Lazarski University Library takes pride in welcoming Anna M. Ferris, Associate Professor from the Metadata Services Department of the University Libraries, University of Colorado Boulder (CU), who has chosen to spend the month of August with us during her sabbatical leave. What brought her to Warsaw? Her interest in researching topics related to her work   cataloguing  an important Holocaust collection  acquired by her university in 2014. She has met with experts who process library and archival materials at major research libraries, and who manage collections of Jewish materials at the Jewish Historical Institute as well as the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
Lazarski University librarians have offered her some support for her logistical requirements as well as explaining the peculiarities of the Polish library scene, which may not be transparent enough to an academic librarian from the USA.  In return, Anna has agreed to assist us in assigning English keywords to records for books in English that still do not have them in the Library catalogue.
Keywords, similar to subject headings go further into the book's contents and are an important discovery tool being offered to Lazarski users along with the subject headings taken from the union catalogue of Poland. Anna is a renowned expert on the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), the world's richest vocabulary of subject terms, and her research involves identifying and proposing new subject headings to LCSH that relate to the Holocaust collection she is in charge of cataloging at CU Boulder. In regards to her work, we have reviewed most of the subject access practices of libraries in Poland.
We have very much enjoyed the presence of such a joyful and open soul, and a very inquisitive and erudite librarian. If she were to stay with us for good, she would make us perhaps more professional, and certainly a much happier team.