Minutes of the December 1, 2004 TERMinators meeting

In attendance: Nastia Guimaraes, Alan Krieger, Mary Lehman, Tom Lehman, Laurie McGowan, Kathie Ryan-Zeugner, Linda Sharp

Reassignment of terms formerly in "Resource types" to other facets

The group assigned the terms "Properties", "Registry numbers", "Spectra", and "Standards and codes" to the facet "Research tools". The assignments of the terms "Tests" and "Treatises" were postponed until after our review of facets definitions.

Review of facets definitions

Tom began the discussion by observing that a good criterion for seeing if a facet definition is useful is to see if it provides clear guidance for the assignment of terms. He then offered a series of terms to the group; many could easily be placed under a given facet, but a few still seemed problematic in terms of their facet assignments. He then offered revised working definitions for two facets which proved helpful to the group in understanding why all the terms under them should be there:

Formats: Physical or electronic media; or resource types characterized by a particular layout, content, purpose, or mode of creation.

Research tools: Resources consulted for facts or information, or used to identify materials on a topic.

The group agreed that we will get feedback from subject librarians on our work when we have finished defining terms and devised a process for introducing new ones. We also agreed that it is important to keep in mind that our terms definitions should not be "theoretical", but rather practical guides for librarians on how to apply them.

At our next meeting, we will begin to review our definitions of terms.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Krieger