Briccio M. Merced, Jr. University of the Philippines Mindanao, Mintal, Tugbok District, Davao City, Philippines

Transcription

1 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE CONGRESS OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN LIBRARIANS (CONSAL) XVI BANGKOK THAILAND, JUNE Purposive Categorization of Health Sciences Theses and Business Administration Feasibility Studies Briccio M. Merced, Jr. University of the Philippines Mindanao, Mintal, Tugbok District, Davao City, Philippines ABSTRACT Cristine C. Abarquez Brokenshire College, Madapo Hills, Davao City, Philippines Purposive categorization performs an important role in organizing, accessing, and retrieval of information resources because of its concepts of relative location and indexes, allowing newer materials to be integrated into the library system. This paper aims to categorize health sciences theses and business administration feasibility studies by capitalizing on the concepts and knowledge emanating from Francis Bacon (1660 s), Poole, Dewey, Sears, and from the modern online databases of MeSH, ERIC, and the NLM. The result is a categorization of knowledge which can be utilized by libraries and information centers. Keywords :Purposive Categorization, Theses, Feasibility Studies. 1.INTRODUCTION Francis Bacon s (1600s) three branches of knowledge: history (deriving from memory), poetry (from imagination), and philosophy (from reason)formed the basic classification system of a few libraries that bothered with things. The Vatican library used only two classifications, sacred and profane.dophe s (2014) article revealed that some libraries adopted the British Museum's method of numbering the shelves, in which a book would be filed on shelf 132A (or whatever). This "fixed location" approach was useful up to a point, if you were looking for a book, you could look up its shelf location in the catalog. However, deciding what books went on which shelves was pretty arbitrary. William F. Poole s(1888) Cincinnati Librarysuggested that fiction is important and should be arranged for use. Dewey (1876) found these systems to have strengths and weaknesses. Dewey's innovation was to combine a numbering system with classification by topic that did not locate a shelf, but rather a field of knowledge. Commenting on Dewey, Battles (2003) says he joined the analytical simplicity of decimal numbers to an intuitive scheme of knowledge, one that would fluidly accommodate all the books ever written, and all the books that could be written as well." One of the beauties of Dewey's system is that it provides an easy way to introduce new subjects, and there have been lots of new subjects since 1876 through the use of decimals. DDC is what today we would call accessible, it has readily accommodated the explosion of knowledge not just the development of science, but also globalization that has brought enormous additional information. And it was easy for both librarians and readers to learn how to use the system.the success of our information search activities has a direct

2 effect on our productivity at work and the quality of the decisions we make such as giving the users information need on a particular research work (Park, R. (2007). Sufficient it may seem, prevailing systems need complementation. Categorization is one of them in that it breaks down and organizes the world into meaningful units so we can think about them. Categorization is assigning of an object to a pre-existing subject heading in a file plan, or assigning to a given class within the taxonomy (also called as classification) (Lubbles, K. 2001). Specifically, purposive categorization may be used in libraries to organize printed materialsfocusing on health sciences theses and business administration feasibility studies. Health sciences is a multi-disciplinary field(degree directory.org, 2014)combining biomedical, psycho-social, organizational and societal aspects of health, disease and health care focusing on the design and evaluation of medical-technological, behavioral and organizational interventions as well as the application of that knowledge to improve health and patient-centered health care, and to ultimately improve the quality of life (University of Twente, 2014). On the other hand, business administration encompasses all aspects of owning and operating a business including, but not limited to marketing of goods and services. College degrees have many aspects that encompass finance. marketing, information and communications technology, project, operations, and strategic management(business Administration all about, 2014). To finish degree courses in health and business, one needs to undergo either thesis writing, or conducting a feasibility study. Thesis writing is a form of persuasion wherein researchers have to convince others, or a reader that the researcher has an interesting and a logical point of view on the subject being studied resulting to a lengthy thinking process, an academic argument. A feasibility study is designed to provide an overview of the primary issues related to a business idea the purpose of which is to identify any make or break issues that would prevent business from being successful in the marketplace. In other words, a feasibility study determines whether the business idea makes sense (Myers, M. 1998). Both thesis writing and feasibility studies are requirements for graduation from Brokenshire College in Davao City, Philippines, where final manuscript copies are deposited in the college library for storage, record keeping, and accessibility of which is much desired for those following in the footsteps of those finishing the same degree programs. Theses and feasibility studies requiurements at Brokenshire College emanate from two sources, the Research and Publications Office Manual and the National Health Unified Research (NHURA) of the Commission on Higher Education s National Higher Education Research Agenda (NHERA) principles and priorities. Nursing theses focus on health aspects: education, knowledge, information and literacy, services delivery (DOH 2005a, 2005b), epidemiology, public health, environment, occupational and family health. Feasibility studies encompass business development plans,marketing research, determinants of finance decisions, andresearch related to entrepreneurship and business management strategies. Bringing together the various fields under these two broad disciplines is a challenge for information specialists organizing a host of other disciplines. Major cataloging systems and information retrieval facilities do not provide such a venue. It is imperative that for these information to be retrieved, a categorization that specifically addresses their unique characteristics must be devised in order to bridge the gap between information source and users. 2. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Purposive categorization for health sciences theses and business administration feasibility studies will addrress the following: (1) what processes are needed to organize and identify thesis and feasibility studies with corresponding subject headings? (2) what cataloging applications can organize effectively printed materials, particularly, monographs?

3 (3) in which particular fields and subjects hasresearch been done so far? and, (4)who are the users of these research materials? In answer to the questions raised in the foregoing, the following objectives are set forth for this paper: (1) to categorize health sciences theses and business administration feasibility studies for easy access and retrieval; (2) to establish an authority list of health sciences theses and business administration feasibility studies subject descriptors for cataloging and organization; (3) to determine the scope of subject matter in a specific research field completed by the undergraduate students in health sciences and business administration; and, (4) for students, faculty, alumni, and external users to effectively utilize theses and feasibility studies of a college library. 3. METHODOLOGY Subjective categorization scheme categorizes information that is organizationspecific. This type of categorization facilitates learning by helping users understand and draw connection on its content. One of the known examples in subjective categorization scheme application is the topic schemes organize content which is based on the specific subject matter. Related subject headings appropriate to the disciplines for consideration were based on the online Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) and Educational Resources and Information Center (ERIC) thesauri. Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) is thepreferred thesaurus in publication for medical and health professionals. ERIC is a national education database of bibliographic citations and digest, sponsored by the U.S.Department of Education. Theses and feasibility materials were used as guides in denoting specific subject content. The Dewey Decimal Classification System was used to gather location, class and notational numbers. OCLC Dewey scutter programwas used to denote author number. As soon as all of the information required were gathered, the process of categorizing the search terms into well-defined subject headings is immediately manifested. A total of 100 theses and feasibility studies were treated as subjects of this study. 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION With the method used, subject contents were generated from the list of theses and feasibility studies which were gathered into an alphabetical arrangement using the controlled vocabulary indexing language. These,then, serve as a guide in establishing the scope of subject content which brings together closely-related terms. Controlled vocabulary enables users to find the information they need by translating the language into the language of the information store. Controlled vocabulary determines the aboutness of the material by selecting important concepts as targeted searches. Within the subject terms are syndetic devicesof a controlled vocabulary using SEE ALSO (SA), USE FOR (UF), Broad Term (BT), Narrow Term (NT), and Related Term (RT),to refer to levels of specificity and certain near subjects. Indexing language enables users to minimize the time and effort in finding information leading to success in searches, identifies potentially-relevant information in the document or collection being organized, brings together related topics scattered due to arrangement used in the document, and serves as a tool for current awareness service for librarians. The use of MeSH (M) in the list is an indication that the said subject was taken from the MeSH database as well as with the use of ERIC (E), appropriately. The collective output of organization information is a comparison of Sears List of Subject Headings, bringing together with its proposed categories focusing on Health Sciences and Business Administration. These are then brought together into a categorize subject of information resulting to the scope of knowledge focused on Business, Public Health,

4 Diseases, Nutritional Health, Psychiatry, Surgery, Obstetrics/Childbirth, Hospitals, Services and other Health Facilities, Nursing, Physiology and Gynecology/Pediatrics. It is extremely important to attain subject content consistency in the field of health sciences and business administration courses. In the system of categorization, the approach is to give a definition, or the scope of the main subjects. For example, Diseases scope note classifies a discussion of particular diseases on individual learning and development. Public Health discusses public health and safety, and Nutritional Healthcovers food intake and nutritional value. Psychiatryis about prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of emotional illness. Surgery is a branch of medicines which treats and applies manual and operative procedures. Obstetrics concerns pregnancy and childbirth. Hospitals, Services and Health Facilitiesclassify services, patients, hospital facilities and areas. Nursing hovers arounddevelopmental research conducted to advance knowledge in nursing, particularly, to student nurses. Gynecology/Pediatrics is a branch of medicine dealing with disorder of children, developmental care, and reproductive function of females. Physiology under this category covers laws, menses, sex education, and other related functioning of organism/human physiology. And lastly, Business deals with independently-owned enterprises which are for profit. Table 1 demonstrates a broad summary of the categorized main subjects with categories, and location symbols for theses and feasibility studies. Tables 2 and 3 are the related subject terms categorized into two: Health Sciences Theses, and Business Administration Feasibility Studies. Table 1. Broad Summary of Categorized Main Subjects Categories Business Diseases Genecology/Pediatrics Hospitals, Services and Health Facilities Nursing Nutritional Health Obstetric/Childbirth Physiology Psychiatry Public Health Surgery Location Symbol FS BA TH - NA TH - NB TH - NC TH - ND TH - NE TH - NF TH - NG TH - NH TH - NI TH NJ

5 Table 2. Related Subject Terms for Health Sciences and Business Administration

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8 Table 2. Classified Index Terms Arranged by Categories for Health Sciences and Business Administration

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10 Since materials to be organized are all research-related, a designated symbol is needed to distinguish them from all other library resources. TH is theses, and FS for Feasibility Studies. Using notations from DDCS, monographs are assigned the number for medical, and for business administration courses. Applying the principles in building notations, the results are illustrtaed below: TH-NA FS-BA C888 C Full description is, thus, illustrated as follows: TH- Thesis location symbol (undergraduate) NA Location symbol of a specific subject category 610. Class number for Medical Sciences. 2 Notational number for an Academic Degree. 24 Notational number as a requirement for degreee earning. 242 Subdivision corresponding to Thesis and Dissertation C888 Author s Cutter number 2013 Completion date FS- Feasibility Study location symbol BA Location symbol of a specific subject category 650. Class number for Business Administration.2 Notational number for an Academic Degree.24 Notational number as requirement for degree earning.2472 Subdivision corresponds to Feasibility C898 Author s Cutter number 2013 Completion date 5. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION Existing classification, cataloging, indexing, vocabulary-building, and organizing tools still form essential requirements in information retireval systems. These include DDCS, LC, MeSH, and other online providers who have continually updated and upgraded retrieval application facilities for the benefit of users. There are, however, limitations that should be recognized when using these established standards. Such limitations should be adapted by librarians and information specialists by providing measures that mitigate bridging gaps and extensions. Purposive categorization, mixed with authority lists, contolled vocabulary and indexing systems, and indexes provide deriving organized subject related content, albeit with some difficulty in formulating one. Such an output would further aid information managers and librarians to possess specificinformation retrieval tools that classify contents focused on theses and feasibility studies. Future nurses and business-engaged individuals will have a broader base of knowledge about their chosen fields of experitse with the help of these information related tools that are heavy on content, as compared to simple information-pointing devices. Librarians can further expand the subject descriptors, and can serve as a guide in processing monographic printed materials in information organization that caters to the needs of nursing and business students. Information managers serving students in other disciplines may ponder on this project, and invent something similar. On the academic level, department heads and faculty members will meet the demands of intellecutal pursuits as they come to grapple with the requirements in the academe, particularly, that of Brokenshire College.

11 REFERENCES American society for indexing. Retrieved on February 12, 2014 at Battles, M. (2003).Library : an unquiet history Ask.com : Business Administration all about. Retrieved March 30, 2014 from Chan, L.M (1990). Immroth's Guide to the Library of Congress Classification, 4 th ed. Dublin USA : OCLC forest press. Retrieved on February 11, 2014 a Harrod, I (2009).Devising a Classification Scheme for Islam: Opinions of LIS and Islamic Studies Scholars. Retrieved on February 12, 2013 at Harris, M.H. (1995). History of libraries in the western world, 4th ed. Lubbles, R.K. (2001). Automatic categorization : how it works, related issues, and imports on research management. Information management journal (35.4), Retreived April 9, 2013 at search proquest.com/docview/ /a00e534e51c741a9pq/3?accountid=31259# Medical Subject Heading (MeSH). Bethesda : US National Library of Medicine. Retrieved on February 13, 2014 at Myers. M., Lawless, E & Nadeau, G (1998). Cooperatives: A Tool for Community Economic Development. LorchStreet,Madison : University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives. Retrieved March 26, 2014 from Park, R., Pautz,,S., &Iden, R. (2007). Information organization and retrieval :aassessment of taxonomical and tagging systems cognitive technology, 12 (1), 31-44, retrieve April 19, 2014 at Usability.gov: improving the users experience. Organization schemes US.Department of Health and human services : Washington D.C. retrieve at www. Usability.Gov/how-toand-tools/methology/organization-schemes.html.