“Here be Dragons”: A Wayfinding Approach to Teaching Cataloguing

Abstract

Teaching cataloguing requires instructors to present and integrate information about the variety and complexity of the field while providing an adequate theoretical foundation for practice. A problem solving pedagogy called “wayfinding” that focuses on instruction about ways to navigate the structural features of rule sets is described. It enables students to learn not only about common rules but also about less well known cataloguing problems (“dragons”), embedding this knowledge in the theoretical foundation of the rule sets underlying cataloguing practice. It provides both pragmatic and pedagogical benefits that mitigate differences between face-to-face and distance learning environments.

KEYWORDS:

• cataloging education
• distance education
• information navigation
• wayfinding

Acknowledgments

The approach to instruction described here was developed while the author was at the University of Tennessee's School of Information Sciences.The author thanks Dr. Arlene Taylor for her example of a similar approach to leading students into a deeper understanding of class structure in teaching the introductory class in information organization about classification used in her class at the University of Pittsburgh and for the structure that her text Introduction to Cataloging and Classification (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006) imparted to the organization of the class.

Notes

1. For a relatively recent review of the issue of course composition, see Daniel N. Joudrey, “Another Look at Graduate Education for Cataloging and the Organization of Information,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 46, no. 2 (2008): 137–181. The broader issues including that concerning the theory/practice divide appear in many sources but notably in a series of special issues of Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, including Education for Cataloging and the Organization of Information: Pitfalls and the Pendulum, ed. Janet Swan Hill (New York: Haworth Press, 2002), published separately. It is also discussed in papers from special meetings like those included in Recruiting, Education, and Training Cataloging Librarians: Solving the Problems, ed. Sheila S. Intner and Janet Swan Hill (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).

2. Sheila S. Intner, “Responding to Change: New Goals and Strategies for Core Cataloging Courses,” in Recruiting, Education, and Training Cataloging Librarians: Solving the Problems, ed. Sheila S. Intner and Janet Swan Hill (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989), 227–243.

3. Joudrey, “Another Look at Graduate Education for Cataloging and the Organization of Information,” 137 ff.

4. Francis Miksa, “Cataloging Education in the Library and Information Science Curriculum,” in Recruiting, Education, and Training Cataloging Librarians, ed. Sheila S. Intner and Janet Swan Hill (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989), 273–297.

5. The following papers argue that the Dewey curriculum was dominated by practice: Gertrude S. Koh, “Innovations in Standard Classroom Instruction,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 263–287; Miksa, “Cataloging Education in the Library Science Curriculum”; Janet Swan Hill and Sheila S. Intner, “Preparing for a Cataloging Career: From Cataloging to Knowledge Management,” American Library Association. Congress on Professional Education: Focus on Education for the First Professional Career, 1st, 1999. http://www.ala.org/ala/educationcareers/education/1stcongressonpro/1stcongresspreparing.cfm (accessed June 4, 2011).

6. Others have suggested that the Dewey curriculum had a theoretical background: Clare Beghtol, “‘Itself an Education’: Classification Systems, Theory, and Research in the Information Studies Curriculum,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 15, no. 1/2 (1997): 89–107; April Bohannan, “Library Education: Struggling to Meet the Needs of the Profession,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 17, no. 4 (1991): 216–219.

7. For example, cf. Koh, “Innovations in Standard Classroom Instruction.”

8. Jerry D. Saye, “Where are We and How did We Get Here? or, the Changing Place of Cataloging in the Library and Information Science Curriculum: Causes and Consequences,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 121–143.

9. Michèle Hudon, “Teaching Classification, 1999–2010,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 48, no. 1 (2010): 64–82.

10. This has been explicitly stated in the following papers: Jodi Lynn Spillane, “Comparison of Required Introductory Cataloging Courses, 1986 to 1998,” Library Resources & Technical Services 43, no. 4 (1999): 223–230; Hudon, “Teaching Classification, 1999–2010”; Saye, “Where are We and How did We Get Here?”

11. Doris H. Clack, “Education for Cataloging,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1993): 28.

12. Miksa, “Cataloging Education in the Library and Information Science Curriculum.”

13. Clément Arsenault and John E. Leide, “Format Integration and the Design of Cataloging and Classification Curricula,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 189–190.

14. This position is argued in a number of papers, including: Sherry L. Vellucci, “Cataloging Across the Curriculum: A Syndetic Structure for Teaching Cataloging,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 24, no. 1/2 (1997): 35–59; John J. Riemer, “A Practitioner's View of the Education of Catalogers,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1993): 39–48; Jennifer A. Younger, “An Employer's Perspective on LIS Education,” Technical Services Quarterly 15, no. 1 and 2 (1997): 109–118; Michael Dulock, “New Cataloger Preparedness: Interviews with New Professionals in Academic Libraries,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 49, no. 2 (2011): 65–96; Bohannan, “Library Education.”

15. Cf., for example, Joudrey, “Another Look at Graduate Education for Cataloging and the Organization of Information.”

16. While it is widely acknowledged that many aspects of cataloging practice can only be learned in the institution in which a cataloger works, both Hopkins (Judith Hopkins, “The Community of Catalogers: Its Rule in the Education of Catalogers,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 375–381) and Hill (Janet Swan Hill, “What Else Do You Need to Know? Practical Skills for Catalogers and Managers,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 243–259) have pointed out that this may be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in a world in which over half of the number of cataloguers work in libraries in which there is only one degreed cataloguing professional.

17. Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, “Cataloging and Metadata Education: A Proposal for Preparing Cataloging Professionals of the 21st Century.” Final report, Dec. 2002. Web version, April 2003. Submitted to the ALCTS/ALISE Task Force. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/CatalogingandMetadataEducation.pdf (accessed May 31, 2011).

18. Vellucci, “Cataloging Across the Curriculum.”

19. Kathryn Luther Henderson and William T. Henderson, “Unraveling the ‘Secrets of the Craft’: Mentoring as a Device for Demystifying Technical Services for Students,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 45, no. 3 (2008): 39–59.

20. Specific projects include: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, “A Model Curriculum for Cataloging Education: The Library and Information Services Program at the University of Denver,” Technical Services Quarterly 15, no. 1/2 (1997): 27–41; Melanie J. McGurr and Ione T. Damasco, “Improving the Practicum or Internship Experience in Cataloging,” Technical Services Quarterly, 27 (2010): 1–16; Ione T. Damasco and Melanie J. McGurr, “A Survey of Cataloger Perspectives on Practicum Experiences,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 45, no. 4 (2008): 43–64.

21. This section is concerned primarily with the use of computers as a tool for teaching and learning. Thus, computer-based tools for cataloguing itself (e.g., Cataloger's Desktop, WebDewey) are mentioned but not separately evaluated.

22. Philip Hider, “Developing Courseware for Cataloging: The Cat with Mouse Project,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 41, no. 3 (2000): 187–196.

23. Sherab Chen, “Empowering Student Assistants in the Cataloging Department through Innovative Training: The E-Learning Courseware for Basic Cataloging (ECBC) Project,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 46, no. 2 (2008): 221–234.

24. Linda M. Cloete, Retha Snyman, and J. C. Cronjé, “Training Cataloguing Students Using a Mix of Media and Technologies,” Aslib Proceedings 55, no. 4 (2003): 223–233; Linda M. Cloete, “The Education and Training of Cataloguing Students in South Africa Through Distance Education,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 41, no. 2 (2005): 53–69.

25. Kate Marek, “Learning to Teach Online: Creating a Culture of Support for Faculty,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 50, no. 4 (2009): 275–292.

26. Unfortunately, not all online tools are available to educational programs free nor at a reduced cost (e.g., Cataloger's Desktop, Classification Web, RDA Toolkit) nor are commercial Integrated Library Systems (ILSs) easily available. This can limit access for many programs. While some institutions may provide access through the institutional library's own technical service departments, this is not always encouraged.

27. Elaine Yontz, “When Donkeys Fly: Distance Education for Cataloging,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 299–310.

28. Gertrude S. Koh, “Innovations in Standard Classroom Instruction,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 263–287.

29. Elizabeth Haynes and Joanna F. Fountain, Unlocking the Mysteries of Cataloging: A Workbook of Examples (Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005).

30. Ingrid Hsieh-Yee, “Organizing Internet Resources: Teaching Cataloging Standards and Beyond.” OCLC Systems & Services 16, no. 3 (2000): 130–143.

31. The author thanks her reviewers for pointing this out.

32. Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Beth Picknally Camden, and Rebecca Uhl, “Growing Our Own: Mentoring the Next Generation of Catalog Librarians,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 43, no. 2 (2006): 19–35.

33. Koh, “Innovations in Standard Classroom Instruction.”

34. Judith L. Aulik, Holly Ann Burt, Michael Geeraedts, Elizabeth Gruby, Bongjoo Moon Lee, Anita Morgan, and Corey O’Halloran, “Online Mentoring: A Student Experience at Dominican University.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 289–292.

35. Kate Harcourt and Susan M. Neumeister, “Online Distance Learning with Cataloging Mentors: The Mentor's Viewpoint.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 3 (2002): 293–298.

36. Henderson and Henderson, “Unraveling the ‘Secrets of the Craft.’”

37. Hider mentions the use of programs for this purpose, both his own “Cat with Mouse” and a commercial package, CatSkill (Hider, “Developing Courseware for Cataloging”).

38. The types of learning mentioned here are derived from the work of Robert Gagné, which is briefly described in Guy R. Lefrancois, Psychology for Teaching: A Bear Always Faces the Front (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1972), 133–138. This typology continues to be widely accepted today.

39. Sheila S. Intner, “Responding to Change.”

40. Hope A. Olson, “Thinking Professionals: Teaching Critical Cataloguing,” Technical Services Quarterly 15, no. 1/2 (1997): 51–66.

41. Others include: Sylvia D. Hall-Ellis, “Cataloger Competencies … What Do Employers Require,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 46, no. 3 (2008): 305–330; Michelle R. Turvey and Karen M. Letarte, “Cataloging or Knowledge Management: Perspectives of Library Educators on Cataloging Education for Entry-Level Academic Librarians,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 165–187; Shawne D. Miksa, “Educators: What Are the Cataloging Issues Students Get Excited About?—Professional and Intellectual Appeals of Cataloging and Students’ Misconceptions of Cataloging,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 45, no. 3 (2008): 17–24; Gillian Hallam, “Beyond Our Expectations: A Review of an Independent Learning Module in Descriptive Cataloguing at the Queensland University of Technology,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 41, no. 3/4 (2006): 149–171.

42. Michael Gorman, “Why Teach Cataloguing and Classification?” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 2.

43. Robert P. Holley, “Cataloging: An Exciting Subject for Exciting Times,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34, no. 1/2 (2002): 45.

44. Rob Kitchin and Scott Freundschuh, “Cognitive Mapping,” in Cognitive Mapping: Past, Present and Future, ed. Rob Kitchin and Schott Freundschuh. (New York: Routledge, 2000): 1–8.

45. Rob Kitchin and Mark Blades, The Cognition of Geographic Space (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2002), 3–4.

46. This issue has a long history in the field of psychology, beginning with the work of Tolman described in the text. More contemporary treatments of the central ideas gained prominence from the work of Tom Moran (Thomas P. Moran, “An Applied Psychology of the User,” Computing Surveys 13, no. 1 (1981): 1–11 and, for a broader audience, the influential work of Don Norman (Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things (New York: Basic Books, 1988)). The breadth of problems that the field has addressed is illustrated in the chapters of Mental Models, ed. Dedre Gentner and Albert L. Stevens (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1983). It is widely used today within the field of education as well.

47. Standard texts that include information mapping concepts include: Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly: 2007) or Christina Wodtke and Austin Govella, Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2009).

48. Kitchin and Blades, The Cognition of Geographic Space.

49. Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (Cambridge: Technology Press & Harvard University Press, 1960).

50. Ibid., 85.

51. As we have moved closer to the adoption of RDA, students have been introduced to the structures of the relevant chapters of RDA as well as AACR2R in class and in the associated assignment required to find information in both sources.

52. IFLA Study Group, Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records: Final Report. As mended and corrected through February 2009. (IFLA, 2009). http://www.ifla.org/files/cataloguing/frbr/frbr_2008.pdf (accessed January 31, 2010).

53. I should make it clear that my students do, in fact, have to create some complete catalogue records. The “wayfinding” parts of the assignments are only a part of what they need to do. Other parts of several assignments required them to create records within Connexion and to write (1.5–2 pages) on the implications of what they hopefully have observed for theoretical issues, such as the following: “Cutter said that one of the Objects of the catalog is to help bring together works by a given author. In your essay, outline the general issues that Chapter 21 and Chapters 22–24 of AACR2R address. Then assess how well the Rules we currently follow for access point choice and form achieve the objective of bringing together works by a given author. Include specific examples of two Rules/sets of Rules that illustrate how AACR2R accomplishes this Object of the catalog AND two Rules/sets of Rules that show how it fails to accomplish this Object.” While the assignments serve to introduce the rule structure and so serve to bridge the theory–practice divide, the essays address theoretical issues more directly.

54. In the five years I taught the elective Cataloging and Classification course, the class was almost always full, with wait lists for the class. Student evaluations for 2007 through 2010 showed an average rating of just over 4 out of 5 possible points for the overall evaluation of the class. Both show student interest and satisfaction.

55. During the period from 2007 through 2011, the class was taught five times using this pedagogy. The total number of students enrolled was 135. The School depends on students volunteering to stay in contact and so lacks systematic information about their placement after graduation. There were no anecdotal reports from former students who pursued a cataloging career detailing difficulties they might have experienced.