Maps!

Weeks 7-8

Fantasy

I had been seduced by the idea of cataloging old cartographic materials. I imagined myself wearing gloves so I didn’t get any fingerprints on the precious, weathered paper; using a magnifying glass to read the small cursive script to unearth the name of the cartographer or publishing company. While that still may happen at some point down the road, for now I have started by cataloging free maps of Santa Rosa that the head cataloger picked up while he was there at a conference. Not nearly as glamorous, but will do the job for learning purposes. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Reality

(Update! Cate took me on a tour of the maps department down in the bowels of Suzallo. It looks like will be moving onto more official maps in a few weeks, I may even do some of my cataloging down with the maps because there is more room to spread out with the bigger maps).


So far, I am excited by a few things:

• Cataloging maps is much faster work than movies. The records are much shorter since there are few people and subjects to trace. You don’t have to use any machinery to operate a map.
• The subject is usually quite obvious-whatever geographic location the map is of.
• There is math and a special tool involved in order to determine scale. While I will probably use the tool (can’t recall the name for it), I would like to know the equation and try it once or twice that way as well. (One thing that I discovered when preparing for entry into grad school…I love math!) 
• If you can’t find a record for whatever map you are using you can always start by copying another map of the area or a different area by the same publisher..this way you have a few fields to start with as a guideline.

But I am also wary of a few things as well:

•  I don’t have my own password to catalogers desktop- a tool that my supervisor thought I had been using this whole time but had never even used in my cataloging class. It basically contains all of the AACR@ rules and changes as well as specific manuals such as the Maps Cataloging Manual (MCM) that is more or less essentials when learning how to catalog cartographic materials. (Update: they got me a password to use while I am UW! Whew!)  
•  There is a new set of fixed fields to learn and I never quite grasped the ones for movies. 
• I am disappointed to know that there are few true “cartographers” anymore. Most maps (especially the type I am cataloging to start) are copies of maps by major map publishers and the main entry is given to the publisher in most cases. 4. Chief source is much harder to determine on maps. It could be anywhere as opposed to books where it is always the title page and verso and movies, where the chief source is the title screens and credits.

Example of GIS mapping

• There is something called GIS which scares the bejesus out of me. According to Wikipedia GIS is “…the merging of cartography, statistical analysis, and database technology.” Cate asked me if I was interested in this and I hesitatingly said yes, because I do believe it’s a good idea to be exposed to as much as possible now as opposed to later but as of right now, I really don’t see myself getting to the point where I am comfortable enough with maps to the move onto working with GIS and electronic maps ( at least not in the next 6 weeks).
• There are way too many things about geography that I am not familiar with or ( I hate to say it) then I really want to become familiar with which brings me to the following conclusion….

Just a little geeky, not super geeky.

Cataloging has definitely brought out my geekier tendencies but it has also helped me to define just how geeky I will go. I doubt that I will even become a specialized cataloger at a large university, like Cate is. I am and always will be a generalist. This internship has been a great crash course into the world of more difficult cataloging and really helped me to define further what it is that I am looking for and what I am not looking for as far as a career is concerned.