Using MyInfo in libraries

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wsp
Posts: 518
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:54 am
Location: Washington, DC

Using MyInfo in libraries

Post by wsp »

Lately I've been using MyInfo in a new way (new to me, at least).

For quite a few years I've kept an enormous collection of bibliographic references (for books in progress and for family history) in MyInfo, though I've often wondered whether I should transfer them over to Evernote or OneNote so that I would have access to them on my iPhone. Then about a year ago I replaced my old laptop with a Surface Pro 3, and gradually I realized it was so light and convenient that I could easily carry it around the house and to libraries without giving it a second thought.

Just recently I've been trying to move this process a step further. Here's what I've done:

In all my bibliographical notes, I of course record either a library location (including a call number) or an online source. For big libraries (like the Library of Congress) with closed stacks, I just order the items and that's that. But it's more complicated in libraries with open stacks where I have to retrieve things myself. For the sake of books or periodicals in libraries like that, I have now created a new attribute ("Library A," for example), and copy and paste the call number of each item in that field. Then I go to the Filter screen, click on the "Library A" column, and immediately I have a list in alphabetical order of all the call numbers I have to find in the stacks. Next I fold the Surface Pro type cover back behind the keyboard and carry the Surface Pro into the stacks: at that point I have in my hands an ordered list of the things I must pull of the bookshelves. Believe me, it's much easier to do it this way than to search for call numbers on the shelves in random order.

I can imagine that some variation of this technique might work well (if you have a Surface Pro in your hands) for certain other nonbookish activities.
Bill
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