|
The benefit of reading additional articles for Information Science and Technology is to broaden our learning base.
We learn more about practical issues by locating, reading, and annotating recent articles, since we tend to choose articles that interest or pertain to us.
These articles serve as valuable supplements to the texts.
Thus, it stands to reason, other class members ought to have access to the articles that others find.
Each class memberís contributions will supplement the othersí.
Because these annotations will be viewed by many who are interested in locating and reading the articles themselves,
the assigned citation style may be insufficient.
The more data available, the easier it will be to locate an article of interest.
In addition to the basic APA style requirements, I have included the authorsí full names,
the ISSN, the source and access date for electronic versions, as well as a topic field to aid in narrowing the search.
The information in this record may or may not be enough to find the article again.
The information in this record gives a student a way to search for a pertinent article, without having to view each record.
It also tells where it was found the first time, as well as extra citation information, making it easier to locate.
It is also important to provide an easy way to add to the database created with clearly labeled fields, which are easily and logically navigable.
Ideally this could be a contributory database, with all of the students adding in their own annotations, perhaps from a central location (such as the GSLIS lab),
with the database being coded as read-only from other locations, and accessed on the GSLIS homepage.
Realistically, it would fall to one person to assimilate the information. Otherwise, thereís no telling what could end up on the database.
Assigning responsibility to one person ensures (hopefully) quality control.
My information requirements for the records do make for a larger file, though:
| Field Data |
Maximum Length |
A/N |
Description |
| Article Title |
255 |
A |
|
| Author(s) |
255 |
A |
|
| Topic |
255 |
A |
|
| Alternative Topic |
255 |
A |
|
| Annotation |
500 |
A |
|
| Journal Title |
255 |
A |
|
| Publication Date |
4 |
A |
Year |
| Volume Number |
10 |
A |
|
| Issue Number |
10 |
A |
|
| Pages |
10 |
A |
Page Range |
| ISSN |
9 |
A |
|
| Original Source |
50 |
A |
Online Database Title |
| Original Access Date |
8 |
A |
|
An estimated 5-year projection is 5,628,000.
The size is worth it, though.
Not only will students past and present be able to utilize this database for their research and edification,
but it will be an invaluable resource to librarians in the field.
Once word gets out that there is a database filled with information pertinent to the library field,
created by library school students and frequently updated, this will be among the first places for librarians to turn for professional development.
|
Kirsten Rundquist: Database