I have learned two ways the NSLM goes about cataloging depending on what is being cataloged—one through the material housed in the archives and books for public viewing on the shelves.
I got the extraordinary opportunity to work on and create a new catalog for a large & wonderful donation of a collection of original materials from the start of the National Beagle Club of America headquarters in Aldie. The owners donated to the NSLM a six-figure gift to catalog and digitize the National Beagle Club of America collection. This meant that this project became a priority in the library. The first step before digitizing the material is to create a new catalog for the collection within the archives. This consisted of a Word document telling the viewer each individual donated material given by the National Beagle Club of America. It also shows the viewer where the donation was donated by, the date range of the material, the historical note, and a statement of what the collection consists of. Then each item is broken up into categories under specific headings provided with details of each section. Lastly, those categories are broken up further showing each item, with the box number of where it will be housed, the material name (stating if it is a book, scrapbook, minute book, record, scrapbook, or letter), and the date range.
There were several challenges that I faced throughout the process of cataloging this collection. I had to review each item to determine the date range, which required detective skills to read through the pages to find the date. I also had to make sure what was stated in the index was what was discussed in the body of the book. Another struggle I faced was trying to read the cursive handwriting of these individuals; since I had not adequately learned cursive in school, I struggled with being able to read it. The last challenge I faced throughout the cataloging process was figuring out what categories I was going to create and where each of those items would go.
The other form of cataloging is using a particular cataloging system to catalog books or partials. This is a process that I have learned in earlier weeks of my internship, although this time, I had full rein to do it on my own with some guidance. This required me to fill in the specific fields with the designated material stated in the book, such as the title, alternative title (if stated), author, date, publisher, location of publication, physical description (write out index if stated), and subject field. Then after filling out the fields, I had to create the specific barcode for the book and the identification number.