve in large part around gas stations. Several towns I've passed through (like Scooba) don't have a grocery store or cafe. [I was expecting more mom and pop diners in these towns, but that's probably because I read too much Stephen King, and they appear in many of the small towns in his stories.] But every town has a gas station. And those gas stations tend to be very well stocked, and many even have cooked food or a Subway attached. There's one Shell on the road out of Philadelphia that has a liquor store and a Baskin Robbins! When all else fails, stop at the gas station.

Something I miss from California: Peet's coffee shops. They brew the strongest iced tea and are open forever.

Cataloging: Day 4

Today's observations:
It's reassuring to me that librarians everywhere have the same panicked reaction when the internet goes out. It happens occasionally at the Huntington because our network was assembled from twigs, chewing gum, and spit until recently, and there's usually a chorus of expletives when it occurs. There were no expletives when it happened today in Union (someone may have exclaimed "oh, sugar!") but it still brought library work to a grinding halt. Except for GiGi, who was Brodarting like a champ in the back room. She seemed to be unphased by the situation.
I appear to have caught up with the cataloging though, because after I finished the cart of books that I brought in from Scooba yesterday morning I was kind of at loose ends. Due to a hilarious misunderstanding there are far more books that need to be cataloged than Meredith thought there would be, but because this discovery was so last-minute she hasn't had time to weed the newly discovered books. Weeding is an important process for every library (except the Huntington, because we are special and don't get rid of things), and it's better to do it before cataloging, otherwise the work that goes into creating records is wasted. Tomorrow I'm meeting Rita at Scooba in the morning where we will pack up as many of the remaining uncataloged books as we can and load them into the KNRLS library van to bring back to Union. Meredith seems to think this will take a long time, but I have confidence that my experience boxing up returns for Book Soup will aid me in this endeavor.


Titles cataloged today: 50

Titles cataloged total: 263

Audio entertainment during the drive: JoCo Looks Back - Jonathan Coulton (cont'd.) ; Rubber Soul - Beatles; Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie

New Southern discovery: When a confronted with a person from an exotic locale (e.g. Los Angeles), it seems to be common for Mississippians to make their accents extra thick. The barista in Philadelphia yesterday, after hearing where I was from, went deep drawl on his "How ya like Miss-uh-sippa?" I found out later that he is actually from Denver, but has been living in the state for a couple of years. Apparently there is a performative aspect to being Southern. Shocking, I know.

Something I miss from California: Seeing other cars when driving. Just kidding! It's been a long commute from Scooba to Union, but there are almost no cars are the road whenever I've been driving. I tried to describe the 5 at it's widest to the Dean at EMCC and his eyes kind of glazed over. He doesn't like how busy it gets in Starkville and Jackson, so Los Angeles traffic might just make his head explode.

Cataloging: Day 3

Today's observations:
Ok, so I was a little a little late getting in to Union today, in part because I stopped at a place in Philadelphia ("Taste and See") where I found lattes! Also, when the cashier asked me where I was from and I said Los Angeles, the only other customer in the place said "I'm from Pomona!" For those who are unfamiliar with Los Angeles County geography, that's about 35 miles from where I live or 25 miles from the Huntington. We chatted for a bit and I may hear from her about meeting again some time before I leave. That, combined with the discovery that Taste and See opens at 7 AM every weekday made this little detour well worth it.
I brought another load of books from Scooba in today (it turns out that staying is Scooba is handy, though it's a bit of a hike), which Gigi, the student worker from the local community college (local to Union, that is, so not EMCC, where I am staying) was able to go through them and attach barcodes, and I can catalog them tomorrow. Rita showed me how to print spine labels, so I was able to make those for all of the books and DVDs that I have cataloged so far. I'm not sure what it is about printing labels, but the process is never easy. When we're doing it at the Huntington it takes about half a dozen steps. It's slightly easier using the VERSO catalog system, but it's impossible to make corrections after you have assembled the list. You have to back all the way out, make the corrections in the separate item records, then recreate the print list. I'm going to have to print some corrected labels tomorrow, but most of them should be alright.
We discovered that the portion of the cataloging process that may slow us down the most comes in Brodarting the books. The dust jackets that make our hardcover books look so pretty take a beating from library patrons, so to protect the covers they are enclosed in plastic. One of the companies that sells this plastic wrapping is Brodart, so the process of wrapping dust jackets is referred to in some circles (i.e. the Huntington and Book Soup) as Brodarting. It can be a tedious process, but the books are so much more alluring with those carefully designed covers. Barbara, who left the Huntington to move up to Washington, was the go-to person in our department whenever a books needed to be covered. Perhaps, if she hasn't found a job there yet, she could come to Mississippi to lend a hand :)


Titles cataloged today: 72

Titles cataloged total: 213

Audio entertainment during the drive: Negotiations and Love Songs - Paul Simon (cont'd.); Led Zepplin II; JoCo Looks Back - Jonathan Coulton (for those who are unfamiliar with JoCo, he does comedic music based around geek culture; one of my favorite songs of his, "Re: Your Brains" is about office coworkers turning into zombies and trying to eat each others' brains - there's also a very low-budget video)

New Southern discovery: Lumber is a big industry in Mississippi. I'm not sure why this surprises me, I guess I just assumed that the entire South ran on a church-based economy, though I'm not sure what that would entail. Anyway, Patricia, the women I met from Pomona this morning, said that her family used to grow cotton near Philadelphia, but at one point the market was so flooded with cotton that the government paid them to NOT grow it, and came in and planted their land with trees for lumber.

Something I miss from California: I miss sitting on the couch with Manny and watching bad movies. Jaws 2 was on at the place where I had dinner last night, the Pancake House of Philadelphia, and we must just leave that on whenever we come across it at home, because I swear I've watched it four or five times already this summer. Poor Chief Brody. Why won't anyone believe him when he tells them there's another shark?! The man knows what he's talking about!

Cataloging: Day 2

Today's observations:
So many books were cataloged! A student worker from ECCC was in today and she was able to put barcodes on a whole slew of books. I'll be bringing her another trunk-load tomorrow, which will hopefully keep me busy through Friday. If not, I think I'll be going back to the Scooba library for more on Friday morning anyway.
Today's biggest challenge was figuring out Dewey Decimal Numbers. In my head, shelving is a bizarre amalgamation of Library of Congress call numbers and book store alphabetization. This works great for fiction and biography, but any other non-fiction was stumping me. Fortunately, many of the books that I'm cataloging are already in the KNRLS catalog, so I can copy the call numbers from there, and most of the rest have 082s in the MARC records which I can lift. Part of me looks at the ridiculously long Dewey numbers and thinks, does Scooba really need numbers with three digits after the decimal? But then I think, who am I to change numbers that some other (far more qualified) person has decided on? I decided to stop second guessing the records and go with the flow, which works great until you find a record that has three different Dewey classifications. What the hell, guys.


Titles cataloged today: 87

Titles cataloged total: 141

Audio entertainment during the drive: Big Hits (High Tides & Green Grass) - Rolling Stones; Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band - The Beatles; Negotiations and Love Songs - Paul Simon

New Southern discovery: Apparently Mississippi was designed with the intention of getting strangers (or just unwary drivers) lost. In addition to the road sign issues mentioned yesterday it is also incredibly difficult to buy a map of the area (I wanted to go into AAA before I left to pick one up but their hours were stupid - 9 to 5 is not super helpful, AAA!), and the car that I rented doesn't have a compass. In an effort to change up my route back to Scooba after work, I took one of the 2 million numbered roads, ended up missing the turnoff for Moscow (my intended destination) and looping all the way back to Philadelphia.

Something I miss from California: God I miss my morning coffee place. Would it be weird to send a postcard to them? If you're in Pasadena, go to Jameson Brown's and have a Vienna latte for me. I miss it.

Cataloging: Day 1

Today's observations:
Well, the first day is in the books. I was slightly nervous about starting the actual work, but of course everyone was completely lovely and I was able to fall into a groove quickly. I had previously investigated the online catalog software that all the Kemper-Newton Public Library System (KNRLS) branches use, and my one remaining question was, Where do they get the records? I had tried to ask Rita, who usually does the cataloging but has been roped into working at another branch because of personnel shortages, last week, but it was one of those situations that is hard to explain. (Obviously, since I'm doing a rather poor job explaining it right now.) All it took was five minutes with Brenda, the business manager, and I was off to the races. It's pretty silly that I couldn't figure out how to access the records before she showed me, but in my defense I will point out that: 1) the AGent Verso handbooks are not very clear, and 2) it was just way too easy. The system that we use at the Huntington requires two different sets of software and is in no way intuitive, so I was looking for a clever trick, when all I needed was a straight-forward search. There are still a lot of books to catalog, but I feel far more confident about my ability to complete the project after today.


Titles cataloged today: 54

Titles cataloged total: 54

Audio entertainment during the drive: Led Zepplin I; Dark Side of the Moon

New Southern discovery: If a server offers you peas, they may not be referring to the green ones. You may end up with black-eyed peas. They are still delicious, but this may come as a surprise.

Something I miss from California: Road signs with street names/numbers AT the intersection. There might be signs in the hundred yards leading up to major intersections, but when you reach the actual light or stop sign, there aren't necessarily any signs of which road is which. I'm looking at you, Philadelphia.


Edit: God bless this short-term memory for saving me from dwelling on setbacks. I will mention that we had some troubles in the afternoon getting the records to load into the catalog, but after two phone calls with a very nice man from Auto-Graphics, the computer decided to behave itself. Seriously, it wasn't working after the first conversation, so we called back, he did a screen share and when he watched me do THE EXACT SAME THING it worked. I told him that I hope it continues to work, because it might be inconvenient to stay on the phone with him every day for the next three weeks.

Arrived in Scooba

What a whirlwind couple of days! After a few flights (including one that left much too early from Los Angeles) I touched down in Mississippi, where it was only about 83 degrees. The weather has smiled on this endeavor! Meredith met me at the airport and we drove to Starkville where I met her husband and her cats. She had arranged for us to have dinner at a nice restaurant downtown with two other library directors and their spouses, and the highlight of the meal (besides the excellent company, of course) was the coffee makers that were brought out for dessert. They use butane heaters to boil water out of a lower flask into the coffee grounds in the top... Look up siphon coffee brewers, they're far too cool. I passed on coffee, but I did not pass on the Mississippi Mud Pie, which was delicious. We also had fried okra as an appetizer, which I tried because I want to be as open-minded as possible on this trip. I'm not sure I care for the squishy bits in the middle (it reminds me of eggplant) but the flavor was pretty good.
This morning we had brunch with one of Meredith's friends from her time at the Starkville Public Library. Kay has a beautiful house and graciously offered to take me in if I had problems with my cat allergies when staying with Meredith. Fortunately I was able to avoid adverse reactions, but it was wonderful to meet Kay. After that we went to the Golden Triangle Airport (where I was informed that they have three inbound and three outbound commercial flights per day) to pick up a rental car, then we drove to Scooba!
We stopped at the library because we were a bit early and scoped out the situation. I think Meredith was concerned that I would see it and running screaming into the hills, but I have no previous public library experience (besides as a patron at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library long, long ago), so I probably don't know enough to be worried. Most of the books acquired in the past 7 years have been cataloged, but having two different check-out systems running in the same location would be impractical, so they have continued to use check out cards for all the books. There were times when my fingers started to itch because I wanted to rearrange some of the sections, causing flashbacks to my days at Book Soup. I restrained myself, however, since it would be silly to rearrange the shelves without having the rest of the books, which are in Union awaiting cataloging.
After assessing the situation at the library, we drove to East Mississippi Community College, where the Dean has so kindly allowed me to inhabit one of the on-campus cottages for a couple of weeks. These student housing units are meant for four people, so I have an overabundance of space (and beds!), central air, and a washer and dryer. There is a cafeteria in the student center where Meredith and I had dinner, and it seems that the only other people on campus at the moment may be the football players. And the campus police.
Tomorrow I'll be going to the main branch library in Union, where I will be doing some of the cataloging. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone there and getting a better feel for the software they use. I've looked at the backside of the online catalog, but there's nothing like seeing another person in action to really get a good idea of how something works.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go turn down the air conditioning. I'm so used to not having it in my apartment that the prolonged exposure is disconcerting.

Less than a week to go!

On Saturday I'll be heading to Mississippi for the Great Cataloging Adventure of 2016!

Because I truly have my priorities straight, my primary concern at this point is which books I should pack. Not that I'm going to have a great deal of free time, but these are the thing that I worry about most.