LIBR 202-14
Information Retrieval
Fall 2008 Greensheet
Shimelis Assefa, PhD
E-mail
Office Location: University of Denver, Johnson-McFarlane Hall, Room 108, Denver, CO 80208.
Virtual Office Hours: E-mail, Telephone, IM via Meebo Widget in BB, and scheduled conferencing via Elluminate. Elluminate session dates are on 8/30, 9/27, 10/25, and 11/29 from 9:00 to 11:00 am (PST).
Phone: (303) 923-3243.
| Greensheet Links Textbooks and Readings Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials |
LIBR 202 Resources Online Resource Supplemental Readings Inmagic Download |
Students must self-enroll for the course on Blackboard. The required password access enrollment code is provided with the MySJSU Messaging system.
Course Description
Principles of information retrieval and their application to information systems and services. Emphasizing models of user information seeking behavior, human information processing and their relationship to retrieval models in information systems
Course Prerequisites: demonstrated computer literacy and basic understanding of information storage, information representation, and retrieval.
Course Objectives
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon a successful completion of the course the student should be able to:
- Explain the components that make up an information retrieval system
- Describe and discuss the key features of the different information retrieval models
- Understand the essential ingredients in IR toolbox, such as:
- Document analysis/text operations
- Indexing
- Query languages
- Searching
- Describe the different information seeking behavior models
- Understand IR evaluation methods
LIBR 202 supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- Design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems;
- Understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge;
- Describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors.
These additional SLIS Core Competencies are also supported by this section:
- Use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation, and organization of specific items or collections of information;
- Demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities;
- Use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;
- Demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations.
See: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/slis/competencies.htm
Textbooks and Readings
Required Textbook
- Baeza-Yates, R., Ribeiro-Neto, B. (1999). Modern Information Retrieval. New York: ACM Press.
- Meadow, C.T., Boyce, B.R., Kraft, D.H., & Barry, C. (2007). Text Information Retrieval Systems. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Academic press.
Recommended Readings
- Chowdhury, G.G. (2004). Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval. London: Facet publishing.
Supplemental Readings are available in Blackboard under "Class Resources"
NOTE: If books are purchased from Amazon via SLIS referral (http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/courses/books), SLIS scholarship funds get a 6%referral bonus.
Course Requirements
Complete LIBR 203: Online Social Networking: Technology and Tools
This is a mandatory 1 unit course that introduces students to the various e-learning tools used in the SLIS program, including Blackboard, Elluminate and Second Life. This course must be completed by all new SLIS students within the first 4 weeks of their first semester. If you have questions about this course, e-mail Debbie Faires or Dale David.
For more information, see http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/classes/coursedesc.htm
Assignments
Assignments include the following categories. Description of assignments, due dates, and related details are available in Blackboard under "Course Information."
- Weekly discussion postings and participation in the discussion forum
- Web IR and search engines
- Next generation Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
- Database design
- Midterm
- Final Exam
| Assignment | Points | %age |
| Weekly discussion postings & participation in the discussion forum (15 at 10 points each) | 150 | 20 |
| Web IR and search engines | 100 | 15 |
| Next generation OPAC | 100 | 15 |
| Database Design | 200 | 25 |
| Midterm | 100 | 10 |
| Final exam | 100 | 15 |
| Total | 750 | 100 |
Course Calendar
Description of assignments and due dates are available in Blackboard. There is always flexibility in assignment due dates if personal or professional responsibilities will not allow a student to complete tasks on the due dates.
| Week (Date) | Topic | Readings |
| 1 (8/25) | Introduction, definition, history, the retrieval process, IR components |
|
| 2 (9/1) | Labor Day, No Class | |
| 3 (9/8) | IR models – classical, Boolean, vector, probabilistic, and language models |
|
| 4 (9/15) | Information representation – subject analysis |
|
| 5 (9/22) | Query Languages – language types, keyword-based, single-word, context queries |
|
| 6 (9/29) | Query operations – interpretation and execution of query statements |
|
| 7 (10/6) | Indexing of documents, indexing and searching |
|
| 8 (10/13) | Text operations, natural language processing |
|
| 9 (10/20) | Database design, file structure, logical and physical data structure |
|
| 10 (10/27) | Searching the web, web IR |
|
| 11 (11/3) | Information seeking behavior, information needs |
|
| 12 (11/10) | User interfaces and visualization, the information retrieval system interface |
|
| 13 (11/17) | Semantic web |
|
| 14 (11/24) | Faceted search, tagging and social bookmarking, folksonomy, personalization |
|
| 15 (12/1) | Digital libraries, Libraries and bibliographical systems |
|
| 16 (12/8) | Evaluation of retrieval effectiveness |
|
Grading Scale
The standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale is utilized for all SLIS courses:
| 97-100 | A |
| 94-96 | A- |
| 91-93 | B+ |
| 88-90 | B |
| 85-87 | B- |
| 82-84 | C+ |
| 79-81 | C |
| 76-78 | C- |
| 73-75 | D+ |
| 70-72 | D |
| 67-69 | D- |
| Below 67 | F |
In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:
- C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
- B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
- A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.
Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0.
Academic Integrity
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University's Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the Office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://sa.sjsu.edu/student_conduct.
Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability,
please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires
that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center
(DRC) to establish record of their disability.
No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
One Washington Square - San José, California USA, 95192-0029
Phone: 408-924-2490
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