LIS 512: Introduction to Knowledge Organization

Instructor:

Margaret Kipp

Palmer School of Information and Library Science

College of Information and Computer Science

Long Island University

margaret . kipp @ gmail . com

http://wotan.liu.edu/~meik/


Sessions:

Online, Fall 2008


Office Hours:

CW Post: By appointment

Online: Via Skype, Instant Messaging (ICQ, Yahoo, MSN or Google Talk) or the Moodle chat client.


SYLLABUS


Bulletin description

Basic principles of knowledge organization. Emphasizes understanding the function of catalogs, indexes, bibliographies, and web-browsers and acquiring the ability to use and interpret these tools effectively. Introduction to bibliographic utilities, online catalogs and indexes and World Wide Web. Introduction to resource description, metadata, ontology, controlled vocabulary, social bookmarking. Familiarity with MARC formats, Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Library of Congress Subject Headings, Dewey Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification.


Palmer School Curriculum Objectives

  1. To apply the principles of organization, selection, and evaluation of information resources. (Assignments)

  2. To demonstrate an understanding of the changing nature of the field. (Tagging Project and Class Discussions)

  3. Understand and apply digital information technologies in libraries and other information agencies. (Digital Library Project)


Course Objectives

  1. To understand the methods, tools and practices used to organise information and knowledge in information systems, especially descriptive cataloguing, indexing, classification, thesaurii and subject heading lists.

  2. To gain familiarity with the principles and issues underlying the organisation of information and knowledge.

  3. To understand the role that information organisation and representation plays in designing, accessing and using information systems.


These objectives will be met through lecture notes, in-class exercises, class discussion, assigned and suggested readings, assignments and projects.


Required Text

Taylor, Arlene G. 2004. The Organization of Information. 2nd ed. Westport, Conn. Libraries Unlimited. (ISBN: 9781563084980; LCC: Z666 .5 .T39 2004)


Web Sources

Website: http://wotan.liu.edu/~meik/512/

Mailing List: https://lists-1.liu.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwp-lis-512

Moodle: http://liu.mrooms.org/

Glossary


Summary of Topics

1

September 3

Introduction to Course and History of KO

2

September 10

Metadata Concepts and Information Retrieval

3

September 17

Standards and Principles for Descriptive Cataloguing

4

September 24

Tools and Applications for Descriptive Cataloguing

5

October 1

Subject Analysis and Categorisation

6

October 8

Indexing, Controlled Vocabularies and Thesaurii

7

October 15

Categorisation and Classification

8

October 22

Classification Systems and Schemes

9

October 29

No Class Session - Standards and Protocols in KO and IR

10

November 5

Information Organisation on the Web

11

November 12

Information Visualisation and Information Organisation

12

November 19

Conceptual Bibliographic Structures

13

November 26

No Class - Thanksgiving

14

December 3

Trends in Knowledge Organisation

Note: Dates are a guide to course progression only.


Assessments

Assessment

Percent of final mark

Associated Classes

Due

1

Basic Searching (OPAC and Web)

5

Week 1

Week 2

2

Description and Encoding

5

Week 2-4

Week 5

3

Using OCLC and Library Thing

5

Week 4

Week 6

4

Subject Analysis

5

Week 5-6

Week 7

5

Controlled Vocabularies and Tagging

5

Week 6

Week 8

6

Classification

5

Week 7-8

Week 12

7

Advanced Searching

5

Week 9

Week 11

8

Web Site Analysis

5

Week 10

Week 10

P1

Digital Library Project

25


(Week 5) End of Term

P2

Tagging Project

20


Part 1: Week 9; Part 2: End of Term


Participation

15




There are 8 short assignments and 2 projects. Assignments and projects may be submitted by email, or through Moodle.


Students may choose to substitute a term paper (1500 words) on a current issue in Knowledge Organisation for 4 of the short assignments or a 750 word issue paper responding to the weekly readings for 2 of the short assignments. For the term paper, students must submit a paragraph describing their proposed topic by week 6. Assignments 1, 2, 7 and 8 may not be replaced.


Participation

Students are expected to participate in discussion as a demonstration of their ability to articulate key concepts. Discussion may occur in a chat session or on the class mailing list. For the online course, you are responsible for submitting two original responses to the readings per month or four comments on other responses. Responses may consist of responses to readings as well as articles and other items related to the course. Include a citation (and URL if possible) and a brief explanation of how the item is relevant to the course.


Due Dates

Assignments are generally due 1-2 weeks after the final associated class unless otherwise noted. Items marked End of Term are due December 9th at midnight. Issue papers are due the week of the associated class. Term papers are due December 3rd.


Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged borrowing of material. It is considered an academic offense and can be considered grounds for failure in a course. Cite all references. http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/exhibits/plagstudent.htm



Course Outline