Atlas Fracasso
Posts tagged with Library Catalog Search
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During my summer internship at the University of Michigan's Art, Architecture & Engineering Library, I helped make historical international atomic energy reports more accessible by cataloging previously uncataloged microfiche reports. Although I expected a traditional engineering internship, the experience showed me how libraries support scientific research and innovation.
My primary responsibility was finding and recording metadata for reports so they could be discovered through the University of Michigan Library Catalog. I cataloged reports from organizations in Australia and Argentina, identifying publication details, report numbers, and abstracts while using library databases such as WorldCat. My co-intern and I also developed a standardized workflow that future interns can use to continue cataloging the collection.
The internship introduced me to library cataloging, metadata, and engineering gray literature while strengthening my research, communication, and problem-solving skills. I also attended presentations from librarians on topics including digitization, copyright, and information management, and toured several library facilities to learn how valuable research materials are preserved.
Working with historical nuclear energy reports connected to my interest in environmental engineering by highlighting how today's innovations are built on decades of previous research. Overall, the internship broadened my understanding of engineering by demonstrating that preserving and organizing scientific knowledge is just as important as creating new discoveries and that collaboration across disciplines is essential to advancing research.
My primary responsibility was finding and recording metadata for reports so they could be discovered through the University of Michigan Library Catalog. I cataloged reports from organizations in Australia and Argentina, identifying publication details, report numbers, and abstracts while using library databases such as WorldCat. My co-intern and I also developed a standardized workflow that future interns can use to continue cataloging the collection.
The internship introduced me to library cataloging, metadata, and engineering gray literature while strengthening my research, communication, and problem-solving skills. I also attended presentations from librarians on topics including digitization, copyright, and information management, and toured several library facilities to learn how valuable research materials are preserved.
Working with historical nuclear energy reports connected to my interest in environmental engineering by highlighting how today's innovations are built on decades of previous research. Overall, the internship broadened my understanding of engineering by demonstrating that preserving and organizing scientific knowledge is just as important as creating new discoveries and that collaboration across disciplines is essential to advancing research.
LIT’s Design and Discovery department received generous support from an anonymous donor to fund a Library User Experience Research Fellow position. Our first fellow was Suzan Karabakal, a master’s student at the U-M School of Information. She investigated and recommended changes to the way Library Search presents results. Suzan conducted user research to identify specific changes we could make to improve our “Everything” results screen and search results for Catalog and Articles.
The University of Michigan Library is home to a vast collection of materials representing dozens of languages. U-M Library Catalog Search, however, can cause difficulties for users searching for materials in languages other than English. In Summer 2021 we conducted an exploratory study on the experience of searching for non-English materials within U-M Library Catalog Search in order to better understand challenges users face, how they overcome them, and what we can do to mitigate the problem.