In this first module I have learnt the following concepts:
Introduction
- That information resources take many forms (e.g. book, DVD, map, chart, periodical).
- Authors and the descriptions of the resources vary widely.
- Writing resource descriptions can also be known as: Information or Knowledge Organisation. Traditionally it is known as Bibliographic Organisation, Description or Bibliographic Control.
The first activity asked us to consider the following question:
Why is it necessary for information agencies such as school libraries to organise information?
I read through some of the discussion forum posts and used that to write my response.
Schools are busy places. Schools run on systems, processes and routines. The library should be no different. By establishing a system in which resources are classified and organised, it should make it much easier for the librarian to find the resource themselves or to direct a teacher or student to find that resource. This will then make it easier for the student or teacher to do this independently and in a timely fashion. Another point that was made that I quite agreed with, was the benefit in having these systems means, that the skills are transferable to other libraries and other places where locating resources or information is required. It also ensures that quality resources are being used. With libraries already struggling to maintain their relevance, it is vital that libraries are highly organised so that it can be utilised effectively by all within the school community.
Retrieval of Information
Hider’s first chapter introduces a lot of concepts that we need to know in order to describe resources effectively.
- He uses the term Information Resource to encapsulate any resource that contains all aspects of what he calls “the knowledge pyramid” (data, information, knowledge and/or wisdom).
- These resources can all be described in different ways for a variety of different reasons.
- What the librarian needs to decide is how best to do this so that the resource is used effectively.
- He introduces two terms: content and carrier. Content is what information the resource contains. Carrier refers to aspects such as form and size.
- He also uses the term metadata (data about data) as an interchangeable term to describe information resource description.
This term was a little confusing for me initially because I didn’t really understand metadata to mean what Hider is using it for in this context. I thought of it as mainly to do with digital information.
- He makes the point that by composing metadata in a particular way it supports the access to information resources in several ways: it helps the user decide whether they should go and get the resource and/or it may be part of a wider collection of resources on the same topic so the user becomes aware of those also (this is also known as collocation).
- In constructing the metadata, four factors need to be considered: elements, values, formats and protocols.
- The digital environment which is very growing and ever changing has meant there needs to be new approaches to information resource description to best capture the purpose of the resource.
