This unit applies to individuals who possess significant technical skills and knowledge to analyse and describe information materials according to national and international standards.
Work is undertaken autonomously, within established guidelines.
Not applicable.
1. Identify description requirements | 1.1 Identify scope and likely use of resources 1.2 Assess customer requirements and expectations, including special needs 1.3 Determine appropriate type and structure of descriptions |
2. Analyse resources | 2.1 Use analysis and description tools and standards, precedents and techniques appropriate to the nature of the resources, including manual indexes 2.2 Analyse subject content of resources to clearly distinguish significant information from minor references 2.3 Integrate established general concepts and principles of description and knowledge of relevant standards and authorities 2.4 Ensure concepts derived from analysis of resources are appropriate in the context of the subject field |
3. Describe resources and format descriptions | 3.1 Create descriptions that represent concepts appropriately and reflect the overall purpose and intended use of the description 3.2 Conform format of description to general conventions 3.3 Develop a reference structure of descriptors to display relationships to assist customers 3.4 Enhance description to meet identified customer needs |
4. Review description practices and procedures | 4.1 In consultation with colleagues, review description practices and procedures to ensure they take account of industry developments and that customer needs are being met 4.2 Take appropriate action within scope of individual responsibility to enhance description practices and procedures 4.3 Check descriptions regularly for internal consistency and compliance with established structure, rules and authorities |
Required skills
communication and teamwork skills to:
describe a wide range of potentially complex information
work collaboratively with others
critical thinking skills to:
apply analysis and description tools to a wide range of information types of varying complexity
distinguish significant information from minor references
develop reference structures
initiative and enterprise skills to create descriptions that anticipate and accommodate the ways customers may search for resources
literacy skills to interpret and analyse a wide range of references
numeracy skills to work with indexing concepts
self-management skills to:
prioritise work tasks and meet deadlines
follow workplace procedures.
Required knowledge
principles of subject access
principles of thesauruses used in indexing
types of indexes and abstracts
abstracting and indexing standards and methods, including descriptions and cross
methods for allocating major and minor descriptors to information resources
methods for matching reference structure to suit customer needs
methods for enhancing subject access through indexing
monitoring and review processes for indexes and abstracts
copyright, moral rights and intellectual property issues and legislation that impact on indexing and abstracting activities.
The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.
Overview of assessment | |
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit | Evidence of the ability to: use tools, standards and communication skills to analyse and describe resources appropriately demonstrate use of current industry systems to analyse and describe a range of different resources. |
Context of and specific resources for assessment | Assessment must ensure access to: relevant policies and procedures manuals relevant thesauruses and database programs resources to index and abstract. |
Method of assessment | A range of assessment methods should be used to assess practical skills and knowledge. The following examples are appropriate for this unit: direct questioning combined with review of portfolios of evidence and third-party workplace reports of on evaluation of appropriateness of descriptions created by the candidate and adaptation to suit different types of information verbal or written questioning to assess knowledge of tools and standards. Assessment methods should closely reflect workplace demands and the needs of particular client groups (consider the requirements of different age groups, clients with English as a second language, clients with disabilities, remote library users, etc.). |
Guidance information for assessment | Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example: CULINM502A Provide subject access and classify material. |
The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.
Scope and likely use of resources may relate to: | available space available time document format purpose, such as: educational professional recreational subject matter. |
Customer requirements | access current awareness description of contents of materials enquiry translation from one language to another. |
Descriptions may be: | assigned from a prescribed list or thesaurus, such as: Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) Australian Education Index (AEI) critical derived from text or context formulated to meet identified customer needs indicative informative taken from pre-existing formulations. |
Analysis and description tools and standards may include: | Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) Schools Cataloguing Information Service (SCIS) subject headings and thesauruses. |
Manual index entries may be ordered: | according to traditional rules or conventions alphabetically alphanumerically chronologically numerically taxonomically. |
General conventions may include: | bibliographic organisation and descriptions geographic descriptions. |
Review | customer feedback statistics surveys. |
Knowledge management - Information management
This unit contains employability skills.
No licensing, legislative, regulatory or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of endorsement.