Knowledge Structures

While talking with a colleague (that sounds funny) about my topic of cataloging ephemera, she told me about a class she took through the University of Arizona on Knowledge Structures, taught by a philosophy professor.  One of her assignments was to catalog something/somethings that were not found in a library.  She chose a vegetable stand, and catalogued and catergorized and cross referenced all the vegetables.  She also visited a grocery store and talked to the manager about the reason and logic behind product placement: that that was indeed a way of cataloging and organizing information, in this case, nutritional information that your body uses.  This got me all excited and I decided that the very first thing I'm going to catalog is:

MY GARDEN!!!!!

I'll assign accession numbers and locations and heading and subheadings and cross references and all that fine stuff. I am so excited!

Cataloging Bookbag

Cataloging non-print and Internet resources
Mary Beth Weber 2002

The future of cataloging : insights from the Lubetzky symposium : April 18, 1998, University of California, Los Angeles

Moving image cataloging : how to create and how to use a moving image catalog
Martha Yee, 2007

Cataloging of audiovisual materials and other special materials a manual based on AACR2 and MARC 21

Nancy Olson, 2008
              
Organizing audiovisual and electronic resources for access a cataloging guide
Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, 2006

Radical cataloging : essays at the front
K.R. Roberto, 2008

Differences between, changes within : guidelines on when to create a new record
Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, 2007

Understanding FRBR what it is and how it will affect our retrieval tools
Arlene Taylor, 2007

Unlocking the mysteries of cataloging a workbook of examples
Elizabeth Haynes, 2005

Electronic cataloging AACR2 and metadata for serials and monographs
Sheila Intner, 2003
She's a professor at University of South Carolina, Columbia, in the Library and Information Science program

Cataloging with AACR2 & MARC21 : for books, electronic resources, sound recordings, videorecordings, and serials
Deborah Fritz, 2007

Introduction to serials work for library technicians
Scott Millard, 2004

Collection development policies new directions for changing collections
Daniel Mack, 2003

Magic search : getting the best results from your catalog and beyond
Rebecca Kornegay, 2009

What is Ephemera?

The Ephemera Society defines it as such:
advertisements air transport labels bank checks baseball cards billheads bonds bookmarks bookplates broadsides brochures business cards calendars cameo stamps
chromos cigar box labels bands clipper ship cards die-cuts greeting cards
indentures invitations labels letters magazines maps newspapers packaging pamphlets paper dolls passes photographs postcards postage stamps posters programs rewards of merit seed company ads Shakers sheet music songsters stocks tickets timetables trade cards trade catalogs valentines watch papers

Now, that isn't a definition as much as a list to help you define it for yourself. 
I argue that anything that is temporary or of a very short life span can be considered ephemera.  When we first started using the Evergreen open source software for our library's circulation system, the icon for uncataloged magazine and paperbacks was a ghost.  I think that has unwittingly influenced me.
I italicized the things I like. Maybe I'll link them to actual examples of items I've cataloged. later. I bolded the things that mystify me. I'd also like to know if the Shakers they refer to, being the only proper-noun-looking-because-it's-capitalized-word, are the religious sect, the celibate ones, that don't actually exist anymore. WOW. Collecting souls. Had no idea. Creepy.

If they meant SALT and PEPPER shakers, why did they pronoun-icize it?
If you click on the photo it will take you to the Ephemera Societies website where you can then explore their links to specific collections/collectors.

Note 09/18/09: I found definitions and examples of the bolded items that aroused my curiosity.  The watch papers is, to me, a perfect example of a collectible, catalogeable piece of ephemera.  Rare, strange and small.  Like me.

The Aristocrats!

If you know the joke, and you know what I've been through to get to this point, then you'll get it. Otherwise, nevermind!
I am now officially beginning my last 3 credits in my library and information science master's degree. I will be teaching myself how to catalog a hiccup.

The two three things I have been searching for in looking for background material are:
extreme cataloging
cataloging ephemera
extreme ephemera

Extreme cataloging already exists as a term and it is NOT what I want it to mean. What a pain. There are two types of cataloging: catastrophic and extreme. Catastrophic seems to be the bare necessities, the raw data. Extreme is every single little detail you can say about a particular material that is beign cataloged.

I am noticing a trend in the language of cataloging which attracts me even more.
Authority Control
Catastrophic
Extreme
Seeing as how I love disasters, these terms please me greatly.

I attempted to join the Ephemera Society this morning but their PayPal link rejected me. They did sign me up and send me a big packet of cool stuff anyways so I guess I will send them a check.