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Why are students required to complete LIBR 51 before beginning LIBR 55A?
LIBR 55A is the most complex course in the Library Information Technology curriculum. Students who take the course without adequate background get very lost. Students starting LIBR 55A (Cataloging and classification) are expected to already be very familiar with library materials and concepts of searching, and with online catalogs and how they are used. Having good preparation before starting LIBR 55A can make the difference between learning useful skills from a stimulating course or suffering through a semester of incomprehensible details in fear of a failing grade. This is why we require that students complete LIBR 51 (Introduction to the use of libraries) before beginning LIBR 55A.
In the LIBR 55A course, we will spend most of the semester working with MARC records -- MAchine Readable Cataloging. We will be looking at online catalogs from this back-of-the-system perspective. Looking at MARC records will be a totally new experience, but students need to be intimately acquainted with what online catalogs look like to library users, so that they can understand cataloging data inputs in terms of what users will see.
For instance, when I talk about the indexing of variant titles, I expect that students will already know the difference between a keyword index and a browse index. Or, when I talk about entering a publication date into a MARC record, I will assume that everyone in the class will be able to picture exactly where in the online catalog record that date will display to the users, how publication dates can affect searching, and why do we want them in the record anyway?
In place of completion of LIBR 51, I do accept background knowledge acquired by working in a library or by some other means. At the beginning of the first class, I give a background quiz to help us assess preparedness for the course. However, getting a waiver from me for the cataloging course does NOT excuse a student from taking LIBR 51 as one of the courses required for the Library Information Technology program's award of achievement. So even for a student with prior library experience, if the goal is the award of achievement, I recommend starting with LIBR 51 and other courses that we offer.
LIBR 55A: Library Cataloging and Classification
This page last updated 11 January 2003
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