Information organisation: cataloguing, metadata and retrieval

Question 1

Why is there a need to catalogue information/data?

Answer 1

1. Information overload
2. Internet traffic
3. Allows easy access to information across different types of media.
   - so unfiltered access to unlimited sources is useless if can’t find what you need so STRUCTURE is necessary.

Question 2

Give a relevant example of information overload.

Answer 2

1. Wikipedia contains more than 46 million articles spanning 270 languages.

Question 3

How does cataloguing facilitate retrieval?

Answer 3

Cataloguing is a sophisticated form of organisation, aiding the retrieval of specific pieces of information from an endless expanse of data.

Question 4

What branches of the cultural heritage sector uses cataloguing?

Answer 4

• museums - libraries
• archives - galleries
• special collections

Question 5

Give examples of commercial institutions which would use cataloguing.

Answer 5

• Ikea
• Amazon
• Argos
• MyCampus

Question 6

Why is cataloguing essential for commercial and cultural heritage sectors?

Answer 6

Provides more reliable and authentic results for staff, managers and users.

Question 7

What do catalogues look like/what forms do they take?

Answer 7

• Electronic (onsite, offsite - can sometimes lack structure)
• Paper (index cards, printed lists)
• Like a library of books (shows books on shelves but no text inside them)

Question 8

What are cataloguing standards and why is this important?

Answer 8

Standards refer to the need to organise in a consistent way.
E.g. similar to the way all credit cards need to be the same size, libraries agreed to make catalogue cards the same size in 1877.

Question 9

What is metadata?

Answer 9

• Information about data (i.e. data about data).

- e.g. moving and labelling items in boxes is a form of metadata.

Question 10

Why is metadata useful?

Answer 10

Aids in finding information about a particular object or thing.

Question 11

What types of metadata are there?

Answer 11

• Technical (for interoperability & digital object management).
• Descriptive (for searching, browsing, display and interoperability).
• Preservation (for interoperability & preservation).
• Structural (for navigation).

Question 12

Why do libraries need to use cataloguing?

Answer 12

Libraries are social constructs that contain multiple copies of books (discrete objects).

Question 13

How do libraries categorise their information?

Answer 13

Books are filed according to subject (more concerned with content), not provenance - refers to the history of ownership which can be used as a guide to quality or authenticity of an object i.e. its a documented record of ownership.

Question 14

How do libraries catalogue their information?

Answer 14

Through a MARC record.

• used for over 50 years.
• system which allows library catalogues to be read by machines.
• method by which codes are sent to objects of relevant information.

Question 15

Why do museums/galleries need to use cataloguing?

Answer 15

These institutions contain unique items making organisation more complex and therefore, requiring more metadata.

Question 16

How do museums/galleries categorise their information?

Answer 16

Museums/galleries include artificial collections which use artificially constructed methods of organisations unlike libraries which follow natural order i.e. by subject.

Question 17

How do museums/galleries catalogue their information?

Answer 17

• Artificial methods

- Their own cataloguing systems

Question 18

Why do archives need to use cataloguing?

Answer 18

• Contain unique items, not necessarily rare.
• Less accessible (more suited to people with particular purpose)
• Archives provide closest evidence of what an archive creator thought at the time of its creation.
• Many formats (e.g. paper, drawings, photos, computer records.)

Question 19

How do archives categorise their information?

Answer 19

• Using a natural, hierarchal arrangement. (e.g. from general to specific/macro to micro)
• Provenance
• Original order
• Context (metadata)
• Artificial collections (e.g. Mackintosh Style Art Collection)
• Special collections

Question 20

How do archives catalogue their information?

Answer 20

• Using a unique reference number based upon the hierarchy of the archive.
• Covering date(s)
• Description of format and content.

Question 21

How do archives use metadata?

Answer 21

• Offers access points for the archive.
• Provides user and manager of archives with information on the context, physical characteristics and intellectual contents of records.

Question 22

Who can metadata be useful to?

Answer 22

• Information specialists (e.g. cataloguing websites, navigating within digital objects, managing digital objects over the long term).
• Non-professionals (e.g. preparing web sites for search engines, managing citation lists, iTunes, tagging on Facebook).

Question 23

What are metadata formats?

Answer 23

Predefined sets of features likely to be necessary or useful for specific purpose.
(choosing a format that others use improves interoperability).

Question 24

Give an example of a metadata format.

Answer 24

• Official standards.

- Locally developed etc.

Question 25

Why is metadata useful in digital projects?

Answer 25

Good metadata aids:

• searching - preservation
• browsing - navigation
• display for users
• interoperability
• management of digital objects

Question 26

Give examples of academic tools which use metadata.

Answer 26

• Google
• JSTOR
• Oxford Journals