lis630 -- University of Kentucky

LIS 630
Online Information Systems & Services

School of Library and Information Science
University of Kentucky
Spring, 1996

Time: 6:00 - 8:30, Tuesdays (LIS 630 401)
Instructor: Xia Lin
Office: 518D, King Library South
Office Hours: 3:30 - 5:00, Tuesdays
10:00 - 12:00, Thursdays
Telephone: 606-257-3853

Course Objectives

To introduce concepts, principles, and theories of online searching, and discuss related issues and problems.
To develop online searching skills and learn how to formulate different search strategies for different types of search requests.
To provide an overview of available online resources and the database industry, and discuss functionality and management issues of online reference services in libraries and information centers.
To assess current and future trends of information seeking in the digital environment, particularly on the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Text book

Walker, G. & Janes, J. (1993). Online retrieval: A dialogue of theory and practice. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

Other assigned readings, system manuals and training materials will be available on reserve in the information lab.

Methodology

This is a course that emphasizes both theories and practice. The objectives of the course will be achieved through various activities including lectures, discussions, demonstrations, reading, and online search exercises. Students are expected to spend a significant amount of time on computer to develop online search skills.

Policies & Grades

Students are expected to read assigned materials and participate in class discussion and other activities. All assignments are due on the date specified. No scores will be given to late assignments after the exercises are discussed in the class.
It is the student's responsibility to be present for the mid-term exam. A make-up will only be given to students who miss the exam for justifiable reasons.
The grade for the course will be determined by the following:

Final examination 30%
DIALOG search exercises 30%
Datastar and Lexis/Nexis search exercises 25 %
Internet search 15 %

Course Outline

Jan. 16. Introduction to the course
Development in online searching and online databases
Reading: Chapter 1 & 2
Meadow, C. T. (1988). Back to the future: Making and interpreting the database industry timeline. Database, 11(5), 14-22; Online database industry timeline. Database, 11(5), 23-31.
Tenopir, C. (1987). What makes a good online searcher? Library Journal (march 15, 1987), 62-63.
Tenopir, C. (1990). Online information anxiety. Library Journal, 115(3), 62-65.

Jan. 23. Database concepts
Reading: Chapter 3 & 4
Conger, L. D. (1989). Back to basics: Basic indexes, the space, the hyphen and all that. Database, 12(5), 119-123.
Wagner, E. (1986). False drops: How they arise ... how to avoid them. online 10(5), 93-96.
Pemberton, J. (1983). The inverted file: faults and failures -- 25 ways that online searching can let you down. Online, 7(5), 6-7.
DIALOG search assignment 1.

Jan. 30. Search languages & search techniques
Reading: Chapter 5 , 6, & 7
Dubois, C. (1987). Free text vs. controlled vocabulary; a reassessment. Online Review
Bates, M. J. (1988). How to use controlled vocabulary more effectively in online searching. Online 12(6), 45-56.
DIALOG search assignment 2.

Feb. 6. The search interview
Reading: Chapter 8
Quint, B. (1991). Inside a search's mind: The seven stages of an online search -- Part 1. Online 15(3), 13-18.
DIALOG search assignment 3.

Feb. 13 Search strategies 1 -- high precision search
Reading: Chapter 9
Morton, D. (1993). Refresher course: Boolean and (searching or retrieval). Online,17(1), 57-59.
Bates, M. J. (1984). The fallacy of the perfect thirty-item online search. RQ, 24(1), 43-50.

Feb. 20. Search strategies 2 --- high recall search
Reading:
Show, D. (1986). Nine sources of problems for novice online searchers. Online Review, 10(5), 295-303.
DIALOG search assignment 4.

Feb. 27. Search evaluation and performance measures
Reading: Chapter 12
Saracevic, T. (1975) Relevance: A review of and a framework for the thinking on the notion in information science. Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 26(6), 321-343.
Eisenberg, M. B. 1988. Measuring Relevance Judgments. Information Processing & Management, 24(4), 373-389.
Buckland, M. K. (1983). Relatedness, relevance and responsiveness in retrieval systems. Information Processing & Management. 19(3), 237-241.

March 5. Spring Break

March 12. Fulltext searching
Reading:
Marchionini, G. (1988). Finding Facts Vs. Browsing Knowledge in Hypertext Systems. Computer. 70-80, January, 1988.
Marchionini, G. (1989). Information Seeking Strategies of Novices Using a Full Text Electronic Encyclopedia. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40(1), 54-66.
Blair, D. C.; Maron, M. E. (1985). AN evaluation of retrieval effectiveness for a full-text document retrieval system. Communications of ACM, 28(3), 289-299.
DataStar search assignment.

March 19. Search strategies 3 -- browsing
Reading: Chapter 10, 11
Quint, B. (1991). Inside a search's mind: The seven stages of an online search -- Part 2. Online 15(4), 28-35.

March 26. Online Reference Services
Reading: Chapter 13, 14
Mischo, W. H., & Lee, J. (1987). End-user searching of bibliographic database. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 22, 227-263.
Lexis/Nexis search assignment.

April 2. Cognitive aspects of online searching
Reading:
Rouse, W. B., & Rouse, S. H. (1984). Human Information Seeking and Design of Information Systems. Information Processing & Management 20, 129-138, 1984.
Ingwersen, P. (1982). Search procedures in the library -- analyzed from the cognitive point of view. Journal of Documentation, 38(3), 165-191.
Lindsay, P. H., & Norman, D. A. (1977). Human Information Processing Chapter 10. "The representation of knowledge" (pp. 380-417).

April 9. Searching on the Internet
Reading: Chapter 15
Krol, E. (1992). The Whole Internet. Chapter 10. Resources on the Internet. (pp. 279-332). Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Associates.
Internet search assignment

April 16. Research on online searching
Reading:
Fidel, R., & Soergel, D. (1983). Factors affecting online bibliographic retrieval: A conceptual framework for research. Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 34(3), 163-180.

April 23. Reviews