Organization of Recorded Information

1. Organization of Recorded Information (Chapter 1) Terri Perper LBSC670

2. Why organize? • Basic human desire • “to form into a coherent unity or functioning whole: integrate” • “to arrange elements into a whole of interdependent parts” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXtXUgzYKkA (Taylor & Joudry, 1)

3. What is information? • “The communication or reception of knowledge” • “What we believe we organize when organizing for the benefit of others” (Taylor & Joudry, 3)

4. Bibliographic Control or Information Organization… “…is the process of describing information resources and providing name, title, and subject access to the descriptions, resulting in records that serve as surrogates for the actual items of recorded information. These surrogate records are then placed into information retrieval tools, where the records act as pointers to the actual information resources.” (Taylor & Joudrey, 4) “The Bibliographic Record and Information Technology” by Ronald Hagler

5. Function #1 of B.C. • “Identifying the existence of all types of information resources as they are made available.” (Taylor & Joudry, 5)

6. Function #2 of B.C. • “Identifying the works contained within those information resources or as parts of them.” (Taylor & Joudry, 5)

7. Function #3 of B.C. • “Systematically pulling together these information resources into collections in libraries, archives, museums, Internet communication files, and other such depositories.” (Taylor & Joudry, 5)

8. Function #4 of B.C. • “Producing lists of these information resources prepared according to standard rules for citation.” (Taylor & Joudry, 6)

9. Function #5 of B.C. • “Providing name, title, subject, and other useful access to these information resources.” (Taylor & Joudry, 6) Authority-controlled name, title & subject access points

10. Function #6 of B.C. • “Providing the means of locating each information resource or a copy of it.”(Taylor & Joudry, 7)

11. Organization of Info in Contexts… • Libraries • Archives • Museums • Internet • Digital Libraries (Librarians Always Move In Delight.)

12. Libraries… • Collection Development -reviews -gifts -vendors • Original cataloging -Copy cataloging -Cooperative cataloging

13. Libraries… • The arrangement of collections • The creation & maintenance of the catalog -online catalog: circulation info w/each record -portals: authorized users can access many databases, local resources, remote resources, reference help, personal patron info

14. What is an archivist? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu6sRNpnDSU

15. Archives… • “Organization that preserves records of enduring value that document activities of organizations or persons & are accumulated in the course of daily activities” (Taylor & Joudry, 11) -unique items -many different formats -described in groups -respect des fonds (provenance & original order) -description: accession record & finding aid -accessible to staff only

16. Museum Cataloging… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ13-prjl88 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEzA0kn6wrE&feature=related

17. Museums… • “visual material in 2 or 3 dimensional form” • Object at first registration imperfectly known • Extra fields in cataloging visual material (materials, techniques, provenance, exhibition history, installation considerations, appraised value) • Subject analysis very subjective • Accessible to staff only (Taylor & Joudry, 13)

18. The Internet… • INFOMINE: portal administered by librarians who create metadata (use of Web crawlers) • Dublin Core: metadata standard • Connexion: available on OCLC’s Web interface for cataloging • Search engines • Tagging & folksonomies http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontravis/5453607562/in/set-72157603258446753

19. INFOMINE… • http://infomine.ucr.edu/

20. Digital Libraries… • “A collection of information resources in digital form that are selected, brought together, organized, preserved, and to which access is provided over digital networks for a particular community of users” (Taylor & Joudry, 453) • Initial goals: eliminate technical and distance barriers from access • Current goals: standardization, organization, usability, software packages

21. American Memory-LOC… • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u20lu6NAtPU&feature=relmfu

22. Information Architecture (IA)… • “A methodology for planning, designing, building, organizing, and maintaining an information system (usually associated with systems on the Web).” (Taylor and Joudrey, 459)

23. Morville & Rosenfeld’s Stages of IA… • Research • Strategy • Design • Implementation • Administration

24. Indexing… • “Old indexers never die, they just… Rot, see also Decay.” • “the process of creating surrogate records, especially the access points, for information resources” -Back-of-the-book -Database -Web (Taylor & Joudry, 459)

25. Abstracting… • “A process that consists of analyzing the content of an information resource and then writing a succinct summary or synopsis of that work.” (Taylor & Joudry, 23)

26. Records Management… • The need: Business Cartoons by Morris

27. “You Know You Need a Records Management Program when…” • 1. Finding a file in less than three days calls for the "Mother of All" celebrations. • 2. After boxing and labeling 137 boxes as "Misc. 1934-1994", you are recommended for a promotion. • 3. The most severe disciplinary action against an employee is, "Transfer to File Room.“ • 4. When asked for a container id, the person requesting the information says "I'm not sure but it was in a kraftcolored box measuring 10"X12"X15". • 5. Your 6 hour training class entitled "The ABC's of Records Management" has a 2 hour segment for each of the following, ATTICS, BASEMENTS, & CLOSETS. • 6. Your department head recommends lamination of post-it notes. You suggest microfilming as an alternative. • 7. The concrete blocks and 2x6 boards used as shelving sway more than 1 foot in either direction. • 8. The retention of records refers to how long it takes a box to drain after a heavy rain. • 9. File areas are commonly referred to as Archives, Old Archives, and Old, Old Archives. • 10. The night watchman is better at identifying historical records than the records specialist. http://www.filing.co.nz/case6.htm <http://www.filing.co.nz/case6.htm

28. What is Records Management? • “the process of maintaining records for an organization” (ISO) -routinely capturing records -organizing -protecting -functioning as primary source -providing ready access (Taylor & Joudry, 468)

29. Records Management & Data Modeling… -conceptual model -logical model -physical data model

30. For discussion… • When we say we are organizing information, what exactly are we doing? • How has the increased interest in research driven the need for standardization?