My job title is Resource Description Specialist in the Resource Description Department of Collection Services; that’s a fancy way of saying I’m an original cataloger for monographic resources.  Although I catalog print materials and participate as part of a small subteam that provides records for the Library of Congress electronic Cataloging-in-Publication Program (eCIPs), my main focus is creating bibliographic records that describe A-V resources (concentrating on visual), for physical (DVDs, Blu-ray discs, videocassettes, film reels, etc.), as well as digital (streaming) formats.

I catalog a wide variety of works in many different formats and languages, so every day brings something new and interesting.  Because my job is specialized by format rather than language, I often have to rely on the language expertise of my library colleagues to help me describe the works that come my way.  This is especially true when those works are in languages I can’t read, and I am so grateful for all of the help with Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Korean materials my colleagues so willingly provide.  When needed, they also help tweak the Library of Congress subject headings I’ve assigned, or suggest additional subject headings if I have missed important cultural cues or historical context.

Sometimes it’s necessary to go further afield for help in simply identifying the language(s) of a work.  In the case of a streaming video entitled “Bad Press” that has title screens in Chinuk Wawa, Navajo, Cherokee, Osage, and Mvskoko, my colleagues were able to recognize some, but not all of the languages, so I tracked down the film’s directors who were able to identify the remaining languages, and I also contacted the director of the Osage Nation Language Department who graciously provided a transliteration of the Osage title.  If you want to take a look, you can find the film on Warpwire (authenticate with your NetID and password to view the film). Here are those five title screens:

Since accessibility is an overarching goal of cataloging, it’s incumbent upon me to accurately describe all accessibility features available in the materials I catalog, using principles of inclusive description.  I need to include the language(s) of the dialogue, language(s) of subtitles and/or captions or audio description, and whenever possible, include the title and names of cast and crew in the original language script.  I also utilize controlled (standardized) vocabularies for accessibility genre headings, currently “Video recordings for the hearing impaired” when subtitles or captions are present, or in less frequent cases where audio description is available, “Video recordings for people with visual disabilities”.  These vocabularies change over time to mitigate harm; there are discussions underway to change “Video recordings for the hearing impaired” to “Video recordings for the hard of hearing”, but these changes have to go through official channels, and take time.

Sometimes we receive titles that are unusable in their current physical form, such as videos that were sent by the vendor as files on a thumb drive.  Since we can’t circulate thumb drives, those files need to be converted so they can be streamed on Warpwire.  The good folks in the Duke Digital Repository accomplish tasks like this with amazing skill, speed, and good humor!

Some of the most fun and challenging materials I work with are the accompanying materials included with A-V box sets; the packaging can be spectacular, but publishers definitely do not have libraries in mind when they include that stuff!   The accompanying booklets are easy enough to deal with, but what do you do with the ice pick-shaped ball point pen that accompanied the collector’s edition of “Basic Instinct”…

…or the wave drum included in the new Grateful Dead box set “Friends of the Devil: April 1978”?

For answers to those types of questions, I consult my colleagues at Lilly Library who have to figure out not only how (or even if) those materials will circulate, but how to house them.  This can have a direct bearing on how I describe those materials; sometimes it’s not so simple to determine what is the main item and what is the accompanying material?  Sometimes I have to ask, for example, is this a DVD plus book, or book with accompanying DVD?  What does the publisher consider to be the main item?  How will this material be used in the library?

Well, that’s about it.  As you can see, my job is never dull, and I get to describe and make accessible a wide variety of titles in many different formats and languages, and I have the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of wonderful colleagues all over the library.  I’ve worked in a number of different departments over my 35 years at the Duke University Libraries, but have found my library home in Resource Description.

Hello! My name is Amanda Gordon, and I am a Serials Management Associate in the Electronic Resources and Serials Acquisitions (ERSA) Department. While relatively new to Duke University Libraries – my first day was December 2nd, 2024 – I’d love to tell you a bit more about myself, how I got to Duke, and what my position entails…or at least what I know of it so far!

I was born and raised in central Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in Art History, Classics, and Classical Humanities in 2015. It wasn’t long after that I met my husband, and we moved to Florida together where I got my first library job. I had always had a fondness for libraries, and it proved to be a good fit – whether it was in public services positions, as I started out in, or in a collections services position. Before I came to Duke, I had spent the last six years in downtown Raleigh working as the Library Technical Assistant I for Campbell University’s Law School Library. It was in this role that my eyes were opened to all the behind-the-scenes work and moving pieces that go into keeping a library running, and what it takes to keep it running well. I loved the task- and detail-oriented nature of it and knew then that collections work (particularly in higher education) was where I wanted to stay!

In my new position here at DUL, I put to work many of the same skills and knowledge I’ve spent the past ten years developing – organization, record keeping, and customer services – to facilitate the work of the Serials Management Team. My day largely centers around what comes through my e-mail and as the initial “filter” on the dul-serials inbox, I could be replying to vendor communications (such as renewals or pricing updates), reviewing title notifications (such as format changes or cessations), claiming missing materials, or collecting and saving invoices. I also help to process many of those invoices for payment, along with any credit memos or rate adjustments, and help to create or close orders as needed. Thankfully, I spent the last six years of my career working in Alma, easing my transition in accomplishing some of these tasks! Beyond that, I’m happily at the disposal of my team, helping with projects or record clean-up, and continue to take on responsibilities as I learn the ins and outs of the job.

Outside of work and in my spare time, I like to game (PC) and read (my husband works for Barnes & Noble – our apartment is near bursting with books!) and enjoy a good true crime show. I also love food – a typical evening is spent at least in part in the kitchen, cooking and chatting over a glass of wine. If I’m going out, go-to spots are often centered around tapas or sushi! My husband and I also make a point to travel at least twice a year, once to Wisconsin to visit family and the other to a new destination of our choosing. We went on a cruise to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas for our honeymoon in 2023 and really enjoyed ourselves – so much so that we went on a second last year and have another planned for this fall!

As I continue to settle into this role, I hope you’ll stop by my cube sometime to chat – whether it’s about trips you’ve taken, restaurant recommendations, or what your own position entails! I’m excited to get to know everyone better and am so happy to be here and working amongst such a friendly, knowledgeable group of people. I look forward to what I hope will be a long and fruitful career within DUL’s Collections Services!

Collections Services was pleased to welcome Zhuo Pan (潘倬, Pān Zhuō) on August 14, 2023 as Resident Librarian for Resource Description.  It has been a busy and engaging three months for Zhuo and the Resource Description Department and we are glad Zhuo was here to share them with us.  Zhuo received his Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Washington earlier this year, where he also served as a Library Data Specialist in the UW Libraries.  Zhuo received his Bachelor of Library Science from Wuhan University.  Though new to Duke in Durham, Zhuo is returning to the wider Duke University community.  He worked at Duke Kunshan University Library, both as an intern and as Library Assistant for Technical Services.   In his current position, Zhuo forms one-half of the inaugural cohort of DUL’s Residency Program, which seeks to enable recent graduates of an MLIS or related graduate program to gain experience in a highly specialized area of librarianship.

In his position as Resident Librarian, Zhuo describes materials to make discovery possible through the Duke University Libraries Catalog.  His work also contributes new and improved records to WorldCat, which is a catalog of library resources from all parts of the world.  Because catalogers must learn to use subject knowledge across a variety of disciplines and to apply complex international standards when creating catalog entries, gaining expertise is a long-term process and hinges on training and mentoring.  Zhuo brings to his current position experience both with hands-on cataloging at Duke Kunshan University Library, as well as experience with the international set of elements and guidelines for creating metadata for library resources from his position at UW libraries.  It has been gratifying to build on Zhuo’s knowledge and experience by working to describe books awaiting description.  During his first three months, Zhuo acquainted himself with internal workflows, policies, and the tools and documentation that support these.  He also spent significant time assessing and categorizing materials in the Chinese language cataloging queue.  This facilitated a training strategy focused on specific types of description, starting with literature, then transitioning to comics and graphic novels, and moving onto local history.  For a snapshot of Chinese language books cataloged in the last 3 months, check the catalog. Zhuo provided description for over half of new titles added during this period. The Monograph Acquisitions department, where books with records that are complete in WorldCat at the time of receipt are processed, provided description for the remaining  portion.

Most recently, Zhuo has worked on books about art and photography.  This is an especially complicated area of description with many special requirements for noting creators and subjects associated with artistic works.  In addition, art and photography books often reflect their discipline, meaning they get artsy with how the physical book is presented.  This adds an extra layer of challenge to describing the physical resource.  Zhuo has come across books that are portfolios with loose plates of images, books with pages that fold out to create larger-format reproductions of photos, and even a book that is sealed in its entirety and needs to be carefully cut open before he can describe it.  Following are some photos of recent art books that Zhuo has encountered.  I particularly enjoyed working on the book that included parallel texts in Chinese and Russian languages with Zhuo since we each got to use our particular linguistic strengths to describe it.  This partnership is just one example of the myriad ways that original catalogers constantly work together to use combined expertise in resource description.  Here is looking forward to many years of working with Zhuo to provide timely and inclusive description of library collections.