-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE:      How to label map cases, drawer and folders?]
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 14:49:33 -0700
From: Diaz, Carlos <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>

------------------

Michael,

Why haven't the maps been placed on the online catalog?  It will get a
lot more usage that way if they do so.

When I arrived at my current position, the recon for the government
documents collection had advanced as far as the L's in the paper
collection.  Since my arrival, the complete paper collection has been
reconned, the posters, CDs, the fiche and most of the maps collection
(we are still working on the topo. maps).

Usage for the entire collection has gone up from before.  Tech Services
was under the impression that the titles least used would be the
hearings.  As it turned out, it is the number one pubilcation being used
each month.  Uploading your collection onto the online catalog is a
must.  Will it take a long time to fully recon?  Yes it will, but
eventually it will get done.

As for labels:

        --for the topographic maps (Pacific Northwest states): there are
separated by state and within each state
                by the quadrangle name.  So the labels for the drawers have the
quadrangle names on it.  A... - C...

        --for wall maps: like the Dennoyer-Geppert, Klett-Perthes,
Rand-McNally, etc. we have labels divided by
                the LC subject headings.  (The maps are on boxes standing up).

        --for SuDocs and non-SuDocs maps: Forest Service, NOAA charts, USGS,
BLM, National Geographic, AAA, etc,
                they are on filing cabinets.  The label reads the first call number
for each drawer.  That way you don't
                have to be constantly updating it.


Of course we are a smaller collection that UMD, but it has worked for us
thus far.

But, the main finding aid to locating the maps is via the online
catalog.  You can't beat that one practical tool.
If the folks at UMD are still unwilling to load map records onto the
online catalog, then you might consider your own internal database via
Access or Excel or any other database software.


Carlos A. Diaz
Government Documents/Maps
The Evergreen State Colelge
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Johnnie D. Sutherland
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 1:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: How to label map cases, drawer and folders?]


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: How to label map cases, drawer and folders?
Date: Thu, 07 Oct 2004 19:46:53 -0400
From: Michael Fry <[log in to unmask]>
Organization: UMD Libraries
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
I'm curious if people provide detailed shelf lists or indexes for
individual drawers and folders...

Our collection of several hundred thousand maps is largely uncataloged,
and the catalog's few
records are vague--patrons are told what floor to go to for a map, and
that's it. Whatever add'l
finding aids we have--floor plans, indexes, shelf lists, drawer labels,
my memory, etc.--are
entirely homemade. We have ~600 drawers of maps, each of which contains
as many as 10 folders. A
folder, in turn, may contain a handful of maps, or it may hold dozens.

My predecessor indexed--in ink--each and every map on the outside of its
respective folder (e.g.,
title, SuDoc, scale, date, etc.). From a user standpoint, these indexes
are handy and useful, esp.
when you're working with large series with lots of sheets (e.g., AMS).
  From an administrative
standpoint, however, they're messy, difficult to maintain and utterly
anathema to the digital world.
To wit: I've recently acquired several AMS series, and since I've
already made indexes in Excel, I'm
not anxious to do the same thing by hand!

But...I haven't yet imagined an alternative that I think would be as
useful and usable as the
current system. Printed indexes for each folder would be more modern and
easier to maintain, but
they wouldn't be inextricably connected to the folders themselves, and
wouldn't be as immediately
visible as are indexes written right onto the folders themselves.

Any ideas? What do *you* do?

Thanks!
mf
--
Michael Fry
Government Documents & Maps Librarian
University of Maryland Libraries