Competency Description and Scope:

While card catalogs were used by librarians for decades, the online public access catalog (OPAC) has mostly succeeded them. Card catalogs are still available in some libraries with OPAC access, although they are no longer the primary source of information and are rarely updated. For this portion, I wanted to underline how I have used IR systems in both academic and professional settings, but I never devoted much consideration to how they were formed or why it is important. At least for me, learning about the history of card catalogs helped me comprehend how much IR systems enhanced the library catalog and why it continue to develop as a result of our knowledge and processes. Clarity and consistency are of the utmost significance when it comes to the purpose of the information professional to make collections of information freely accessible. As a result, I would want to devote this section to explaining why historical context should inspire us to share our method and contribute to other LIS members, as it has been the catalyst for decades of constructive improvement.

A Brief History (ALA, 2013) (Gaddes, R., 2015) (Šauperl A. et al, 2009) (Krajewski, M.,2011)

In the mid-1800s, an Italian publisher named Natale Battezzati created a method for booksellers to use cards to keep track of authors, titles, and subjects. Also around that time, English Inventor Francis Ronalds began using a catalog of cards to manage his growing book collection, which is considered the first practical application of the system. Due of its expandability, Melvil Dewey and other American librarians started to advocate for the card catalog. By 1925, libraries in the United States used the card catalog system with uniform cards and cabinets. In the 1930s and 1940s, libraries began archiving newspapers on microfilm for future generations. When card catalogs were created on microfilm in the 1960s, libraries valued speed and efficiency. In the 1990s, public library websites started hosting their catalogs online to assist users in navigating the library's collection on their own computers, learning how to locate resources independently, and accessing the catalog from any Internet connection. Once libraries implemented online catalogs in the 2000s, ebooks and catalogs with free public access also became elements in catalog accessibility.

Why the History is Important

As I researched up to this point in history, I discovered various aspects from classic IR approaches. For one thing, I discovered the term "information retrieval," which was coined by Calvin Mooers in the 1950s (ALA, 2010) (Gaddes, R., 2015), and here I begin to see how the connection between IR and techniques to supply the right information; typically from my daily tasks, bibliographic information from stored document databases to the right user at the right time, which had already been developed with the card system, began to align. Another important reason is that IR develops organically since it may not have worked best for their aims. While Battezzati's card catalog was useful for bookshops, leafing through thousands of available volumes by author and topic would be time-consuming for a library. Thus, Dewey devised a system best suited to the library that looked well beyond the need of standardized cards and call numbers. A rare book library may value the date above everything else in their IR systems while a public library cares more of the subject. The development of IR systems has now become an important field of applied information technology, and the history of improvement discusses why conventional database management systems and information retrieval systems were established in the first place.

Importance to the Profession:

The IR system is only as helpful as the information that users can extract from it. Every library has a collection of items that they would want to make accessible to the public, but if the IR system components is difficult to navigate around or find for the user, then the overall design of being an indexing system and the query system has failed and needs reevaluation. Database designers must understand which attribute values to utilize in the user's query. These components or attributes may include acquisitions (materials ordering, receiving, and billing), cataloging (item classification and indexing), circulation (materials lending and returning), serials (monitoring magazine and newspaper holdings), and the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). It serves as a doorway for staff members to non-bibliographic data, including information personal to individual users, such as what things they have on loan, loan due dates, penalties, and borrowing history. It is also an index of published or unpublished literature, letting a user to find specific works or things on a certain subject while also providing connections to items held at the location. OPAC is an excellent example to use for the important of this competency because its an IR system's database that responds to user queries depending on how the indexed and organized content is handled by specialists at LIS institutions. The designers of OPAC had to think about how people learn and work, which included considering how people ask questions, how they solve problems, and what kinds of answers they get (Weedman, 2008). As noted before information retrieval system design, query, and assessment are vital to library work and I will now go into more detailed as it was how I prepared my evidence for this competency.

Preparation to Understand Competency E

Although the traditional form of the card catalog has long been outgrown, the updated version is known as the Integrated Library System (ILS) and it features an online catalog that the public and staff members can use (Geddes, 2015), (Krajewski, M., 2011), or (Šauperl A. et al., 2009). An ILS is a library's enterprise resource planning (ERP), keeping tabs on books, orders, payments, and users. While I did have experience of the ILS and ERP as a user, I lacked experience with what work went into it and knowledge of the past of how it got there which I think is important to understand as it will help the cognitive approach; after learning different search tactics and the background, I can determine what can either be improved in my search or I can suggest something new to the ILS system from the perspective of someone who has knowledge of the IR system. For example, I have started working with ILS ExLibris Alma and I have connected with the people who work there by attending their meetings (for their updates) and through LinkedIn. Now I am able to offer input during the meetings of my experience as a LIS member in an academic library and have impacted the design in a positive way.

When I came into the MLIS program, I learned the most from two information retrieval systems: one with a group that designed and implemented a candle database for school; and another for metadata cleanup for Textbook Reserves at El Camino College (ECC) as it had not been updated in 2+ years and the search results were convoluted (work in progress). Since the ECC database is in progress, I will be unable to show that project. However, I am learning so much about search concepts and strategies. My overall goal is to keep people from leaving a database frustrated. My courses and professional activities will show my trials of error and reassessment to improve my search strategy. My coursework and professional tasks revealed some search processes that help to build and practice reliable, effective, and efficient IR in libraries. I have been able to identify its challenges and search strategies, including Boolean logic, efficient controlled vocabulary, and anything that may help in retrieving irrelevant records , too many records , or too few records.