NCS Video Tutorial

Welcome to the SMILE NCS Cataloging Tutorial. The NCS is the database system you will be using to enter metadata about activities from your institutional collection(s) into the SMILE pathway. (http://howtosmile.org/ncs). How completely and accurately you do this will directly affect how and if informal educators using SMILE will find your activity.

The process of cataloging activities in the NCS isn't a matter of simple cut-and-paste. It is likely that many of the activities that you will be entering into the SMILE database were created with formal educators in mind. Although SMILE is available to everyone, it is aimed at informal educators (educators in out-of-school learning environments: afterschool and outdoor education programs; science museums, aquaria, zoos, and technology centers; and homeschoolers creating their own curriculum). Because of this difference, and because some of the SMILE metadata fields have been created for new and specific purposes, it will be important to double-check data and make sure it fits the context of SMILE and the particular metadata field you are working in. Some of the fields are not straightforward, and will require extra attention. And you will more than likely have to create new data for several fields. Remember that by going slowly the first time you catalog, and by checking your work, the process will become both faster and cleaner in the future.

For more help, see tutorials: