Cataloging hacks: item record by collection spreadsheet

Late Christmas gift? Help with a new year resolution? If all you ever wanted for Christmas was a sense of order, this spreadsheet’s for you!

I’ve noticed some libraries lack a good tool for keeping track of how to add item records for different kinds of materials housed in different collections.

When I started cataloging at Peter White Public Library, I was lucky.  I inherited an Excel workbook that had evolved over the years, enhanced by a series of clever catalogers who preceded me.    

If I were expected to use my tiny little brain to keep track of all the different processing steps involved in adding items in multiple formats to dozens of different collections, I never would’ve been able to cope– I don’t have that kind of working memory!

Back in the day, I kept this spreadsheet open on my desktop whenever I was adding materials.  Peter White has dozens of collections, so the workbook had multiple tabs— different spread sheets for Adult collections, Juvenile Collections, Audio/visual Collections.  Each work sheet followed the same basic organization:   all of the collections (Fiction, non-fiction, Large Print Fiction, LP NF, etc) down the left side and all the details for how to fill in the item record fields– call number, item Barcode, Item Type, etc.—and  the details for how to  format spine and back labels across the top. 

I’ve re-created a single-tab version of this system that you can use as a template for your library’s collections.  It’s linked here and on the Cataloging Tools page of the UPRLC website.

If you’ve worked in your library for years, it’s probably self-explanatory how to set the spreadsheet up for your library.   

If you’re new to libraries or cataloging or just still want a refresher on some parts of the process, you can use the step by step Guide.  Don’t be put off by its length ; it’s designed to be skimmed.  The guide to the spreadsheet further explains the importance and usefulness of the different item record fields used in Workflows.  It can also explain some of the options available to you as you set up the spreadsheet.  

I plan to share other hacks I’ve used in future posts. If you have hacks of your own that you’d like to share, please let me know and I will pass them along.