Goal 3: Navigate, curate and create information across the spectrum of human records.
Outcome 3a: Design resources or tools that facilitate access to information.
This artifact was created during my time as the recording studio intern at Rebecca Crown Library. It is a LibGuide that is made to serve as a tutorial to one of the pieces of audio software available at the recording studio. Given that the documentation for the software can be dense and the scattered nature of online tutorials, I decided that the patrons would best be served with a centralized information source. Since this facilitates patron access to basic how-to information I believe that it demonstrates my mastery of this learning outcome.
Note: If you would like to review the full LibGuide, simply click on the image.
Outcome 3b: Utilize resources or tools to manage information.
This artifact comes from my class on cataloguing and is a MARC record that I created as part of my final exam. It demonstrates a mastery of this learning outcome due to the fact that it is utilising the MARC standard as well as LCSH to manage the bibliographic information.
010 _ _
020 _ _ $a 083790842X
050 _ 4 $a GV1205 $b K73 1992
082 04 $a 793.210222
100 1_ $a Kraus, Charles, $e author
245 10 $a I’ll cry if I want to! : $b an illustrated book of children’s parties / $c written by Charles Kraus ; illustrations by Julia Goodwin
246 3_ $a I’ll cry if I want to
250 _ _ $a Most Enchanted paperback edition
264 _ 1 $a [Place of publication not identified] : $b Most Enchanted Inkhaus, $c 1992
264 _ _
300 _ _ $a 60 unnumbered pages : $b color illustrations ; $c 23 x 28 cm
336 _ _ $a text $2 rdacontent
337 _ _ $a unmediated $2 rdamedia
338 _ _ $a volume $2 rdacarrier
520 _ _ $a This lavishly illustrated and super fun book provides a behind-the-scenes look at children’s parties!
5xx _ _
650 _ 0 $a Children’s parties $v Pictorial works
6xx _ _
700 1 _ $a Goodwin, Julia, $e illustrator
700 _ _
Fixed Fields
Type (Type of Record) = a
Desc (Descriptive Cataloging Form) = i
DtSt (Type of Date/Publication Status) = s
Dates (Date 1) = 1992
Dates (Date 2) = [blank]
Ctry (Place of Publication) = xx_
Ills (Illustrations) = a
Audn (Target Audience) = g
Cont (Nature of Contents) = [blank]
Fest (Festschrift) = 0
Indx (Index) = 0
LitF (Literary Form) = 0
Biog (Biography) = [blank]
Lang (Language) = eng
Outcome 3c: Evaluate resources or tools that manage and facilitate access to information.
This artifact is a database evaluation of Ebsco Explora that was made as part of a discussion post for my Library Materials for Children class. This directly relates to the learning outcome because it is evaluating a resource to facilitate information access to children.
1) Name of the database and stated or implied audience.
Ebsco Explora (Primary School)
2) Types of material covered in database - Books? journals? web pages? newspaper articles? conference proceedings?
It is a curated aggregate of databases it has access to ebooks, periodicals, journal articles, reference entries, images, and videos.
3) Publisher of database - Does the database provide any information about the publisher? Is it an academic or commercial publisher?
The publisher is Ebsco, it's all over the branding for the site and in the database. Ebsco is a commercial aggregator rather than a traditional publisher, but you have to get outside of the database to find out what kind of company Ebsco is.
4) Time coverage - What years of publications does the database cover? Some databases only cover from ~1990 to current while others focus on historical information.
5) Update schedule of database. - Is the database updated every day? once a month? Quarterly?
Both of these depend on the database, since this pulls from 9 databases total, so I will list them:
Middle Search Plus: The oldest coverage I could find was 1989 in some of the periodicals and that is abstracts only. Updated daily.
Primary Search: 1990 for full text availability but 1985 for indexing and abstracting. Updated weekly.
Topic Overview K-5: I was not able to find the coverage dates for this database, however it is updated quarterly.
Points of View Reference Source: Full text coverage as far back as 1980. Updated quarterly
Biography Reference Source (biography reference source ebook subscription): Full text biographies as far back as 2010. I was not able to find a regular update schedule from a primary source.
MAS Reference eBook Collection: This is just a section of the MAS complete database that is reference material. It depends on the exact reference book included and when it updates, but I was not able to find a clear list of what is included in this collection to determine dates, or how frequently it is updated.
eBooks Subscription Schools: K-5 Collection (EBSCOhost): The oldest book I found in this collection is from 1986, though several entries are mislabeled as being from 1901. It is updated quarterly.
MasterFILE Complete Reference eBook Subscription (EBSCOhost): The oldest book in this collection I could fine is from 2007, and the collection is updated annually.
LGBTQ+ Source: Goes back as far as 1953 for one source, I was not able to find any sold information on how often it is updated.
6) User interface - How easy or challenging is it for the target group to navigate the components of the database?
This is what makes Explora unique, it has a very graphical interface as opposed to a traditional database where you craft search terms to find information. The home page offers a variety of general topics with pictures that, once clicked, lead to more specific sub-subjects until landing on the child's area of interest. For the most part, these will end up with a reference entry to read (when available) and some books and articles to explore. The one problem I have with how this is set up is that it will sometime produce full journal articles, which are not really developmentally appropriate for the target audience of primary school children.