Information organisation: cataloguing, metadata and retrieval Flashcards
Why is there a need to catalogue information/data?
- Information overload
- Internet traffic
- 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.
Give a relevant example of information overload.
- Wikipedia contains more than 46 million articles spanning 270 languages.
How does cataloguing facilitate retrieval?
Cataloguing is a sophisticated form of organisation, aiding the retrieval of specific pieces of information from an endless expanse of data.
What branches of the cultural heritage sector uses cataloguing?
- museums - libraries
- archives - galleries
- special collections
Give examples of commercial institutions which would use cataloguing.
- Ikea
- Amazon
- Argos
- MyCampus
Why is cataloguing essential for commercial and cultural heritage sectors?
Provides more reliable and authentic results for staff, managers and users.
What do catalogues look like/what forms do they take?
- 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)
What are cataloguing standards and why is this important?
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.
What is metadata?
- Information about data (i.e. data about data).
- e.g. moving and labelling items in boxes is a form of metadata.
Why is metadata useful?
Aids in finding information about a particular object or thing.
What types of metadata are there?
- Technical (for interoperability & digital object management).
- Descriptive (for searching, browsing, display and interoperability).
- Preservation (for interoperability & preservation).
- Structural (for navigation).
Why do libraries need to use cataloguing?
Libraries are social constructs that contain multiple copies of books (discrete objects).
How do libraries categorise their information?
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.
How do libraries catalogue their information?
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.
Why do museums/galleries need to use cataloguing?
These institutions contain unique items making organisation more complex and therefore, requiring more metadata.
How do museums/galleries categorise their information?
Museums/galleries include artificial collections which use artificially constructed methods of organisations unlike libraries which follow natural order i.e. by subject.
How do museums/galleries catalogue their information?
- Artificial methods
- Their own cataloguing systems
Why do archives need to use cataloguing?
- 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.)
How do archives categorise their information?
- 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
How do archives catalogue their information?
- Using a unique reference number based upon the hierarchy of the archive.
- Covering date(s)
- Description of format and content.
How do archives use metadata?
- Offers access points for the archive.
- Provides user and manager of archives with information on the context, physical characteristics and intellectual contents of records.
Who can metadata be useful to?
- 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).
What are metadata formats?
Predefined sets of features likely to be necessary or useful for specific purpose.
(choosing a format that others use improves interoperability).
Give an example of a metadata format.
- Official standards.
- Locally developed etc.
Why is metadata useful in digital projects?
Good metadata aids:
- searching - preservation
- browsing - navigation
- display for users
- interoperability
- management of digital objects
Give examples of academic tools which use metadata.
- JSTOR
- Oxford Journals
