Week 7- Manual Cataloging using Destiny

I wrote two weeks ago about my long-term project of creating a professional library in the collection! I started two weeks ago shelving what had already been cataloged. Unfortunately, there are MANY titles that have to be entered manually as well as given barcodes, call numbers and labels!

My first duty was to manually write bar code numbers in each book. Dr. Mac has a saved Excel document for bar codes not in use for manual entry. There were 50 + titles that each needed a 6 digit barcode number written on the verso page. It went against my every grain as a bibliophile to write in a book! I'm even the kind of person who will not highlight a college textbook. Dr. Mac says it is important to do this in case the bar code label ever gets removed. So even though it looks like I'm happy to do this, inside I was cringing!

Dr. Mac then showed me how to add titles to the Destiny catalog. We first search by title in other databases. Once we find a match, we verify the Dewey decimal, change the collection part to professional, and add a price if there is one listed near the ISBN. Then we manually enter each barcode number I wrote in the book. In the case of multiple copies of the same title, it was extremely easy to duplicate the copy and simply change the bar code for each entry. Here's a few of the titles I completed this week. While it was easy, this task was very time-consuming! It took each of my 4 inside hours this week to complete this task. 

I really liked using the Destiny catalog. In previous classes, I used Library World. I found Destiny to be much more user-friendly as an OPAC. It was easier to add entries that I thought it would be for our purposes. While these entries may not be perfect according to LME 506, I gained a lot of experience creating these entries. Next week, I will be printing and taping labels to the professional library collection!