• Vital Information • Course Description • Learning Objectives • Weekly Outline •
• Finding Readings • Weekly Reading List • Grading • Expectations •

Learning Objectives

As a result of taking Organization of Information, you will be able to:

  1. Formulate catalog entries for information resources that meet the library community's standards so that your peers can claim your records for their comparable databases, your library's users can find information resources that satisfy their information needs, and you can apply everything that is good about library database building standards to building databases for other professional communities.
  2. Define the terminology and jargon of library cataloging, classification, and metadata creation, and use it to communicate effectively with colleagues, understand and contribute to the published literature on the topic.
  3. Apply the library community's standards for organizing the information resources that libraries add to their collections in the production of catalog entries (also known as surrogate records or bibliographic records). These standards are:
    • Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) for modeling the bibliographic universe
    • Resource Description & Access (RDA) for descriptive cataloging
    • International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) for descriptive cataloging
    • Dublin Core (DC) for general metadata creation
    • Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for subject cataloging
    • Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) for subject classification
    • Machine-readable Cataloging (MARC) Bibliographic Format for encoding catalog entries
    • Machine-readable Cataloging (MARC) Authorities Format as a source of authorized names and subjects for your catalog entries
    • Various genre heading schemes for describing what a resource's genre (i.e., what it is)
  4. Respond to critics who question the value of surrogation with arguments that communicate clearly and effectively why surrogate records are as viable as ever for helping information-seekers find relevant information despite the availability of digital full-texts. (Also known as levels of access.)
  5. Profile a library catalog for browsing, indexing, search, and display so that people can find relevant information in the catalog in response to their searches.
  6. Defend your cataloging decisions, citing authorities, consulting standards, and synthesizing opinions, so that you are prepared to handle challenges about your cataloging from colleagues, peers, and administrators, and help others make cataloging decisions.
  7. Speculate on future trends in the organization of information so you are prepared to adjust to major changes in the near future.
  8. Develop expertise and a deep and enduring interest in the organization of information that serve as the impetus for your participation in the field's formal activities shaping the future of the information of organization.

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