5.2005-present, Spanish Peaks Library District, Library Technician, Technical Services

9.2005-present, Spanish Peaks Library District, Library Technician, Interlibrary Loan

Of all the work I’ve done in libraries, I love cataloging the best; it’s where my heart’s home is. Description and discovery are two sides of the same coin: we describe to make discovery possible, and also discover in the process of describing.

ILL takes that further, linking dissimilar catalogs and collections at a rich variety of dissimilar institutions to extend the reach of the discovery process.

This is at the center of what I love about library work: making real the idea of access, manifesting theory, doing the actual labor of realizing the idea. Everything else I do – reference and readers’ advisory, collection development, programs, administration, IT – ties back to this fundamental principle: every reader its book, every book its reader. For every idea, a thinker. For every question, an answer. How do we get from here to there?

Current project: A complete and robust Cataloging Best Practices Notebook for SPLD

Current fascination: wrapping my brain around linked data architecture and the fundamentals of BIBFRAME

Best learning experience: last year’s two-day intensive RDA training at Denver Public Library with Manuel Urrizola of the University of California – Riverside.

Proudest accomplishments:

• Reduced cataloging and book processing time of new items from 60 days to 5 business days over a two-year period.
• Managed with the (massive) catalog cleanup before and after migration from proprietary FolletLIS to SQL-compliant InsigniaILS
• Brought SPLD online as a SWIFT ILL lender
• Eliminated standalone ILL database to integrate ILL and request-for-purchase into a single workflow contained within the ILS
• Introduced prepublication holds

Portfolio items:

Recataloging Flowchart (internal)

Shoestring Cataloging Tools (CLiC Spring Workshops 2014)