And you thought the barcode conversation was riveting

For years (well, since I've been here), I have made a custom spine label for each new book I add to the collection. It was something started when they were automating the collection before I got here, and the other person who was working here at the time insisted that we keep doing it, as it would make things look uniform. And so, despite the fact that every vendor will provide spine labels for the books you buy, I have kept with the in-house production of spine labels, because our labels are big and clear and easy to read and it makes things look nice and uniform and appeals--in a deep, fundamental way--to my OCD.

But, as you might imagine, while it doesn't take a lot of time, it also doesn't take no time. And there are something like 40 labels on a sheet, so there's always a question of how long to wait before printing a sheet, as I don't really order books in nice neat batches of 40. I can run the sheet through the printer multiple times, but after the first time the quality decreases, which does not jibe well with the aforementioned OCD.

So as I get busier and busier (and more behind on book processing), I have begun asking myself why I don't just go ahead and use the vendor-provided spine labels.

And so I did.

Sure, things won't look all uniform anymore. But that didn't seem to be a good enough reason to keep doing something that took time I don't have to spare. The vendor labels look fine. And unlike the barcode thing, I have no problem remembering to do something that doesn't create extra work for me.

Part of me feels like I've compromised my standards in some way. But mostly, I feel. . . liberated.

Speaking of librarian OCD

When the library was automated, the way the videos were cataloged was. . . odd. Videos were separated by broad Dewey ranges, and then just assigned a number in order. So, for example, the first history video that was cataloged was given number 900; the second was 901, and so on. Only there were more than 100 history videos, so the overflow went in the 200s. Which was one of many problems. It was impossible to find things, and browsing didn't work at all, even though the collection was pretty small. I might have two really excellent videos on a topic, but odds are they were nowhere near one another. And, as I believe I've covered, I'm a big believer in collocation.

And, as you can probably tell, it drove me crazy.

"Re-classify the video collection" has been on my list of projects since my first year here, but it always seemed like a daunting task, as I'm not super confident in my ability to assign Dewey numbers, and finding good MARC records for videos is not always as easy I'd like; I could find other libraries that had these videos, but the call numbers would usually be assigned based on some bizarre local system, and not Dewey.

I started small, as I have with my recent shift in where I put the barcodes. New videos that came in got a Dewey number, everything else stayed as is. Which basically took the problem I had before and made it worse. Now videos on a topic could be in any one of three places.

But changing it seemed overwhelming. There were A LOT of videos. And then I had one of those brilliant-yet-completely-obvious ideas--I could just get rid of a bunch of the videos.

So that's what I did. I weeded mercilessly, which the section desperately needed anyway. Most of the videos were on VHS, which is an obsolete technology. There are, maybe, a handful of VCRs on campus, and none will be replaced as those wear out. Also, the videos themselves were OLD, and had not been stored in a way that would make them last (i.e., they were usually kept in direct sunlight, as I don't have any sort of window coverings or climate control). So I did "The Great VHS Giveaway of 2010" and many have found their way to new homes where they will actually be put to use (the rest go to the great VCR in the sky.

After purging over half the collection, reclassifying seemed less daunting. I wasn't super-exacting with the Dewey numbers, focusing mostly on getting the videos classified in a way that it would be possible for teachers to easily find what they're looking for. The numbers are accurate--just not to every last decimal place, which I'm okay with.

Because just having them with Dewey numbers at all and organized in a way that makes sense makes me feel so much less crazy when I look at them.

Front left horizontal? Back right vertical? What's a girl to do?

I received my most recent book order yesterday. And as I went to catalog them today, I was faced with the question I try to avoid every time I add new books to my system: Where should I put the barcode?

When my library was first automated, the barcodes were placed on the endpaper of the book. (Usually. Sometimes it was a page or two in, sometimes it was on the inside of the book cover. But mostly on the endpaper.) This is a minor pain when checking books out, but not a huge deal. When I did an inventory this summer and had to scan every barcode, which meant taking every book off the shelf, opening it, finding the barcode, and scanning it? It was a GINORMOUS pain.

Since doing the inventory (well, before that, but particularly since that), I have been thinking about changing the barcode placement on my books. But my deeply ingrained need for consistency made it hard for me to change. I have A LOT of books with barcodes on the end paper--if I change now it will be YEARS, maybe even decades, before all of my barcodes are in a consistent place. This has serious potential to drive me crazy.

So when I started processing my new book order today I grabbed the first book at put the barcode on the endpaper. And looked at it. And realized, in one of those crystallizing moments they use an example when teaching about epiphanies, that I was being an idiot.

So I grabbed the next book, and placed the barcode vertically on the upper right hand corner on the back of the book. And it makes so much sense. It's the easiest location for inventory, it rarely if ever obscures important information, and will also make checking books in and out easier.

These little shifts can make a huge difference, but they seem like an overwhelming undertaking, because--if you're anything like me--you feel the need to change everything all at once. And, ideally, I would love to move all the barcodes on my books, but that is nowhere near being realistic. So I make an incremental change, and wait for the rest of the library to catch up. I have to start somewhere. It will take time, but it's the right thing to do.

It's still going to drive me slightly crazy, though.