How to start a library from scratch! -then do it all again...and again...

With over 25 years experience in Libraries where I chose to work in various institutions including Schools, Special Libraries such as The Royal Blind Society and Westmead Hospital NSW, Academic Libraries working at The University of Western Sydney as a Library Technician and then Council Libraries and finally coming full circle returning to schools. I decided to go back to University and complete my Master Degree. Completing my Masters Degree in Information Technology with a Library Major through QUT in 2015, my library career certainly took off! Now in 2018, I am working in my second College as their Librarian - Manager of library services Prep to Year 12 and helping to reinvigorate their beautiful school library at Victory College in Gympie. Working in Australian Christian College - Moreton for three years, I managed to design, implement their software and manage their resource cataloging as well as set up their school library Literacy enrichment programs for not only their 570 day students Prep to Year 12, they also asked me to design their library for their online students- over 700. I was this schools first Librarian and I certainly felt a lot of pressure to justify my existence. However I know the value school libraries add to a students educational journey, the benefits they will gain from having up to date viable resources on hand readily and having an experienced research Librarian to assist them. Managing over 1,000 students was a privilege and taught me a great deal about the importance of libraries in schools and the need for support staff - you simply cannot do it all by yourself (even though you might think you wear superwoman undies). I loved the staff and students and the interaction between the day school and the online school was wonderful to be part of. If we paraded in costume live in the day school the online students did not miss out, as they were also invited to dress up and send in their photos which saw them put up on the wall and included them in Book Week celebrations. However to do all the cataloguing -over 20,000 resources, lending services and finding of resources and all the Literacy enrichment programs that need to be done in a Prep to Year 12 school- I was totally alone, justified by Management as not a necessity which was frustrating. To ask for assistance to be able fit everything in which unfortunately was ignored, you then had to work all hours seven days a week for lower wages. So it was very exciting when the invitation to work at Victory College came up and this year. I have a very supportive Principal who understands the necessity of a well run library and the value it brings to the College. With only one school to be responsible for and a part - time library assistant I am looking forward to this year. If you are interested in seeing the new years program please have a look at the weebly I designed https://victoryinreading.weebly.com. For all you solo-librarians out there I salute you and wish you the best year possible. We Librarians are a unique group with experience, knowledge and wisdom and who love to support every single child, each parent and each teacher in their need for literacy support in their educational journeys.

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2014 - Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2014 - Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

Compassion by Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882);
Philosopher, Poet, Author, Essayist

Hopson, Kathryn INN533: Final Learning Journal : Weekly Journal overview

Hopson, Kathryn INN533: Final Learning Journal

Weekly Journal overviews:

 Reflecting on the user experience in week one and two, covering the aspects of clients  searching for information using a database such as a Library catalogue. The key elements here to note were, did we, as information managers give our clients a good user experience? In evaluating  the database or catalogue the client used, we gained a better understanding of databases in   Libraries in general.

  Discussing my own experiences working in different libraries for weeks three and four  enabled me to reflect and discuss the comments made by the Teacher Librarian Ann  Gillespie in the video interview Howard, Z. (2013).  I believe the direction of archives in  libraries  in the future will be digital for the saving of space. Moving on to resource description  in the following weeks. The new cataloguing upgrades such as AACR2 to RDA and the impact this will have on resource description in cataloguing was discussed. While there will  be an improvement using a more natural language in cataloguing Subject descriptions, the  extra time it will take to add the initial data was also discussed as a possible negative. Key  elements here is identifying the various standards, and applying them to catalogue  entries. Classification terms that users are familiar with eg: DDC or Dewy Decimal System and LCSH Library of Congress Subject Headings and how these standards will change to accommodate digital metadata.

 Interactive and user-friendly social networking in Libraries is becoming the new standards in library catalogues. The idea that uses will have input into the databases, an example of this is Trove where editing is now done by the people searching and using the database. The pros of this type of system allow for a more user-friendly system, the cons are who then monitors  the information added for quality assurance? The key element here is the changing face of Library catalogues as not being the sole domain of Librarians.

My strengths in completing this unit is my ability to draw on my past and current library  experience and network effectively with other information managers, drawing on their  experiences and knowledge. The challenge for me is not to be overwhelmed with the amount of new information I am learning, and to keep drawing on my lecturer’s experience and participate in class discussion, and keep asking questions. 

References:

American Library Association Gutsche, B. (2010). Coping with continual motion. Library Journal, 135(4), 28-31   Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/881473406?accountid=13380

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011-13) Profiles of Health, Australia 4338.0 Retrieved from http://abs.gov.au/austats/abs@.nsf/mf/4338.0

Bowler L. & Mattern. E. Design techniques for revealing adolescent memory processes related to information seeking: a preliminary study. Iconference 12 proceedings of the 2012 iconference  (1-9)

Edwards, Sylvia L. & Bruce, Christine S. (2006) Panning for gold: understanding students information searching experiences. In Transforming IT Education: Promoting a culture of excellence. Informing Science Press, Santa Rosa, California. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/990/

Gorman. M (2004) The Concise AACR2  (4th ed.) Chicago Ill.

American Library Association

 Hider, P, & Harvey, R. (2008) Organising knowledge in a global society. 

Wagga Wagga NSW Charles Sturt University

Howard, Z. (2013). INN533 Information Organisation: Week 3 Information organisation and the information professional: Katrina McAlpine interview [Supplemental material]. Retrieved from URL http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/courses/1/INN533_13se2/content/_4911358_1/Ann%20Gillespie%20Week%202.mp3

Karen Stone, Manager Descriptive Services Queensland, personal communication: http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/qutcite.jsp#apa-cmat-comms

Miller, L. (2011). Resource description and access (RDA): An introduction for reference librarians. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(3), 216-222. Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/858669096?accountid=13380

      World Catalogue.org : Retrieved from

       http://www.worldcat.org/

       Yarra Plenty Regional Library: Retrieved from

       http://yprl.vic.gov.au/

Hopson, Kathryn INN533: Journal Week 8 -Classification

Hopson, Kathryn INN533: Journal Week 8 -Classification

Information resources in a database such as a library catalogue require a unique identification system. The DDC or Dewey Decimal system is an enumerative classification system. The LCSH Library of Congress Subject Headings is used for identifying the descriptive area the item falls into or the subject area, and finally the ISBN or International Standard Bibliographic Description is yet another example of a standard used in catalogues for describing informational forms of resources. Hider, P (2008). P.39

One example of classifying items in subject areas includes Exhaustive Subject Indexing used in Library of Congress Subject Headings - LCSH. In a recent interview with Karen Stone, Manager Descriptive Services Queensland, personal communication: http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/qutcite.jsp#apa-cmat-comms. I asked Karen the question, “Do they allocate call numbers to their ebook resources?”  While the answer was that they did not allocate call numbers, they do however allocate several subject headings to every record provided, to provide numerous access points. This then would be a good example of exhaustive Subject Indexing as there is no enumerative classification such as a DDC number. Relying exclusively on subject areas alone to identify the item.

The negative side to the use of exhaustive subject headings is a challenge for cataloguers in libraries today. To know the LCSH more thoroughly and find the time to put the right subject headings with the topic. However leaving behind the DDC number is something that is gaining ground. This then poses another question I faced the other day. When cataloguing a Junior fiction book and at the same time downloading the audio book that accompanies it. Do you still supply the DDC number to the audio book? The DDC has been allocated to the print version of the book, therefore should it also apply to an ebook version for consistency? Being a pdf or ebook do the same rules apply as used in AACR2 or RDA with books in print? If the book has not been allocated a Dewey number in SCIS do we as cataloguers allocate one if other libraries are not doing this? The standards that cataloguers are familiar with or the rules of cataloguing as set out in The Concise AACR2 -Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, now the revised version of RDA –Resource description and Access Gorman, M (2004) is changing. How these changes will affect standards of cataloguing in all libraries in the future remain to be seen? 

 References:

    

Hider, P, & Harvey, R. (2008) Organising knowledge in a global society. 

Wagga Wagga NSW Charles Sturt University

Karen Stone, Manager Descriptive Services Queensland, personal communication: http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/qutcite.jsp#apa-cmat-comms

Gorman. M (2004) The Concise AACR2  (4th ed.) Chicago Ill.

American Library Association

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Starting at QUT

I am about to start my Uni studies at QUT, I am completing my Master Of Information Technology
Library and Information Studies. I thought with over 25 years experience working in various Libraries including Westmead Hospital, The University of Western Sydney, The Royal Blind Society, Councils in NSW and QLD and Schools both Private and Public in NSW and QLD. That possibly with my little bit of experience I may be able to contribute to the vast world of ever changing Information research and add solutions to the storage of such information in our Libraries.