Statement of Competency G
Understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge.
An alphabet soup of standards exists for librarians to create and control information structures. Standards are necessary to make systems interoperable with each other, allowing libraries and other institutions to remain competitive while keeping collections accessible. A committee or standard making group such as the National Information Standards Institute (NISO) usually develops these standards. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) may approve the specifications, although this is voluntary. NISO is responsible for many of the standards used in information retrieval, preservation, storage and metadata. ANSI/NISO standards often used by archivists and librarians involve the conventions for building controlled vocabularies, thesauri and cataloging. Coursework throughout my MLIS program has imparted me with the knowledge to create and organize information structures while ensuring the these records can be accessed by following standards common in the library profession.
Commonly used standards that no cataloging librarian should be without include the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2), Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The AACR2 is an expansive resource containing rules used in creating the bibliographic data and access points to the catalogue record. The DDC is the library classification system that is used to create the call number where the actual item can be located. Following the DDC means all library items are arranged according to subject and author. LCSH is a controlled vocabulary used for subject headings in the cataloging record. Using this approved list of subject headings allows patrons to find their particular subject without going through an exhaustive list of synonyms. Finally, the Machine Readable Cataloging Record (MARC) is the shell that holds this data in place, making the bibliographic data interpretable by a computer.
Despite their widespread use, occasionally the standards of AACR2, DDC, and LCSH do not fit well in cataloging practice. Moving images, art or other special collections often require additional metadata fields and controlled vocabulary to capture their content. These collections do not always fit well into traditional subject heading, classification and cataloging standards. Other standards for cataloging must be developed to ensure collections are searchable across platforms, especially with the proliferation of internet based information retrieval systems. Non- traditional collection, such as images, call for new standards in order to properly capture their data. The Getty’s Art & Architecture Thesaurus is another commonly used ISO/NISO compliant controlled vocabulary used to catalog and index works of art. For moving images, MPEG-7 or Dublin Core is often utilized for cataloging.
My coursework in the MLIS program has exposed me to many standards and methods in order to provide information access to others. LIBR 247 (Vocabulary Design), LIBR 248 (Beginning Cataloging and Classification) and my internship played an integral role in my mastery of this competency. Through hands on assignments, I gathered experience in cataloging, indexing and vocabulary design using standards.
I had the opportunity to complete an internship at the University of California, Irvine’s Visual Resources Collection (VRC). One of my goals in this internship was to gain experience with image data content guidelines and metadata standards. The submitted evidence illustrates I became acquainted with Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) guidelines for slide images, VRA Core 3.0 metadata guidelines and the Metadata Submission Guidelines (MSG). The VRC is in the process of digitizing their collection to move onto ARTstor so standards in metadata guidelines were to be implemented for successful transmission to this shared digital archive.
The submitted evidentiary items, NISO Compliant Thesaurus and Single Document Indexing show an expertise in using standards in information organization and dissemination. The NISO Compliant Thesaurus assignment allowed me to work in a group, building a NISO compliant, post coordinate vocabulary. NISO guideline Z39.19 was heavily consulted for this assignment to ensure compliance to monolingual controlled vocabulary guidelines. Both alphabetical and top term hierarchical displays are shown and my part in the assignment is detailed.
Single Document Indexingshows my ability to follow The Chicago Manual of Style’s indexing chapter and the American Society of Indexing (ASI) resources to create a back of the book index. Accurate use of guidelines and document analysis allowed me to build an index, which will successfully guide readers to information contained in the book. Entries and subentries make up the structure while references locators function to further lead the reader to their desired topic. Only indexable material was used excluding front matter, back matter and footnotes.
The evidence, Cataloging Project, is a culmination assignment from LIBR 248. This assignment illustrates my knowledge of cataloging standards through representation of three separate cataloging records. The MARC workforms and master catalog records represent a multitude of standards to organize and represent the information used in cataloging. Access points were found via AACR2 rules. Subject headings were assigned using LCSH compliant terms. Both DDC and Library of Congress classification (LCC) numbers were assigned to each document. While LIBR 248 provided me with an ample amount of practice using these standards, this assignment best represents the culmination of this knowledge.
I feel confident that I have a good working knowledge of a wide variety of the types of standards used in structuring information, thereby providing access to information by users and information retrieval systems.