Week 6 Learning Journal

I think the move to a new standard from AACR2 was inevitable considering the widespread use of online resources in libraries today. One such use of modern technology is that abbreviations are no longer needed because there is not a limitation on physical space anymore (Zabel & Miller 2011). Despite this embracing of new technologies, RDA does have its faults. Firstly, like most new systems, it can be costly to overhaul a library’s entire cataloguing system. Also beyond the time and effort involved, the RDA toolkit is much more expensive than AACR2 (Zabel & Miller 2011).

One of the more interesting aspects to me regarding the changeover to RDA is that is designed for a semantic internet that does not properly exist yet (Zabel & Miller 2011). This creates obvious complexities as it may turn out that RDA is completely useless in only a few years’ time. I however think something like this does need to be thought about early otherwise we can end up with a completely outdated system not up to the task that is asked of it.

There is another system called Cooperative Cataloguing Rules which is an alternative to RDA that will allow current cataloguing rules to be maintained (Zabel & Miller 2011). However I think that RDA is still the better option as it is designed with the user in mind (Zabel & Miller 2011). I have a problem with current cataloguing rules in that they are very hard to decipher for the average user. When it is the aim of a library to serve the community the best they can, user experience is just as important. 

References

Zabel, D. & Miller, L. (2011). Resource description and access (RDA): An introduction for reference librarians. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 50(3), 216-222. Retrieved from: http://rusa.metapress.com/content/wrg1501514721g7n/

Week 4 Learning Journal

When analysing a website’s information architecture I had always just accepted the notion that the less clicks to perform a task the better. I had not considered this critically before reading Garrett’s article Information Architecture in The Elements of User Experience: User Centred Design for the Web and Beyond. In it he states that it is much more important for the task to make sense to the user (Garret 2011). To me this is a much more important aspect to focus on; if someone is performing a task that makes sense to them they are not going to be thinking about how many clicks they have made. 

For example in the do activity for this week I found it was very easy to find information on pet ownership on the City of Melbourne website as the steps made sense to me, I never thought about how many clicks it took me to get to the information. Hobart City Council’s website took just as many clicks but as it took me ages to find, because it was not under a section I would normally associate with pet ownership I took some time to find the information I was not satisfied with the Information Architecture.

References

Garrett, J.J. (2011). Information Architecture in The Elements of User Experience: User Centred Design for the Web and Beyond, 2nd edition, pp.88-101