Range of catalogues and databases

 

 

Imagine that you have been asked to create or recognize points of access that will help users retrieve information from a variety of databases.

 

Using the Web sites below, select a database and devise at least four points of entry (two that would be considered descriptive cataloguing and two that would be important for the subject element of the catalogue record).

 

 

• Knowledge Management: (What is Knowledge Management?)

http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/kd/whatiskm.shtml

Select a scenario and assume its purpose and users. You may have to use your imagination to come up with useful access points.

• Special Collections: Rare Documents and Manuscripts

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/rbx/speccoll.htm

Choose one of the collections and select points of access. Some points will be straightforward; don’t be afraid to use those! For others, you may have to assume a certain level of familiarity with the collection – e.g. Letters of James Joyce (subjects could be type of letter, format, format, recipient, works cited). Be sure to check out the http://lib.nmsu.edu/rarecat/ Resources for the Rare Books Cataloguer site.

• Image Databases: Use the list of links from BUBL http://bubl.ac.uk/link/types/images.htm or try http://www.artcyclopedia.com/

Select a database and then determine the access points. Take a look at the Art and Architecture Thesaurus as well at http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/ and answer the question: “In your opinion, what is the main issue when cataloguing images and why?”

• Digitised materials databases: Try out The Etext center http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/

and the Arts of the book http://images.library.yale.edu/aobdl/ or http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm Identify those main points of access and answer the question: “What is the importance of metadata to digitised collections?”