SIRLS - UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

IRLS 515 - Organization of Information (Spring 2007)

Syllabus - Coleman (Instructor) - Last Revised Date: 3 January, 2007

CONTACT:

Instructor: Anita Coleman

Instructor Contact: Office - SIRLS 21, Phone +1 (520) 621-3565, Email - D2L
Instructor Office Hours: By D2L email and appointment in the D2L Chatroom

CATALOG DESCRIPTION

IRLS 515 -- Organization of Information (3 units)

Description: Introduction to the theories and practices used in the organization of information. Overview of national and international standards and practices for access to information in collections. Usually offered: Fall, Spring.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course studies the history, theory and practices of information organization, primarily in traditional and digital libraries. However, other organizations and information evironments such as archives, museums and management information systems are also included. This is an introductory course that surveys the information and knowledge organization techniques that exist or are emerging and focuses on standards and tools that are used in large text-based information environments.

COURSE HISTORY

Read Coleman, A. 2002. Interdisciplinarity: The Road Ahead for Education in Digital Libraries. D-Lib Magazine, 8 (7/8), July/August. Available online. URL: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july02/coleman/07coleman.html This article will help you understand the sequence of courses that you can take in the area of Knowledge Organization. Note that the old course name was Knowledge Structures I and may still be used within WebCT or by adjunct professors teaching this course.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The main goal of the course is to become familiar with the concepts and practices of bibliographic and non-bibliographic information organization. By the end of the course, the student will be able to:

Define the knowledge structures (a.k.a. information handling tools) used in various information environments for organizing information and knowledge
Describe the main theories in library and archival cataloging (including recent trends in metadata), categorization, classification, and subject analysis
List the uses, advantages, and disdvantages of a sample range of knowledge structures (information handling tools)
Demonstrate basic skills in subject analysis
Demonstrate basic skills in metadata creation
Demonstrate basic knowledge of at least two metadata standards
Articulate the similarities and differences between a thesaurus, ontology, authority file, subject heading list, and library classification scheme

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS

Taylor, Arlene. 2003. The Organization of Information. 2nd edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.

Amazon

Libraries Unlimited.

Coleman, Anita. 2004. Guide to Selecting and Cataloging Quality WWW Resources for the Small Library. Fairfield, CA: LRACCC.

LRACCC.

Students are encouraged to place their orders now. Any orders received or checks not cleared by Jan. 28 will not be filled until after Feb. 16.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please buy both texts directly as they are not available through the UA Bookstore.

REQUIRED ONLINE RESOURCE: KS Toolbox, URL: http://radio.weblogs.com/0109575/stories/2003/01/17/toolbox.html

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Deliverable: Assignment 1: Bibliographical Essay (based on Taylor Text readings)
Details shared in D2L.

Due Date: TBD
Deliverable: Assignment 2: Exercise in resources selection and metadata creation (based on LRACCC/Coleman Guide readings)
Details shared in D2L.

Due Date: TBD
Deliverable: 4 Discussions (based on weekly Taylor Text and miscellaneous journal readings, as assigned)
Details shared in D2L.

Due Dates: TBD

See Reading schedule below.

READING SCHEDULE

Important Note: This is a schedule of readings from the Taylor Text only. The reading should be completed by the date given. Other readings noted will generally be made available for you in D2L. In a few instances I might ask you to retrieve them from UA Main Library yourself. The Coleman Guide is used for completing the Final Assignment.

Week 1 - TBD - What's Your Learning Style? | Familiarize yourself with the Syllabus
Week 2 – TBD - Organization of Recorded Information & Retrieval Tools
Read Taylor, Chapter 1, 2
Week 3 – TBD - Development of the Organization of Recorded Information in Western Civilization
Read Taylor, Chapter 3
Week 4 – TBD - Encoding Standards, & Systems and System Design
Read Taylor, Chapter 4, 5
Week 5 – TBD - Metadata, Metadata: Description, Metadata: Access & Authority Control
Read Taylor, Chapter 6, 7, 8
Week 6 – TBD – Catch-up & Review
Review chapter 1-8
Week 7 – TBD - Subject Analysis
Read Taylor, Chapter 9
Week 8 – TBD - Systems for Vocabulary Control
Read Taylor, Chapter 10
Week 9 - TBD - Systems for Categorization
Read Taylor, Chapter 11
Week 10 – TBD - Systems for Categorization (contd.)
Read Taylor, Chapter 11 (Review)
Week 11 – TBD - The Making of Retrieval Tools
Choice: Read Berman, Coleman, Malone, Marshall, Olson
Week 12 – TBD - Arrangement & Display
Read Taylor, Chapter 12
Week 13 – TBD – Metadata Quality
Read from Quality Bibliography
Week 14 – TBD – Break/Review!
Week 15 – TBD - Final Review: What Have We Learned?
Review, Practice, Discuss Recent Advances & Trends.
Week 16 – TBD - Final examinations week

COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity (one theme of which is that The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.). If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center . If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

All work must be turned in on the dates due by 5:00 pm Arizona time (unless other times are allowed by the D2L submission facility). D2L will NOT allow submissions past the DUE Date/Time if I have set it up to be so. Therefore, read your Assignments page and instructions carefully. Availability times are very clearly marked under the Assignments link in D2L and in case of doubt, email the Course GAT.
All work must be turned in using the submit/email facility within WebCT. This means that you DON'T email/send me the work outside D2L.
HTML format must be used for all work turned in for grading (except D2L discussions).

Communication Policy

Course Listserv: For D2L backup and announcements you must subscribe to the official course listserv [url forthcoming]. You must have u.arizona.edu email - which you can get from here, http://account.arizona.edu/
Students who have NOT subscribed to the IRL515 course list by Feb. 1 will be administratively dropped. The course list is your communication tool should D2L go down or you lose D2L access. Therefore, it is imperative that you subscribe and be able to use the listserv to communicate with the class and the instructor. To join the list, visit http://listserv.arizona.edu/archives/irls515.html and follow the instructions there. You MUST join using your UA email address.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

The classroom environment for this virtual course is D2L. Here are guidelines to help learning:

I have never had significant problems with D2L but students do seem to have D2L woes when classes start. Be patient with D2L.
Sign up to the backup listserv, when made available shortly, and use that should your D2L connection go down.
My lectures will be posted usually on Fridays. Check the Course Overview document to get a sense of the course structure.
General class participation is through the Discussions and they are encouraged during the week.
Read the About Discussions document for details on expectations about discussions and participation, graded and ungraded.
Complete weekly readings from the text (Author: Taylor) by the end of the day they are scheduled.
Course Requirements help assess instruction and student learning and it is important that you follow posted guidelines.
With the exception of Discussions all work must be submitted using the Assignments D2L DropBox link. This will allow submissions only until a pre-determined date and time. Make sure you DO NOT miss this date or wait until the last minute to submit. Assignments submitted late, and not excused, or those not in HTML will automatically earn a grade of C or lower.
Netiquette is essential in the electronic world. Learn and practice it. A good introduction to Netiquette is available from the Instructional Computing Online Library at Indiana University at Bloomington. Another good source is an interactive quiz (thanks to Garry Forger in the Office of Distributed Learning for this pointer) that you can take - http://www.albion.com/netiquette/netiquiz.html.
When reading electronic text, give others the benefit of the doubt; remember that the written word has no verbal/body language cues to soften it's effect, and don't always be quick to assume the worst. Don't be afraid to post or ask questions but at the same time, make sure you've read everything and use thoughtful behaviors. Practice by reading this syllabus thoroughly and then, give yourself time to reflect on it.
Successful learning for this course REQUIRES weekly participation and visits to the course pages within D2L, with prompt, thoughtful, polite and substantive responses to the posts of your peers and instructor.
Adhere to the UA codes of student conduct and academic integrity.
Practical knowledge is an important part of professional learning.
You will have the opportunity to work with plenty of practical tools from the KS Toolbox. Discussions and assignments will require you to select and use some of these tools. Start browsing, reading, and interacting with the resources assembled here.

GRADING

Grade Breakdown:

Paper + Bibliography: 30
Discussions/Participation: 20
Major Project: 50
Total: 100

Assignment of Course Grades:

Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A=90+ (Superior Work)
B=80-89 (Very Good)
C=70-79 (Marginally Satisfactory)
F=0-69 (Failed to meet requirements)