Library Cataloguing The LS2 and Me

There is a love hate relationship between the Teacher Librarian and their cataloguing system.  In my district we used to use the L4U program which was old and antiquated, you had to do your own records for each book that you entered into the system.  The LS2 is the library cataloguing we now use at my school and in my district.Below I have talked a little about the LS2 program and what I see as some of its benefits.

The OPAC we use at this school is the LS2 system from TLC (The Library Corporation).
The student site is easy to navigate for students of all ages. The student search page has two options for students to search in. One is the basic search page that you would find in every other catalog with searching for your title, author, and subject. The second is completely student friendly that features a dog who when searching for the title, author, and subject chases a bone. I searched for novels such as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Dinosaurs, and J.K Rowling. I found that searching this catalogue was easy and that students wouldn’t have an issue searching as long as they were given a quick tutorial from the librarian.

My experience with the administration features of the LS2 is limited to having Teacher Librarians showing me some of the features. I was able to see the TL input a student into the system and it seemed to be easy and quite straight forward. I was also able to see him scan a new book into the catalogue. After the new book is scanned into the system the catalogue updates each night adding all of the records to the catalogue. The LS2 has only been in use in our district for the last two years. I was in a library when it was first being introduced. Most of the TL’s that I have talked to in this district like this catalogue better than the previous L4U catalogue.

Cataloging, Putting it Together!

 Cataloging is only one of the jobs of a TL. It is however one of the most important jobs.  Being able put everything together by finding the learning resources and putting them into out catalogue for students and staff to use extenuates our importance in our schools. Below is the weekly activity where we explored operating  systems and purchasing.

In my district we have a centralized library cataloging system the LS2. Cataloging is done through this system by the school librarian. The only schools in this district to have any library clerk time is the high schools. At the elementary level we are looking at losing TL time , there are no clerks. With the LS2 there is a centralized database where all records are preprogramed based on isbn’s and book entries, it’s fairly simple to use. My districts just implemented the LS2 system two years ago and while the other operating services (OCLC) seem excellent they would not be purchased by my district. Most of the purchases in done by the TL in my library is done locally at a book store that gives a discount, the Scholastic book sale, and through online sites such as chapters. My school does not purchases s through Follett or ULS although I can see the benefits of library bindings in the wear and tear off books.

By exploring the jobbers and all of the bibliographic options out there from the readings and activities this week I can see the benefits of the programs and options that are out there. Being that my district has the integrated LS2 model I’m not sure of the options that the individual TL has or if there is a budget to use anything other than what is provided for you since I’m not the TL. In regards to purchasing books and supplies I know that TL’s have full autonomy and if I was the TL I would explore the book purchasing and binding supplies further.

DDC and ME

In going through this weeks lesson and browsing through the class discussion I have realized that learning  the DDC can be fun.  In my discussion post I talked about two activities that I have done in the past.  I also liked two of the websites posted by Jane Leslie.  I will now post my discussion post for this week and the two online Dewy Decimal games to play.

Online Games:

http://quizlet.com/8431990/dewey-decimal-categories-flash-cards/

https://jeopardylabs.com/play/the-dewey2

My DDC Discussion Post
Last year during job action when we were instructed not to administer the FSA's my principal took my class and I took the grade 5's from another class and did library training with them. I made up two activities for them around the DDC.
Activity 1 DDC Pictionary: Just the same as regular Pictionary but with the clues being DDC numbers and subject headings. The class was divided into teams and they took turns drawing out their clues. The students had a really fun time and seemed to retain the main categories.
Activity 2 Draw the Library: Students drew a map of the library and then labeled each section and sub section section with drawings including the Non Fiction section with DDC subsections. The result was beautifully creative maps that described the DDC in a fun way. 

Delicious, Not So Tasty ;)

I have experimented with delicious in the past when I was teaching at a high school but haven’t looked at it much for a while.  A few of my past colleagues were obsessed with this site and showed me some great stuff for my Socials and English classes.  What I remember from back then was all of tags and sorting of information, it gave me a headache and I didn’t continue using this site.

Going back to delicious now I searched for some of the topics that I am working on now I can see the need for consistency.  In keeping with the theme of fairy tales and fractured fairy tales, that is what I searched online.  A lot of the sites that I have explored in the past came up in my search.  However, there were also lots of other things that came up that didn’t have anything to do with what I was looking for.  I can see that being consistent with tagging be it on an online site like this one or in a database is an important thing, otherwise who knows what is being called what?  So to me delicious is not so tasty ;)
 

CIP, MARC Records, and Assignment 2

This has been a busy week with this weeks readings and assignment on CIP and comparing it to MARC records and working on Assignment 2.  Below I have posted my thoughts and post for week 7 finding that both CIP and Marc have their purposes and that if I had to create my own record I would use both to help in the process.
Working on Assignment 2 this week has been a delight thus far.  I'm enjoying my topic Fairy Tales and Fractured Fairy Tales.  I did a unit on this topic at the end of last year and can't wait to do it agin with my class this year.  I hope that I've picked a diverse enough collection.  I have DVD's, picture books, teacher resources, and websites.  I hope that by Wednesday everything comes together in a nice little package.

Week 7 Posting CIP and MARC Records

I used the VPL to look at the MARC records for my three books.  The three books that I chose were off of my book shelf and I will be using them in assignment three.  The three books are Peter Pan and Wendy, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Jack and the Beanstalk.

Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie the Centenary Edition is the first book that I compared with the MARC records and fount hem to be quite comparable.  One thing that was missing from the MARC record that was found in the CIP inside the book was that all proceeds of the book went to Great Ormand Street Hospital. 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is the second book that I compared and like Pete Pan the records compared well, which is to be expected since they are from the same publishers and the same information is found in the CIP page of the book. I’m finding that more information could be given in the CIP documentation as the MARC records seem to have more data on them.

The last book that I looked at this week was Jack and the Beanstalk retold by Ann Keay Beneduce.  The only difference I found between the MARC record and the CIP record was the CIP had all of the different publication companies and cities while the MARC only stated New York and Philomel Books.  I can see the difficulties of placing all of the different publication citied and companies in a database record but should they not all be listed?

MARC Records, Kind of Like French!

This week we had another language to learn, MARC records, a common language in which to classify resources.  Below is my reflection on the activity for the week where we had to look at MARC records for resources provided in our course materials package and to attempt our own MARC record.

 

After looking at the MARC records from the examples in our course materials package and experimenting with a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales I feel a bit more confident with our upcoming assignment.  I found that putting together my own MARC record was a bit daunting but with more practice it will get easier.  As stated in some of my previous discussion posts I’m not the most tech savvy person and will be taking my time with Assignment 2.  

I used the Library of Congress, AMICUS, and the VPL sites to view the MARC records and try my fairy tales one on my own.  I’m going to use Fairy tales and Fractured Fairy Tales as the topic of my mini collection.  I found all of the sites useful and easy to navigate.  While looking at the records it’s like looking at a foreign language.  With this weeks readings and this activity at least I’m starting to understand what’s going on.  It’s kind of like learning French!

Cataloguing Process and Standards

For the regular everyday person you would more than likely never look at the expanded description or cataloging information for your favorite book.  Us TL's and future TL's must not be normal people because through this weeks readings and activities combined with the other work this term we have become a secret society with a secret language.  This week we have added access points to our new and ever expanding secret TL language.  As you can see I have tried to spice up what to the everyday person might think as boring (cataloging) to what is our own private language of cataloging and this weeks access points.  I personally found this weeks activity looking at 5 resources very valuable and it demonstrated all of the useful information that can be found on a library record.  I have also added my post from this weeks discussion for you all to look at as well.

For this activity I chose items from my home book and DVD collection.  I picked items that I have used or could possibly use in my classroom or library. I used the Vancouver Public Library to view a corresponding library record.

 3 DVD’s

Finding Nemo and Disney’s Earth (Extreme Environments) and Goonies (International Talk Like a Pirate Day).

The access points for these resources are:

Title, Call Number, Additional Contributors, Publisher, Series, Edition, ISBN, Language, Performers, Notes, Statement of Responsibility, Physical Description, and Library Identifier.

I found that the VPL provided a very good description through these access points for all of these resources.  From looking at the backs of the DVD’s and comparing the information given through the VPL  access points there is a clear description of the resources and what is to be expected before viewing the films themselves.

2 Novels

Holes and The Hobbit

The access points for these resources are:

Title, Author, Call Number, Publisher, Pages, Edition, ISBN, Language, Notes, Statement of Responsibility, Physical Description.

I found that the VPL provided a very good description through these access points for all of these resources.  From looking at the information found on the jacket of the books and comparing the access points documented on the VPL are very comparable and give a great description of the resources.