The most outstanding feature of this subject was the amazing support provided by the lecturer! Throughout the semester we were able to email or call the lecturer and the response was always supportive and prompt.
This subject involved a great amount of reading in an area tha I have never expored before. Although I enjoy reading articles in SCAN, ACCESS etc, I have never given any thought to how these articles obtain their information, facts or conduct the studies that are reported on. This was a complete eye opener as I had never understood how much background work goes into conducting a study effectively, nor the ethical and practical constraints that need to be considered.
The area that I focussed on for my assignment, was to do with the changes that are currently affecting libraries worldwide; the issue of the impact of the onformation internet age and the place of libraries as information portals in this type of society.
We needed to then construct the scaffold on how we would conduct a small scale piece of research, bearing in mind the constraints of time, inexperience, ethics and models. This was a really difficult exercise to comprehend and then act on to construct the practical exercise. However, with Bev's support and wise guidance, I managed to get through the subject, learn and achieve a reasonable result - 66/100.
Although this was a subject that I really learnt a lot from, I doubt that I would ever conduct any research apart from examining aspects of our library service and areas for improvement. However, it will help me think more deeply about articles I read in my field of work and sometimes question the validity and strength of information presented and whether bias is evident which could affect what has been published.
The main text used was the main source of information and would be of use later if I ever wanted to conduct research.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford, UK: OUP.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
ETL 505 - final
This post is long overdue, but life has got in the way. I am now about to embark on my final subject for this degree. ETL 507, the practical subject is ahead of me, over two semesters and 3 assignments. Yikes!
ETL 505 was very difficult because it required total understanding and mastery of cataloguing rules. Readings in the subject area taught me to appreciate the real need for accuracy in cataloguing so that patrons could locate resources reliably and easily. So I do understand that concept. However, achieving high accuracy scores eluded me in the initial assignment and I only was able to achieve success in the subsequent assignment because of a high degree of lecturer support. This was incredibly helpful and very much appreciated as I learnt a lot and have been able to take this new knowledge with me into my workplace to use when I am cataloguing. I have also learnt to appreciate the work of SCIS cataloguers and the service that they provide in assisting schools to maintain consistent catalogue records.
It was also great to learn about the new cataloguing system to be implemented in 2013, RDA. Very interesting to read about why this new system is necessary (and I totally agree) and to see how methodically the changeover has been planned and implemented.
Since completing this subject, it is now mid 2013, and some of the changes are beginning to be practically applied in cataloguing records through SCIS. I would love to have the opporunity to attend a workshop to revise what my initial learning and to also learn more so that my understanding is more consolidated. I have enquired though Curriculum Corporation but have been told that they cannot run workshops in NSW. I need to approach NSW DET.
The actual course was very complex and from comments on the subject forum, it was apparent that many of the other students were also struggling. The concepts were deep and at times it felt that we were all trying to understand a foreign language in a very short time. I think that the subject delivery could be improved through more video/podcasts as the information was too difficult to absorb through readings only. Using more modes of information distribution could have helped so that various learning styles could be accomodated.
USEFUL REFERENCES
Introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification. Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/versions/print/intro.pdf
Mortimer, M. (2004). Learn Dewwey Decimal Classificatioin, Edition 22, Canberra: DocMatrix.
SCIS Standards for cataloguing and data entry (2010). Retrieved from
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/SCISCatStandards03Classification.pdf
Summaries DDC dewey Decimal Classification (2003). Dublin, Ohio:OCLC . Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf
WebDewey. Dublin, Ohio:OCLC. Retrieved
http://www.dewey.org/webdewey/login/login.html;jsessionid=CF22FB71A8F8274DD05DFFF2FB9E36D
ETL 505 was very difficult because it required total understanding and mastery of cataloguing rules. Readings in the subject area taught me to appreciate the real need for accuracy in cataloguing so that patrons could locate resources reliably and easily. So I do understand that concept. However, achieving high accuracy scores eluded me in the initial assignment and I only was able to achieve success in the subsequent assignment because of a high degree of lecturer support. This was incredibly helpful and very much appreciated as I learnt a lot and have been able to take this new knowledge with me into my workplace to use when I am cataloguing. I have also learnt to appreciate the work of SCIS cataloguers and the service that they provide in assisting schools to maintain consistent catalogue records.
It was also great to learn about the new cataloguing system to be implemented in 2013, RDA. Very interesting to read about why this new system is necessary (and I totally agree) and to see how methodically the changeover has been planned and implemented.
Since completing this subject, it is now mid 2013, and some of the changes are beginning to be practically applied in cataloguing records through SCIS. I would love to have the opporunity to attend a workshop to revise what my initial learning and to also learn more so that my understanding is more consolidated. I have enquired though Curriculum Corporation but have been told that they cannot run workshops in NSW. I need to approach NSW DET.
The actual course was very complex and from comments on the subject forum, it was apparent that many of the other students were also struggling. The concepts were deep and at times it felt that we were all trying to understand a foreign language in a very short time. I think that the subject delivery could be improved through more video/podcasts as the information was too difficult to absorb through readings only. Using more modes of information distribution could have helped so that various learning styles could be accomodated.
USEFUL REFERENCES
Introduction to the Dewey Decimal Classification. Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/versions/print/intro.pdf
Mortimer, M. (2004). Learn Dewwey Decimal Classificatioin, Edition 22, Canberra: DocMatrix.
SCIS Standards for cataloguing and data entry (2010). Retrieved from
http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/SCISCatStandards03Classification.pdf
Summaries DDC dewey Decimal Classification (2003). Dublin, Ohio:OCLC . Retrieved from
http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf
WebDewey. Dublin, Ohio:OCLC. Retrieved
http://www.dewey.org/webdewey/login/login.html;jsessionid=CF22FB71A8F8274DD05DFFF2FB9E36D
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