Course Syllabus
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Professor: Robert M Shapiro II Office Hours: M,W 2-4pm EST Email: shapiro.rm@uky.edu Office: 317 Lucile Little Fine Arts Library |
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Course Description
LIS602 is one of the four core courses in the MSLS program. Students describe and classify recorded knowledge and learn fundamental principles and practices that facilitate access and retrieval.
Student Learning Outcomes
After successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the basic principles and practices of information description, organization, access, and retrieval.
- Examine and apply subject analysis, indexing, vocabulary control, categorization, and classification in information description and organization.
- Define and explain the nature, attributes, structures, and varieties of information resources and the various tools used to create descriptions and representations.
- Apply methods, techniques, and standards for organizing and retrieving information resources.
Program and course-level learning outcomes are mapped, with assignments, in Appendix 1 below.
Course Format
This is an online course that requires asynchronous class participation. Unless otherwise specified, the Canvas LMS will be where we will have course discussions, and will be the nexus for course logistics (where course announcements are made, assignments are to be submitted, and grades will be posted).
Required Text, Sources, & Technologies
There is one required textbook: Jeffrey Pomerantz, Metadata, MIT Press, 2015. ISBN-10: 0262528517; ISBN-13: 978-0262528511
All other articles are available via UK libraries or the web.
Students will also be required to sign up for a free, Basic Omeka account (https://www.omeka.net/)
Assessment & Assignments
Your final grade is determined by your performance on the items in the table below. There are four assignments (80%). Each assignment will be posted at least three weeks before its due date.
Assignment descriptions
Full assignment descriptions will be distributed during the semester through Canvas.
Dublin Core/Metadata (20 points):
Students will select two resources (e.g., images, postcards, etc.) and contribute records to a digital library in Omeka. Students will be responsible for providing content for the title, uncontrolled subject, creator/contributors, source, publisher, date, type, and identifier fields. Students will be required to tag peer resources.
Authority Control (20 points):
- Mini thesaurus project -- Students will articulate a user group and construct a controlled vocabulary according to that group’s needs, e.g., psychology/counseling, sociology, a specific identity category, education, etc.
- Locate the authority records of the terms in two different databases, and compare and contrast them in terms of their complexity (i.e., SN, BT, NT, RT, and UF).
- Discuss how their varying levels of complexity can affect subject cataloging in terms of exhaustivity and specificity.
- Search using both terms in each database, and compare and contrast the results in terms of recall and precision.
- Discuss how thesauri can benefit or impair user searching.
MARC/RDA Record (20 points):
Students will create a basic MARC record for two resources supplied by the instructor. Records will include the following fields: 1xx (creator/author), 245 (title), 264 (publisher), 300 (physical description), 336 (content type), 6xx (subjects), and 082 and/or 050 (DDC, LCC);
Students will write a short reflection piece on this process highlighting the relationship between MARC and RDA.
Final Paper (20 points):
Students will select a controlled vocabulary or thesaurus and write a critical essay detailing the history, purpose, intended audience, scope and other characteristics of the selected controlled vocabulary/thesaurus. This paper is meant to provide critical interpretation, not simply a reiteration of facts. Students will also be expected to draw a connection between the controlled vocabulary/thesaurus and information retrieval drawing on readings from the course and their own research.
In addition, you will need to participate in weekly online discussions (20%) that will occur on our Canvas page. For each week, we are going to have a discussion forum for class discussion. In the forum, you can discuss important issues of each week’s topic posted by the instructor as well as any questions, ideas, or thoughts you have regarding the topic, slides, readings, or exercises for that week. To get full credit for class participation, you will need to participate as least twice in each week. The week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday at midnight.
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Type |
Topic |
Points |
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Assignment 1 |
Dublin Core/Metadata |
20 |
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Assignment 2 |
Authority Control |
20 |
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Assignment 3 |
MARC/RDA |
20 |
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Assignment 4 |
Final Paper |
20 |
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Participation |
Discussion Boards |
20 |
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Total: 100 |
Grades are based on a percentage scale. There are 100 points available. Grading will not be done on a curve, but on a strict points basis. You can check your grade at any time or email me with any questions regarding grading. Late assignments will lose 10% for each day they are late. For example, if an assignment is worth 10 points, and it is one day late, you will lose 1 point. Exceptions will be granted rarely – in advance and in writing. If you are going to turn in a late assignment, contact me as soon as possible to discuss the situation. At the end of the course, I will convert the points earned into a percentage:
Course Grading:
90% - 100% = A
80% - 89% = B
70% - 79% = C
Below 70% = E
Tentative Course Schedule (subject to change)
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Week |
Dates |
Topic |
Assignment |
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1 |
8/23 - 8/27 |
Course overview Module 1 - Introduction to Knowledge Organization and Metadata · Pomerantz, Chapter 1-2 · Feinberg, M., & Feinberg, M. (2017). Reading databases: Slow information interactions beyond the retrieval paradigm. Journal of Documentation, 73(2), 336-356. · Healy, Kieran. Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere. Slate, June 10, 2013.
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2 |
8/28 - 9/3 |
What is Knowledge Organization in LIS? What do we organize? How this course is organized? · Broughton, V., Hansson, J., Hjørland, B. and López-Huertas, M.J., (2005). Knowledge organization. European curriculum reflections on library and information science education. http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/handle/10150/105851 · Salo, Dorothea. (2009) The Humble Index. http://scienceblogs.com/bookoftrogool/2009/08/25/the-humble-index/ · Gilliland, Anne. (2008). Setting the Stage, in Introduction to Metadata, ed. Murtha Baca. http://www.getty.edu/research/publications/electronic_publications/intrometadata/setting.pdf
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3 |
9/5 - 9/10 |
Module 2 – Knowledge Organization in Digital Libraries Introduction to Knowledge Organization in digital libraries; introduction to Dublin Core elements · Pomerantz, Chapters 3-5 · DCMI User Guide: http://wiki.dublincore.org/index.php/User_Guide
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4 |
9/11 - 9/17 |
Dublin Core Elements · Pomerantz, Chapter 6 · Using Dublin Core: The Elements. http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/elements.shtml
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5 |
9/18 - 9/24 |
Subject Analysis, Aboutness and Indexing · Taylor & Joudrey, Chapter 9, 303-332 · Day, R. (2015). Indexing it All, Chapter 3 (pages 35-58), MIT Press
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6 |
9/25 - 10/1 |
Introduction to Encoding, XML · W3C. XML Tutorial. Available at http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp · Text Encoding Initiative. (2016). A gentle introduction to XML. http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/SG.html
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Dublin Core/ |
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7 |
10/2 - 10/8 |
Module 3 – Knowledge Organization in Online Databases Introduction to Knowledge Organization in Databases, Controlled Vocabularies, Assign Subjects · Hjørland, B. (2015). Classical databases and knowledge organization: A case for Boolean retrieval and human decision-making during searches. Journal Of The Association For Information Science & Technology, 66(8), 1559-1575. · Fast, K., Leise, F & Steckel, M. (2002). What is a Controlled Vocabulary? http://boxesandarrows.com/what-is-a-controlled-vocabulary/ · Fast, K., Leise, F & Steckel, M. (2003). Creating a Controlled Vocabulary, http://boxesandarrows.com/creating-a-controlled-vocabulary/
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8 |
10/9 - 10/15 |
Relationships & Hierarchies · Introduction to Medical Subject Headings MeSH: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/introduction.html · About the Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Getty Institute: http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/about.html
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9 |
10/16 - 10/22 |
Module 4 – Knowledge Organization in OPACs Introduction to Knowledge Organization in OPACs, FRBR · Tillett, Barbara B.(2003). What Is FRBR? A Conceptual Model for the Bibliographic Universe. Technicalities, 25(5) (Sept./Oct. 2003). Available: http://www.loc.gov/cds/downloads/FRBR.PDF · Croissant, Charles. (2012) FRBR and RDA: What They Are and How They May Affect the Future of Libraries. Theological Librarianship. 5(2): 6-18. https://journal.atla.com/ojs/index.php/theolib/article/view/234
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Authority Control Due |
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10 |
10/23 - 10/29 |
Subjects+relationships: LCSH · LCSH: http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html · Drabinski, E. (2013). Queering the catalog: Queer theory and the politics of correction. The Library Quarterly, 83(2), 94-111. · Olson, H. A. (2001). The power to name: Representation in library catalogs. Signs: journal of Women in Culture and Society, 26(3), 639-668.
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11 |
10/30 - 11/5 |
LCC, Dewey · Stump, Sheryl & Rick Torgerson. (2004). The Basics of LC and Dewey. Mississippi Libraries Vol. 68, no. 2, pp.43-45, http://www.misslib.org/publications/ml/sum04/su-04.pdf · What’s so Great about DDC?, http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2238/whats-so-great-about-the-dewey-decimal-system
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12 |
11/6 - 11/12 |
Encoding: MARC, MODS · Furrie, B. (2003). Understanding MARC bibliographic: machine-readable cataloging. Parts 1-VI. Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/ · Guenther, R. S. (2003). MODS: The metadata object description schema. Portal: Libraries and the academy, 3(1), 137-150. |
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13 |
11/13 - 11/19 |
Module 5 – Search Engines and Linked Data Linked data, The Semantic Web · Pomerantz, Chapters 7-8 · View: Berners-Lee, T. The Next Web (TED talk) (2009) https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web · Listen to the podcast: The Semantic Link (at least the first 25 minutes): http://static59.mediabistro.com/content/2013.02.SemanticLink.mp3 · How to publish Linked Data on the Web. http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bizer/pub/LinkedDataTutorial/20070727/
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MARC/ |
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14 |
11/20 - 11/26 |
Thanksgiving
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15 |
11/27 - 12/3 |
Search Engines · Brin, S., & Page, L. (2012). The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual web search engine. http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html · Noble, S. U. (2013). Google search: Hyper-visibility as a means of rendering black women and girls invisible. InVisible Culture, (19): http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/google-search-hyper-visibility-as-a-means-of-rendering-black-women-and-girls-invisible/ · Cadwalladr, C. (2016). Google, democracy, and the truth about internet search, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook
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16 |
12/4 - 12/8 |
Wrap-up
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Final Paper Due |
Ethics and Policies
Excused Absences
Students need to notify the professor of absences prior to class when possible. Senate Rules 5.2.4.2 defines the following as acceptable reasons for excused absences: (a) serious illness, (b) illness or death of family member, (c) University-related trips, (d) major religious holidays, and (e) other circumstances found to fit “reasonable cause for nonattendance” by the professor.
Students anticipating an absence for a major religious holiday are responsible for notifying the instructor in writing of anticipated absences due to their observance of such holidays no later than the last day in the semester to add a class. Two weeks prior to the absence is reasonable, but should not be given any later. Information regarding major religious holidays may be obtained through the Ombud (859-257-3737, http://www.uky.edu/Ombud/ForStudents_ExcusedAbsences.php.
Students are strongly encouraged to withdraw from the class if more than 20% of the scheduled classes for the semester are missed per university policy. Please reference the definition of excused absences in the current edition of Student Rights and Responsibilities or on the web at http://www.uky.edu/Faculty/Senate/rules_regulations/Rules%20Versions/MASTER%20RULES%20from%20February%202012_clean.pdf
Option #2 (quoting the rule):
Per Senate Rule 5.2.4.2, students missing any graded work due to an excused absence are responsible: for informing the Instructor of Record about their excused absence within one week following the period of the excused absence (except where prior notification is required); and for making up the missed work. The professor must give the student an opportunity to make up the work and/or the exams missed due to an excused absence, and shall do so, if feasible, during the semester in which the absence occurred.
Verification of Absences
Students may be asked to verify their absences in order for them to be considered excused. Senate Rule 5.2.4.2 states that faculty have the right to request “appropriate verification” when students claim an excused absence because of illness, or death in the family. Appropriate notification of absences due to University-related trips is required prior to the absence when feasible and in no case more than one week after the absence.
Diversity
The School of Information Science defines diversity as “embracing differences between people and promoting increased understanding regarding age, ethnicity, gender, marital status, military service, physical disabilities, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic condition, and thought with the purpose of creating an inclusive community.” In this course, students will discuss diversity issues in relation to information searching and resource selection through weekly online discussion.
Technology
The School of Information Science emphasizes the importance and centrality of technology in today’s society. We must develop familiarity and comfort with an array of technology. In this course, you will learn different aspects of information system structure, including basic database system. In addition, the course will cover various system aids and tools to assist searchers to retrieve information. Students will participate in online discussion addressing technology issues in information searching.
Academic Integrity
Per University policy, students shall not plagiarize, cheat, or falsify or misuse academic records. Students are expected to adhere to University policy on cheating and plagiarism in all courses. The minimum penalty for a first offense is a zero on the assignment on which the offense occurred. If the offense is considered severe or the student has other academic offenses on their record, more serious penalties, up to suspension from the University may be imposed.
Plagiarism and cheating are serious breaches of academic conduct. Each student is advised to become familiar with the various forms of academic dishonesty as explained in the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Complete information can be found at the following website: http://www.uky.edu/Ombud. A plea of ignorance is not acceptable as a defense against the charge of academic dishonesty. It is important that you review this information as all ideas borrowed from others need to be properly credited.
Senate Rules 6.3.1 (see http://www.uky.edu/Faculty/Senate/ for the current set of Senate Rules) states that all academic work, written or otherwise, submitted by students to their instructors or other academic supervisors, is expected to be the result of their own thought, research, or self-expression. In cases where students feel unsure about a question of plagiarism involving their work, they are obliged to consult their instructors on the matter before submission.
When students submit work purporting to be their own, but which in any way borrows ideas, organization, wording, or content from another source without appropriate acknowledgment of the fact, the students are guilty of plagiarism.
Plagiarism includes reproducing someone else's work (including, but not limited to a published article, a book, a website, computer code, or a paper from a friend) without clear attribution. Plagiarism also includes the practice of employing or allowing another person to alter or revise the work, which a student submits as his/her own, whoever that other person may be. Students may discuss assignments among themselves or with an instructor or tutor, but when the actual work is done, it must be done by the student, and the student alone.
When a student's assignment involves research in outside sources or information, the student must carefully acknowledge exactly what, where and how he/she has employed them. If the words of someone else are used, the student must put quotation marks around the passage in question and add an appropriate indication of its origin. Making simple changes while leaving the organization, content, and phraseology intact is plagiaristic. However, nothing in these Rules shall apply to those ideas, which are so generally and freely circulated as to be a part of the public domain.
Please note: Any assignment you turn in may be submitted to an electronic database to check for plagiarism.
Accommodations due to disability
If you have a documented disability that requires academic accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during scheduled office hours. In order to receive accommodations in this course, you must provide me with a Letter of Accommodation from the Disability Resource Center (DRC). The DRC coordinates campus disability services available to students with disabilities. It is located on the corner of Rose Street and Huguelet Drive in the Multidisciplinary Science Building, Suite 407. You can reach them via phone at (859) 257-2754 and via email at drc@uky.edu. Their web address is http://www.uky.edu/StudentAffairs/DisabilityResourceCenter/
Policies concerning academic integrity, excused absences and academic accommodations due to disability are available online at: https://ci.uky.edu/sis/sites/default/files/policies.pdf
Technology Information & Resources
Distance Learning Students are expected to have a minimum level of technological acumen and the availability of technological resources. Students must have regular access a computer with a reliable Internet connection and audio capabilities. Internet Explorer 7 (IE) or Firefox 2.x are the recommended browsers for those using a Windows-based PC. Those using Firefox 3.x may encounter problems with assignment uploads. Those using an Apple computer with MAC OS X (10.5.x) may use Firefox 3.x or Safari 3.x. Please be certain that your computer and/or browser allow you to view Adobe Reader documents (.pdf). Microsoft Office and other software products are free for students: http://download.uky.edu/ As your instructor, I am your first go-to person for technology problems. If you need more immediate assistance, please contact UKIT (http://www.uky.edu/UKIT/ 859-218-4357)
Library Services & Distance Learning Services
- Carla Cantagallo, DL Librarian
- Local phone number: (859) 218-1240; long-distance phone #: (800) 828-0439 (option #6)
- Email: dllservice@email.uky.edu
- DL Interlibrary Loan and other DL-specific services: http://libraries.uky.edu/DLLS
For more resources about online classes and student resources, visit http://www.uky.edu/ukonline/
The School of Information Science has a page with a comprehensive list of technology resources here: http://ci.uky.edu/sis/students/techtips
Military Members and Veterans
We recognize the complexities of being a member of the military community and also a student. If you are a member of the military or a military veteran or dependent, please inform your instructor if you are in need of special accommodations. Drill schedules, calls to active duty, mandatory training exercises, complications with GI Bill disbursement, and other unforeseen military and veteran related developments can complicate your academic life. If you are aware of a complication, we will work with you and put you in contact with university staff members who are trained to assist you. Please contact the Coordinator of the University of Kentucky Veterans Resource Center at (859) 257-1148 for additional assistance. Visit http://www.uky.edu/veterans for more available resources.
Appendix 1: Program and Course-level Learning Outcomes
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Program Learning |
Course Objectives |
Assignment that ties in |
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Analyze the major tenets of information practice and apply them in multiple contexts |
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the basic principles and practices of information description, organization, access, and retrieval Examine and apply subject analysis, indexing, vocabulary control, categorization, and classification in information description and organization |
Discussion Boards Final Paper
Dublin Core/Metadata |
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Explain the dependence of information retrieval on the organization of information |
Define and explain the nature, attributes, structures, and varieties of information resources and the various tools used to create descriptions and representations
Apply methods, techniques, and standards for organizing and retrieving information resources |
Dublin Core/Metadata MARC/RDA Record
Authority Control |
Course Summary:
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