IS530 Information Access and Retrieval Fall 2001 Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 10 12 25 Instructor Dr Carol Tenopir ctenopir utk edu Temple Court 302 Fall Office hours Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 11 and 2 3 30 Wednesdays 10 12 2 3 or by appointment 974 7911 Catalog Description Media for information storage logical and physical information structures query logic and languages search strategies and heuristics user interfaces evaluation of retrieval system performance Search techniques for various types of databases including multi media full text numeric and bibliographic Course Goals Objectives This course is part of the core curriculum determined by the faculty to contain basic knowledge required by any information professional It is an overview course intended to prepare you for more specialized electives such as 531 532 533 534 535 and 566 At the end of this course students will be able to 1 understand the range of media options and types of information sources and services 2 analyze the structure and access methods of information sources and services 3 evaluate and compare information sources of all types and in all media 4 develop search strategies to access and retrieve information 5 evaluate and compare methods for accessing and retrieving information 6 be sensitive to the needs of information seekers in a variety of settings 1 Methodology Class sessions will be a combination of lecture individual participation and small group work There will be some guest speakers or tours Much of the benefit from this class will come from the work you put into it outside of class hours Most weeks there will be hands on assignments and several larger assignments Expect to spend many hours in both physical and virtual libraries Course Assignments Further details will be provided in class 1 LIBRARY AND RESOURCES EVALUATION 10 The purpose of this assignment is to introduce you to the UTK physical library UTK virtual library and some of the resources unique to library and information sciences See attached explanation DUE Tuesday September 4 2 ACCESS METHODS FOR PRINT 15 Select one printed reference source found in the library from each of the following types Directories Almanacs Yearbooks Handbooks Biographical sources Dictionaries Encyclopedias Geographical sources Bibliographies Indexes Abstracts Government Documents Statistical sources Examine them carefully with an emphasis on how a user can access the information within Record the following information for each source examined 1 Bibliographic information for the work you are examining include as appropriate title author s edition series volumes place of publication publisher date s 2 Type of source as defined in class encyclopedia almanac etc 3 Subject s covered 4 A list of all access methods provided for example table of contents subject index author index arrangement headings etc Turn in 1 a short factual section that lists the information above for each source 2 a 700 1000 word approximately essay that discusses how access methods are provided in printed reference books Use your sources as examples but consider what these examples tell you in a larger sense Consider the following in your discussion does access differ depending on the type of source What access means are similar in many print sources What access means differ What is a user interface in a printed reference source Be prepared to discuss in class how printed reference sources of each type provide access NOTE You may be examining some of these sources again for your term project using different but overlapping criteria Keep your notes DUE Tuesday September 18 2 3 ACCESS METHODS FOR ELECTRONIC 15 Select 2 different CD ROM or online systems to compare Remember you are selecting 2 systems that is different search systems not just different databases For example on CD ROM you could compare SilverPlatterWindows and WILSONDISC Online you could compare SilverPlatter Web WebSPIRS OCLC FirstSearch or ProQuest Direct To examine the 2 systems you will need to select at least one database for each For example you could look at PsycLIT on SilverPlatter and Applied Science and Technology on WILSONDISC Some systems such as LexisNexis Universe place full text resources in groupings that they do not call databases Consider a grouping the same as a database Or if available you could examine the same database on different systems for example Education Index on SilverPlatter and on WILSONDISC Analyze and compare their access methods and user interface according to the criteria discussed in class Turn in 1 A factual summary for each system including a the name of the system e g SilverPlatter Web b the system vendor e g SilverPlatter c the database or databases or groupings you examined for this system e g Education Index and PsycLIT d the producer of each database e g H W Wilson Company and American Psychological Association and e a point by point feature evaluation using a checklist patterned after those in your readings 2 A 700 1000 word essay that considers how the systems compare and how they demonstrate ways electronic systems in general provide access to information Weave these criteria and others you feel are important into a checklist of features for paper 2 access methods for electronic Each system should be evaluated with the same criteria You may choose to assign numerical rankings qualitative rankings good poor etc or just use comments In any case you will interpret them overall in the paper 1 Overall Ease of Use Include here features such as a Help screens context sensitive Understandable Structured Searchable b Tutorials available Standalone or integrated Right length Well done c Interface or make this a separate category type appropriate level for audience multiple use of colors and spacing clear consistent 2 Searching search engine Include here features such as a browsing index browsing thesaurus browsing document browsing other browsing b term selection how are terms selected Multiple indexes c truncation d Boolean e Field searching f Proximity operators 3 g h i j k l m n Positional operators Arithmetic operators Search status display Set and query manipulation Hyperlinks Search history display Search modification Saving and reviewing 3 Output Include here features such as a built in features b user definable features c record layout d marking of items for printing saving or downloading e sorting f printing g downloading DUE Thursday November 13 4 ONLINE EXERCISES 20 Everyone will