Flexible Framework: Cataloging & Decision-making
I know-- most people still think of librarians and Library Science as rigid but I actually think there is a lot of creativity necessary to be able to successfully push forward as substantial changes are being made within the school libraries. I think the biggest takeaway from Kaplan's book was that there is room for decision-making based on the library situation.
I found Kaplan's first chapter in Catalog It! to be the most helpful for me in terms of finally learning about how we can best, "...move information from the source to the user" which is contingent upon how information is organized. A big takeaway too from this chapter was that "smaller libraries have muddled through by adapting rules when possible or simply creating their own" but that "in today's world of online catalogs and Web access to catalogs, it is not only impossible but also unwise to ignore cataloging standards."
Chapter 4 was also helpful in articulating the "why" behind subject headings vs. keyword access. (Refer to LOC Subject Headings (LCSH) and Sears List of Subject Headings for school library most common controlled vocabularies. Takeaway: keyword searching often results in greater retrieval and less precision. Keywords can supplement the controlled vocabulary of the existing subject heading and subject headings do change. School librarians must be vigilant about the headings they are accepting from vendors and online databases.
Other takeaways: creating an authority record is not the same as creating a surrogate record.
Intellectual access refers to retrieval based on the topic of the item rather than its physical description.
Keyword searching will result in information retrieved based on the appearance of a word in the record.
Subject headings are created using controlled vocabularies and result in information retrieved based on the context of the work.
Most commonly used fields in the subject area are 600 (personal name), 650 (Topical heading) and 651 (geographic heading). 655 is genre heading field.
Chapter 5: "There is no one correct way of organizing information."
BISAC (Bookstore model)- shelving by genre. Signage is critical! There is a level of integration of fiction and nonfiction (Metis) and works better with smaller collections.
Dewey (DDC)- classification of all knowledge in 10 categories from broader to narrower fields of study (vs. subject)
Decisions to make: location of biographies, folklore, graphic novels and equipment.
Cutter number-- classification number plus Cutter number is call number.
Kaplan refers to the Leanne Ellis article, "Genrify your Catalog, not your Collection!" in Chapter 5's conclusion. After reading this article, I am leaning toward not genrifying the collection in my high school library and instead providing a separate printed list by genre as well as QR code if students are looking for a certain fiction book and possibly updating the catalog to record multiple/overlapping genres-- I don't want to be the only person who understands the reorganization with respect to years from now and actually makes it harder to find things!
With regards to the remaining chapters, I read through all of it but will need to find alternate videos showing this material as well as fiddle with Follett on my own to better understand the copy cataloging and original cataloging.
Goal: fully process RDA rules and MARC Fields.
Resources:
Important sites to bookmark:
www.loc.gov/z3950/gateway.html#lc
www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic
https://authorities.loc.gov -- authorized subject headings
Cataloger's Reference Shelf: www.itsmarc.com/crs/crs.htm
www.follettsoftware.com/marc-resources
www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/freelcsh.html#About
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