I am ACRL Member of the Week

Dedicated information Jedi.

I'm currently reading an interactive fiction story titled "80 Days." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Days_(2014_video_game) ) Loosely based on Jules Verne's work "Around the World in Eighty Days," it stretches a branching narrative game into a novel-length reading experience.

Connected, collegial, supportive.

As a special collections metadata librarian creating bibliographic descriptions and enabling discovery of the unique materials and books-as-cultural-objects stewarded by and housed in the University of Minnesota Libraries, I value the network of special collections practitioners and fellow catalogers involved in RBMS, the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of ACRL. I currently serve as a member on the RBMS Publications and Communications Committee and on the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee.

Special collections and rare materials cataloging draw on a wide variety of skill sets and disciplines. I constantly synthesize and actively grow my knowledge of book history, codicology, paleography, bibliographical description, bookbinding, and provenance as these areas inform and enrich my daily work. This is in addition to the rich knowledge domains of cataloging descriptive standards, the assignment subject access and classification, current evolution in library linked data, and cataloging/metadata policy creation. The work of the rare book cataloger is only the beginning of what later evolves into substantial bibliographical research by scholars in the field. My contributions help make the University of Minnesota Libraries’ materials discoverable and evolves our understanding of the human cultural record on campus and beyond.

I have been so incredibly blessed by library mentors in my life who have challenged, encouraged, and helped me grow. I’m so grateful for you, for our shared profession, and for your generosity. Thank you. A great library leader once told me I had to become more than a cataloger and to succeed I must embrace the role of information Jedi. In taking up this challenge, I strive every day to learn more about our bibliographic universe and how to make it better for the academic cataloging librarians of tomorrow.