My first foray into searching was with WorldCat. As the clever name suggests, it is a catalog that documents library collections from around the world. I decided to see what kinds of materials were available to add to my research collection. As a reminder, my topic is about providing individuals with disabilities equitable access to information. My first search with terms and limiters is represented below:
As you can see, I chose the terms "disabilities" and "librarians." Furthermore, I limited what I was looking for to eBooks, ensured that I had accurate information by limiting the dates from 2010-present, changed the language limiter to English, and ensured the publications were written for an adult audience.
Here is what my list of search results looked like based on these limiters:
All of these limiters produced 12 results that were all relevant to my topic. The first search result was exactly the item I was looking for to add to my research collection. The closest library with a copy of this is Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee library in Provo, Utah.
From there, I conducted a similar search on my hometown library's OPAC and compared it to my WorldCat search. The terms "librarian" and "disabilities" with the same series of limiters produced zero results. Thus, I widened my search to any date with the following terms:
This search produced only 1 result. To be fair, I have always felt that my hometown library's Library Science collection was a bit lacking compared to other systems in the area. This may be a reflection of demand, as there is no physical library school location in my home state. In any case, here is the result I found.
To be perfectly honest, I am not sure that I would add this particular book to my research collection. The title and contents description are both condescending. "Street People"? Honestly? Additionally, I personally do not see people with disabilities as a "problem that needs handling." I really do not like the direction that this book appears to take. While there are problems that happen in the library that need dealing with (violence, inappropriate behavior, I have seen my fair share...), adapting services so that patrons with disabilities have equal access to information should instead be viewed as an opportunity.
My final search this week was conducted within another country's OPAC system. From LibDex, a website that collects all of the information for libraries worldwide, I chose a library in Australia (University of Tasmania Library). The library had some limited tagging and indexing set up, so I clicked on one of the indexed phrases for my search.
With these limiters, it produced 13 results. As the LS5513 class challenge for this week was to find something exclusively published in a foreign country, I chose an item that was specifically published in Australia and found the following result:
Truthfully, most of the results I saw had American publishers behind them!
What did I learn this week?
Content:
Content-wise, it was difficult to really learn much from just a series of titles and short descriptions. Unfortunately, I do not have access (easily) to many of the items listed above, so it is difficult to determine the full extent of their contents. I did learn that there were a lot of items surrounding the topic I chose and found many things I would want to add to my collection for further examination/study.
Searching:
As far as OPAC searching goes, I learned that most of them are set up in pretty much the same manner. I had a similar searching experience across all of the systems that I used. I found Tasmania's to be the most fun to search because of the extensive tagging. It reminded me of an Ebsco database! WorldCat was definitely the most useful and I found that it had the most level of specificity when searching. I loved all of the limiters that it featured. The catalog in my hometown, while not cumbersome to search, appeared to be much more limited as far as its search features (particularly on the "advanced search" page). I will say, however, that it was certainly the most eye-catching interface. Each catalog had its strengths and yet each one maintained the same feel and end user experience. I think that striving for this level of consistency is important when ensuring user-friendliness. If a patron knows how to use one online catalog system, it is likely he or she can adapt that knowledge to another.
Reflections:
Would I use WorldCat again?
Absolutely. I love having all of this information in one place. I remember working with colleagues at my last job whose job duties involved processing ILL materials. They relied heavily on WorldCat and used it on a daily basis. I can definitely see applications in the library field. I have even used it when looking up information about rare books for patrons or when making my own ILL requests. I find it to be an absolute staple of any reference department. It is easy to use, links directly to the materials on the library's website and allows for a very detailed level of searching. I cannot recommend WorldCat enough!
Ideas for future searches
This week was a departure from what I usually cover in this blog. Even so, based on the tags that I found on the University of Tasmania's OPAC, I did find a few subtopic ideas that I could search for in future database searches. Perhaps next time I can search for lists of best practices for librarians that provide services for people with disabilities? I could also focus exclusively on an age group or the differences between the information needs of adults, young adults, and children with disabilities.
Can you think of any more subtopics that might be worth looking in to? How does your hometown library's OPAC compare to WorldCat? What has your personal experience been when searching OPACs? What features did you like or dislike?
As always, I welcome your feedback about this blog! I would love to hear from you if you have information to share or any comments about this entry. See you next week!
- Crystal
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