Promotion is part of discoverability, but it is only a part!
Libraries are vast sources of information, contained in a
variety of formats, shelved in a variety of ways and locations. So how do
[potential] users find the information they need?
In our library we have many different locations, from
collections housed in different buildings (including an off-site storage
facility), through collections in the basement (hard-copy journals, media
items, missing pages/offprints, the archive and the rolling stack) the ground
floor (short loan items), the first floor (reference section and Dewey sequence
001-615) to the top floor (Dewey sequence 616-999, oversize items, pamphlets
and vulnerable items in secure glass display cabinets). How on earth do we
expect users to be able to navigate through our valuable information resources
when we spread our stock throughout the buildings in jigsaw-like fashion? If
you have the picture, it’s easy enough to do, but if don’t have that useful
aid, what do users do, and how can we help them?
The catalogue is a huge part of the library’s public face;
it needs to be clear, accurate, easy to use and reflective of the information
resources that are available. At collection level, some of our resources are
discoverable through their site code on the online catalogue (e.g. Law Library,
Short Loan Collection), whilst some through their sequence (e.g. Reference,
Media, Special Collections), and most are discoverable by old-fashioned
serendipity – walking the shelves, finding something that catches your eye and
turns out to be relevant!!
But what of title-level discoverability, or content
discoverability? This is where, I believe, lies the strengths and skills of the
cataloguer. An online catalogue can only ever be as good as the cataloguers who
got the information onto it in the first place! If that information is wrong,
sloppy, or partial, or the access points are too few or badly assigned and
aligned then that title/content discoverability will be compromised.
As cataloguers in my workplace, we all recognise the importance of access
and consistency, but we know our catalogue is far from perfect, so we are
working on cleaning up our data, thus helping to ensure successful
discoverability for our users
We currently have a couple of projects on
the go to enhance the discoverability of our resources by ensuring that we have
adequate/copious/excessive authorised subject headings in our records, and that
all our name headings are consistent according to our chosen authority list. Our jury's still out on the value of the 505 and 520 fields (at least until we get an OPAC display we have more control over), but couple our enhancement work with cataloguers answering users’ questions when on frontline
enquiry work, and you have a recipe for success, at least for the regular stuff
– if you’ll pardon the expression!
However, not all our collections are catalogued on our
library management system, and therefore they don’t appear on our online
catalogue. The institutional repository uses different software, but, as
cataloguers are involved in helping to create entries, it is possible, to a
certain extent, to ensure discoverability through naming conventions, use of
consistent keywords etc., where possible using the same conventions that are
used in our catalogue records which can help to make more things more easily
discoverable.
The other area where information discoverability can be
enhanced is in our archive collection. Again, consistent naming conventions,
keywords and classifications all help users to find the information they are
seeking, and if these are consistent with records in our other systems then
this can help to link disparate collections of resources and therefore information.
And that’s what we want to do! Help our users to access
information held in our resources that will help them to achieve their degree,
their postgraduate qualification, or keep up with developments in their chosen
field.
As cataloguers, I get the feeling we do all this with little
thanks and little recognition, from colleagues, of the skills, time and effort
we put in. We may hide in the basement, and we may not shout out about our achievements,
but our work is omnipresent.
