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Table
of Contents
Organization
puts items into a system.
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We all
have things that we organize, although some of us are better at
it than others. If, for example, you have a large collection of
music CDs, you might organize them by artist, or you might organize
them by type of music. Whatever system you use, you are relating
the parts to each other, and to the whole collection.
What
does organization do for us?
Organization
gives us access. Organization puts items into a
system. In a system, there are established rules, and the
rules are consistently applied. Thus, we can plunge into the system
and find what we want!
Information
usually has two key aspects -- content (what
the material is about); and format (is it a book, a newspaper
article, a CD, a video, or ?). Some systems organize access to
information based on content alone, irrespective of format. For
example, books, videos and CDs might all be grouped by subject
next to each other.
But, given
that there are so many different formats, you'll find many access
systems devote themselves to providing access to just one format
(e.g., a database that only indexes newspapers).
Organizing
materials into systems provides consistent treatment -- which
means that you turn to those access systems and can find what
you need!
Next,
we'll show you how major organization systems afford access to
materials at Cabrillo College Library.
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