This final portfolio synthesizes the skills and knowledge I developed during my Resource Description & Access course. The portfolio includes bibliographic records for several types of information objects in a wide variety of formats (including print, audio-visual, and digital). Creation of these records involved applying models and standards such as FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records), RDA (Resource Description and Access), MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging), and various authority files, with a goal of optimizing user accessibility to resources. (Note: The scope of the course did not include subject analysis.)

The skills employed in this project connect to my program’s first learning outcome:

“Apply the field’s functional theories, principles, values, ethics and skills to everyday practice.”

My work on this portfolio demonstrates knowledge and abilities that fall within the ALA’s third area of core competencies for librarians, “Organization of Recorded Knowledge and Information,” including:

• The principles involved in the organization and representation of recorded knowledge and information.

• The developmental, descriptive, and evaluative skills needed to organize recorded knowledge and information resources.

• The systems of cataloging, metadata, indexing, and classification standards and methods used to organize recorded knowledge and information.

This project also serves as an example of several of the “Skill & Ability Competencies” from ALCTS’s Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians, such as:

• Application of conceptual frameworks, standards, and principles within a bibliographic system

• Formulates consistent data

• Disambiguates creators, contributors, titles/series

• Encodes machine-actionable data

• Asserts relationships between creators, works, etc.