The Morgue: a Mortuary Science and Funeral Services Database

Transcription

1 The Mrgue: a Mrtuary Science and Funeral Services Database Authrs: Cheryl Pstlewait, Directr f the Library, Kansas City Kansas Cmmunity Cllege; Pamela Draysn, Dean f Libraries, University f Ontari Institute f Technlgy, and Jseph Grasela, Jr., Public Services Librarian, Kansas City Kansas Cmmunity Cllege. Abstract The Mrgue is an nline index t English language jurnals within the fields f mrtuary science and funeral services. Begun in 2001, The Mrgue prvides students, faculty, and researchers with an nline tl specifically targeted t this very specialized prfessinal literature. As f August 2014 there were 115 jurnals regularly indexed in the database with ver 16,400 articles. Abut The Mrgue As may be imagined, The Mrgue is a rather unique database. It was develped and is maintained by the library staff at Kansas City Kansas Cmmunity Cllege (KCKCC) t meet the infrmatin needs f their wn students and faculty. As the nly index cvering the prfessinal mrtuary science and funeral service literature, it is als becming knwn t thse wrking in the prfessin arund the wrld. Access t the database is available thrugh the pen Internet frm the KCKCC Library website free f charge. Need Over 100 students are enrlled in the American Bard f Funeral Service Educatin (ABFSE) accredited Mrtuary Science prgram at KCKCC annually. This tw-year assciate s degree prgram educates students in every phase f funeral service. Thrugh a mix f classrm, lab, and field placements students develp the prficiency and skills necessary fr the prfessin. The faculty f this career riented curriculum at the pst-secndary level als encurage research and publicatin in the field f funeral service. As such, the students and faculty tend t be regular library users seeking infrmatin n a wide variety f mrtuary related tpics. The need fr a mrtuary science index became apparent t KCKCC Library staff ver several years f watching mrtuary science students leaf thrugh the tables f cntents pages f the jurnals when needing relevant articles fr class assignments. This situatin was due t the prfessinal and trade publicatins nt being included in ther cmmnly accessible indexes cvering the sciences, medicine, allied health, mental health, business, r management. Mst f the mrtuary science jurnals did nt even prvide an annual index t their publicatin at the end f the year r last issue f a vlume. Several nline index prviders were apprached abut the pssibility f beginning t include at least a few key mrtuary jurnals in their 1

2 databases, hwever due t the limited number f academic prgrams in the field there was little interest frm vendrs in accmmdating the request. With the need fr an apprpriate finding tl fr these students evident, the library staff decided in 1999 t prceed with a pilt prject fr what eventually came t be called The Mrgue. Develpment Preliminary wrk was undertaken by a Library Science graduate student wh tk n the prject t develp indexing prcedures fr the library. She individually interviewed each f the KCKCC faculty wh taught in the Mrtuary Science prgram, seeking infrmatin abut the curriculum, curse assignments, and their insights int infrmatin transfer in this field. Observatins and cnversatins with students enrlled in the prgram came next, fllwed by several in-depth discussins with the library directr. A review f the prfessinal and trade publicatins was the next step. This invlved reading articles, taking nte f any special features, and generally becming knwledgeable abut the publicatin. These measures resulted in a shrt list f preferred terms as well as an understanding that students in this prgram cvered subject matter in three primary areas: 1) business and general studies (including small business management, accunting, cmmunicatins, public relatins and marketing); 2) science (including mrtuary chemistry, mrtuary micrbilgy, pathlgy, and anatmy); and 3) curses specific t the field such as the psychlgy f grief and grieving, restrative art, mrtuary law, embalming thery, and ethics. T test the prcedures and determine the rbustness f the initial terminlgy list, indexing was cmpleted n several years issues f the American Funeral Directr (AFD). The resulting index was then reviewed with the pertinent faculty t assure the final prduct wuld meet their needs. The sftware prgram riginally used fr the index was written in perl by the cllege s webmaster, wh als suggested the database name The Mrgue. Thugh the first sftware seemed adequate initially, its use f drp-dwn bxes t select subjects, authrs, and jurnals was cumbersme. An upgrade was accmplished in 2007 when a new prgram was written using Ruby n Rails and The Mrgue was transferred t a Linux server. The new prgram allwed mre flexibility and specifically allwed fr easy editing f recrds. In the early versin the webmaster crrected errrs as time allwed. The new sftware als allwed fr keywrd searching greatly enhancing the functinality fr users. Meanwhile with the first cmputer prgramming fr the prject cmpleted in , anther graduate library science student, ding her field placement at the cllege, picked up the prject. Citatins and indexing entered fr additinal years f the AFD resulted in psitive feedback frm the student and faculty users. Subsequently additinal peridicals were included beginning with The Directr, The Embalmer, Funeral Mnitr, Mrtuary Management, and Death Care Business Advisr. This helped get the wrd ut t librarians at ther clleges and universities with mrtuary science prgrams resulting in sme wnderful s thanking the KCKCC Library fr making the index available. 2

3 Cntent and use Over the past furteen years the indexing has been mstly dne by a reference librarian during quiet times during the academic year. Mre recently, a secnd year mrtuary science student was hired t d the indexing under the watchful eye f the library directr. While the use f a student t make the initial pass thrugh the jurnal issues speeds up the prcesses needed t get key articles int the index, it des result in sme subsequent editrial wrk by prfessinal library staff fr quality cntrl purpses. The database has grwn since the first 50 r s entries in 1999 as additinal peridical titles have been acquired by the library. As f August 2014 there were 115 jurnals regularly indexed in the database with ver 4,300 authrs and 16,400 articles, cvering ver 9,500 subject entries. The database has seen an average f apprximately 500 users per year ver the past tw years. Hwever, usage has gradually been increasing ver time and as additinal cntent is brught int the index its value and subsequent use is expected t imprve. The database is searchable by authr's name, subject/key wrd, and peridical title. Althugh initially subject searching was limited t a relatively structured vcabulary f terms, a change was quickly made t prvide key wrd searching. Abandning the use f a structured thesaurus simplified the indexing prcess thus reducing the time lag between when an issue was received and when it appeared in the database. At this stage in its develpment, the database cvers nly majr articles in the jurnals. It des nt include items relating t assciatin news, cnventins, reader's frums, advertisements, classified ads, bituaries, r brief cmments. While these varius categries f items within the publicatins wuld likely be f interest t researchers investigating aspects f the publicatins frm an histrical perspective, the students and faculty interviewed in the first stages f the prject indicated that these were nt f a high pririty t their infrmatin seeking needs. Their infrmatin seeking pririties were and remain t find articles in their prfessinal jurnals which will help them with specific curse assignments. Hwever, it must be said that the advertisements alne wuld cnstitute a fascinating research study smeday. Future develpments: Since knwledge f the grieving prcess has becme mre imprtant fr funeral directrs and their business in the past several years we are beginning t add mre grief and bereavement jurnals t assist them. We have had ne r tw titles in this area but are nw expanding t nes dealing directly with the grieving prcess. One f ur majr gals fr the future is t update ur sftware as the current versin is nw seven years ld. With this anticipated sftware rewrite, it may be pssible t prvide additinal infrmatin regarding the jurnals place f publicatin and publishing histry and pssibly abstracts. We are als in the prcess f ding sme csmetic changes especially with authrs t make the citatin mre readable. An extensive cllectin f peridical back runs has recently been received frm a mrtuary prgram library in the nrtheast United States. These cntributins bring an additinal 50 jurnal titles t 3

4 the index ver the cming year. As at least ne f these jurnals reaches back t 1929 and several thers extend back t the 1960 s, their inclusin will significantly increase the cverage and usefulness f the database. Sme f the jurnals being added t the index include the fllwing: Bereavement: a magazine fr hpe and healing Death Studies Funeral Cnsumers Alliance Newsletter Ideas tday: a jurnal f cntemprary funeral service management techniques Jurnal f Funeral Service Educatin Prfessinal Mrtician Tday in Deathcare Jurnal f Frensic Sciences Due t the increased number f titles t be added t The Mrgue tw part-time staff members have jined the library staff t assist with the indexing alng with their ther duties. With this staffing change the plan is nt nly t increase the number f articles in the database but als t investigate several new features that culd be implemented. One f which wuld be t include the f abstracts fr thse publicatins that make this a part f their frmat. Befre mving frward with new functinality r significant changes t the index, the library staff will nce again return t the stakehlders t ask what features they wuld find useful. This cntinuing feedback frm the faculty and students has allwed the library t priritize the wrk f maintaining the index and ensured that the tl best meets their unique infrmatin needs. 4

5 Brief Bigraphies Cheryl Pstlewait has been the current Directr f the Library at Kansas City Kansas Cmmunity Cllege since She has been with the cllege since Pamela Draysn is currently the Dean f Libraries at the University f Ontari Institute f Technlgy in Oshawa Ontari Canada. She had been the Directr f the Library at KCKCC frm 1989 t Jseph Grasela, Jr. is the current Public Services Librarian at KCKCC and has been with the cllege since