MLS - Master of Library and Information Science Master of Library & Information Science for Competitive 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which metadata standard is most commonly used to describe digital resources and facilitate interoperability between library systems?
- MARC 21
- Dublin Core (Correct answer)
- ISBD
- EAD
Correct answer: Dublin Core
Dublin Core is a widely adopted, simplified metadata standard consisting of 15 core elements designed to describe digital resources and enable interoperability across different systems and institutions.
Question 2: In information retrieval, what does 'recall' measure?
- The precision of search results returned
- The proportion of relevant documents retrieved out of all relevant documents in the collection (Correct answer)
- The speed at which a database returns results
- The number of unique search terms used in a query
Correct answer: The proportion of relevant documents retrieved out of all relevant documents in the collection
Recall measures the completeness of a search by calculating the ratio of relevant documents retrieved to the total number of relevant documents that exist in the collection, regardless of irrelevant results also returned.
Question 3: What is the primary function of an Institutional Repository (IR) in an academic library setting?
- To store rare and fragile physical manuscripts
- To manage interlibrary loan transactions
- To collect, preserve, and provide open access to the intellectual output of an institution (Correct answer)
- To catalog and classify donated book collections
Correct answer: To collect, preserve, and provide open access to the intellectual output of an institution
An Institutional Repository serves as a digital archive that collects, preserves, and provides open access to the scholarly works and intellectual output—such as theses, articles, and datasets—produced by members of a university or research institution.
Question 4: Which reference interview technique involves restating or paraphrasing a patron's question back to them to confirm understanding?
- Open probing
- Negotiation closure
- Neutral questioning
- Reflective clarification (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Reflective clarification
Reflective clarification involves the librarian paraphrasing or restating the patron's question to verify that the librarian has correctly understood the information need before proceeding to search for resources.
Question 5: What does the acronym 'FRBR' stand for in library cataloging contexts?
- Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (Correct answer)
- Federal Rules for Bibliographic Resources
- Framework for Record-Based Retrieval
- Federated Repository for Bibliographic Research
Correct answer: Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) is a conceptual entity-relationship model developed by IFLA that defines relationships between bibliographic entities such as Work, Expression, Manifestation, and Item (WEMI).
Question 6: Which concept describes the tendency for scientific literature to concentrate in a small core of journals relevant to a given discipline?
- Zipf's Law
- Bradford's Law (Correct answer)
- Lotka's Law
- Pareto's Principle
Correct answer: Bradford's Law
Bradford's Law of Scattering observes that a small nucleus of journals produces a disproportionately large portion of the significant articles in any given subject field, with progressively more journals needed to cover the remaining literature.
