I hope you will indulge a second, extended appreciation post in honor of Phyllis on her last day!
Phyllis Jones, Senior Recordings Cataloger, is retiring January 31, January 2023 (today!) after a decades-long career as a member of the Conservatory Library staff. Phyllis is also a graduate of Oberlin College. Impressed as a prospective student by the campus libraries, she was drawn back to Oberlin a second time shortly after receiving the BA in Art and Art History.
In addition to her service as a dedicated and detailed cataloger of the highest caliber, Phyllis has also been responsible for curating the Conservatory Library’s sound recording collection, selecting records to grow build broad holdings that are deep in changing areas of curriculum focus over the years. Her deep knowledge of the Conservatory Library’s collection supported her authorship of Every Monday Morning: A Discography of American Labor Songs in the Conservatory Library at Oberlin College (1993).
Phyllis’s cataloging contributions have provided rich and detailed descriptions that have enabled generations of performers and scholars to search and browse our collections, in card files and now through WorldCat and even Google. Catalogers often keep a mental “short list” of OCLC institution symbols that mean bibliographic records are reliably excellent; “OBM” and later “OBE” have been on many such lists for decades, reflecting the work of a team of dedicated and talented catalogers of which Phyllis is an expert member.
Phyllis joined the Program for Cooperative Cataloging’s NACO music funnel (NMP) in 1994. Since then, though her contributions can be roughly quantified (45,000 authority records with the familiar “OOC” Oberlin Conservatory Library mark of creation or enhancement), they are also immeasurable. Beyond the amazing volume and detail of records she leaves to serve catalogers, catalog users, and the linked data ecosystem, she leaves a legacy of NACO contributors whom she has formally reviewed. She also has generously shared her expertise to numerous catalogers who have sent out pleas for assistance on the NMP and MOUG email lists, providing thoughtful and detailed responses that include carefully considered opinions, music and cataloging research, citations, examples, and gentle humor.
In 2012, Phyllis received the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes the recipient’s “professional contributions that significantly address the needs and concerns of music-oriented users of OCLC’s products and services.”
Congratulations, Phyllis, and thank you!
Happy retirement, Phyllis! Your career is an inspiration. Thank you, Rebecca, for the wonderful summary of Phyllis’s many and significant contributions to the Conservatory Library and music librarianship.
Oh dear, I’ve thwarted Phyllis’s continued best efforts in helping me with editorial excellence. She read a draft and pointed out a mangled sentence, which I edited…to be mangled in a different way. How fitting! As always, grateful for the review, and all errors my own.