Library Science
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The main question that will be posed (but not necessarily answered) in this course is: How should we go about designing a system which organizes information? However, in order to answer this question, we first need to ask a different question: What is the goal that we wish to achieve by developing this system?
There are vast number of possible answers to this question. A metaphysician might want to develop a system which captures the ontological structure of the world. An artist might want to develop a system which is aesthetically pleasing. A cryptographer might want to develop a system which makes it extremely difficult to retrieve information (unless you know the code).
In this course, we will assume that the goal is to allow users (who may have very different backgrounds and many different interests) to easily get the information that they want out of the system. In other words, we want the system to be an efficient tool for retrieving information in the way that a hammer (as opposed to, for instance, a shoe) is an efficient tool for pounding in nails. (Ideally, we would like the system to be "ready-to-hand" in the Heideggerian sense.) By the way, if we are successful, what we come up with may or may not satisfy the goals of the metaphysician, the artist, or even the cryptographer.
With this goal in mind, how should we develop system which organizes information? Decision theory (and game theory) will provide many of the guiding principles for answering this question. Decision theory is an attempt to determine what actions people should take (in this case, what system which organizes information they should adopt) given what their goals are and given what they think the world and the people in it are like. Figuring out what goal we wish to achieve is the first step in applying decision theory to our problem (and what I have said above is only a rough sketch of an answer).
In order to apply decision theory to our problem, we also have to figure out what people (in particular, the potential users of the system) are like. For instance, we have to take into account the interests of the user and the questions that she is likely to ask herself when she sits down to use our system. The user will no doubt ask herself, "How do I find the information that I want?" and even, "How do I know whether or not I can trust the information once I've got it?" Presumably, we would like to design our system so that the user can get the answers to these (and other questions) quickly and easily.
By the way, standard classification schemes, such as Library of Congress, Dewey Decimal, and yahoo.com, will not be ignored in this course. They will serve as examples of how things have been done right and how things have been done wrong. Also, if we did happen to hit upon the "perfect" classification scheme, we would still have a problem. How do we get there from here? A good understanding of our current practices is vital to answering this question.
TEXTS:
Mann, Thomas, Library Research Models: A Guide to Cataloging, Classification, and Computers.
Buchanan, Brian, Theory of Library Classification.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
| Paper and
Presentation Organization Project Final exam Short Assignments Participation in class and/or on POLIS (see below) |
30% 25% 20% 15% 10% |
SCHEDULE:
Part 0 - Introduction
Part 1 - Theoretical background
What is the goal of organization?
"Grocery Store Organization"
Decision Theory
Game Theory
Coordination Problems
Conversations
Part 2 - How to organize stuff
A simple model
Suppose that we have a fixed collection of physical objects and an individual who would like to retrieve items from this collection. How should we organize the collection so that this individual can retrieve the desired items?
Common extensions to the simple model
In a lot of cases, the problem of access will not be quite so simple. Sometimes items will be added to the collection. Sometimes items will be removed. Different users with different backgrounds and different interests will want to retrieve items. The items will not always be physical objects. How should these complications affect the way that we design our organizational scheme?
Part 3 - How to organize information
Of course, our ultimate goal is to figure out how to organize information. How can the techniques for organizing stuff in general be applied to information in particular? What new problems arise when the stuff that we want to organize is information? What new techniques are available for organizing information?
FURTHER INFORMATION:
There will be additional readings on reserve and/or online.
This syllabus will be updated during the semester.
This class will have a listserv (SIRLS501@listserv.arizona.edu). Please subscribe. It will be used to transfer information between the participants in the course. However, it will not be used for discussion of the topics covered in the course. We are going to try using POLIS (Project for On-Line Instructional Support) as a medium for electronic discussion in this class. Click here to go to the POLIS homepage for this course. There you will find links to instructions for using POLIS.
LINKS:
Please send comments and suggestions about this home page to the Webmaster.
This document was last updated on October 15, 1997.
URL:http://timon.sir.arizona.edu/fl97/501.html