Library cataloger celebrates 25th anniversary

There are two things Mary McGee cannot imagine life without: books and organization.

The long-time Warrenton resident recently celebrated her 25th anniversary with the Fauquier County Public Library, where she has been the primary cataloging librarian since the late 80s.

“Cataloging is a calling and there are just people who are born to be catalogers,” said Library Director Maria Del Rosso. “Mary is one of those people.”

McGee’s first experience with cataloging began with a bookshelf her father gave her as a young girl to organize her growing collection.

“Everything had to be just right,” she said with a laugh.

As a seventh-grader, McGee remembers being tasked with managing her class library collection. Later on, when she graduated from high school, the California native found a job at a school library to help pay for her degree in English from California State University at Chico, Calif.

“I’ve always enjoyed organizing things,” she said. “Sometimes kids show early of what they’re interested in, for me, it was putting things in order.”

After moving to Virginia, McGee saw an ad in the newspaper for a job at the library.

“I decided to apply, kind of on a whim,” she said.

McGee started as a circulation clerk in 1986, but quickly transferred to the Technical Services department, where she found a home among the books and records.

“I started taking classes and took every workshop I could find on cataloging,” said McGee, who is responsible for all of the library’s materials, excluding magazines and serial publications.

Over time, she has seen many changes to the business of cataloging, among which the development of computers ranks first.

“Computers were made for libraries,” she said. “It’s a natural fit, because they store and retrieve information and that’s what we’re all about.”

The materials too have changed, she said.

“When I first started we pretty much did just books, but now we do all kinds of things, including a lot of audio visual material and electronic books,” she said. “Even though there’s no physical book, there’s still a bibliographic record and catalog information for it.”

According to McGee, the library offers thousands of e-books and e-audio books.

From cataloging to the barcode, it takes about a week to process the books for shelf life.

“I think when most people think about it, they just think the books are there...they don’t think about what happens behind the scenes,” she said.

Her experience and established process ensure that materials pass through smoothly on their way to readers’ hands.

Occasionally, she has to engage in original cataloging, but “it’s rare for me to be stumped by books,” she said.

Usually, she edits, refines, and adds to bibliographic information provided through the Online Computer Library Center, but in the case of a local author or history book, she often starts from scratch.

“You can catalog anything, even a box with a bird’s nest in it,” she said.

“I love trying to figure out where a book belongs,” she said. “They all have a home and I just have to find out where that is and get it there.”

For McGee, home is in the Technical Services department and she has no plans to quit.

“The things that have kept me at it all these years are my love and interest in books and reading and the challenge to reinvent my work periodically,” she said in a statement.

Del Rosso believes McGee embodies everything a library looks for in a cataloger.

“You look for somebody who loves libraries, believes in the mission of the library and has the patrons’ best interest at heart,” Del Rosso said. “Somebody who has a broad knowledge of a lot of different things so that they can understand a lot of categories and where things should go.”

A team effort

To Del Rosso, McGee is an integral member of a department she calls “the backbone of the library.”

“A lot of people see the end results — the book covers and spine labels — but a lot more goes into it,” she said. “[Technical Services] is our support and what keeps us organized. The better the organization, the easier it is to find things and our whole purpose is to organize the materials so that people can find them.”

While McGee serves as the main cataloger, a few paid staff and a team of volunteers keep the department running smoothly as it receives and catalogs new materials and repairs damaged books and discs.

“I enjoy that it involves a lot of different things and it’s not the same thing every day,” said Debbie Machamer, a part-time employee who helps McGee with cataloging.

In the 2011 fiscal year, more than 17,000 items were processed, with a 1,400 monthly average.

“Our goal is to get the materials out as quickly as possible,” Del Rosso said. “There can’t be any backlog because more is coming.”

Technical Services Supervisor Fran Burke-Urr believes the volunteers are invaluable.

“They really help keep everything flowing,” she said.

During the last fiscal year, the seven volunteers who worked in the department logged 856 hours, a donation of time worth $18,857 according to the 2010 Virginia Average Hourly Value of Volunteer Time.

“It’s nice to know that you’re helping and doing a simple worthwhile job,” said Bea Whitehead, who has volunteered in Technical Services for 15 years.

Bill Hopkins has been unpacking boxes of new materials and processing incoming books for almost 10 years.

“It’s almost like Christmas every day,” he said. “Sometimes I want to stop and read them, but most of the time there’s so many books to process that all I can do is scan the inside of the dust cover and go back to work.”

Del Rosso is thankful the volunteers come faithfully every week.

“We couldn’t get the work done without them,” she said. “They help [us] run smoothly.”