I'm back from the conference!

I've finally gotten around to updating my Shelfari "Currently Reading" list. Not only do I not read as much as I used to, I'm also not very good about updating that anymore.

I'm back from the conference - it went well, and I learned a lot. For instance, I may soon begin cataloging in OCLC Connexion again - you can't know how happy it makes me that I'll be able to use spell check, do authority work quickly and easily, and validate my records again. Of course, I'll still be manually loading authority files into our system, but that's another story. Actually, it really is another story - one of the conference presentations was about outsourcing authority control. If I (and the Systems Librarian, who also loves authority control) can manage to convince the director of my library to part with at least $9,000 to start with, and then approximately $1,400 a year after that, my library's catalog could finally have decent authority control. As things currently stand, I spend hours every week on it, with hardly anything to show for all that work. At least we no longer have any records that use "European War" as a subject heading, rather than "World War."

I could write for hours about authority control, but I'd better wrap this up - it's late and there are still a few things I've got to do before I go to bed. One final comment: I'm still a little sick, but I'm nowhere near as bad off as I was, so hopefully I can keep things going steadily with this blog.