When multiple departments at Mississippi State University began asking for titles out of the Early English Books microfilm series, it became apparent that there was a strong need for this series to be cataloged—but how? With the daunting task of cataloging thousands of reels of microfilm with numerous titles on each reel, catalogers at MSU developed a master file using MarcEditor and used batch editing to speed up the process by around 900% when compared with the cataloging time from retrieving records individually from OCLC. This poster will discuss the process and benefits of this continuing project. Speakers: Melody Dale Assistant Professor/Serials Cataloger, Mississippi State University

1. overview
Process
Process
History
When multiple departments at Mississippi State University began
asking for titles out of the Early English Books microfilm series, it
became apparent that there was a strong need for this series to be
cataloged. With the daunting task of cataloging thousands of reels
of microfilm with numerous titles on each reel, catalogers at MSU
developed a master file using MarcEdit and used batch editing to
speed up the process by around 900% when compared with the
cataloging time from retrieving records individually from OCLC.
When beginning the process, the catalogers searched OCLC for each
individual record in the order they appeared in the guides. Because
many of the titles were not in Modern English and had variant
spellings, searching for them was slow and grueling, and each
cataloger only averaged around 30 to 40 per day.
Because this process was so slow-going, the catalogers began
researching other ways of finding the records. After learning about
MarcEdit’s Z39.50 Client, a raw
search was conducted to harvest
records to save into a master file.
Initially, the range of publication
years was used, but because the file
was so large (over 110,000 records),
the computer and/or client would
freeze. To keep this from happening,
the harvesting was instead done
year by year, and then appended to
the end of the master file. This took
about six hours.
OPAC
ILS
Bound-with Appearance in OPAC and ILS
Master File Record
After this process was done, the entire
master file could be edited to meet the
library’s needs. Normally deleted fields
(029, 938, etc.) were deleted from the
entire file within minutes. MarcEdit also
allowed for a relatively simple process
of copying field data from the 830 into a
new field to create a call number ending
in the reel/position number. The entire
process of creating the master file took
less than one working day.
A copy of the master file was put on the computers of each of the
three catalogers working on the project. By opening the master file in
MarcEdit, the catalogers could search for the reel number then easily
sort the results and copy the best record for each title into a new
file. Usually, catalogers did this for about ten reels. After finishing the
file, they would then bring the records into the ILS to go through the
bound-with process.
Although many departments were aware of the presence of the
microfilm collection and its value for research, using the collection
was very frustrating and time-consuming. After several professors
asked for this series to be cataloged by title, the need was expressed
to the cataloging department; thus the project began.
Early English Books Guide
When the Early English Books series was originally “cataloged,” each
microfilm reel was linked to the serial record. Although every reel
was linked and the series was considered cataloged, the only way
to know which titles were in the series was by looking through the
print guides located in the microfilm collection. These guides contained
sequential listings of the titles as they appeared on each reel, but
there was no cross-listing to help patrons search by title, and because
these guides collectively comprised thousands of pages, they were
virtually unusable.
Benefits/Outcomes
From February 19, 2014 to March 26, 2014, 3 catalogers working on
the project two days a week cataloged 13,295 titles from the Early
English Books Series. Broken down, this averages to around 369
titles per cataloger per day. This was a significant increase (about
900%) over the previous method. The catalogers are continuing to
work on the project two days a week until it is finished, which will be
much sooner than expected due to the new method.
According to the librarians in the Government Documents area
(where microfilm is located), this microfilm collection is heavily
asked for, so the cataloging of the collection has helped both them
and patrons by making titles easier to find.
The library has
used social media to
promote the cataloging
of the collection and
is expecting the usage
of this collection to
increase over time as
more individual titles
are cataloged.
Social Media
Z39.50 Search