My part in the preparation for the Rubenstein’s upcoming renovation is to assist in making sure that all of our beloved materials have accurate records before the move. Imagine when you have moved to a new house or dorm room and realized you just can’t find that book from that library that’s overdue. Now multiply that scenario by thousands of volumes and the importance of our task becomes clear!
Our Holdings Management Team members are going through the stacks systematically, checking records and barcodes on periodicals, reference items, pamphlets, and many, many sets of books. Out of the 13,000 volumes I personally have checked, over 2,000 needed to be fixed in some way. Our way of keeping track of various interdepartmental progress? Multi-colored post-it notes line the ends of shelf rows (ours are blue).
It is always interesting to open a book and see the owner’s signature or personal bookplate. Today, I found a Roald Dahl book that was signed by the author in 1988. Once, I found a book on proper housekeeping that was signed to a friend on my birthday (except 200 years before I was born). I’m excited for the next 13,000 volumes!
Cullen Cornett is a Holdings Management Assistant in the Rubenstein Technical Services Dept.
Hi Cullen,
Loved your blog post! Your analogy quite clearly gives a good picture of what you are doing and why it’s important. How cool to find the Rouald Dahl autograph signature in a book. This is how I have felt, doing my research, when I come upon some fascinating comment in a confession text or discover some interesting connection between a text and something else. Happy future discoveries! Love, Dad