As another academic library, summer holidays are also when we are able to do larger reclassification projects (though as a “guerrilla reclassification” library, we do also do them at other points in the year when we can …). We are lucky that the library has a long history of summer projects, especially ones which involve more than one area of library staff, so we have fed reclassification projects into that mix.

What do others think about the timing of reclassification projects? How much does the time of year affect or influence your reclassification?

Debbie

Deborah Lee
Senior cataloguer
Book Library
Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House
Strand
London WC2R 0RN

Telephone: 020 7848 2905
Email: [log in to unmask]

Currently at The Courtauld Gallery:

TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND JANE AVRIL:
BEYOND THE MOULIN ROUGE
18 June – 16 September 2011

From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nicky Ransom
Sent: 26 September 2011 11:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

Yes, this is a part of the process that will need careful consideration – getting buy-in from those who manage the teams who would do the physical processing as this will be a significant part of any reclassification project. I am sure we will have to do any reclassification in-house so this is going to take some negotiation. These sorts of projects usually get saved for the summer holidays (I’m in an academic library) but there is an increasing a number of projects that compete for staff time during this period.

Nicky Ransom

University for the Creative Arts

From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lee, Deborah
Sent: 26 September 2011 11:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

I agree with Helen and Lynn. In the first reclassification project that I worked on, as well as the reclassification I was also responsible for all the physical processing and labelling, and concur that this is definitely at least as time-consuming if not more so than the actual reclassification. It really slowed down the project. This is why in my current reclassification project, I ask our lovely student assistant and willing volunteers to do the relabeling to free me up to reclassify more things. (Though we might have as many as 2 or 3 copies of a title, not 20, or 105!!!)

Debbie

Deborah Lee
Senior cataloguer
Book Library
Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House
Strand
London WC2R 0RN

Telephone: 020 7848 2905
Email: [log in to unmask]

Currently at The Courtauld Gallery:

TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND JANE AVRIL:
BEYOND THE MOULIN ROUGE
18 June – 16 September 2011

From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Garner, Helen J (LIS)
Sent: 26 September 2011 10:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

I totally agree Lynn. I wouldn’t contemplate a project without securing the time/support of staff to do the re-labelling. Often, this is where the major (time) input is needed. We can easily have 20 copies of a title. I know of one text where we have 105 copies.

Helen

From: Lynne Dyer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 September 2011 10:49
To: Garner, Helen J (LIS); [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

One of the difficulties of re-class is if you have a backlog of new books to deal with (and who hasn’t?!). You need the time of a cataloguer to actually assess what classification number to move from/to, whilst changing the local holdings on the catalogue, finding the books on the shelves, and re-labelling the books does not need a cataloguer’s input. However, a while a cataloguer may re-classify one title, the library/information assistant(s) may have to re-label dozens of copies, so this potentially requires a huge input, if, like us, you have lots of multiple copies!

Lynne

Lynne Dyer

Bibliographic Services Team Manager

Content Management, Planning and Innovation

Library and Learning Services

DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY

Leicester LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0) 116 257 8033

E: [log in to unmask]

W: dmu.ac.uk

From: Garner, Helen J (LIS) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 September 2011 10:39
To: Lynne Dyer; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

At Sheffield Hallam, all our reclassification projects have been in-house too. This involved updating stock to new editions of Dewey.

I too hadn’t fully realised the potential of out-sourcing until attending the CIG event last week, but thankfully we completed our in-house projects on time.

Helen

From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lynne Dyer
Sent: 26 September 2011 10:34
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

Barbara,

Outsourcing had never occurred to me either; everything we’ve done to date has been done in-house and completed over a quite protracted time! We did, however, have some financial resources to pay a cataloguer to re-classify our nursing library from NLM to DDC prior to our nursing campus being closed and merged with the main campus.

Lynne

Lynne Dyer

Bibliographic Services Team Manager

Content Management, Planning and Innovation

Library and Learning Services

DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY

Leicester LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0) 116 257 8033

E: [log in to unmask]

W: dmu.ac.uk

From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barbara Thompson
Sent: 26 September 2011 10:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CIG-E-FORUM] Reclass projects

Good morning

When we at the University of Sheffield Library decided we wanted to drag certain areas of our catalogue into the 21st century (we have several areas which, for years, have been classified according to special schemes set up a long time ago) we set up a Reclassification Project Group to look at the implications for this. It was never on the cards that we would outsource this, but always assumed that we would use the staff already here and do the work as and when staff time allowed. This has proved to be a very slow process and 15 months into the project we still haven't finished the first area (Philosophy). Until going to the CIG reclass event last week, the idea of outsourcing had never occurred to us!

Barbara

--

Barbara Thompson

Metadata and eTechnologies Section (MeTS)

University of Sheffield

Western Bank Library

Sheffield

S10 2TN

Tel : +44 (0)114 2220533

Ext : 20533

The Courtauld Institute of Art is a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales, number 04464432) and an exempt charity. SCT Enterprises Limited is a limited company (registered in England and Wales, number 3137515). Their registered offices are at Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. The sale of items related to The Courtauld Gallery and its collections is managed by SCT Enterprises Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Courtauld Institute of Art. The Hermitage Development Trust is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Courtauld Institute of Art. It is a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales, number 3867675) and a registered charity (number 1078342). Its registered office is at South Building, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA.
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