The full metadata record I found, on the Flinders University website, as requested. Whew, this is pretty intense stuff. I am getting the general idea, but the topics so far seem to be creating more questions than they answer. That's how life should be though isn't it :)

Full metadata record
DC Field Value Language
dc.contributor.author Zott, Debra -
dc.date.accessioned 2011-05-26T06:48:07Z -
dc.date.available 2011-05-26T06:48:07Z -
dc.date.issued 2011-04 -
dc.identifier.citation Zott, D. 2011. How leaders emerge in realtime. InCite, 32 (4), p. 12. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0158–0876 -
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2328/23534 -
dc.description.abstract Discussions about leadership training generally raise the objection that leadership cannot be taught or learned, because true leaders are born. While there is an element of truth in this, training programs can be effective in developing library professionals who aspire to management roles, or who wish to increase their strategic awareness. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher ALIA en_US
dc.subject Leadership en_US
dc.subject Academic Libraries en_US
dc.title How leaders emerge in realtime en_US
dc.type Article en_US
Appears in Collections: Staff Publications

Files in This Item:
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Zott_InciteApril2011.pdf 292.08 kB Adobe PDF View/Open

Having a go at Metadata

We have been asked to have a go at coming up with what we think are the important data attributes for our textbook and for a given website (i.e. what we think people might use to try to locate it). I have a feeling this may be an interesting exercise - I wonder if what I think now would be different to what I would come up with at the end of this subject...

Firstly, a book (Hider, 2008):
Author
Year of publication
Title
Publisher
Colour of binding (if they remember that it was blue, but cannot remember what it was called)
ISBN
Overview of content
Key/tag words. In this case things like: information organisation, metadata, cataloguing, digital information resources, tagging, Web 2.0, Resource Description and Access, RDA, information retrieval systems, bibliographic description, bibliographic data, subject access, classification, standards, OPACs.

Secondly, a website (Handpress - I am not sure if it is intended that we analyse this page or the one it links to):
URL
Creator (changed from Author)
Title
Date most recently updated
Overview of content
Key/tag words. E.g. handpress, printing, presswork, books...

I am unsure as to whether I have completed this task correctly. I originally collected the actual information and included it with the aspects I had outlined, and I am not convinced that we are not supposed to do that, but at this point I think that will take time and not really teach me anything that I don't already know, so I will leave it as is and move onto the next activity.

Reference

Hider, P (with Harvey, R) 2008, Organising knowledge in a global society, rev. edn. Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies.

A rough transcription - my interpretation

For one of our exercises for ETL505 we had to listen to a recording of the metadata librarian of the State Library of QLD. It sounds like she has done an amazing job and works very hard, and she had some interesting things to say about her role - but she was rather difficult for me to understand. Because of this I have tried to write down what she said in the talk. I may not have gotten it all right, so please let me know if this is the case, but I have written down what she said as I understand it (in my own words).

I found one of her papers online and I this made me think maybe some of the words I couldn't understand were 'Dublin Core'... Had a read of the abstract and it gave me a bit more of an idea of what she was talking about:

In her first role she had to do research to decide which was the best outline for metadata standards for the QLD state library. She had to write a paper justifying the use of Dublin Core outlines for web resource description. She created the outline and implementation plan for metadata at the QLD library. She stays informed of trends, monitors development of international standards (including Dublin Core), and Australian and QLD ones. She keeps the website up to date. She revises the metadata guidelines when there are changes, and provides workshops to address these changes. She doesn't decide on the individual terms used for each item, there are people who do that. She also attends conferences, and writes papers and for journals.

Now I need to investigate what Dublin Core is, because I don't think I know yet...

Metadata

3 definitions:

1.
noun
data about data; "a library catalog is metadata because it describes publications"
(Dictionary.com)

2.
Wikipedia
prefers to use the word 'metacontent', :
'Metadata (metacontent) is traditionally found in the card catalogs of libraries. As information has become increasingly digital, metadata is also used to describe digital data using metadata standards specific to a particular discipline. By describing the contents and context of data files, the quality of the original data/files is greatly increased. For example, a webpage may include metadata specifying what language it's written in, what tools were used to create it, and where to go for more on the subject, allowing browsers to automatically improve the experience of users.'
with the word metadata fitting with the following: 'Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures ... would be "data about the containers of data"'
(Wikipedia)

3.
metadata:
Data about data. Metadata describes how and when and by whom a particular set of data was collected, and how the data is formatted. Metadata is essential for understanding information stored in data warehouses and has become increasingly important in XML-based Web applications.
(Webopedia)

Common across all three: information/data about data.

Wow.

I can't believe it. I'm up to date with my readings/online study.

I haven't started my portfolio yet, but still, I think this is a reason to celebrate.

Perhaps by getting a good night's sleep...!

Picture Australia

The Picture Australia website has so many wonderful images from Australia's history. I did a search for 'Ned Kelly' and 'tasmanian tiger', each of which brought up many results. Some of the images I recognised, others seemed off topic but did have some link upon looking closer at them (e.g. a picture of relatives of Ned Kelly). The only draw back I could see was that the images did not seem to be sorted in any way, whether by relevance, popularity, etc. I did also notice a post in the forum suggesting the site does not suggest alternative spellings if you make a mistake with your search or do not know exactly what you are looking for (e.g. if I search for Simon and donkey, instead of Simpson and donkey, no results come up).

Hear hear...

"I want a poor student to have the same means of indulging his learned curiosity, of following his rational pursuits, of consulting the same authorities, of fathoming the most intricate inquiry as the richest man in the kingdom, as far as books go, and I contend that the Government is bound to give him the most liberal and unlimited assistance in this respect" (Panizzi)

Controlled vocabularies

Still wrapping my mind around the idea of controlled vocabularies (I am possibly trying to make it more complicated than it needs to be), and when/how they are used, but I am pretty confident I can complete the activity below...

Activity

Locate the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) online. (Hint: either use a web search engine, or locate it from Michael Middleton’s Controlled vocabularies website.)

Assign terms from this thesaurus to:

1. a book about the architecture of castles
2. a journal article about sculptures of indigenous Australian animals

Using this Thesaurus, it was interesting to note the heirarchy display (by clicking on the symbol to the left of each result). From suggestions made in the forum, I am gathering that we need to be as specific as possible rather than including overarching terms. Because of this, there may only be one term... I think this is ok!

1.
- castles (fortifications)

2.
- constructions (sculpture)
- assemblages (sculpture)
- sculpture (visual work)
- statues

Ok that will do. This could be quite time consuming if you let it be. Also I have stared at the word sculpture for too long, and now it looks strange...

Parts of a bibliographic record

Activity:
To identify which elements of three catalogue records describe the item (1), and which describe its content (2). Completed using SCIS OPAC.

Record 1:
1:
Title: Llamas / Aaron Frisch.
Series: Let’s investigate wildlife
Publisher: Mankato, Minn. : Creative Education, 2003.
Edition: 1st ed.
Description: 31 p. : col. ill.
Main Author: Frisch, Aaron.
2:
Subject Headings: Llamas. scisshl
Call Nos: 599.63 FRI a14
599.6367 FRI 22
Summary: Presents information on llamas, including their physical characteristics and behavior, as well as how people in South America have utilized them throughout history.

Record 2:
1:
Title: The tale of Despereaux : being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread / Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering.
ISBN: 0744598699
Publisher: London : Walker, 2004.
Description: 270 p. : ill.
Main Author: DiCamillo, Kate.
Contributors: Ering, Timothy Basil.
2:
Subject Headings: Mice - Fiction. scisshl
Newbery Medal. scisshl
Call Nos: F DIC a13
Summary
DiCamillo's cherished Newbery Medal winner receives a stunning new treatment in a slipcased edition featuring 24 new full-color illustrations specially created for this collectible gift edition.
Tags
adventure animals children children's children's fiction children's literature fairy tales fantasy juvenile mice Newbery Newbery Medal princess rats young adult

Record 3:
1:
Title: The teaching of handwriting, revised edition [electronic resource] : training resource.
Other Titles: Handwriting
Publisher: Melbourne : Dept. of Education & Training, 2002.
Description: 1 CD-ROM : col.
Contributors: Victoria. Department of Education & Training.
Notes: System requirements: IBM compatible PC ; CD-ROM drive.
Contents Note: Contents: Slide presentation
PowerPoint resource files
Speaker notes
Handouts.
2:
Subject Headings: Handwriting - Study and teaching. scisshl
Teachers - In-service education. scisshl
Call Nos: 652 TEA a13
652.107 TEA 21

History of cataloguing

I am reading the article by Taylor, and am finding it fascinating! Throw in a bit of history and I'm hooked. I think I'm actually enjoying myself at the moment, which is lovely.

I have seen the acronym AACR2 thrown about a bit, and have not known what is is. I now know it to stand for Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition (Taylor, 2004, p. 58). I decided to put that here in case I forget what it is and need to know in the future. I almost wrote a note, or put a post it on the wall, but I am not sure how important it will be and realised another aspect of the beauty of blogging - it's here when I need it, but not looking messy, and not in the way if I don't need it anymore. Add to that the easy access by labelling my post and we have another reminder of the wonders of technology and what it means for us in regards to retrieval of information.

Reference:
Taylor, A. (2004). Development of the organization of recorded information in
western civilization. In The organization of information (2nd Ed.) (pp.
49-66). Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

Time

Section 1.8 of the readings discusses the fact that as teacher librarians we need to balance what we do. We have important roles supporting teachers and students, teaching information literacy, and cooperative planning; the organisation of our resources, and effective cataloguing are important to make these things as effective as possible and to save time whilst doing them, but we need to make sure that we are saving time overall - so spending more time cataloguing than we are saving elsewhere is not sensible use of time. It is better to not have a perfect library with perfectly catalogued resources, as long as it is still an effective one and the important roles of the teacher librarian can be carried out effectively as well.

This resonates heavily with the perfectionist within me, and I suspect that I will need to remind myself of this important detail in the future.

Cutter's objectives of a catalogue, rewritten for today

To enable a person to find a resource of which either:
- the author
- the title
- the subject
is known.

To show what the library has access to
- by a given author
- on a given subject
- in a given text type/format
- in a given series

To assist in the choice of a resource
- as to its edition (bibliographically)
- as to its character (literary or topical)
- as to its reliability

"resource" and "access to" indicate that we are no longer just dealing with print resources, but digital ones, many of which are online.

Based on the objectives by Cutter 1904, p. 12, cited in Hider, 2008, p. 10.

Summarising the quote by Hensen (2001), information is starting to be classified by its content and substance, rather than where it is stored, and this is how it should be. Well, I agree with this to an extent. I think as far as retrieving items there is still a place for sorting by author in regards to fiction items, not just because it works, but because it means if you find one text that you like, you can then immediately find others by the same author. But as far as sorting digital items, it makes sense to do it this way, as it can be retrieved without going somewhere in particular to find it. The way non-fiction print texts are currently classified (Dewey Decimal system) does this to an extent, but each item has to be allocated to one particular section, even if it has elements that fit within others (although it must be noted, other elements of the text can still come up in the search). Digital resources do not have this problem. I do believe that we have done the best we can with the things we have over the years, and this method of classification would not have been viable before the digital age.

References:

Steven L. Hensen … in a post to the Diglib online discussion list. Quote of the Month, American Libraries, 32 (1, Jan 2001): 86.

Hider, P (with Harvey, R) 2008, Organising knowledge in a global society, rev. edn. Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies.

Library vs Internet

If a search of a library catalogue is more likely to produce information that is more reliable (i.e. we know its source, it is seen as being created by people who are qualified) and appropriate, then why are we turning to the Internet more and more?


cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Ѕolo

Perhaps because of:
The myriad of information
How responsive it is to the language we use - we do not need to speak the lingo of a cataloguer
Its accessibility
The instantaneous results (depending on the Internet connection of course) - you don't then have to go and find the information source after looking up its location.

There are many reasons, and I have a feeling the Internet is only going to get better at clarifying which sources are reliable, so that it competes with libraries even more - but these improvements will perhaps involve some cataloguing techniques.

I wonder what all this means for libraries in the long term? I can't imagine a world without libraries, but then I couldn't imagine a world without Angus and Robertson stores 6 months ago...

Libraries, museums and archives

I now need to think/talk about the difference between these three information outlets, using the following prompts:

What information is each dealing with?
Libraries predominantly print texts, though other things too; Museums predominantly 3D objects, though they "theoretically have no limit"; Archives predominantly records. There are objects which could be found in all three, but usually the purpose of your search would take you to one in particular.

How different is it?
These types of information are different in that the metatdata they have varies - they cannot necessarily be entered into the system the same way. Where print resources generally have things such as an author, title and year of publication to describe them, items in a museum or archive generally have less concrete descriptors.

How does it change what information we might want to organise and retrieve?
As stated above, there is some crossover between objects found in each institution, but usually you would go to the one which will primarily deal with the type of information you are after, for example if you are looking for family history, you are more likely to go to an archive than a library. Whilst libraries can still have information on family history, they are likely to allow archives to concentrate on organising records. This makes it easier for the cataloguers/archivers, as well as for the consumers.

Hider's main points

I believe Hider's main points to be:
-that information should be easy to use for everyone involved; rules/guidelines/agreements should be followed to make this so.
- we now get information from all over the world, and it is constantly changing, so it is important that we have high standards and work together to organise it.
- we need to ensure that our systems are user friendly, responsive and readily available and that data is easy to understand, so that users are not restricted from accessing information.


Reference: Hider, P (with Harvey, R) 2008, ‘What makes information retrieval systems effective?’, in Organising knowledge in a global society, rev. edn. Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, pp. 21-23.

The final subject: Bibliographic Standards in Education

And back into the reflections on learning I go. Now, other than working on my portfolio, I will only have one subject to reflect upon. I am immediately getting the impression however that this subject will involve quite a heavy workload. Mix that with my current teaching load, and the planning that is coming with that... I had better get stuck into it!

With time restrictions in mind, I am going to attempt to keep my reflections brief.

Why is it necessary for information agencies such as libraries to organise information effectively?

My thoughts on the matter:
- In order to be able to easily access resources
- In order for customers to be able to easily access resources
- For ease of stocktake
- So that finding one resource can lead to finding others on the same topic/by the same author
- So the space is attractive

Those were my instant thoughts, without too much effort. Let's see if I get any more ideas from my further reading.

Pending madness.

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by just.Luc
It turns out we are more than halfway through week one of semester two already! This tidbit of information caught me completely unawares. Which means I now need to get my placement report finished, and catch up on readings etc for my final subject. I also need to get ready for my first two days in my new library - the first time I will be the sole teacher librarian for a school, so I want to make sure I am prepared! Combine this with all the other things in my life, and there's lots to do.

One thing that will no longer be on my plate is my part time job at Angus and Robertson. I am sad to say that all A&R stores have now been closed (except franchise stores, but their names will probably change). I also learned that Readers Feast in Melbourne has also been closed, which is really sad. I did not realise that it was also owned by Red Group. It has surprised me that Borders has been on the TV so much and I haven't seen Angus and Robertson mentioned at all. Angus and Robertson being historically an Australian company with a 125 year history, I would have thought there would have been more publicity. So many customers had no idea what was happening even though we had been in administration since February the 17th. If the happenings interest you, check out the Administrator's website: http://www.ferrierhodgson.com/Media.aspx

One good thing that came out of our store's closure, is the fact that my students will never not be able to borrow if they forget their library bag - I have plenty of bags for them to use! This is an idea I got from one of the teacher librarians in my area - one of the many things I am learning having joined NATLA, through the meetings and being on the email list.

Okay, enough stalling, time to get this report written...

Reading for a cause

http://register.thenovelchallenge.org.au/The-Novel-Challenge/jessicathomas/&utm_source=individual_widget&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=MS_Queensland

I am enjoying my holidays. Perhaps a little too much, considering I have a placement report to write, and a portfolio to start... And now I have another excuse to spend time read-read-reading! :)

I am participating in the MS Read-a-thon, for the first time since primary school, and I am rather excited. Any excuse to read really, but also, it's such a good cause. My lovely Aunty suffers from MS, so I have seen the impact it can have, not just on the person who has it, but their family as well. My Uncle has had to become her full time carer, so they have gone from two incomes to none, not to mention the frustrations of her not being able to do so many things that used to be so simple; things most people take for granted.

MS Australia is not only searching for a cure and understanding of multiple sclerosis, but aims to support people with MS and their families. I love this fundraiser because it spreads awareness of MS and its impact, it raises money for an important cause, and it gets people reading!

I have set my goal fairly low this year, and am hoping to exceed it. I am about to spread the word more fiercely via Facebook and email, as so far I have only been sponsored by myself and my Mum... Hopefully this will change soon, and you'll see it increase from $50 on my widget... which does not seem to be working for some reason. But you can follow the link above to go to the website.