UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

School of Information Resources & Library Science

IRLS 501

Knowledge Structures I

Summer I – 2003

Instructor: Deborah J. Karpuk

E-Mail: arizonakarpuk@aol.com

Office Hours: Following Class

WebCT will be used for online discussion

Course Objective:

This course provides a framework for understanding the organization of information and the implications for knowledge management. Decisions regarding the organization of materials, access points, vocabulary control, thesauri, and user perspectives will be covered.

Course Meetings:

IRLS 501 will meet:

June 9^th-June 13^th (9:00 a.m.—5:30 p.m.)

Classroom TBA

Weekly Online Discussions: June 16^th, June 23^rd, June 30^th, July 7^th

(Monday evenings, 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.; WebCT Chat Room)

Agenda: Discussion of readings per course calendar; Q/A session

Course Text:

The course text is available at the University bookstore.

Rowley, Jennifer and John Farrow. ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE: AN INTRODUCTION TO MANAGING ACCESS TO INFORMATION. 3^rd ed. (Burlington, Vt.: Gower, 2000) [Entire text will be read for IRLS 501]

Additional Readings:

(ELECTRONIC RESERVES)

IRLS 501 section 1-2: Readings for on-campus meetings.

IRLS 501 section 851: Readings for online discussions.

The instructor will distribute additional readings in class.

Individual Project:

The individual project will be detailed on a separate sheet.

Core components of the project include. The DRAFT dates provide for beginning each of the project sections during the week on campus.

Points for each section will be assigned with FINAL SUBMISSION.

This strategy provides the opportunity to begin each area of the project as the topic is being covered in class lecture, simulation exercises and discussion.

Application Points Draft Due

Non-bibliographical organizational problem	20	June 9, 2003
Bibliographic description	10	June 10, 2003
Subject headings, thesauri, indexes	20	June 11, 2003
Classification	10	June 12, 2003
User Perspectives and searching	20	June 13, 2003
Final project and debriefing	20	See Below

PROJECTS WILL BE MAILED TO DR. K’s POST OFFICE BOX.

Include sufficient postage for the return of your project.

Project detailed on separate handout.

Methodology:

This course will be conducted through lecture, class discussion, in-class exercises, an individual project, and online discussions. The instructor retains the option to examine on course content. Participation is required.

Grading:

Grading Scale:

A	93+
B	86-92
C	78-85
D	70-77
F	69 and below
*******	*****************

Attendance is required in order to get an "A" in the class. Classes begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. and end promptly at 5:30 p.m. Office hours before class, during lunch hour, and immediately after class preferred.

Organization of Course Topics:

The course is divided into three sections. Read course materials PRIOR to the class session. Review the readings, class lecture and simulation exercises and APPLY the information to your project.

Section I:

Issues in organization of information

Historical perspectives

Envisioning information organization

Categorizing for retrieval (non-bibliographic)

Readings:

Borges "The Library of Babel"

Rowley pages 3-92

Borgman "Access to information", p. 53-80.

Svenonius "Information organization", p. 1-14; "Bibliographic objectives", p. 15-30.

Rosenfeld "Organizing information", p. 22-46.

Class Handouts (examples, exercises, discussion points)

Section II:

Principles of description (bibliographic)

Standards and consistency

Access points and vocabulary control

User perspectives

Readings:

Rowley pages 52-271

Borgman "Why are digital libraries hard to use", p. 117-141

Winchester "Roget and his brilliant, unrivaled, malign, and detestable thesaurus", The Atlantic Monthly, May 2001 [Available through WWW, UMI Proquest]

Petroski "Order, order", p. 233-252 in THE BOOK ON THE BOOKSHELF (New York: Knopf, 1999) [will bring to class]

Class Handouts (examples, exercises, discussion points)

Section III:

Categorization and classification

Verbal subject analysis

Classification systems

Knowledge structures and retrieval

Readings:

Rowley pages 275-391

Class Handouts (examples, exercises, discussion points)

Students are invited to bring additional readings and examples from research projects.

ONLINE DISCUSSIONS: 6:30-8:00 p.m., WebCT Chat

Electronic Reserves under: IRLS 501 section 851.

June 16^th: Ashley, Blazek (both articles), Bowler, Brown

June 23^rd: Day (two articles), Herron, Hurt

June 30^th: Katx, Lavely, Spanner

July 7^th: Stokes (two articles), Tibbo, Seggern