Learning the Process

Hello everyone!

This week was about learning the cataloging process and starting to work through the Community of Christ collection that Special Collections had recently acquired. This is done through the creation of both local bibliographic data (LBDs) and local holdings records (LHRs). The creation of these two records allows for people to then search through Special Collections on the libraries website to see what we may, or may not, have, and from which one could request the item to view in the Reading Room.

As of right now, I only search through WorldCat to see if there are any bibliographic records at any other libraries worldwide, and create LBDs and LHRs accordingly, any records not found (as in, original books or otherwise) will be handed over to Cataloging and they will create a new record from there.

For me, it has all been a new process for me to learn as I have never had to play around with this side of the library or this part of the archival process. That being side, it has been a positive, enlightening experience that I believe will help me later on down the line in whatever career path I end up in.

After learning about the fundamentals of cataloging, I started working through the Community of Christ collection and creating LBDs and LHRs for the books I had prepped last week.

That will be it from me this week, I’ll be back next week to give an update on what I’ve been working on!

Stephen Cameron

Getting Started

Hello everyone, I’m looking forward to working as a CCEPS Fellow this semester! This first post seems to be the appropriate place to give you all a brief introduction of myself before I get into the materials I’ll be working with. My name is Stephen Cameron, I graduated with a B.A. in History from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2018 and more recently I received my M.A. in Religious Studies from Claremont Graduate University in 2022. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in the Religion Department at Claremont Graduate University with an emphasis in Mormon Studies and New Religious Movements.

I’ll be contributing my efforts towards some collections that Special Collections has procured over the past few years. The main collection I’ll be working on is the Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican History, I will also be working with a number of Community of Christ monographs. There may be other items I’ll end up working with, but until then it will be a journey!

This is as good a place as any to admit that, while I am relatively familiar with both of these collections and their subject matter, this is a wholly new process for me to learn! I learned research and writing skills during my academic studies, but now I’ll be grappling with some of the technical aspects of archiving and processing. I hope you’ll tune into my updates as I make our way throughout the semester!

Until next time!

Stephen Cameron