The Catholic University of America

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
March, 2004

  1. In times of tight budgets, one way to react would be to network with libraries or other agencies to reduce duplication of services and/or materials. Select a type of library (academic, public or school) and discuss the pros and cons of such networking with specific types of agencies.
  2. Research skills are essential for library information professionals to function in their daily job. Discuss the importance of knowledge of research methodology and design, data collection, and analysis for librarians and information specialists. Use examples as evidence to support your argument.
  3. Define the concept of "controlled vocabulary" and explain its benefits. Then discuss how this concept has been applied in online catalogs and Internet search tools to facilitate access to print and digital information resources.
  4. You are working at a public service desk when a patron approaches to lodge a complaint about an item you personally agree has no place in the collection. What do you do and why?
  5. Libraries exist in a rapidly changing environment in which more and more is available in electronic form. Will we ever see libraries abandoning print collections to provide a full range of materials and services only in electronic form? Discuss the legal, social, and technological barriers that must be overcome for this to become a reality.
  6. Since 9/11/01 many states and the Federal government have passed laws and implemented procedures that impact library operations related to patron privacy. In this period of increased security concerns, what are the professional and ethical responsibilities of librarians to their patrons? In your answer consider such topics as access, collection development, and privacy.
  7. Identify three theorists upon whose work current practices are based. Explain each theorist's contribution to the practice of librarianship and give examples of how her/his theory can be applied in a setting with which you are familiar.
  8. Describe the concept of relevance and discuss how it has been used in the context of information retrieval evaluation. Your discussion should cover the topical relevance and the user's relevance criteria.
  9. Discuss political, economic, social and technological pressures on today's knowledge-based organizations. What are the major opportunities and threats that library directors in 2004 must address? How can they engage entry-level professionals to meet the challenges faced by such organizations?
  10. List four different applications of database systems that exist in the real world. Choose one of the applications, then describe its data model and discuss the purpose and importance of data modeling for the application. The data model should address the key elements of the Entity-Relationship (ER) model: the main entities, key attributes (properties) of the entities, and relationships among the entities including the degree and types.