It is interesting to see, in this course, how different libraries can be even within the same province. You would think that the way they operate would be somewhat more uniform. In my district we have a central library that takes care of cataloguing services. This means that neither I, as TL, nor my library assistant need to spend time cataloguing new resources. This frees up my time to teach and my library assistant's time to carry out other administrative jobs.
It looks like Follett and ULS offer excellent cataloguing services at reasonable prices. Follett offers this service at 69 cents per book including: electronic catalog record, bar code label with protector, spine label, and mylar choice. It is only 11 cents per book if you are just looking for the electronic catalog record. ULS offers a basic MARC record for 49 cents per book.
It's good to know about these services even though I do not need them at this point in my library. It would definitely be worthwhile to buy a MARC record for less than a dollar. From my experience, creating MARC records takes time, and I know that my MARC records were not as accurate as they should have been.
From the discussion forum, I have learned that many of my classmates take advantage of these services in their districts. I know that before we amalgamated our library systems into one, with Follett Destiny in 2006, the teacher-librarians in our district were responsible for cataloguing. They would buy MARC records from jobbers in order to cut down on the time they spent on administrative duties.
Showing posts with label catalog record. Show all posts
Showing posts with label catalog record. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 November 2012
Monday, 8 October 2012
Access points in our library catalogue in our ever-changing digital world
This past week we were to look at the catalog record for a number of items and check to see if and how the ISBD areas are organized. I chose fairly recent acquisitions to our library and, as such, the entries were quite uniform and complete.
I did notice, however, that the subject headings in the catalog record were few and far between for some items. The most complete list of subject headings was for the DVD: Noémie, le Secret coming in at 10 headings. The other items averaged only 3 subject headings each. I have found this low number of subject headings to be problematic in our library when I am searching for resources on different topics. I may know of a book that fits a certain theme but it will not come up when I do a keyword search for that particular theme.
Another discrepancy that I noticed was the lack of entry for "target audience" for quite of few of the items. This would be beneficial for a teacher, but may not have any bearing on a student's decision to go look for the book. In reading my classmates' postings in the discussion forum this week, I learned that a few others are also working with Follett Destiny and that some of them have access to TitlePeek. Now, this is a feature that I know appeals to students with the option of seeing the actual book cover, table of contents, excerpts and even published reviews. Unfortunately, it comes as an additional cost to the Follett Destiny package and our district has opted to spend its money elsewhere (after polling all the teacher-librarians).
After spending a week looking at how search engines work, I found the catalog system to be quite inefficient. I have been disappointed when looking for books on different topics to have my searches come up with very few resources when I know that we have good books on the topic. I learned why this week when I saw how few subject headings that each book/resource actually had. I guess that this means that I need to go back and add appropriate subject headings to the different books/resources that support the topics and themes that are taught in the school. This is where the book/resource needs to have a digital record that includes a portion of the book in its record. That way, maybe key words or subject headings wouldn't have to be manually entered? I wonder what the future holds for catalog records...
From here:
To who knows where?
I did notice, however, that the subject headings in the catalog record were few and far between for some items. The most complete list of subject headings was for the DVD: Noémie, le Secret coming in at 10 headings. The other items averaged only 3 subject headings each. I have found this low number of subject headings to be problematic in our library when I am searching for resources on different topics. I may know of a book that fits a certain theme but it will not come up when I do a keyword search for that particular theme.
Another discrepancy that I noticed was the lack of entry for "target audience" for quite of few of the items. This would be beneficial for a teacher, but may not have any bearing on a student's decision to go look for the book. In reading my classmates' postings in the discussion forum this week, I learned that a few others are also working with Follett Destiny and that some of them have access to TitlePeek. Now, this is a feature that I know appeals to students with the option of seeing the actual book cover, table of contents, excerpts and even published reviews. Unfortunately, it comes as an additional cost to the Follett Destiny package and our district has opted to spend its money elsewhere (after polling all the teacher-librarians).
After spending a week looking at how search engines work, I found the catalog system to be quite inefficient. I have been disappointed when looking for books on different topics to have my searches come up with very few resources when I know that we have good books on the topic. I learned why this week when I saw how few subject headings that each book/resource actually had. I guess that this means that I need to go back and add appropriate subject headings to the different books/resources that support the topics and themes that are taught in the school. This is where the book/resource needs to have a digital record that includes a portion of the book in its record. That way, maybe key words or subject headings wouldn't have to be manually entered? I wonder what the future holds for catalog records...
From here:
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/deborahfitchett/2970373235/ |
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| http://www.flickr.com/photos/louish/5371825855/ |
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