Competency G

Understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge.

A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.
Aesop

The moral of the story is, united we stand, divided we fall. Not only is this true with force, but it is also true with service. When we are united with one another in one heart and mind, it is easier to overcome obstacles and challenges. It is very fortunate in the library and information science that certain universal system of standards and methods has been employed to help organize and classify the library's collections, so that patrons can search for their desired information much easier. Imagine each library has its own way to organize and classify its collections; that will be very difficult for patrons to search for information when they have to move from place to place. Thanks to the wisdom of the invention of the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2). This is a set of organizational standards that libraries across the nation use to organize and classify their collections. It is also in uniformity with many other countries like England, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Commonwealth countries and many other countries in Asia. The AACR2 provides the bibliographic records which are employed by libraries across the world. Thus they all have the same records whether they are in Mexico, or the United States or Canada. The benefit is two folds. On the one hand, patrons will find it easier to search for their materials; and on the other hand, librarians and information professionals do not have to learn the system of standards and methods all over again when they transfer their employment from one library to the other.

As librarians and information professionals transfer their employment, they would find that the rules for cataloging and classification are the same. Whether the schemes are Dewey Decimal Classification or Library of Congress Classification (LCC), the standards and methods remain the same. In addition to cataloging and classification, Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) provides electronic records. This is a more favorable approach in our time when it comes to online public access catalog (OPAC). The MARC record format includes the following fields: bibliographic, holdings, authority, classification, and community information. Knowledge and skills of cataloging and classification are indispensable for librarians and information professionals. The more they know about them, the better service they can offer in their workplace.

In relation to this competency, one of the exercises for LIBR 248-14 course (Beginning Cataloging and Classification) that I did was to respond to Mary M. Rider's article, "Developing New Roles for Paraprofessionals in Cataloging." This exercise helped me to understand different areas of paraprofessional cataloging. The first has to do with the task of a copy cataloger. I have learned that their task is very challenging because they increasingly assume responsibility for original cataloging, particularly when creation of new records is based on similar or related copy already available in the bibliographic utility. They may also assign classification numbers and subject headings as needed to upgrade records and provide appropriate access. They also spend considerable time verifying class numbers and adjusting cutter numbers to maintain alphabetical shelflist order. My other valuable knowledge from this exercise is the understanding between cataloging for collections and cataloging for access. "Cataloging for collections" means to adapt records to conform to local cataloging policies, and "cataloging for access" means to focus on providing users with bibliographic access as quickly and effectively as possible. Also from this exercise, I have learned to disagree with the author. Rider is in favor of speedy cataloging, she introduces several techniques like PromptCat records, OCLC bibliographic records, and "FastCat" units. These techniques might help to speed up the process of cataloging, but as for me, I personally prefer accurate cataloging because it will save time for patrons by providing accurate information.

My other exercise was a quiz which helped me to understand the "Development of Cataloging Codes; and, Lecture on Principles of Cataloging." This quiz has 21 questions which covers almost all areas of cataloging. One of the questions helped me to understand that cataloging involves the process of authority control, descriptive cataloging and subject analysis. One other question attempts to communicate that involved in the process of subject analysis is the choice of as many subject headings as appropriate and a classification notation. Another important question emphasizes on the definition of classification, and I learned much from this question as well. It is the arrangement of books or materials in groups or classes according to certain standard. Many other questions are also interesting, but it would take much more time to discuss them in this competency.

The last exercise that I would like to present here is called Shared Cataloging Databases, also for LIBR 248. This exercise directs us to practice on real bibliographic records. For example, the first question wants us to search the Library of Congress Online Catalog (http://catalog.loc.gov) in Basic Search by Title for Casino Royale to find out how many bibliographic records are available. This answer for this is 10. The next question is directly related to the first one, and it wants to know, of those 10 records, how many bibliographic records with the actual title of Casino Royale I found in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. The answer for this is 9. This exercise has five question altogether, and each question is setting us up for practical knowledge of Shared Cataloging Databases from Library of Congress Online Catalog. Though it was time consuming, it created great opportunity to understand the bibliographic records better.

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