Evidence of Competency
Goal 3: Navigate, curate, and create information across the spectrum of human records.
3a.
History of Photography Resource Guide
Outcome 3a. Design resources or tools that facilitate access to information.
Currently, the public library I work for has a whole marketing team that is in charge of designing the website, posters, pamphlets, etc. Before the 702 Facilitating User Learning and Information Needs course I had very little experience designing any resources for information. For an assignment we were tasked with creating a resource guide. I decided to do mine on the history of photography. Once I had found the resources that I wanted to highlight for the history of photography, I had to think through the best way to make the information accessible and organized. I landed on a a website. A website would make the resource easy to bookmark or favorite to be referenced again later. I also opted for a collage style format to make each resource appear as a little blurb that you could click on to learn more. I found that this would make the resources easier to navigate than having them as one long webpage that you would have to endlessly scroll through. This process gave me a great opportunity to think through the logistics of making the resources accessible, ease of navigation and the overall design. Not all libraries have a marketing team, so this could be an expected responsibility in a public library and would definitely be expected in a school library.
(Image Source: https://caskeya2.wixsite.com/macaskey)
3b.
MARC Records
Outcome 3b. Utilize resources or tools to manage information.
In the 703 Organization of Knowledge course we learned how to create a MARC bibliographic record within Oxygen XML. This course was intense and showed me how to manage information through the metadata to create a MARC record. This project gave me a true appreciation for catalogers and the variety of steps that are taken to creating records so that the metadata throughout the catalog system is uniform. We practiced analyzing the metadata in items and then inputting that metadata into Oxygen XML for hands-on experience with the creation of MARC bibliographic records. This helped me practice the various steps taken to find the correct information and how to input the information into the cataloging system. For the final we were asked to do several things, but for the second part of the final we were asked to create the MARC bibliographic records for two items. This course made it very evident that the proper management of MARC bibliographic records in the cataloging system is vital to guarantee that resources are easy to find and accessible for the library staff and patrons.
(Image Source: Wix)
3c.
Resource Evaluation: Britannica
Outcome 3c. Evaluate resources or tools that manage and facilitate access to information.
The evaluation of resources and tools is an important skill for me to have as a librarian. In the 702 Facilitating User Learning and Information Needs course we did several resource evaluations. One in particular that I evaluated was Britannica online. This was excellent practice in vetting out a source to see where they get information from, the types of resources that were available through the site, and how to navigate the site for information. I was also asked to create a video in which I showed different ways to navigate the site using the sidebar, using the search bar with reference terms, and how to find where they pulled the information from as a practice in teaching patrons how to use the resource.
Directing patrons to reliable sites and how to navigate those sites for information is a huge part of my job as a librarian. Evaluating resources, sites, and databases are extremely important skills that I will be utilizing in both public and school libraries. These evaluation assignments gave me useful questions to ask and things to look for when I am evaluating resources for the library.
(Image Source: Wix)