Arlene G. Taylor

On the subject of subjects

Abstract This was a period of much argument over the relative virtues of classified and dictionary catalogs not only among librarians but among readers and scholars in general and even in reports to the House of Commons. Feelings ran very high on the subject, and rather emotional arguments came forth on both sides of the issue, from the statement that classified catalogs and indexes were not needed because living librarians were better than subject catalogs to the opinion that any intelligent man who was sufficiently interested in a subject to want to consult material on it could just as well use author entries as subject, for he would, of course, know the names of all the authors who had written in his field.

Still a Lot to Lose: The Role of Controlled Vocabulary in Keyword Searching

In their 2005 study, Gross and Taylor found that more than a third of records retrieved by keyword searches would be lost without subject headings. A review of the literature since then shows that numerous studies, in various disciplines, have found that a quarter to a third of records returned in a keyword search would be lost without controlled vocabulary. Other writers, though, have continued to suggest that controlled vocabulary be discontinued. Addressing criticisms of the Gross/Taylor study, this study replicates the search process in the same online catalog, but after the addition of automated enriched metadata such as tables of contents and summaries. The proportion of results that would be lost remains high.

Looking Back: Implementation of AACR 2

The implementation of AACR 2 was a controversial occurrence. Upon its publication in 1978, no one knew just what its impact would be. A study completed in 1980 projected the impact during the first five years of use of AACR 2 upon three specific academic libraries. The study was used by other libraries in their planning, even though it was not known whether the findings were generalizabel. The current study examines data reflecting the actual impact during the first three years of use of AACR 2 in one library and compares them with the five-year projection. It is found that, while there are some differences, the actual overall impact in the library studied fell quite close to the impact projected by a study of other libraries.

Knowledge Organization in Knowledge Management Systems of Global Consulting Firms

Organizing knowledge is essential for corporations to have an effective and successful knowledge management system. This study investigates how consultants in global consulting firms organize corporate knowledge. The major findings are: knowledge organization is not separate from other components of a knowledge management system, but instead holds all other knowledge management components together; metadata with attributes and facets is created when consultants submit knowledge pieces to a knowledge management system; a standard template for describing a knowledge piece exists in each firm in this study; the knowledge organization part of consultants’ work is similar to librarians’ work in organizing information.

Teaching seriality: A major educational challenge

Summary Teaching the difference between “serial” and “monograph” has plagued cataloging teachers for decades. Seemingly arbitrary differences in treatment of continuing resources based on seemingly arbitrary definitions serve to confuse students and make the cataloging process seem illogical. Models created in the process of trying to reform AACR2 to accommodate electronic continuing resources promise to provide new logic for the teaching of seriality.

Teaching authority control

SUMMARY The teaching of authority control in schools of library and information science has been given little attention until recently. A 2002 article reported that only a little over a third of respondents to a questionnaire believed they had learned about authority control in school. This paper reports on a survey of teachers to determine how much authority control is taught in school. Respondents all emphasized the importance of trying to teach authority control to all students of library science and enthusiastically shared their methodologies, while admitting that it is a difficult concept to get across to students. Teachers also face non-understanding from colleagues, lack of course time, and competition from technology courses.

An Interview with Arlene G. Taylor

ABSTRACT In this interview, conducted via email during August 2016, Dr. Arlene G. Taylor discusses her career as a cataloger, professor of cataloging and classification, and her work in professional associations. Topics include her early cataloging and teaching experiences, changes in both cataloging practice and the teaching of cataloging, subject analysis, and “aboutness” as compared with form/genre access, professional experiences outside the United States, and the future of MLIS programs.