The Organization of Information

Chapter 2:  Retrieval Tools

            There are retrieval tools that make it easy to search for recorded information, to find information within information and to access metadata.  Two of the tools that interest me most are the pathfinder and the online catalog. I am becoming increasingly familiar with them, as I use both tools with my students on a daily basis as school librarian.

            After creating a pathfinder, a bibliography used to help research a particular subject, in a Reference course, I realized how useful the retrieval tool can be for the 6^th graders at my school.  These students spend a considerable amount of time learning about the Civil Rights Movement, Ancient Rome, China and Greece and the Holocaust. We do not have enough printed materials, like books, encyclopedia or journals, in our library for students to check out or do adequate research during class time. Pathfinders, with lists of the aforementioned materials, as well as links to museums, libraries and websites, have proven to be quite helpful to my students in school and at home.

            S.O.A.R., Seeking Online Access to Resources, is Chicago Public School’s OPAC, online public access catalog. Students can find what has been cataloged in our school’s library and in the libraries of all of CPS’s schools who currently participate in the S.O.A.R. program. No longer do students have to wait until their weekly library visit to find out what (new) literature awaits them.  No class time has to be wasted searching for books that may not be available. Each child can use access points, terms like author’s name, book title or subject through which records in the catalog can be found, to look for his or her favorite book and to see whether it is in or if it has been checked out. By using S.O.A.R., an excellent retrieval tool that can be accessed anywhere Internet service is available, students can save precious, irretrievable class time.