Course Time/Location: Tuesday-Thursday, 11:00-12:15 pm, Psych 307
Students are responsible for knowing the contents of this syllabus and completing all assignments in accordance with the schedule herein. If it is in here, you are expected to know it.
The organization of information is a broad area drawing from such diverse disciplines as linguistics, psychology, history, and mathematics, for example. The simplest principles include orders based on an alphabet, or naturally occurring attributes such as those forming the basis of the table of the elements. The most complex principles can involve construction of elaborate thesauri, computational theories, and complex computer networking. While principles of organization involve models and schemes used to present and access information resources, they are always mindful of the needs of the user as the prime determinant of the principles to be used.
The objectives of the course are:
1. "Classification" Presentation. There are numerous ways of organizing various pieces of the totality of knowledge. Each student will select such an area and, in an oral presentation, explain to the class (and professor) the origins, thinking, changes, and present shape of that system. The system selected must arise from a field outside traditional library approaches to classification. I am not interested in how librarians did it.... I have used the term "classification" here in its loosest interpretation. There may, or may not, be numeric, or alpha-numeric, symbols assigned to various categories.
The ability to verbally impart information to a number of people is an important skill in any setting involving information transfer. The class presentations are to be treated as a formal presentation to a group of unknown (or mostly so) individuals whom you are educating on your topic. You may use whatever graphic aids you deem necessary to get the point across. The time limit for the presentation will be decided upon once enrollment is set. In general you will not have more than 12 minutes to get your point across. At the end of the assigned time limit, the gong goes off. There is no tolerance factor. The criteria I use to grade presentations is attached to this syllabus. sification system of your choice. Each item will have subject headings assigned from Sears, LCSH, and a subject authority list of your choice. The result of this is that each item has one (1) cataloging record, with three (3) possible call numbers, andis a disaster. See the Important Information pags, books (as physical objects)-- you get the idea.
3. Cataloginorks on ses. During the semester you will prepare original cataloging records for the following:
Each item will be cataloged according to AACR2R. Each item will be classified in Dewey, Library of Congress, and a classification system of your choice. Each item will have subject headings assigned from Sears, LCSH, and a subject authority list of your choice. The result of this is that each item has one (1) cataloging record, with three (3) possible call numbers, andis a disaster. See the Important Information pages below, and take them seriously.
Readings come from the Course Packet, works on Reserve, and your textbooks. In addition to the readings, I will expect you to be able to locate http://www.oclc.org/fp as we will be using that page during the course. Can you locate other pages that might be relevant?
Required Texts
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition, 1988 Revision. (AACR2R). Chicago, ALA: 1988.
Lois Mai Chan, Cataloging and Classification: An Introduction. 2nd ed, McGraw Hill, 1994.
You are expected to have read the assigned readings prior to each class, and be prepared for discussion. Readings will be included on the exam, and should be considered while writing your papers.
The readings presented in this packet are not the entire body of literature for this subject: you are strongly encouraged to read widely. Chan has a large number of relevant citations which you are encouraged to investigate.
Ranganathan's Laws
S.R. Ranganathan was writing about libraries, but it seems to me that everything said here, given a few pronoun and noun changes, can be applied to the organization of knowledge in any situation. After close to 30 years in the information business I'm not sure that it doesn't all come down to these five sayings in the end.
Tentative Schedule of Events and Reading Assignments
Tentative only because schedules are always meant to be flexible. We may get on a tear about something, or an interesting speaker may wander into town, or who knows. Regardless of where I am, you lot keep up with the readings!
T 8/24: Introduction to the Course and its Concepts
R 8/29: Information: What is it?
T 8/31: Organization. Why?
R 9/5: Alphabets and Other Coding Systems
R 9/7: Printing and Publishing I
T 9/12: Printing and Publishing II
R 9/14: Printing and Publishing III
T 9/19: Methods of Organization: Cataloging, Classification, Subject Analysis.
R 9/21: MARC, OCLC, etc.
T 9/26: More MARC and the Implications Thereof.
R 9/28: Classification in Depth: Dui I.
T 10/3: Dui II.
R 10/5: The Library of Congress Classification System.
T 10/10- T 10/24: "Classification" Systems: Student Presentations.
R 10/26: LC II
T 10/31: Subject Analysis: Sears, LCSH.
R 11/2: Other Subject Analysis Systems
T 11/7: Putting it all together: Bibliographic Records as Information Surrogates.
R 11/9: Descriptive Cataloging.
T 11/14: More on Bibliographic Records.
R 11/16: Sudoc, or, How the Government Does It
T 11/21: The Innovators: Bliss and Ranganathan
R 11/23: Happy Thanksgiving!
T 11/28:. More Ranga...
R 11/30: Electronic Access I.
T 12/5: Electronic Access II.
R 12/7: The End.
Usually in this class I take any questions that are unanswered somewhere along the line. If you can get them to me in writing by Tuesday the 5th it would be appreciated. If nothing is written, we'll take them from the floor. If nothing gets asked, there is no telling what I might do. Think about it.
COMMUNICATIONS
I will check my email several times a day. You can leave a message for me in my mailbox. If the announced office hours are inconvenient, please see me for an appointment.
A listserv is setup for the class. ThP>3B. Unless your word processor/computer combination supports true proportional spacing, kindly do not use full justification. We prefer a ragged right margin to funny spacing in the lines.
3A is correct according to the directions. 3B is incorrecerpts from the Code in the SLS student organization handbook.
If you are not sure what any of this means, find oand grammaerpret this very glish. Papers not meeting these standards will be redone until they do so, losing points along the way. Suggestions on how to write for this course are attached.
3A. Unless your word processor/computer combination supports true proportional spacing, kindly do not use full justification. We prefer a ragged right margin to funny spacing in the lines.
3B. Unless your word processor/computer combination supports true proportional spacing, kindly do not use full justification. We prefer a ragged right margin to funny spacing in the lines.
3A is correct according to the directions. 3B is incorrect from the Code in the SLS student organization handbook.
If you are not sure what any of this means, find out. I interpret this very strictly. Unless specific permission is granted for group, or team projects, I expect that your work will reflect only you own efforts.
Kindly observe the rules for citing material in your written work. If
you do not know what they are, find out. Improper citation is a major
roadblock on the information highway. Use of someone else's material
without proper citation is intellectually dishonest. See the Code of
Academic Integrity. Generally, I don't care what style manual you use,
although I prefer those that use the author's(s) full name rather than
just initials.
SCHOOL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE University of Arizona LIS 501: Introduction to the Organization of Information "CLASSIFICATION" PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM NAME____________________________________________________ CLASS SYSTEM__________________________________________________ TIME______________ 1. Explanation of the system: Background Changes Basis for differentiation or cardinality Current thinking 2. "Stage Presence" voice, diction, clarity. 2. Use of visuals/handouts/AV 4. Overall impression
This document was last updated on August 4, 1995.
URL:http://timon.sir.arizona.edu/syllabus/f95_501.html