gel pen and sticker in steno pad
3 5/8 x 6 inches
A coworker and I got lunch from Jimmy John’s over the holiday break. The sticker on my wrap came off in one piece, so I stuck it in my doodling notebook.
Tag: work
Old Labels
I work mostly with old government documents that have never been cataloged. Many of them have handwritten labels that are peeling off, because the adhesive has dried out. Every day, I make a pile of them on my desk, and this is today’s pile.
My Window
Staring Out My Window
Mah Bukket
I suppose it was only a matter of time before The Bathroom Performance Artists Troupe graduated from black trash bags to manky five-gallon buckets. (One in an ongoing series.)
Staff Meeting Doodle
gel pen and ballpoint pen in steno pad
9 x 6 inches
I meant to post this last Thursday, but completely forgot. Oopsie! We had a webinar on creating provider neutral bibliographic records for e-books–not exactly a staff meeting–last week, which is where the right-hand and lower parts of the doodle were done. Riveting stuff! Actually, one item did make me sit up and take notice. We’ve begun cataloging e-books from print copy records, instead of from the item itself, something that will make a lot of catalogers’ brains explodiate. But with the move toward FRBR, wherein multiple item types will be nested under one uber-bib record, this makes a whole lotta sense. Under the provider neutral model, individual variances (e.g. one manifestation has 155 pages and another has 146) are not important. Under FRBR (which is a long way from being implemented yet), format itself will cease to matter at the bibliographic record level (e.g. a book and a DVD of a movie made from the book will fall under the same master bib record). So I see the provider neutral model as a step toward FRBR.
Interesting stuff, if you’re a cataloger, but probably not so much otherwise.
Anyway, we started creating provider neutral records a few weeks ago, so I understood the practice, but the theory–especially the point that we are to preference good records for print manifestations over the actual electronic item itself–hadn’t quite sunk in. Hence my momentary bogglement. Using records for print manifestations to flesh out the e-book record you’re creating is one thing, but to preference information in a bib record created from a manifestation you cannot physically put your hands on? Blasphemy!
Roofers
The roofers are supposedly going to be done replacing the gravel (the final step) tomorrow. I am dubious. It took them most of the day to blow gravel onto the south side of the building, so I can’t imagine that they’ll finish the rest in one day. “The rest” would include the section below my cubicle. I’d rather not be around when they get to my area, because the stone blower is loud. It’s like a ginormous reverse shop vac. So, I decided to take tomorrow off work.
Cornered
Pedantic coworker got on the freight elevator after me this morning, so I was forced to make horrible small talk with him. He went on a long, rambling rant about how difficult chip packets are to open, to explain why he had to open his Fritos bag with his teeth. How the hell do you respond to something like that? I told him I use scissors. I mean, duh.
Gum
Yes, gum. There are a bunch of old study carrels in the ground floor hallway, presumably on their way to surplus. The bottoms of almost all of them are plastered with fossilized gum. God only knows how old it is. It’s been a long time since chewing gum was “not allowed,” so I’m assuming kids don’t have the same incentive to hide it under their desks and chairs these days. Maybe I’m wrong, but the “newer” chairs that are also on the way out do not have gum stuck to undersides of the seats.
Silverfish
The large dictionary at work was lying open on this page containing an illustration of a silverfish. They eat books, which I thought was kind of meta.
Rantypants Ahoy!
We had the first of several mandatory training sessions at work today. They promised that there would be something for all skill levels, and that everyone would learn something. Okaythen! What I learned was that the IT guy teaching the class will insist that you cannot be correct, when you know damned well you are. This, of course, is not exactly confidence inspiring.
The other thing I learned is that if you say out loud that you prefer to work with a clean desktop, then people–including the IT guy teaching the class–will want to know what’s wrong with you. The head of your entire department might even tell you that you need medication.
I am so looking forward to the next class!
red paper boat 