Access Points in Catalog Descriptions

One of the most important things I took from the lecture was the importance of access points so users can actually find a useful collection. I looked at records on two different OPACs to compare how successful each was in terms of providing access points to users. The first institution I looked at was UConn, and the other was the Library of Congress.

Collection-level record in the UConn library catalog:

http://homerweb.lib.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBRecID=2995321&v2=1&SEQ=20130227225710&PID=GLuNTnU5zgwyJuqgoItxPAJth

 I thought that this record was a good example of a record that lacks necessary access points. The picture above is the full record available in the OPAC. There is very little information in this record about what sort of materials are contained in the collection. What sort of awards? What are the subjects of the photographs? Are they black and white, or color? Which publications? Listing a few of the major awards and publications by Polly Fitz would provide a few much-needed access points to this collection. As of right now, an interested researcher might not find this collection because it is so vague. The subject headings are also very vague and not that helpful.

Collection-level record in the Library of Congress catalog:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93845502/

This record is too long to work as a screen shot, but if you follow the link, you will find a record that has much better access points and more thorough notes (both in terms of content and context). They also have a separate section of headings based on format, which is not done in the UConn catalog. This record is much more likely to be found by an interested researcher.