NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 25 number 1 - Fall 2004
Library Catalogers Receive Prestigious Award
By Charley Pennell, Cataloging Department
Karen M. Letarte and Jacqueline P. Samples, both Cataloging Department librarians
at the NCSU Libraries, were honored in 2004 as joint recipients of the Association
of College and Research Libraries' Samuel Lazerow Fellowship. Their proposal,
entitled "Looking at FRBR Through Users' Eyes: Toward Improved Catalog
Displays for Electronic Serials," was selected from proposals submitted
by librarians from across the continent. According to committee chair George
Abbott, "While this important project will contribute to the emerging
study of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) in technical
services departments, it also has a broader scope that will lead to improved
library service to users."
The fellowship is one of the most prestigious awards for researchers in the
areas of collection development and technical services. Publisher Thomson Scientific
provided a $1,000 award and plaques to the recipients during the American Library
Association's annual conference.
The FRBR model, developed by researchers at the International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions, supports the four user tasks necessary
for successful information retrievalÑnamely find, identify, select,
and obtain. Catalogers contribute to a user's success at these tasks through
the art of description, recognizing the relationships that exist between content
and carriers. Although it has been relatively simple for catalogers to apply
FRBR concepts to monographic materials, such as books, it has been much more
difficult to apply the model to serials, which can change attributes (title,
form, frequency) over time and contain multiple expressions (articles, images)
by multiple authors. Electronic serials further exacerbate problems for catalogers
since content can change while the carrier seemingly remains the same.
Although the FRBR model has received a great deal of academic attention over
the last five years, it is largely unproven in practice. The research proposed
by Letarte and Samples seeks to measure the applicability of the FRBR theoretical
framework within a test environment, using a random sample of library patrons
who will search and display descriptions, both conventional and FRBR-based,
and rank the usefulness of their results. The value of the present study is
in leveraging libraries' considerable investment in existing descriptive data
while improving the presentation and utility of that data for library users.
The research conducted by Letarte and Samples will generate data to guide further
studies in this new area.
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