To understand the elements of a beginning cataloging course that make a difference when learning cataloging, an online survey was developed and administered through Survey Monkey www. See the appendix for the survey. The survey included multiple-choice questions intended to gather demographic and other data, and open-ended questions that allowed participants to respond freely to the questions.
The survey was open from October 1—31, , and the survey link was posted on many professional library discussion lists to gather responses from all areas of library and information science, not just technical services and cataloging.
After removing incomplete surveys and surveys completed by those outside the specified study population, there were exactly five hundred completed surveys, which was an unexpectedly high number. It was anticipated that few nontechnical services and cataloging librarians would be willing to take a survey about cataloging courses, so the high number of completed surveys was welcome.
Also, the sample population included librarians from all areas in librarianship. The survey participants are split almost evenly between those who work in technical services The data were analyzed from November through May Multiple-choice questions were analyzed using Survey Monkey and Microsoft Excel. Responses to open-ended questions and comments were analyzed using content analysis. Preexisting categories were not used. Instead, broad and specific categories were developed and agreed on during data analysis.
All open-ended survey questions were divided equally between the two researchers. Each researcher read the responses of each assigned research question, and then coded each of the responses. The coding of each question took much time. The high number of surveys resulted in a large amount of data, and each response could be assigned multiple codes, so each researcher spent several days coding each question.
To facilitate coding, each researcher maintained a codebook with a list of codes and decisions made during coding.
Additionally, the researchers consulted with each other regarding responses that were not applicable or difficult to understand. After the coding was performed, the results of each question were ranked by percentage, and tables were created for each question.
After the preliminary results were determined, the data were analyzed in other ways to validate the results. These additional data analyses support the results. One limitation might be the sample population. Many participants work in cataloging and technical services Future research might focus solely on participants working in nontechnical services positions. In addition, this survey required participants to talk about past experiences. Some participants may not have been able to remember or talk about their experiences because too much time has passed.
Future research might want to focus on recent graduates. Another limitation might be the sample size. Five hundred people took the survey, which was quite unexpected. The large number of responses produced an incredible amount of data.
Because many survey questions were open-ended to allow participants to freely discuss their experiences, data analysis was complex and took much longer than anticipated. Future research could study students in cataloging courses to get a deeper understanding of learning cataloging. It could determine whether the elements reported by participants in this research survey actually affect learning in the classroom.
This type of study could pinpoint how learning occurs in cataloging courses and identify ways to facilitate learning. The following paragraphs describe the demographics and the current and primary job responsibilities of the study participants. The study demographics show who took the survey. Participants were asked about their current and primary position responsibilities.
As shown in table 1, most participants 45 percent work in technical services e. The survey instrument was designed to elicit responses from participants to answer the research question: what elements of a beginning cataloging course help students learn cataloging? Because of space limitations, not all the survey questions and responses are included in this section. Instead, the questions that prompted the responses that most directly answered the research question are discussed below.
The researchers have planned to examine the questions that do not directly answer the aforementioned research question in a future study. Participants were asked how their course was provided, and who taught it. As shown in tables 2 and 3, most participants completed their beginning cataloging course face-to-face in a physical classroom 72 percent from a full-time professor with a PhD 61 percent.
Table 4 shows that most participants learned both theory and practice in their cataloging course Several survey questions were open-ended and asked participants to reflect on what they liked about their beginning cataloging course, what they did not like about their beginning cataloging course, and what they felt was missing from the course that could have helped them learn cataloging.
Table 7 shows that most participants 30 percent did not like to learn specific types of course content, such as MARC format or DDC, but preferences and experiences varied widely from participant to participant. The same can be said about the question concerning what was missing from beginning cataloging courses. Table 8 shows that most of the responses 36 percent focus on specific content they wished was covered in beginning cataloging courses, but was not taught such as RDA and MARC format.
Participants were asked if they have used what they learned from their beginning cataloging course in their previous or current positions. If they answered yes, participants were asked to explain how they have used what they learned. Most participants 82 percent have used what they learned from their beginning cataloging course in their previous or current job positions.
Among the answers given, performing cataloging on the job is cited in more than half of the responses 52 percent , perhaps emphasizing the importance of classroom practice in preparation for job responsibilities.
Since a large number of participants are currently working in technical services positions, this makes sense. The next most common usage of beginning cataloging knowledge is to help users, provide reference assistance, and to search the catalog 13 percent , plus to learn, understand, and interpret catalog records 10 percent. The final survey question asked participants to provide suggestions on how to improve the teaching and learning of cataloging. There was a wide range of responses, and general course content was mentioned 67 percent of the time.
After general course content, 11 percent of participants suggest improving cataloging instruction and course delivery. They report the need for more fun, humor, and enthusiasm from instructors, and more face-to-face instruction rather than online course delivery.
The results presented here focus on those survey questions that best answer the study research question about understanding the elements of a beginning cataloging course that help students learn cataloging.
The next section provides a discussion of the survey results. What elements of a beginning cataloging course help students learn cataloging? The results suggest there are four primary elements that make a difference when learning cataloging:. Cataloging practice, defined as the hands-on creation of bibliographic records and cards, was stated by most participants as the most important element in a beginning cataloging course.
This finding was very strong in the survey results. For example, most participants said they liked cataloging practice the most in a cataloging course, and most participants said they disliked not having cataloging practice in courses. Many participants said that cataloging practice was missing from cataloging courses and that more practice would improve cataloging courses.
The high number of responses about cataloging practice was unexpected. Although it was assumed that cataloging practice would be an important element in a cataloging course, it is surprising how strongly the participants felt about the importance of cataloging practice in a beginning cataloging course.
Most participants said they want more cataloging practice, even when they noted that their beginning cataloging course included more hands-on practice than discussion of cataloging theory.
This may be because many participants work in cataloging and technical services; however, the results are consistent for participants working in different parts of the library.
For example, 51 percent of respondents who work primarily in technical services and 50 percent of respondents who work primarily in nontechnical services positions stated that practice was the element of their beginning cataloging course they liked the most. Additionally, this was the case for participants regardless of the decade in which they received their library science degrees. For example, except for the participants who graduated from until , hands-on practice was the element most liked by those who graduated after ranging from 25 percent the s to 38 percent the s of respondents.
To most participants, cataloging practice is the most important element in a beginning cataloging course, and many responses illustrate this. Many participants said that applying cataloging practice helped them understand cataloging theory:.
Other participants reported that they wished they had more cataloging practice in their courses. One participant who wished for more practice and knew more about MARC responded:. Some participants had courses that focused on cataloging theory only, which made cataloging very difficult for them to understand.
Effectiveness of the instructor was cited as the second most important element that helped students learn cataloging. Effectiveness includes instructor attitude, knowledge, enthusiasm, teaching ability, and engagement. Participants report that the instructor is an important element in a beginning cataloging course, but participants did not mention the instructor as often as cataloging practice.
This is an unexpected finding as well. With such a difficult and complex topic, it was assumed that the instructor would be the most important element of a beginning cataloging course. The instructor has the power to shape the course and guide learning.
Although effectiveness of the instructor was the second most important element to participants, it did not emerge as strongly as cataloging practice.
There were several characteristics of an effective cataloging instructor that emerged from the data. To participants, important characteristics include enthusiasm and passion for cataloging, the ability to provide clear explanations, possession of practical cataloging knowledge, and giving lots of feedback.
Responses focus on the importance of cataloging instructors and their ability to make a difference in the learning of cataloging. For example, this participant mentioned many elements that made a difference when learning cataloging, even though the participant never intended to become a cataloger:. I am seeing how these courses help in so many ways and for many future career paths. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account.
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Email required Address never made public. Name required. Follow Following. HLS Join 1, other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. It is an incredibly fun, challenging, and exciting job it would have to be to motivate me, a non-morning person, to get up at am. I still hate sitting at a desk all day. Cataloging, for me, is none of those things. I wish there were a wider—and better—understanding of cataloging overall in the library world, but especially in art libraries.
In the competitive world of art library job hunting where many libraries are consolidating their resources , every library still needs a cataloger.
And as art libraries make their rapid attempts to digitize collections, they need metadata experts. Having cataloging skills on your resume is not a black mark that forever relegates you to the dark room in the basement. It is an asset that shows you are knowledgeable about metadata and you understand how OPAC systems and digital libraries index and locate resources. But, cataloging is not as simple as that. There are many different fields and specialties within cataloging, and you can make what you want out of any of them.
In an academic art library, you will get to be among the first to handle and look at the newest research in the field and introduce catalog users to beautiful art catalogs showcasing global exhibitions. If you are in a special collections library, you will be part librarian and part collections expert, examining and interpreting the contents of rare and often unique materials, even having the opportunity to do research to determine the origins of these materials.
In any of these jobs, you will never work alone. You will always depend upon collaboration with research librarians, library assistants, curators, registrars, and researchers. There are only so many ways to introduce new librarians to metadata formats, encoding, and cataloging systems. But, in my experience, the most productive way to learn cataloging is on-the-job.
Although my grad school cataloging teacher provided us with excellent workflows, feedback, and practice worksheets that allowed me to test and evaluate my skills, we were unable to dive deep into the individual cataloging interests of every student nor pinpoint the variety of metadata standards one might encounter in a real library environment.
And frankly — for someone like me with a very busy imagination, learning cataloging in a non-real-life situation is an intangible quest for skills which, at best, loosely reinforce all the most mundane aspects of resource analysis. The best way to learn cataloging is to sit, one-on-one preferably alongside a cataloger mentor , and catalog resources that mean something to you.
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