My Special MARC Record in Evergreen Indiana

UPDATE (December 19, 2013):  Since I have moved away from Mooresville, Indiana, as I mentioned in another blog posting, my MARC record has now been removed from the Evergreen Indiana online catalog.  I'll leave this posting up, however, because it shows what my MARC record looked like when it was still active in the catalog.

Everyone knows I am a valuable resource at Mooresville Public Library.  Librarians will tell you that valuable library resources should be cataloged to enhance patron accessibility.  After searching the Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) catalog, I discovered that I was not included.  Shouldn't there be a catalog entry for moi?  Of course there should!  Make it so, Scowl-Face!

Click to Bigify Cauli's Catalog Entry

That was quick.

  

Catalog entries (in automated catalogs like E.I.) are typically called MARC records.  For all you non-library folks out there, a MARC record is a Machine-Readable Catalog record.  It is the format used in integrated library systems (ILS), which are computerized databases describing the resources available through a library's collections.  MARC records enable patrons to search a library's OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) to find items of interest.

So, if you were to go to my Library's OPAC and type Cauli Le Chat into the search line, you would find my MARC record, which, for catalogers, looks like this:

Cauli Le Chat MARC Record (in Catalogers' Format View)

Now you may find moi among my Library's (and the E.I. library consortium's) invaluable collections.  This is as it should be.  You can't check me out, though.  I'm non-circulating.

Great job, Minions!  Thanks to The Lady With the Red Hair for supervising Scowl-Face's cataloging.  T.L.W.T.R.H. has over 20 years of cataloging experience and is head of technical services at Greenwood Public Library.  She used to be head of the catalog division at the Indiana State Library (ISL).  She knows cataloging rules (AACR2, for you acronym buffs) backwards-and-forwards, and she serves on the E.I. cataloging committee and helps catalogers whose libraries have joined the consortium.  ISL is in charge of E.I.  So it all fits together nicely.

Great Reference Resource, I Am,

Cauli Le Chat

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P.S.  Our musical closer today is "At the Library" by Green Day, from the band's debut album, 39/Smooth (1990).