Jeeya S's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: Database Management in Library Cataloging
BASIS Advisor: Kelsey Cooper
Internship Location: Glendale Public Library Main Branch
Onsite Mentor:  Cassandra Jarles, Library Volunteer Program Coordinator and Kearsten LaBrozzi, Interim Cataloging Librarian 



Project Abstract

Libraries contain tens of thousands of physical books, CDs, and media. Some even manage their own digital libraries. Every item, be it a physical book or a digital copy, has a digital bibliographic record stored on the libraries’ ILS (Integrated Library System). This record stores information about the book such as author, title, edition, description, location within the library, whether it has been checked out or on hold, and much more. Catalogers must manage and update a library’s collection daily to provide the best public service. Catalogers must also ensure patrons can have access to all of the library’s collection by consistently managing the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). In my project, I hope to understand how libraries manage such vast amounts of data. I also hope to research some ways to improve editing and updating the data in bulk. Libraries are a vital part of the larger public good. They allow for affordable access to knowledge, digital literacy, community, and civic engagement. The better libraries are equipped to manage their own collections, the sooner those collections are available for the public.

    My Posts:

  • Final Post

    Hello Fellow Students, it is with bittersweet feelings that I conclude my Senior Research Project. It has been a wonderful experience, and I would like to take a moment to thank all those who have helped me throughout the process. I would like to thank my wonderful faculty advisor Ms. Cooper, who guided me through... Read More

  • Linked Data: A Glimpse into the Future

    Hello fellow classmates, I was not entirely sure if I was going to talk about this because I thought I would save it for my actual presentation, but it is an intriguing topic that I feel is worth discussing. As you know, my entire project centers around the mass editing of data, and a huge... Read More

  • Finishing Presentations

    Hello fellow classmates, not much to update on this week. I have finished both the SOP and mini-SOP (you will get a chance to see them alongside my research paper). I have been primarily focused on creating the PowerPoint presentation. It is proving to be a bit more challenging than I initially assumed (as I... Read More

  • SOP

    Hello fellow classmates! I have some exciting updates.  But first, some of you have been confused on what a Marc Record is and what the fields like 520 are. As mentioned earlier, a MARC record is a machine-readable bibliographic record that contains information about an item in a library catalog (in other words, a digital... Read More

  • Breakthrough!

    Hello fellow classmates! I have some exciting updates. As you know, I had begun to find ways to better filter, manage and edit mass data in MARC records using OpenRefine. I also used Excel in this process. Now, I am excited to say I have found a breakthrough! One of the key issues I had... Read More

  • The next phase of my project!

    Hello fellow classmates! I have some exciting updates, but first I would like to take a moment to discuss the difference between Integrated library systems (ILS) and library services platforms (LSP) (because many people have asked me about the difference between Polaris and OCLC). I work with ILS (Polaris), which manages collections and operations specific... Read More

  • On metadata management:

    Chances are, many of you have probably heard of metadata. But what is it exactly and how does it apply to library cataloging? Metadata is commonly thought of as “data about data”, but more specifically in terms of library use, it is about how information is placed in a more precise semantic context to enable... Read More

  • Classification and Subject Analysis

    Hello fellow classmates, this is Jeeya Classification is the systematic arrangement by subject of books and other materials on shelves in such a way that users can find the item they are looking for. It is used to arrange items in a logical order on library shelves and to group like subjects or material types... Read More

  • On Descriptive Cataloging

    Hello fellow students! I decided to post a bit earlier this week because I might not have access to my computer next week. The three levels of cataloging are descriptive, classification, and subject analysis. Because there are a lot of components in descriptive cataloging, I will focus on that today and cover classification and subject... Read More

  • History of digital cataloging

    Hello fellow students! My name is Jeeya Shah. To research about future innovation for cataloging, it is important to learn about the past. So, for this blog post I figured I would share a brief overview on the history of digital cataloging (something I had to learn for my training). First catalogs were handwritten books,... Read More

  • Intro to ILS

    Hello fellow students! My name is Jeeya Shah. I have had my first day at my site placement and I have learned a lot of things! I got introduced to POLARIS which is the Integrated Library System (ILS) that Glendale Public Library uses. POLARIS is used for many things ranging from patron records, check in/... Read More

  • On Technology and Library Efficiency

    Hello fellow students! My name is Jeeya Shah and I am conducting my senior research project on how technology can be improved for better library operations. Libraries are extremely important to me. I was an avid reader since elementary school. I would always check out books to the highest possible limit and   spend my summers... Read More