Visit the School’s Study Visit site and choose a previous study visit program to review.
Reflecting on an Information Agency
Part 1.
Choose a site from the study visit schedule and write some notes for yourself about it and who you think its users might be.
MCC Library at the MCG from 2023
My pre-researching notes
Collects significant artifacts and historical and current documents relating to the MCC and sport, including events, memoirs, personal collections, biographies, etc. The collection is for MCC Members and anyone interested in the history of the MCC/MCG and sport in general. Access is quite restricted (ie the collection is Not for Loan), but researchers are welcome to use the collection onsite or request online help from the library staff.
Part 2.
Research the agency and the type of users it has. Reflect on how hard or easy it is to find information about the organisation and its users, whether the information you found aligned with your assumptions of the site, and how you might frame your investigation if you were visiting the site.
Founded in 1873 with a donation of 13 volumes of The Australasian newspaper. (
MCC_MembersMCC Library, paras. 1 and 5.) The volumes are not concurrent and there are many missing issues and volumes (mcc.softlinkhosting.com.au, accessed 23/2/25). The collection has more than one million items (website, para 5.).
I found it very easy to access the website and the catalogue. The MCC Library catalogue uses Oliver by Softlink which is very familiar to me as my place of work also uses Oliver.
The information on the website and the items in the collection align very closely with my assumptions. Users range from casual ‘drop-ins’ on match days to serious sport researchers.
During a study visit, I would frame my investigation around the similarities and differences in the treatment of resources in the catalogue and ‘on the shelves’, in comparison to a school library, for example,
- the ‘in-house’ cataloguing rules they have in place,
- the methods they use to store and preserve their collections,
- the systems they have implemented to safeguard the collection whilst also providing access to it,
- the criteria they use for assessing and accepting donations,
- the criteria used to deselect items,
- budget,
- staffing,
- accessibility support,
- ILL,
- their Collection Management Policy,
- etc.
What is an Information Agency?
Choose either the opening or closing site from a previous study visit schedule. Think about what makes this site an ‘information agency’ and make notes for yourself. Think also about what we mean when we talk about ‘information’. What information do you think they work with? What type of services do they offer?
State Library of Victoria
What makes this site an ‘information agency’? The SLV is the state repository for anything ‘officially’ published in or about Victoria, Australia.
What do we mean when we talk about ‘information? In this context, information means resources “that have been created primarily for information purposes, such as books, e-books, websites, newspapers, videos, digital images and so on.” (Hider, 2018)
What information do you think they work with? The SLV collects items that relate to Victoria (which is called ‘legal deposit’) specifically including ephemera, music, election materials, photos, digital media, artifacts, maps, etc. However, there are also other repositories for Victorian-related resources, such as the Public Records Office and Parliamentary Library, which have their own collection parameters.
What type of services do they offer? The SLV is a non-lending library. Anyone can walk in and access the collection, although the collection has outgrown the official site and many resources are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. The collection includes books, magazines, photographs, manuscripts, personal papers, digital resources (some of which can be accessed externally), newspapers on paper, microfiche and digital, and many more. The SLV staff are knowledgeable and helpful and offer workshops on a range of information-related activities such as family research, student and academic research help, special events, children’s collections and activities. The services provided are continually assessed to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the users, ie. the residents of the state.
Applying Theory to Practice
Choose a site from a previous study schedule AND either a subject you are doing in this session or one you have done in a previous session. Think about how the content of the subject might be reflected in the site you’ve chosen. Have you learnt about theories, models or other evidence-based practices that would be applied in this type of agency?
TBC
Hider, P. (2018). Definitions and scope. In Information Resource Description: Creating and managing metadata. (p. 1). Facet.
