Procedures for handling Cooper Union materials

Cooper Union, one of 3 NYU Consortium Libraries, sends 2 flows of material to Bobst for cataloging.

I. Current Materials - consist of weekly shipments to the attention of the Copy Cataloger and periodic smaller shipments of various RUSH materials to the attention of the Head of Shared Copy Cataloging. Weekly shipments have a turn-around time of 30 days maximum. RUSH titles must be handled within 48 hours.

Cooper Union shipments will be kept together, if at all possible, throughout the cataloging/labelling workflow. If it is deemed necessary to pass a particular title on to a Librarian this will be noted on the shipping list by the Copy Cataloger and the book will be placed on the Priority Original Cataloging shelf. The situations which may require a Librarian's intervention are as follows:

• a call number needs to be assigned
• a literary call number needs to be checked
• original cataloging is necessary

A shipping list is included with every shipment which itemizes all titles within that particular shipment. These shipping lists are to accompany the books throughout the cataloging/labelling workflow and upon the return shipment to Cooper Union this shipping list will be included with the materials in the box.

Shipping lists are signed off and a photocopy retained by each individual who handles the materials with the exception of items requiring original cataloging.

For example: Recd. 10/20/95 MP

Upon receipt of a shipment the Copy Cataloger will receive all items in the shipment checking off, title by title, on the shipping list. Any titles noted on the shipping list yet not included in the box will be brought to the attention of Cooper Union immediately via E-mail.

All titles are searched in ADVANCE first to determine if the title is an added location only. If no appropriate bibliographic record exists in ADVANCE then a Further Search will be done via RLIN, and OCLC if necessary. The Copy Cataloger will PUT/XPO the appropriate record into ADVANCE and edit as needed whether the copy is LC or Member.

Upon completion of the cataloging of a particular shipment the Copy Cataloger will place all titles with their accompanying shipping list on the Non-Bobst labelling shelves. The Labeller will then create labels as appropriate and on the designated day prepare the materials for return shipment to Cooper Union. However, RUSH books are sent directly to Cooper Union once they have been labelled. We do not wait for the designated day. All return shipments will be addressed to the attention of Cherie Foster.

Cooper Union titles which are cataloged for their Archive collection are not barcoded nor are they labelled at Bobst. However, the accession number is noted on the title page verso and in the record. The labeller will have retained the necessary copy of the original shipping list for his records after having noted on the list that the title was cataloged for Archives.

II. Retrospective Conversion/Conversion-on-the-fly Materials - will be treated in a manner approximating that of the current materials as, henceforth, the books themselves will be shipped to Bobst to the attention of the Copy Cataloger. The boxes will be clearly marked as containing RetroCon/C-fly materials. In the past the books were kept at Cooper Union and only the RetroCon sheets were sent to Bobst. These sheets provided a photocopy of the shelflist, any notations which Cooper Union staff deemed necessary to the proper treatment of the title, and photocopies of the title page and verso for titles which were felt to be more of a challenge. Cooper Union will continue to send the RetroCon sheets inside the appropriate materials.

It has been determined that the most accurate and expeditious manner in which to handle RetroCon and C-fly materials is with the piece in hand. There will be instances, though, when a particular item cannot be shipped to Bobst. Examples would be rare, oversize, or various Closed Stack materials. In those instances the staff at Cooper Union will provide a photocopy of the title page and verso for each RetroCon sheet which they send for cataloging. These RetroCon sheets unaccompanied by the appropriate book may be shipped along with other RetroCon materials sent to Bobst.