Librarians on the hunt: Finding a missing book among thousands

Everyone that has used a library, public or private, has had the experience of searching for a book. In days past, that could involve consulting the card catalog or a librarian with a seemingly mystical knowledge of all the collections therein. As time has gone by and the vast collections of libraries have grown, the use of computers and cataloging systems have made the experience much easier for the library patron. What if the book in question, though, is being sought by the library staff themselves?

A regular book within the collections of the Library of Congress has many different routes it may travel before it reaches a shelf or the hands of a patron. It may come to the Library through the Copyright Office, private donation, or purchase, such as through the Library’s overseas offices. Once it arrives at the Library, it becomes part of a chain of possession that may take months until it reaches the shelves.

For a patron, the standard search for a book may begin with a subject, title, or author, then ultimately end at call number. For Library staff, call number may be the beginning, or the use of two internal tracking numbers, the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) or the 11 digit item barcode.

When books are registered with the Copyright Office, the LCCN is assigned, and will stick with that specific title, written in the system’s bibliographic record and on the back of the title page. For a title with many volumes or annual updates, the LCCN stays the same for each, and the call number shows only a minor change based on the enumeration or chronology.

For the barcode, each individual item receives the barcode when it is catalogued, affixed to the upper right hand corner of the back cover. That barcode follows it throughout the Library and ties directly to its item record in the Library’s Integrated Library System (ILS), which is then given a status based on its location. For patrons, a book on the shelves holds one of two statuses in the ILS, charged or not charged, meaning a patron has it or it’s on the shelf. Prior to that there are a dozen statuses to choose from, with In Process being its most common status.

For staff in the Processing and Preparation Section (PPS), every book that comes through is changed from In Process to At Bindery. This happens whether the book is leaving the Library immediately or waiting months depending on the binding schedule. It’s only when the item returns on site and has been properly reviewed for quality that the status is changed back to In Process or to Not Charged. On rare occasions, an item may be reviewed but failed to have the status change, and that can lead to a breakdown in the tracking system for that book.

With the millions of books in the collections of the Library of Congress, it is to be expected that a few items may be temporarily misplaced while they are In Process. Often when that happens, the staff of PPS are one of the first stops to track it down. At any given time, PPS may have upwards of 5-to-10,000 books on hand. The old adage of a needle in haystack doesn’t quite apply, but rather something more akin to finding a needle in a pile of needles.

For over 15 years, I have been seated right in front the main entrance to PPS and have spent a not inconsiderate amount of time tracking down these missing items. Our first stop is the ILS. The staff member searching for the book will most likely have a printout of the Bibliographic record. That record, which is viewable through the online catalog, contains all relevant information about the specific book. In addition to the LCCN, title, author, or call number, the record should also include an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). It also includes the height of the book in centimeters and the page count. This information becomes the basis for our search.

I’ll start by checking the ILS, searching by the LCCN; this will give me the 11 digit barcode that should be attached on the upper right hand corner of the back cover of the item. I’ll check the status – if it is In Process or At Bindery, it means we may have it. I can also check the item notes, which may include Library Binding Completed, or Deacidification Completed, which could help pinpoint its exact location.

If the ILS doesn’t give me the answer, the next step is our internal Quality Assurance (QA) database. It holds a record of every book that has been sent and returned from the bindery over the course of the previous 18 months, including items that may be currently packed and ready for pickup. The main screen of the database includes search boxes for LCCN or barcode, expediting the search for any member of the PPS staff. If the book is found in either of these digital searches, it is most likely out of reach to the staff member until it returns from the bindery, a process that takes approximately a month.

If the QA database doesn’t have any information, the next step is to review recent processing in the Advanced Bindery to Library Exchange (ABLE) software. This software is used to create the collections of books to be bound, called Lots, and each item has its own binding slip, called tickets. Each lot is 300 items or less determined by similar book thickness and binding style. PPS staff members can create a report of all items currently processed or “Typed,” which will allow us to check through possibly thousands of items waiting to be sent to the bindery. Items found here may still be onsite and easy to track to the specific book truck.

If the book has not been located at that point, we must go from a digital search to a physical one. This would require a visual inspection of items that have recently been sorted from the cataloging offices and are awaiting processing, items on trucks being processed by staff on telework, or items on a problem truck for items with cataloging errors that need to be fixed. Physical searches could also stretch beyond the PPS office as an item may be sent to the General Collection Conservation Section (GCCS) for repair if it is damaged. Items may also be sent to GCCS if they are not eligible for binding, which happens if it is too brittle, the type is too close to the edge, or it has a specialized casing that needs to be preserved.

The whole process in PPS can be done in less than an hour, depending on the amount of items on hand. As a hub for most of the print materials that come to the Library of Congress, PPS is often the first place catalogers or research staff may check as they track down the elusive item. I’d like to say we find everything we look for, but that isn’t always the case. Sometimes the items may not have yet made it to our office, or are otherwise moving through the tunnels that connect the Library’s three Capitol Hill buildings. With over 37 million items in the General Collection alone and over 170 million items in all, it takes vigilance and care to keep track of everything. You never know when that item is the exact one a patron will need.