MLS Information Systems and Technology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which metadata standard is most commonly used for describing digital library objects and supports interoperability through the OAI-PMH protocol?
- Dublin Core (Correct answer)
- MARC 21
- EAD
- VRA Core
Correct answer: Dublin Core
Dublin Core's 15 simple elements are the baseline schema used in OAI-PMH harvesting to enable cross-repository metadata exchange.
Question 2: A library's ILS is described as having a 'closed' architecture. What does this most likely mean for the institution?
- Vendor lock-in limits integration with third-party tools (Correct answer)
- The system requires physical key access to operate
- All patron data is encrypted at rest
- Circulation is restricted to registered borrowers only
Correct answer: Vendor lock-in limits integration with third-party tools
A closed ILS architecture uses proprietary APIs and data formats that make it difficult to integrate with external systems or migrate data.
Question 3: In linked data publishing, what is the role of a URI in identifying library resources?
- It provides a globally unique, dereferenceable identifier for each resource (Correct answer)
- It encrypts resource metadata before transmission
- It compresses bibliographic records for faster retrieval
- It maps call numbers to physical shelf locations
Correct answer: It provides a globally unique, dereferenceable identifier for each resource
URIs in linked data serve as stable, globally unique identifiers that can be dereferenced to retrieve machine-readable descriptions of a resource.
Question 4: Which SQL operation would a librarian-analyst use to combine patron borrowing records from two branches that share no duplicate rows?
- UNION (Correct answer)
- JOIN
- INTERSECT
- EXCEPT
Correct answer: UNION
UNION combines result sets from two SELECT queries and eliminates duplicate rows, making it ideal for merging branch records.
Question 5: What is the primary function of an OpenURL resolver in a library's electronic resource environment?
- To link a citation to the correct full-text source based on the library's subscriptions (Correct answer)
- To generate persistent URLs for digital collection items
- To authenticate users against the institution's LDAP directory
- To harvest metadata from publisher websites automatically
Correct answer: To link a citation to the correct full-text source based on the library's subscriptions
An OpenURL resolver uses context-sensitive linking to route a bibliographic citation to the appropriate full-text resource available through the library's holdings.
Question 6: A library implements SHA-256 hashing for patron passwords. Which statement best describes this security measure?
- Passwords are stored as irreversible fixed-length digests, not as plaintext (Correct answer)
- Passwords are encrypted and can be decrypted by administrators when needed
- Passwords are transmitted securely using TLS but stored in plaintext
- Passwords are masked on screen but stored in reversible Base64 encoding
Correct answer: Passwords are stored as irreversible fixed-length digests, not as plaintext
SHA-256 is a one-way cryptographic hash function, meaning stored hashes cannot be reversed to recover the original password.
Question 7: Which discovery layer feature allows a user to narrow search results by format, date, subject, or library location without re-entering a new query?
- Faceted navigation (Correct answer)
- Boolean filtering
- Relevance ranking
- Stemming
Correct answer: Faceted navigation
Faceted navigation presents pre-calculated categories (facets) that users can click to progressively filter a result set.
MLS Information Systems and Technology 2
Which metadata standard is most commonly used for describing digital library objects and supports interoperability through the OAI-PMH protocol?