What works, what doesn't

These are just some random thoughts:

- Using Post-its to tag shelves works pretty well, but sometimes the Post-its fall off and then you don't know if the shelf has been done.

- At St. John's we were mostly split up, due to computer issues. At the Audubon Society, we were all at tables. The tables were a lot more fun and I think they were more productive because it was easier to consult with people.

- I don't think you could do a productive flash mob without having at least a few people who are already very comfortable cataloging on LibraryThing. (The learning curve isn't necessarily steep, but it's there.)

- You really have to have at least one person who's comfortable doing manual entries.

- If you have some sort of shelf order (call #s, etc.) it helps to put them as the first tag or at the beginning of the comments section so that you can sort by them.

Just some thoughts on the shelf marking issue.

Post-Its could still work. But instead of the regular ones they make some ones which are a bit more sticky (I think they're marked for use on monitors and other surfaces that are less friendly to post-its sticking to them).

Alternatively you could use something like masking tape (though this may leave a residue) so maybe electrical or insulation tape, this comes in a multitude of colours, so each group of people could have a colour and mark the shelf. (It's also less likely to leave a messy residue that masking tape often does).

Just to add to what tangerinealert has stated. There is a masking tape used by painters that might work nicely.

Good ideas. And I think that even putting the Post-Its on the shelf vertically instead of horizontally might work.

Depending on the material of the shelves, the small stickers that are static cling for windows can work great and leave no residue.

I think the painters' tape is much better than electrical or insulation tape - it's meant to come away without leaving a residue.

I see your post was quite some time ago Katy. How did it go, ultimately? I am hoping that someone does in fact read my recent request, and who might be from, or passing through, the Upper Midwest this summer. Doubtful, but, nevertheless, am interested in learning from others' successes. You are right about needing at least one, probably two, folks who are comfortable doing manual entries. I actually love doing it but then, alas, I am after all, in a rural small town, in a log cabin library---The Librarian :)
www.wabenopl.org

>7 wabenopl:

I think the flash mobs were pretty successful in terms of data entry. It would be interesting to find out if the libraries involved ultimately found it useful to have their items cataloged on LT. Good luck finding volunteers to do your own flash mob!

I would be interested, too, as to the long term usefulness of the cataloguing. We have a church with a mission church, so to me it seems as if we could keep track of which book is at what library.

Our flashmob is set for saturday, oct 17. By that time we will have 6 volunteers who have already done a 4 hour block of work. We hope we will have at least that many more on flashmob day, since our youth group has said they will join us.

Hope that we can do a significant part of our pre school holdings which are probably between 1500 and 2000 items.

Welcome advice!

We had our Flash Mob cataloging day Saturday, Oct 17. We had 12 volunteers who each worked about 3 hours and we got just under 800 books catalogued. Each item was entered and the edited to include a bar code, which probably doubled the amount of time needed to enter each book. We also included tags on some of the school books to help sort by season, color and shapes, numbers, etc.

Even with snacks and break time, I'd say that most folks in our group couldn't have worked much more than 4 hours at cataloguing. We had some young people that added to the fun.