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GREENSHEET
This is a preliminary Greensheet. It may be revised prior to the first class and/or during the semester.
Course
Description
Catalog
Description:
Techniques of searching and
managing on-line search services. Includes searching strategies,
evaluation of database structures, implementation and management
of search services and on-line experience.
My Description
The course focuses on providing a
basic understanding of online database searching techniques
appropriate to providing effective search services to customers in
a variety of information-seeking environments.
Specifically, the course will
introduce you to:
- The basics of the history,
general nature, and underlying technologies of online
databases.
- The general theory and
functionality of database searching.
- The techniques of searching
commercial (fee-based) database products from several of the
major database vendors and aggregators as well as Internet
search engines.
- The selection of databases
appropriate to search problems and the formulation of effective
search strategies through the use of example search
problems.
Course
Objectives
This course supports SLIS
objectives, including the preparation of "students to function
effectively in libraries, information centers, schools, and other
relevant institutions."
My Objectives
I expect students to come out of
this class with::
- A basic understanding of
databases and how to search them in a reasonably sophisticated
manner.
- The confidence that they can
learn to search any kind of database available to
them.
This class will only give you a
taste of database searching. The day you are done with it, you
will not remember all of the databases you have explored nor all
of the techniques of database searching that you have learned and
applied. It does not matter. You will only learn to search
databases efficiently and effectively when you are doing it
frequently wherever you work, with whatever databases you have
available to you. The latter depends on the nature of the
information service environment you work in, so this class must be
a sampler.
Required
Texts
Book:
Walker, Geraldene &
Joseph Janes, Online Retrieval: A Dialogue of Theory and
Practice, 2nd Ed., 1999, Libraries Unlimited.
http://www.greenwood.com/books/BookDetail.asp?sku=LU6573
- This book is getting old,
but it is still good for the basic theory of database
searching, with an emphasis on using Dialog, which is a
large part of your grade. Buy it and mark it up.
- This is available at the
SJSU Bookstore, and single print and online copies are
available online through the catalog at http://www.sjlibrary.org.
(You must have your SJSU ID.) Several copies are
available from other libraries through Link+ (access from
the SJ Library catalog.) You can also find used copies
through BookFinder,
Alibris,
AbeBooks,
and other local and online vendors of new and used books. Be
sure to get the 1999 edition, as the 1993 one is
more-or-less pre-World Wide Web.
Online guides, tutorials, &
other references provided by the various database
vendors
I will specify these as
we go along. Unlike software manuals, the best guides to
searching databases are often from the database vendors
themselves.
Online content provided by the
instructor through Blackboard
This may be my content or
other resources.
Notes
- Additional reading materials
may be provided and/or assigned throughout the
semester.
- The only material that you may
have to spend money on is the book by Geraldine
Walker.
Recommended
Texts
Hock, Randolph, The
Extreme Searcher's Internet Handbook, Information Today,
February 2004.
I am recommending this book for a
couple of reasons. One, more-and-more materials, including
peer-reviewed scientific/academic/professional literature, are
going to the Web, bypassing or duplicating what is in commercial
databases. Consequently, you are going to need excellent skills in
Internet research. In addition, more-and-more people of all sorts
select the Web as the first place to look for information. As a
librarian in many information environments, you are going to be
expected to show them how to do effective Web
searching.
Required Home
Computer Environment for Taking Distance Classes
See the School's "Home
Computing Requirements" at: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm
Blackboard
This class will be conducted
totally online via the "BlackBoard Learning System." Lectures,
assignments, and most communications (both directions) will be
conducted via Blacboard. Course information and announcements,
assignments, and many documents and resources will be available
through Blackboard. Discussions will be carried on through it as
well.
You must enroll at the Blackboard
site between August 23-27. The URL of the School's Blackboard site
is: http://tigris.sjsu.edu/
See the School's "New Student
Technology Course" at: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/slis/blackboardintro.htm
on how to:
- Create a Blackboard
account.
- Enroll in a Blackboard
class.
Assignments
You will have three
types of assignments:
- Reading required sections of
the book, selected articles, database tutorials and guides, and
other documents made available through Blackboard. You will
demonstrate your knowledge of what you have read and studied by
your contributions to online discussions and your execution of
the search exercises.
- Online discussions of the the
subject of the moment. You must constructively
participate in online discussions via Blackboard on a weekly
basis to get full credit for the discussion part of the
grade.
- Search Exercises - These will
be a series of assignments in which in which you will design,
execute, and analyze online searches for sets of questions that
will be posted on Blackboard.
- You will be provided
specific guidelines for each exercise.
- I have not fully decided
which databases you will be searching, but they will
definitely include Gale Group Infotrac databases and the
Dialog collection of several hundred databases.
Class
Schedule
This is not yet
resolved because I have not, as noted above, decided completely on
which databases you will be searching.:
Grading
|
Database Searching
Exercises
|
90
points
|
|
Participation in Online
Discussions
|
10
points
|
|
Total
|
100
points
|
Letter grade equivalents
(SJSU recommended grading scale for graduate
students.)
|
97 to 100
points
|
= A
|
|
94 to
96
|
= A-
|
|
91 to
93
|
= B+
|
|
88 to
90
|
= B
|
|
85 to
87
|
= B-
|
|
82 to
84
|
= C+
|
|
79 to
81
|
= C
|
|
76 to
78
|
= C-
|
|
73 to
75
|
= D+
|
Grading of the exercises is
based on a combination of:
- Completing all of the
assignments.
- Finding results that answer
the search problems. Sometimes this will be one (1) specific
article. Other times, a variety of articles may answer a search
problem.
- Evidence that you are using
search commands and syntax in more than a rudimentary
manner.
- Demonstrating creativity,
thought, thoroughness, and the application of what you have
learned in class in your database selection and search
strategies.
- Providing an analysis of your
thoughts, strategies, and results for your
searches.
- Following instructions. (No
kidding. In other classes I have had students lose a
substantial number of points because they did not follow the
explicit instructions.)
- Submitting the exercises on
time. A late exercise is automatically 10% off. Grading will
start from there. For example, if an assignment is worth 10
points, a late will will be worth a maximum of 9
points.
Important
Notes:
- I do not give letter grades
for individual assignments, only points.
- Late assignments
will
not be accepted
after I have graded and returned everyone else's assignment
(usually 7-10 days). Please contact the instructor if you a a
medical illness (a medical certificate from your physician will
be required) or a family tragedy.
Grading of the
participation in class discussion is based on:
- Initially, posting a brief
biography as well as a statement of your goals in learning
database searching.
- On a weekly (or more
frequently) provding constructive, thoughtful contributions to
the discussion of the:
- Reading
assignments.
- Lectures.
- Databases
- Techniques of database
searching.
- Fellow students
observations and comments.
Accomodation
Course accommodation refers
to the instructional methods and Web site design that meets the
requirements for the Americans with Disabilities Act. This course
is on a Web site designed to accommodate a script reader for the
visually disabled. If you need any special consideration due to a
disability, you should register with the SJSU Disability Resource
Center and notify the instructor by the second week of the
semester. All such information will remain confidential between
the instructor and the student.
Plagiarism
Students must produce their
own work for all submitted assignments. Work submitted must be
properly documented, and sources must be properly cited as
specified in class. The San Jose State University regulations
governing plagiarism will be enforced. Evidence of plagiarism may
result in an "F" grade for the course and, possibly, in discipline
from the college. Be sure to read the SJSU Academic Integrity
Policy at http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S04-12.pdf
Other
Comments
Having taken
distance-learning classes myself, I know that online classes
require more self-discipline. Consequently, I recommend that you
stay up to date with the class readings and assignments.
Incompletes
are not accepted.
After all of the heavy-duty stuff
above, let's get to the point of this class. The ability to
effectively and efficiently search for information in online
databases continues to become an ever-more vital skill, not only
for information professions but for the public as a whole. What I
hope that you get out of this class is a sufficient knowledge,
skill, and confidence to search any kind of databases and that you
pass this knowledge on to patrons, family, and friends. It's
called "empowerment." I'll talk more about this in the
introductory lectures and in emails and discussion topics. Good
luck and searching.
Cheers, John
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