LIS 6711
--Organization of Knowledge--
Controlled Vocabularies
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I.a. Students are able to evaluate critically, reflect, and problem-solve individually as well as collaboratively.
II.a. Students identify and analyze diverse information needs of individuals and communities.
II.b. Students evaluate and select print and digital information resources and systems to meet needs of users.
II.b. Students evaluate and select print and digital information resources and systems to meet needs of users.
II.c. Students understand and use appropriate information technology for information services.
III.a. Students analyze, organize and describe various formats of information objects.
III.b. Students identify and apply best practices in the use of different technologies for knowledge representation.
III.b. Students identify and apply best practices in the use of different technologies for knowledge representation.
Though the delineation of subject headings for library materials falls outside my current professional duties and general interests for the future, this assignment allowed me to get an insider's glimpse into the roles that cataloging and categorization play in the world of library sciences. Personal interest or no, the importance of establishing a general understanding of how subject headings work and what rationales are used for their assignment is vital to navigating a library's collection, particularly nonfiction and reference materials. Comparing and contrasting the ways that two separate schools of categorization employ subject headings (in this case the Library of Congress and FAST) only helps to strengthen one's comprehension and mastery of these materials for the benefit of patrons seeking out information.
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Metadata Application Profile
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I.a. Students are able to evaluate critically, reflect, and problem-solve individually as well as collaboratively.
II.c. Students understand and use appropriate information technology for information services.
III.a. Students analyze, organize and describe various formats of information objects.
Although library professionals such as myself may use their branch's online catalog on a daily basis, consideration and understanding of each item's informational fields within the catalog may be almost entirely absent. This assignment gave me the opportunity to truly scrutinize and ponder the fields displayed on the materials pages within my system's catalog. This not only helped me further define what each field meant but, more importantly, *why* those field were there. What purpose did they serve? Were they required or essential to the patron's search for that item? Asking critical questions such as these of one's own workspace and professional resources is part of the lifelong learning package. And that's a package every librarian should have.
Although library professionals such as myself may use their branch's online catalog on a daily basis, consideration and understanding of each item's informational fields within the catalog may be almost entirely absent. This assignment gave me the opportunity to truly scrutinize and ponder the fields displayed on the materials pages within my system's catalog. This not only helped me further define what each field meant but, more importantly, *why* those field were there. What purpose did they serve? Were they required or essential to the patron's search for that item? Asking critical questions such as these of one's own workspace and professional resources is part of the lifelong learning package. And that's a package every librarian should have.
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Taxonomy
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I.a. Students are able to evaluate critically, reflect, and problem-solve individually as well as collaboratively.
II.c. Students understand and use appropriate information technology for information services.
III.a. Students analyze, organize and describe various formats of information objects.
If one's home were turned into a library overnight, how would the information objects therein (books, films, music, etc.) be organized? This is the question implicitly posed by this assignment, and it's a creative and critical exercise in the schemas of categorization that we apply to our information in order to more feasibly manage and navigate it. Applying the lessons learned from previous assignments, I attempted to organize my personal information objects in a way that made sense to me, although that does diverge from common library practices in several key ways (i.e. alphabetizing works of literature by title as opposed to author's last name). Regardless, this assignment demonstrated the value of organization and how its role in libraries is just as important as the information itself.
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