Working on Assignment 2

I never understood until now just how much work went into creating a library catalogue. For my assignment I have to assign SCIS Subject headings to five items described to us, and to explain the thinking behind the SCIS assigned Dewey numbers on ten other items.

Each question is taking me between 45mins and 2 hours to complete because there is so much information to work through, and so many things to consider. I have been going back and forth between SCIS and Dewey documents that explain the nuances of their systems, and SCIS and WebDewey themselves, madly trying to make sure I haven’t missed anything and I am making the correct decisions.

I can’t imagine working for SCIS and having to make these decisions for the thousands of items that must pass through there every day. It must be a maddening process, and I am so appreciative now of the work those people do to make the teacher librarian’s job easier. Imagine how impossible it would be to keep up with the workload if each TL had to make these decisions themselves for each item? I am sure the catalogue would be nowhere near as accurate, and staff and students would find it much more difficult to find the information they are looking for.

This assignment is definitely going to help me if I ever have to create an entry from scratch like I was involved in doing on my Placement earlier this year. I now know exactly where to look to make sure I am making the right decisions for my students.