“Here be Dragons”: A Wayfinding Approach to Teaching Cataloguing

Abstract

Teaching cataloguing requires instructors to present and integrate information about the variety and complexity of the field while providing an adequate theoretical foundation for practice. A problem solving pedagogy called “wayfinding” that focuses on instruction about ways to navigate the structural features of rule sets is described. It enables students to learn not only about common rules but also about less well known cataloguing problems (“dragons”), embedding this knowledge in the theoretical foundation of the rule sets underlying cataloguing practice. It provides both pragmatic and pedagogical benefits that mitigate differences between face-to-face and distance learning environments.