Technical Services — the quiz | THE GARGOYLE BULLETIN

1. How does the Vassar College Library get all its books and journals?
- Librarians break into Barnes and Noble after it closes and raid the shelves.
- It involves a stork.
- Librarians and staff in Technical Services order titles selected by faculty, liaison librarians and students from many vendors around the world and process the materials so that faculty and students can access them.
- We know a guy at Amazon.
2. Ordering books sounds like fun—what else do people in Technical Services do?
- Catalog materials for the library collection.
- Manage electronic resources to ensure continued access.
- Process gifts received from Vassar alums and other donors.
- All of the above.
3. How many new books (physical books, not ebooks) does the library purchase in a year?
- Less than 1,000.
- Around 10,000.
- Exactly 24,601.
- One MILLION volumes.
4. You know those little labels on the spines of books? What do those numbers and letters mean, exactly? Is it some kind of secret code?
- Yes, it’s a code of sorts, but it’s no secret. Those letters and numbers are call numbers that are assigned according to the Library of Congress Classification System. This system assigns letters of the alphabet to various branches of knowledge and then uses numbers to further subdivide each branch into discrete topics. For example, the letter “E” represents “History of the Americas,” but the range “E31-E49.2” represents “North America.” Technical Services staff assign call numbers to materials purchased by the library.
- Yes, it’s a code, and it’s totally secret. We’ll tell you when you graduate.
- Actually, no, we won’t tell you. It’s a secret code for librarians only.