Getting there

I think I might have just created my first MARC record.  I made it for a TED Talk for my resource collection.  Between the two web pages we are directed to for those making up their own records, and comparing this to records I looked up online, it seems that there is some room for decision making in creating these records.  How detailed are they?  I think I will try another while it is still somewhat fresh.

It was with great trepidation that I ventured into the section on MARC records, after my great confusion through the last lesson.  I have seen MARC records and they frightened me - all of those symbols... shudder, shudder!  To my great relief though, it actually seems pretty straight forward.  I flipped between the readings and sample MARC records for books at the GVPL.  I think it will take a bit of practice, but it seems to make sense.  I'm not sure about trying to make my own though.  Baby steps!

The Penny Drops!

Well after much angst, I had an "A-Ha!" moment.  After back and forth emails with Keith, reading and rereading, a hot bath and a good night's sleep, thinking, thinking, thinking and finally stopping thinking, giving up and turning on the Big Bang Theory, it hit me!  I had misunderstood what ISBD was and its purpose.  Yes, it is the catalogue, the big authoritative catalogue, but this is only part of the picture.  I had not been able to figure out why the information did not look like it was being describe when pulling up an item on the GVPL website.

I called my children's librarian friend and we talked about process a bit.  There is the screen the patron uses.  If she is looking for something, she too generally starts there.  Barring that, she moves to the staff page and looks up the MARC record.  While this is not covered until the next section, I am starting to understand more what this is.  The next level from there is the full catalogue (ISBD).  I had missed all of that.  I am starting to feel more optimistic.  I think that while I need to understand the ISBD, it will be the MARC records that will be more of my focus - I hope!  I was panicking that I needed to be able to create full ISBDs out of the gate.  I am starting to understand (I hope correctly), that that is really quite beyond the scope of this course.  Whew!

I had to add a note about the patron screen records though.  I can understand leaving information out from the ISBD, but I don't understand why these information systems reorganize the areas that are laid out in ISBD, but there you go.  Considering the love of order of the librarian profession as a whole, I can only assume that there is a reason for it and it is not just sloppiness.

Grrr...

Having spent a significant amount of time reading and rereading today, a few things are starting to become more clear, and other are becoming more confusing.  Looking at the Vancouver and Victoria public libraries' websites, the catalogues do not seem to match the format that is being explained with the areas.  I can't figure it out.  I keep thinking that I am understanding the whole concept of access points and then I read something that makes me think that I do not.  I also don't really understand the concept of just leaving an area out if there is no information for it.  Wouldn't it need to have some indication that it is empty?  I am thinking of this much as a form on the computer and I think that might be part of my problem.  I just know.  I think part of the challenge is that I am on leave right now so don't have ready access to the library.  I don't work in there, but it would perhaps give me the chance to ask some questions more easily.  I saw today on the RDA website that they hope to roll out next spring.  I sure hope I am not going to just finally figure this all out and then have them change it all next year.  I'm feeling rather pessimistic right now.

I'm scared

I have started into Module 2 and feel like I am getting a bit of a hang of it all but I just looked at Keith's post about Assignment 2 and I am fully lost.  I feel as though the assignment is coming soon but I do not know how to do what is required.

The Learning Process

Lesson three highlighted something I have noticed about distance learning.  Given an assignment and asked to comment on it, if you are not one of the first out of the box, it can feel like you are being repetitive, so one has three options:

• Get the work done first.
• Embrace it and accept it is part of the online experience.
• Either go drastically off topic or perhaps push yourself to think of something that you otherwise might not have got to.

This might not be that relevant for the TL aspect of this course, but as a DL teacher it means something to me.

I must say that I am a bit excited and anxious to move onto the next module.  I think we now have a foundation, including mostly that organization goes well beyond Dewey and cataloguing.  I think this might be an area of strength for me.  Nonetheless, it seems that it is that inevitable time to get down to the practical cataloguing part.  This I think will come less naturally, but perhaps is so much more important because of it.  Here we go!

Reflection to this point

We are just about finished the first module and I have thus far I think been given a good overview.  The initial talk about metadata was very confusing for me  - it was almost a different language.  It helped to go back and reread it a few times.  I needed to remind myself that the purpose of the article was to provide an overview (that I did not need to fully understand Dublin Core by the time I was done reading) helped.  It also gave me more direction so I was able to meet with my t-l again and ask more specific questions than I was before.  I am starting to know a bit of what it is I do not know!

The information about search engines was/is very insightful - I had no idea!  I am relieved to read that this is somewhat of an introduction for others also - I thought perhaps it was something I should have caught onto before!

What is a resource?

In "Creative Ways to Organize Library Resources" it says, "This raises questions about how this will change our traditional approaches to organizing learning resources and, in fact, what a learning resource really is."  This really caught my attention because when considering the question of accessibility for the assigned discussion post, what came to mind for me was students' opportunities for interactions and using one another as a resources.  I back-peddled, thinking that this being a library organization course, this clearly was not what was meant, but perhaps it can be.  I am feeling quite out of my depths right now.

Getting a Bit Deeper

It has felt like a general introduction thus far though it is clear that I am not in Kansas anymore.  I really do not know how this field works yet.  I feel as though I have been easing in though.  I think I need to find somebody in my district to sit down with and have a little chat because I am feeling a bit adrift in terms of how things are done here.  I like the question of access.  It certainly is something I have dealt with extensively in my current position.

What have I gotten myself into?!

Started to ask questions about library organization in our district - clearly this is an area I know nothing about!