June 28

In the morning, I FINALLY was taught how to make brief records. As with all things cataloging, it's been dumbed-down with a template and macros so it's really only a matter of filling in the template for each new CD. It's not that difficult, although there are a bunch of little things to look for and to try to remember each time. My flightiness makes remembering these tiny things somewhat challenging... although I am usually only flighty about things that effect only me! Anyway, we fill out the template and then "send" it to Voyager, the Library's catalog system, and then the CDs are accessible in the catalog. Every time someone looks something up in the Library's catalog, they first see the brief record screen, so what we are doing is kind of important, I guess. Overall, the new CD processing requires a lot more concentration and thought than the retro CD processing that we were doing initially. I can see where the quota of approximately 3 per hour (yes, I mentioned earlier that my trainer said it was 4 per hour but the other people in the office told me it's actually 3+ per hour) makes more sense. Still, I've been doing it for less than a day and I'm already at more than 3 per hour. Expectations are very low here.

In the afternoon, I worked more on making Access databases for the record labels I'm researching. I'm getting to be quite the pro with Microsoft Access and it makes me happy. Thom and Ali are using Excel because they know it better but I took the challenge and am learning Access! So aren't I cool? Umm, also, while I was working, I got to listen to recordings from some Joe Louis fight from 1939 or so. My "office" in the afternoon is actually the former Department Head's office (he retired in January) and all the dubbing equipment is in there. They needed to burn these Joe Louis fights onto a CD for some event about NBC radio later this week, so I listened to some of it while I worked. You wouldn't believe the non-stop advertising and corporate sponsorship that was around even in the 1930s! Oh, and that served to remind me that Recorded Sound isn't just music and CDs, like what I've been working with... it can also be old radio programs.

Oh, and as an example of my flightiness... I decided to go for a walk and enjoy the outdoors at lunchtime so I walked by the Supreme Court building. It's only on the other side of the Jefferson building and I have walked by it before, but only past the back, not the front. Well, I want to use up my roll of film and thought I'd take some nice pictures of the building and what was bound to be some weirdo protesters of some sort. Alas, no protesters today. As I found out later in the afternoon, the last day that the Court was in session was YESTERDAY! Duh. I missed it all by one stinking day.