I teach classification before subject headings--regardless of the textbook
order--primarily because I think there's more to learn/it's harder for
students to grasp the intricacies of number classification. By teaching
them first, I give them more time in the class to work on call # structure
in exercises, since we continue to work on description, headings, then
number classification, & then subject classification as we work thru
exercises throughout the class. In other words, records just get longer &
more complete as we progress.
This gives them the most practice, of course, on description--which is the
most rule-bound and thus allows less variation based on cataloger
judgment--but I've never figured a way to make sense of starting with number
classification & then subject headings *before* description :-) Somehow,
that's too much like dropping folks into the middle of unrelated chaos--I
prefer to give them some context first!
Kathleen A. Nystrom, Adjunct Instructor for School of Information Science &
Learning Technologies, University of Missouri--Columbia
Head of Cataloging
Eden-Webster Library System
470 East Lockwood Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63119-3194
(314)968-7151
(314)963-6086 (fax)
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for issues related to cataloging & metadata
education & training
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cheryl Boettcher Tarsala
> Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: update of chapter about DDC
>
> I am really intrigued by this difference in cataloging course
> structure. I never realized before that (the previous to 10th ed of)
> Wynar was set up to teach classification before subject headings. My
> colleague at Illinois does this, too, and I can't quite get my mind
> around it. What is the idea behind it?
>
> Does anyone else teach the units of basic cat & class in a
> "different"order (i.e., different from those in textbooks like Chan
> or Wynar/Taylor)?
>
> Cheryl
>
>
>
> Arlene Taylor wrote:
>
> >
> >Because I have rearranged chapters for the 10th ed., this chapter is now
> >numbered 15. (At the suggestion of several of the book's users, and
> >because I myself teach subject headings before classification, I have
> >rearranged the chapters accordingly. I have also placed the authority
> >control section right after the chapters covering AACR2.)
> >
>
>
> --
> Cheryl Boettcher Tarsala
> Adjunct Assistant Professor
> LEEP Program, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
>
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
>
> The views expressed here are my own and not those of UIUC or GSLIS.
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