IRLS 501

Dr. D. Karpuk

KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES I

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.

STEP #1: (Start before class meeting)

Select a collection of 15-20 items, ideas include:

(I use buttons as a in-class exercise, so 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.

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.
• How do you plan to house (store) your collection?
• What are the similarities, differences 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 used). Continue adding to this 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). Will discuss in class using in-class exercise.

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

Bibliographic records for Resources about your collection:

(OK to look at resources. I will discuss specific areas of bibliographic records in class.)

You will locate ten (10) items (books, videos, software, maps, DVD’s, posters, sound recordings, etc.) in at least three different formats that discuss your collection.

You will evaluate how books, etc. about your collection are described. Additional aspects of the descriptive record will be discussed in class, such as classification, subject headings, note fields.

Do the following:

• Document search approaches, subject headings, key words, Boolean combinations used to retrieve bibliographic records for resources about your collection.
• Print out the full records for bibliographic records located.
• Continue adding to your Resource List.

STEP #3: (OK to surf)

If you search the WWW, then:

Do the following:

• Indicate which search engine, or meta engine was used
• Which keywords were used in your search (indicate terms used for each search engine)
• What were the results for each search engine, and search
• 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 topic
• Note terms related to (BT, RT, NT) or not used (UF) for your topic
• 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 aspects 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 system?
• 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 organization/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? 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 comprises 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.

You may creatively package your submission as long as each area of the project is professionally presented.

PROJECT EVALUATION:

FINAL PROJECT SUBMISSION:

Grades are due 72 hours after Summer I ends, therefore, I need to have your project by: Dec. 10^TH AT THE LATEST. I will begin checking the P.O. Box for project mailings on Dec. 5^th.

Consult your local Post Office for the best way to mail from your location.

PRIORITY MAIL is generally 2-3 days from a major metropolitan area.

MEDIA MAIL is the least expensive but is slower.

EXPRESS MAIL is expensive but is guaranteed.

NO METERED POSTAGE AS RETURN POSTAGE

IF you want your project returned, INCLUDE SUFFICIENT POSTAGE FOR RETURN.

NO METERED POSTAGE AS RETURN POSTAGE

NOTE:

These projects get lengthy.

Electronic submissions are not practical for this instructor, as Dr. K does not evaluate assignments online.

MAILING ADDRESS:

Dr. Deb Karpuk

P.O. Box 270729

Littleton, Colorado 80127