About Emily Alinder Flynn

I’m a Catalog Librarian at ProQuest in Ann Arbor, MI, creating MARC records for e-books and streaming videos. My M.S.I., with a specialization in L.I.S., is from the School of Information at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. My B.A. in English is from Lawrence University, a liberal arts college in Appleton, WI.

Professionally, I’ve worked in different areas of academic and special libraries, including Reference, Acquisitions, Circulation, and Cataloging. Much of my experience is in Technical Services, which I still consider my favorite part of libraries since all information and materials pass through it. Any error or issues in T.S. means unfindable or incorrect information for the users, who are the sole purpose of libraries. I strive to make information the most accurate and findable in any position that I am in, making sure to do a thorough and precise job so that the users are best served.

RDA, FRBR, and linked data, even open data, are bound to change the cataloging as well as library world. I believe that they can all work together to provide greater access and better information to library users, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. At ALA Anaheim in June 2012, I took an all-day workshop on linked data and was blown away by the presenters talking about working closely with coders to include librarians, especially catalogers, in created linked data that betters libraries while also bettering the Internet. As librarians, especially new ones, become more tech savvy, it makes perfect sense to take a larger role in information worldwide, not just bound by brick and mortar libraries.

In my free time, when I’m not posting about subject headings or cataloging issues, I read and write, cook and travel, code and learn new things. I’m creative and curious, which makes me a perfect librarian and cataloger. I enjoying making useful, fun, or tasty things for myself and others. But sometimes vacationing in Santa Monica just to rollerblade on the beach path and eat freshly made corn dogs provides much needed relaxation.

Currently, I have another blog about the books on my bookshelf that I am trying to finally read through during 2012 2013.

Stephen X. Flynn, my husband, is the Emerging Technologies Librarian at the College of Wooster. He has his own professional blog and a cool cover letter site just for librarians called Open Cover Letters.