DDC Call Number Analysis

891.725080358 Main Classes
800	Literature
810-890	Literatures of specific languages and language families
890	Other literatures
891	East Indo-European and Celtic literatures
891.7	East Slavic literatures Russian literature
891.701-891.78	Subdivisions of Russian literature
891.72	Russian drama

891.725 PERIOD TABLE 5 1991-

891.7250803 T3B--0803	Themes--literature--specific literatures
891.72508035 T3B--08035	Autobiography--literature--specific literatures, . . .
891.725080358 T3B--080358	Civilization--literature--specific literatures, . . .

From Table 3 -
2. Works by or about more than one author: restricted to a specific period but not to a specific form (Table 3B)

From Table 3B -
5. Select the appropriate period number. Add this number to the number already derived, e.g., English poetry of the Elizabethan period 821.3 ; always insert a decimal point after the third digit. Go to step 6

6. Under the number for the literary form in Table 3B, go to the subdivisions for specific periods, e.g., under T3B--1 for poetry go to T3B--11-T3B--19 . Follow the instructions given there, which will lead to use of the table under T3B--1-T3B--8 . For literature displaying specific features, literature emphasizing subjects, and literature for and by specific kinds of persons, the instructions at T3B--1-T3B--8 will lead to use of Table 3C, e.g., critical appraisal of idealism in English Elizabethan poetry 821.30913

Notes from Risk Management of Digital Information: A File Format Investigation

· The most pressing problems confronting managers of digital collections are data format and software obsolescence.

· The concept of an information life cycle is emerging as a major theme in digital preservation, and as a model it provides some guidance on where risk-management efforts should be directed. In the abstract, a digital life cycle plans for the creation and stages of use of information and, ultimately, for whether the file will remain in a terminal, unchanging state or be transformed into another format for reuse. The choice of how or when to assess risk in the digital life cycle depends on circumstances, the state of the digital information, and the general preservation strategy adopted.

· A file format represents the arrangement of the structural and data elements in a unique and specific manner. In this context, migration is the process of rearranging the original sequence of structural and data elements (the source format) to conform to another configuration (the target format).

· An alternative preservation approach, emulation, is concerned with preserving the original software environment. Emulators are programs that mimic computer hardware. Strategies adopting this approach store copies of the initial software and descriptions of how to emulate the initial hardware to run the software along with the data files (Rothenberg 1999; 1995). Emulation has been practiced for many years, and there are several commercial and public domain emulators for a variety of hardware/operating system configurations. A good example is MS-DOS emulation in the Windows 95/98/ NT operating system.

· 1. John Bennett’s (1997) study evaluates preservation requirements by genre, format, media, and platform and uses a rudimentary risk-assessment scoring system. Displayed in a two-dimensional matrix, these requirements effectively communicate the complexity and interdependence of digital materials.

· 2. Haynes et al. (1997) reported on an in-depth investigation into the responsibilities associated with maintaining digital archives. This paper summarizes numerous interviews with focus groups and individuals and effectively communicates the range of opinions and expectations associated with different stakeholders.

· 3. The third work is the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) (CCSDS 1999). The report is remarkable for its breadth and depth. In the authors’ words, the model they describe “provides a framework for the understanding and increased awareness of archival concepts needed for long-term digital information preservation and access, and for describing and comparing architectures and operations of existing and future archives.”

· 4. The last item is a report written by Ann Green, JoAnn Dionne, and Martin Dennis (1999). Their study describes a project at Yale to convert data from column binary to spread ASCII format. The nine-step data migration process is well documented, and the findings and recommendations clarify important preservation issues.

· We believe that three major categories of risk must be measured when considering migration as a digital strategy:

• Risks associated with the general collection. These risks include the presence or absence of institutional support, funding, system hardware and software, and the staff to manage the archive. These are essential components of a digital archive, which the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information (1996) describes as “deep infrastructure.” The collection, and the stakeholders who use the collection, will be affected to some degree by a migration of data. Legal and policy issues associated with digital information will introduce additional risks.

• Risks associated with the data file format. These include the internal structural elements of the file that are subject to modification.

• Risks associated with a file format conversion process. The conversion software may or may not produce the intended result; conversion errors may be gross or subtle.

· See “Workbook Ideas” in Table 1 on page 7 (PDF pg. 13) for examples of risk categories. See Appendix A, pp. 18-43 (PDF pp. 24-49) for the complete workbook used n this study. Using a workbook format for risk analysis provides consistent guidance.

· Software programs that convert source formats into target formats are grouped into three general categories:

• Translation programs for a specific project written by a company, by the owner of the information, or by a third-party vendor. Data archives often write these programs at considerable cost. The CUL experience with locally developed software is described in the TIFF image file case study.

• A commercial translation program written for a specific purpose. For example, some products extract data fields from numerous files with different formats and create a new data product with a different format. Programs such as DataJunction are written specifically for this purpose.

• A general-purpose commercial translation program. Conversions Plus by DataVis is a good example of this growing genre of software.

· A format risk assessment has to explore two distinct areas of risk: the risk introduced by the conversion program and the magnitude of recurring risk inherent in a large collection. In addition, the features and usability of the conversion software should be considered as well as the impact on the metadata associated with the files.

·

Self-Directed Reading Post

Article 2: Using rubrics to assess information literacy

In January 2000, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) established a set of standards for information literacy along with performance indicators and outcomes by which to measure attainment of the standards. This article’s thesis is stated in the proposal that there are several advantages of using a grading rubric to assess information literacy; 1. The learning objectives of library instruction are easily adapted to the literacy standards, 2. The rubric fits the library environment and is flexible to meet changes in that environment, 3. It provides clear measures of learning and states them at the outset of learning. The article reports the results of a study of the impact of using grading rubrics to assess a written learning outcome of information competency in a specific course for college freshman. The establishment of the course learning objectives and the grading rubrics was based on the literacy standards of the ACRL. The study results confirm a positive impact on outcomes by using grading rubrics based on literacy standards. Additionally, some aspects of the instruction were shown to be deficient in this study, and by reviewing this evaluative tool in this manner some improvements in the course were implemented later.
Using rubrics also leads to a more objective measure of students’ success in achieving the goals of the literacy standards. Instructors are also able to determine if the learning environment has any impact on the students’ learning. Further, the grading rubric can measure a specific outcome, such as happened in this study. It was desired to know if students valued scholarly sources over web sites, and that outcome was measured and assessed as a result of the rubric being used. It is seen that very specific goals can be achieved by use of rubrics to assess literacy.
The article emphasizes the need to formulate course objectives properly and inform students at the outset of those learning objectives. Another key finding was that it is very important to use authentic methods of evaluation, rather than episodic or self-reported methods. Authentic evaluations give real measures and are not subject to bias, wishful thinking or the students reporting what they might think is a desired evaluation.
The author uses the results of this study to encourage librarians to engage faculty in acceptance of the ACRL’s literacy standards. The results definitely reveal value in using rubrics to measure literacy outcomes in library instruction courses.

Article Citation: Knight, Lorrie A.. “Using rubrics to assess information literacy.” Reference Services Review 31.1 (2006): 43-55.

Self-Directed Reading Post

Article 1: How to know what you want them to know. Rediscovering objectives by reviewing evaluative materials
Evaluation of teaching measurement tools, student performance and comparing results to learning objectives identifies strengths and weaknesses that can be addressed and adjusted as needed. The author uses personal experiences as a bibliographic instructor to develop a framework for revising a course’s objectives based on reviewing the results of current evaluative tools.
The author’s experiences show how to use the results of quizzes as one method to identify how well course objectives are defined and whether or not they are being met. There are, of course, other evaluative tools, which can get to the same results. Reflective writing exercises such as this one is another example. Offering a practical experience of executing on a skill being taught in a course is a third example. In each case, student performance is measured. Reviewing the results of those measurements is obviously an excellent way to determine any necessary adjustments in the defined learning objectives of the course. Further, this article surfaced in my mind the additional concept that review of such evaluative tools can identify any needed adjustments in pedagogy and can lead to the best formulations of the evaluative tools themselves. While the author didn’t specifically state this idea, the concept is apparent in the article. Another very helpful insight was the author’s quoting Brookhart’s point that instructors who focus on content rather than learning have difficulty with assessment. This statement highlights for me the need to remain focused on desired outcomes not only when writing objectives, but also when developing the teaching methods and evaluative tools. Maintaining focus on learning outcomes will produce the best results of any instruction opportunity.
Article Citation: Fagan, Jody Condit. “How to know what you want them to know. Rediscovering objectives by reviewing evaluative materials.” Research Strategies 18 (2001): 75-83.
Other works cited: Brookhart, S. M. The art and science of classroom assessment: the missing part of pedagogy. Washington DC (1999). George Washington University.

Self-Directed Reading Post

Article 2: Student psychosocial and cognitive development: theory to practice in academic libraries

By placing the psychosocial and cognitive development theories in the context of Carol Kuhltau’s Information Seeking Process (ISP) model and the Information Literacy (IL) Standards model of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Gatten’s objective is to encourage designers of library instruction to draft their learning process interventions to support and enhance students’ information research skills as they develop. Representative of this intention is his statement that “educational theory has value only to the extent that it is known and that it informs practice.” The author does acknowledge certain challenges and limitations in this approach, but encourages a gradual introduction to library resources as needed and as the student is prepared to receive the instruction or resource exposure (as measured along the development theory continuums, not necessarily linear in nature).
Since the development theories do not apply to each individual in exactly the same way or in the same time frames, it becomes difficult to apply a single interaction, or a few interactions, that will meet all of the needs of all of the students all at once. The interactions must come in shorter pieces of time, and offer smaller segments of knowledge, and at multiple times (frequently) to span the development process. This approach allows for interactions to come at the time when students are prepared for them, or in other words, when they are in the proper developmental vector, stage or phase to appreciate and receive the instruction. Gatten provides an interesting mapping diagram comparing the stages or vectors of two development theories to the stages of the ISP and the standards of IL by aligning them on a comparative progression line. The intent of this new model is to allow instruction designers to match programs to audiences in their anticipated developmental phase, their information seeking skill level and while in the perceived stage of the search process. It is an interesting approach, fraught with difficulty since instructors and designers are not psychologists or experts at determining development progress and skill levels. For that matter, who could possibly do that analysis in one interaction? However, with some care and understanding, use of the model has the potential to assist designers and instructors to provide more effective and successful library instruction interventions.

Article Citation: Gatten, Jeffrey N.. “Student psychosocial and cognitive development: theory to practice in academic libraries.” Reference Services Review 32.2 (2004): 157-163.