USF SLIS: East Coast Connection

I liked professor Yoon, and I enjoyed meeting her at our live classes at FIU North. Her lectures our helpful, and the Chan book is Useful. The Taylor book is interesting, but not important, and all of the other readings she assigned are torturously dull and useless in terms of completing the assignments. She also assigned a group project which was a total chore. Overall I wouldn't avoid her, but be wary of that group assignment. If I see her teaching another online class I might take it if the subject matter is right. Let me know if anyone has taking that class she is teaching in the summer (indexing, i think it is). She does pick up some bonus points for being a cutie, especially when she talks (catalog=catarog).

My opinion is that most people will hate this class, and be very happy when it's over. I didn't hate it, but I was glad it was over. I think the organization of knowledge is one of the most important subjects in librarianship today, and it is sadly ignored by our curriculum. This class was an introduction, a very broad one, with little depth. Most of the content focused on traditional cataloging methods like AACRII, Dewey, LCSH, and the like, but we did explore some more current developments like Dublin Core and RDA, as well as critiques of the OPAC. There was way too much pointless reading assigned, and you would have to be a damn fool to read it all. The group project was one of the most miserable experiences of my academic career (no offense to my group, they all worked really hard). The most frustrating thing is that I don't have any legitimate way to build upon the kowledge I gained in this class. I would love to see a class that specifically focused on developing the OPAC, and/or innovative cataloging methods for the future, and for electronic resources. All of this is really a moot point, because you have to take it, so enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions. 

Right now I am in a cataloging class called the organization of knowledge. It's quite challenging, and in its own way, interesting. I think the future of cataloging is a sometimes overlooked aspect of the future of librarianship. It probably has something to do with the fact that most of the time we have no idea what in the Hell catalogers are talking about, but the future of cataloging is a surprisingly interesting and heated topic. As an outsider spending some time in the world of cataloging, I have to admit being put off by how obnoxiously complex the rules are. I believe the most appropriate comparison would be to the U.S. tax laws. Catalogers (esp. Michael Gorman, author of AACR2) will tell you until they are blue in the face that this is the way it needs to be, but I'm not buying it. Admittedly I have a very underdeveloped view, but my intuition tells me that we don't need a thousand page book to tell us how to categorize information. I almost feel sad listening to catalogers explain why they are needed. I feel like I am watching the last of the polar bears clinging to the final melting iceberg. Not that I don't think they have a lot to offer. The organization of information is one of the primary responsibilities of librarianship, and I am certainly not recommending that it be left entirely in the hands of user free tagging. Although I would like to see folksonomies play a larger role in libraries. I just have the feeling that I am just scratching the surface of an issue that is vitally important to the future of libraries, and if any of you have any thoughts about the future of cataloging, or the role of librarians in cataloging the web, I would love to hear about it.