

Interviewee: Jessica Lynn Denhart, Senior Library Specialist at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Interview was conducted on May 30, 2018 @ 1:15 pm in the hall way outside room 12.
I must say thanks to Jessica for taking the time from her busy schedule to meet with me!!
I met Jessica while on our tour of the Cataloging section. Where I had introduced myself and invited her to do this interview with me.
Few of the questions that were asked include:
Me: How long have you been a cataloger?
Jessica: I have been a cataloger for about fifteen years, that’s quite some time.
Me: Do you find this area of cataloging rewarding?
Jessica: I enjoy it, I’ve really enjoyed learning about the Dewey Decimal System, i have also enjoy doing the art and architecture collection, i enjoyed learning about the artists and the architecture and the beautiful book that come through the system
Do you use the Library of Congress Classification schedule?
Jessica: I can but its not what i do generally, mostly I work with Dewey system because of the collection, that is how it started its a hugh collection
Me: Have you been cataloging using the new RDA cataloging standards?
Jessica: We do, we have been using the new standard since March 2013, we adopted it right away
Me: What are some of the new fields used here at The University of Illinois?
Jessica: We used some of the 650 fields, some for the country codes, dates, locations etc.
Me: What do you think about bringing back the content/type/carrier fields?
Jessica: I feel its a trends. Libraries go through trends of what they use and don’t use, and it goes around. I think its a turnaround in the catalog world where people think some things might work well this time around, so they bring back certain fields.
I don’t really have a say in the standard we use. I am told we are using a specific standard and i just implement them. It seem to work and I don’t really have any issues with patrons not finding what they need. So ultimately it comes down to are we getting the information out their to our patrons in a way that is accessible to them. If that’s what we are doing that’s alright
Me: Are you satisfied with the results you are getting from RDA implementation and work in general?
Jessica: RDA implementation yes, in general, I think so, there is some redundancy, I think the interface we are using Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), works pretty well, we have some bugs and issues between the voyager and the OPAC sometimes, but I think that’s always the case, no perfect fusion between the two, but i don’t think we get a lot of complaints from patrons. I think we do a pretty good job of getting the materials into the hands of patrons hand which is the ultimate goal
Me: You mentioned bugs, what kind of bugs are you referring to?
Jessica: The biggest issue occur when records are overlay directly or when we have the display in the OPAC showing the wrong image. This does not occur quite often. When this is bought to our attention the problem is addressed immediately
Me: Do you get typo error complaints?
Jessica: Not much, and rarely from OCLC
Me: On average how often do you get complaint about bibliographic errors?
Jessica: Probable once or twice in three or four months. I had a major one where the image was displayed incorrectly, not sure it had anything to do with RDA. I think it was a computer/coding issue. Had nothing to do with cataloging. Issue was quickly resolved.
Me: How quickly are these issues resolved?
Jessica: Pretty quickly. As soon as they are identified and sorted out, usually within the same day.
Me: Well, Jessica we have come to the end of our interview. I must thank you for your time and expert knowledge on the topic.
Jesicca: No problem, you are welcome.