An Irreplaceable Treasure

There has been much gnashing of teeth and wailing around my Library since Cataloger Queen announced on this past Tuesday that she will be departing our staff in the middle of May.

Cataloger Queen helps a patron find a book

(She's a wiz at Reference, too)

For 13 years or so, Cataloger Queen has been performing virtually every conceivable task for the MPL Youth Services Department.  She has been senior cataloger at the Library for many years; she has also simultaneously been a senior reference librarian.  (I use the word senior to denote her extensive, exhaustive knowledge of both cataloging and referencing, two polar opposites in librarianship.)  She has served on the cataloging committee for Evergreen Indiana, which sets cataloging policy for the entire consortium.  She has been an integral player in collection development and procurement, item processing, program scheduling and development, departmental planning and budgeting, grant administration, technology assistance, cross-departmental duties . . . .  Actually, I don't think I can list all of her skills here without unreasonably extending the length of this blog post.

Who knows how we will get along without her!  What is certain is that Cataloger Queen is an irreplaceable treasure.  The Library, of course, will soldier on, as needs must.  But the work will be heavier, and its flow more arduous, without the sure and steady hands (and mind) of Cataloger Queen to sort everything out.

Happy trails in your eastward travels, Cataloger Queen.  May the sun rise as brightly for you there as it has here.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  "So Long, Farewell" was a sweet song performed in the stage and movie versions of the musical  The Sound of Music (1965).  Naturally, it was included on the movie soundtrack album (1965).  Here's a music clip from the soundtrack, with the youthful troupe (portraying the von Trapp family) singing.  Did you know the movie director, Robert Wise, grew up in Winchester, Indiana?  True statement, as Broadway Gal (or Sammy the Toucan) would say.