ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION

Individual Project
Organizing for Retrieval

GOAL:
To understand the decision issues associated with organizing, describing, indexing, classifying, and retrieving items in a collection.

Throughout this project, you serve as the information professional providing access to your collection, keeping your user groups in mind.

GETTING STARTED:

STEP #1: (Consider before first class meeting)

Select a collection of 15-20 items, ideas include:
(Buttons may not be used)

15-20 paperweights, 15-20 cooking utensils, 15-20 different types of beads, 15-20 rubber stamps, 15-20 types of honey, 15-20 shop tools, 15-20 brushes, 15-20 Orthodox icons, etc.

You may get creative and have fun. E-mail me when you have selected a collection of items. Use: arizonakarpuk@aol.com
SUBJECT LINE: Project

Do the following:
· Provide a descriptive overview of your collection
· Who would use your collection? This may be one group or multiple groups of users.
· Hoe do you plan to house (store) your collection?
· What are the similarities and difference between items in your collection? How would you describe the items in your collection? What distinguishes each item in your collection, i.e. color, shape, use, design, age, size, etc.
· Begin a Resource List (sources consulted). Continue adding to thie Resource List for each section of the project.

Think about how you would retrieve groups of items from your collection, i.e. all red items at ½” (searching by color and size). This will be discussed in class with a simulation exercise.

STEP #2: (OK to find materials about collection)

Bibliographic records (i.e. records located in library catalogs) for Resources about your collection. Add any Resources located to your Resource List. Do look at the Resources. Interpreting information in the bibliographic records will be discussed in class.
· Locate ten (10) Resources in at least three (3) formats, i.e. books, videos, posters, software, maps, DVD’s, sound recordings, etc.
· Keep track of HOW these materials were retrieved, search
approaches, subject headings, keywords, Boolean combinations used to retrieve items (will discuss in class)
· Print out the full records for each of the items located
· Add these items to the Resource List

Interpreting the information on the bibliographic (catalog) records will be discussed in class. TIP: Investing time at Step #1 and Step #2 will help subsequent stages. Document the process, approaches taking to finding these materials and the quality of findings.

STEP #3: (OK to surf)

If you search the WWW, then:

Do the following:
· Indicate which search engine, or meta engine used
· Which keywords were used in the search (indicated the terms for each search engine)
· What were the results for each search engine based on the search used
· Which terms yielded the best results
· Add websites to the Resource List

The “HELP” pages for the search engines are useful resources.

STEP #4: (Will be discussed in class)

Subject headings, thesauri, indexing terms: The Library of Congress Subject Headings, Art and Architecture Thesaurus, and other term lists will be discussed in class.

Do the following:
· Examine subject headings and thesaurus terms associated with your collection
· Note terms related (i.e. BT, RT, NT) and not used terms (UF)
· Continue adding to your Resource List

When looking for materials relating to your collection, note the terms used. An in-class exercise will introduce vocabulary control, syndetic structure, references, and consistency aspect of subject analysis. Key definitions will be discussed in depth along with examples.

STEP #5: (Do not start)

Database searching:
Using databases available through UA’s SABIO system, select five (5) databases that would have articles about your collection. Examine the subject headings, term lists, and search instructions for retrieving articles about your collection.

Do the following:
· Indicate the databases selected for searching about your collection
· Record the search terms, search strategies, and search results
· Discuss the similarities and differences between the databases and strategies for retrieving information about your collection
· Continue adding to the Resource List

STEP #6: (Do not start)

Classification systems:
An in-class exercise will demonstrate structural components of different classification systems and applications in information retrieval. Examples will be presented in class. The Dewey Decimal Classification System, Library of Congress Classification System, and other systems will be discussed in class.

Do the following:
· How would your collection classify in DDC, LCC, or other classification systems?
· Is there a specialized classification system available for your collection?
· Evaluate the differences between classification approaches to your collection
· Continue adding to the Resource List

STEP #7:

User perspectives and searching:
Target user groups identified at the outset of the project will post questions to your organizational design. An in-class exercise will illustrate how the use or multiple uses of your organizational/retrieval system impact levels of description, access, indexing, classification, and display. You will re-examine user targets and pose questions to your system from the user perspective.

Do the following:
· “Become” the user and reflect on your experience in searching for items about your collection
· What areas would confuse the user? (Think back through Steps #1-#6)
· Where would additional “help” be useful?
· How could the user best retrieve items from your collection, and find information about your collection?
· Continue adding to the Resource List

Note: User Perspectives comprise the focus of the Online Discussions

STEP #8: (Recap of findings and conclusions)

Final project and de-briefing:
Drafts of each component of this project have been submitted and returned for adjustment. In this way, you may fine tune your project and make adjustments in your thinking based on instructor feedback and additional “experience” with organizing and retrieval. Class discussion will provide opportunity to share examples with colleagues.

Conclude your project with a summary de-briefing. This allows you the opportunity to summarize your learning experience.

Examples for this section include:
· What did you learn about information organization and information retrieval?
· What finding surprised you?
· What would you do differently?
· Add additional observations as appropriate

FINAL WORDS:
Creative thinking is expected. Select an interesting collection and have fun!

Recognize that this project involves analytical thinking. Think visually, think descriptively, think about retrieval, and think about your user groups.

You may expand each of Steps #1 -- #8. Each project will be different, therefore, there is no “one size fits all” template suitable for all projects.

TIP: Creative packaging is welcome, however, cover each step of the project professionally and let creative presentation come at the final submission.

PROJECT EVALUATION:

APPLICATION STEP POINTS DRAFT DUE DATE
Non-Bibliographic Organizational Problem 1 20 Jan. 26
Bibliographic Description 2 10 Feb. 9
Subject Headings, Thesauri, Indexes 3 & 4 20 Mar. 2
Classification 5 & 6 10 Mar. 30
User Perspectives and Searching 7 20 Apr. 13
Final Project and Project Debriefing 8 20 SEE BELOW

FINAL PROJECT SUBMISSION:

Grades are due 72 hours after Summer Session I ends, therefore, I need to have your project by: I will begin checking the P.O. Box for project mailings beginning: April 26th

APRIL 29 is FIRM FOR RECEIVING PROJECTS.

A final d2l debriefing session will be held on April 27.

TIP:
· Consult your local Post Office for the best way to mail from your location
· PRIORITY MAIL generally takes 2-3 days from a major metropolitan area
· MEDIA MAIL is less expensive but is slower
· EXPRESS MAIL is expensive but is guaranteed

NO METERED POSTAGE AS RETURN POSTAGE

PROJECT RETURN:
If you want your project returned, INCLUDE sufficient postage for return. You may elect to not have your project returned. This is your choice.
(NO METERED POSTAGE AS RETURN POSTAGE)

NOTE:
These projects get lengthy with text and appendices. Electronic submissions are not practical for this instructor, as Dr. K does not evaluate assignments online.

MAILING ADDRESS:

Dr. Deb Karpuk
P.O. Box 279729
Littleton, Colorado 80127