cataloging journal

Practical application of WebDewey

admin — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:42:59 +0000

I thought I’d play with WebDewey a little more and try to construct call numbers for the books I chose for the final project.

1. Intellectual Freedom Manual: I really like 025.213. The note says: “Class here comprehensive works on library policies and practices relating to intellectual freedom.” This makes it clear that the work refers to intellectual freedom policies in libraries, not just in general (as I had to use with LC).

2. Scranton: 974.8? This one is tough, though I’ve seen this book under 974.8 before. How would I make it more specific? Use table T2?

3. Natural History of Sonoran Desert: 508.7917: 508 for Natural History, and .7917 allows me to get down to the level of “plains region of Arizona.” There doesn’t seem to be a way to specifically include “Sonoran Desert” here, but this should be just as useful.

4. Westinghouse Commemoration: When I worked in a public library, we used to classify all our biographies under 92. Is this appropriate, or would it be better to use a subject classification (620 maybe) and then use one of the tables?

5. Lasting Impressions: I like 526.3, but it might be advisable here to go a little more specific with “bench marks, historical and persons treatment”: 526.3209. I’m still not sure. This is the same quandary I had with LC!

Summary: WebDewey

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:54:09 +0000

I haven’t used it as much as the other tools yet, but so far I really like WebDewey. The interface is familiar since it is so similar to FirstSearch. It’s aesthetically pleasing and pretty intuitive to use. The introductory information is easy to find and it’s well written. I like how the scope notes come up right on the same screen as the tables and terms I’m browsing. I feel like I have a good sense of how Dewey works just having played around with WebDewey for a while: one of the strengths of WebDewey seems to be the way in which the application itself mirrors the logical structure and philosophy of DDC.

Summary: ClassWeb

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:51:37 +0000

I became pretty good at using ClassWeb after working through our subject heading and classification assignments and my final project. I feel that the searching and browsing could be set up to be more intuitive, but perhaps that’s just because I’m still a novice. Once I thoroughly understood the difference between the “browse” and “search” functions, using ClassWeb became much easier.

The tutorial was fair, but I found it much easier to understand after I’d played around with the system for a while and actually used it to solve problems. I consider it more of a help reference than a tutorial. Reading it right from the start, I felt somewhat lost. Also, some of the examples did not match what I was seeing on my screen. This is probably due to updates in the application and in the classification, and it’s confusing to a beginner.

Summary: AACR2 Rule Interpretations

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:50:49 +0000

Like Cataloguer’s Toolbox, I found this source hit-or-miss as to the topics it covers. It did help me clear up confusion over a few rules, but more often than not when I checked it I didn’t find information pertaining to my question.

Summary: Cataloguer’s Toolbox

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:42:39 +0000

Cataloguer’s Toolbox is useful in certain situations, but hit-or-miss as to the topics it covers. I checked it frequently but wasn’t always able to find information relevant to the week’s topic or my particular question. I did find a lot of very interesting articles for further exploration and research linked from Cataloguer’s Toolbox!

Summary: Cataloger’s Desktop

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:41:49 +0000

Cataloger’s Desktop is an excellent resource that I used frequently, particularly to access AACR2 when I was tired of getting papercuts from flipping around in the print version. I found the layout and interface somewhat confusing, though. The default search doesn’t seem to work very well (the advanced search is somewhat better). While I could always find what I wanted by using the “browse” frame, the titles of the folders and files are so long that determining what they were required hovering over the link until the full name appeared, or constantly resizing the left frame. I feel I was missing a lot of potentially useful information. The search limiters (“type of material,” “type of activity,” etc.) were somewhat helpful, but not exactly intuitive to use. This has to be a great resource for someone who uses it every day and has it customized for their own needs.

Summary: CatSkill

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:40:29 +0000

I found CatSkill to be an extremely valuable tutorial for learning descriptive cataloging. The interactivity in the form of exercises and tests that needed to be passed in order to progress ensured that I was learning and really integrating that knowledge as I went along. Unlike some others in the class, I had no technical problems with my account or with accessing the application, but there was one module that it would not let me pass even though I went over the final test answer a number of times and was sure I had the punctuation and even spacing correct. The modules were fun (though I wish there had been a wider variety of works to catalog) and I looked forward to doing them each time.

Summary: MARC21

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:56:51 +0000

The MARC21 reference from LOC is a fantastic tool. It’s simple, very fast to load because it’s only text-based, and gave me definitive answers to my questions in seconds. I put a shortcut to it on my desktop and I referred to it constantly throughout the quarter as I worked on my assignments and final project. The introductory material was also useful when we were just beginning to learn about creating and interpreting MARC records. I’ve used it more times than I can count just to check on indicator values alone! This site proves that tools don’t need to be flashy or complicated to be useful. Sometimes simple really is better.

ClassWeb Discoveries

admin — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:24:41 +0000

Since Karen posted Quiz 4 early a few days ago, I’ve been working on it and at the same time learning a lot about ClassWeb. It’s an excellent resource, though the interface could probably use an overhaul after careful consideration. I’m sure some of my difficulties are due to the fact that I’m a novice user. I’ve been tripped up a few times by hitting Enter after typing my keyword, caption, or subject heading search, rather than going to the top of the screen and clicking Search. The default is “browse,” so that’s what I was getting when I hit the Enter key. The results were sometimes helpful, but not great. Once I realized that I should have been clicking the Search button instead, my results were excellent, particularly when searching for call numbers. I found it very easy to zero in on a call number that sounded perfect. (Whether they really were correct or not I suppose I will discover when Quiz 4 and my project are returned!)

Assigning call numbers has been a lot of fun (I love puzzle solving and detective work!), and somewhat more subjective than I expected. The first book in my project is the Intellectual Freedom Manual from ALA, and believe it or not, I really couldn’t find a good classification for it. I eventually came up with Z711.4 by trying libraries intellectual freedom in the keyword search. It doesn’t seem perfect, especially since the hierarchy includes reference services, but it’s the best I have been able to find so far.

My second work is Kashuba’s book of historic photographs of Scranton. A search for Scranton Pennsylvania produced the call number F159.S4 (hierarchy United States local history–Pennsylvania–Other cities, towns, etc., A-Z–Scranton) which seems a pretty good fit to me.

Third on the list is a book about the natural history of the Sonoran Desert. It was really easy to find an appropriate call number for this one: a search for natural history Sonoran Desert brought up QH104.5.S58, which sounds perfect.

Next is the George Westinghouse commemoration book. This was a tough one. After trying a dozen different searches I eventually settled on T55.85 Technology (General)–Industrial engineering–Biography–Individual, A-Z (and then I had to add .W4 for Westinghouse).

My final work is Lasting Impressions. I decided to use TA515 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)–Surveying–History–General works. It’s not perfect; I wish there were a way to capture the importance of benchmarks to this work, but the only classification number I could find relating to benchmarks was TA610, which is lists of benchmarks by country. This isn’t appropriate. I wasn’t really even able to capture the “benchmarks” aspect of this work through the subject headings because of the guideline against using both specific and general headings. I decided to stay on the level of “surveying history” but I’m not entirely satisfied with it.

No matter how things ultimately turn out, I feel this course gave me an excellent introduction to the ClassWeb tool!

WebDewey Tutorial

admin — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:23:46 +0000

This product looks quite attractive and easy to use so far, at least in comparison with some of the LoC tools, though I won’t know until we actually begin to use it next week. The tutorial presents it well, in any case. I’m finding it informative, though I wish there were better interactivity (something to the tune of CatSkill, for example). Common tutorials are good for an overview, but I still prefer learning by doing; that is, by encountering a real problem and having to explore dark corners of the tool in order to solve it!