LIBR 244-03
Online Searching
Spring 2005

Instructor: John Hogle
E-mail
Alternate e-mail access via Blackboard
Phone: Available in Blackboard
Office Hours: Virtually by e-mail & phone.

GREENSHEET

| Textbooks | Home Computing Requirements | Assignments |
Class Schedule | Grading | Other Comments |

Notes

• I will be revising this slightly, so don't rely on any copy that you have downloaded and printed. This is part of learning to rely on electronic sources for the most up-to-date information.
• The class roster is full.

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
This 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:

• Very basics of the history, general nature, and underlying technologies of online databases.
• General theory and functionality of database searching.
• Techniques of searching commercial (fee-based) database products from several of the major database vendors and aggregators as well as Internet search engines.
• Selection of databases appropriate to search problems and the formulation of effective search strategies through the use of example search problems.

The course will also look at some of the social, commercial, quality, financial, and technical issues in online research via readings and discussion groups.

Course Objectives

SLIS 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, in a semester class, you are only going to get a sample of what it is like to use a variety of databases.

Textbooks

Required Texts
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, particularly its 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, BiblioFind, and other local and online vendors of new and used books. Be sure to get the 1999 edition, as the 1993 one is essentially 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. Oh, and they are free, free, free!

Online content provided by the instructor through Blackboard

1. Additional reading materials will be provided and/or assigned throughout the semester.
2. 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 not going to make any assignments from this book, but I still recommend it for a couple of reasons. 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.

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Required Home Computing Environment for Taking Distance Classes

• See the School's "Home Computing Requirements" at: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm  
• Broadband connections (cable, DSL, satellite, microwave, T!, etc.) are recommended because you will be accessing both Word (.doc) and Acrobat (.pdf) documents and uploading Exercise answers in the form of extensive Word documents.

Blackboard
This class will be conducted totally online via the "BlackBoard Learning System." Lectures, assignments, and most communications (both directions) will be conducted via Blackboard. Course information and announcements, assignments, and many documents and resources will be available through Blackboard. Discussions will be carried on through it as well.

New Student Technology Course
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.

To Enroll in the Blackboard site for this class:

1. First, you must be registered for the class. If you are not and you enroll on the Blackboard site for the class, I will remove you.
2. You must enroll at the Blackboard site between January 22-30. The URL of the School's Blackboard site is: http://tigris.sjsu.edu/
3. After that date, anybody who is registered for the class will have to e-mail me for a code number to enroll in the Blackboard site for the class.

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Assignments

You will have three types of assignments:

• Readings - These will be 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 - Generally, these will be on the subject of the moment. You must constructively participate in online discussions via Blackboard on, at least, a weekly basis to get full credit for the discussion part of the grade. Students last semester received as few as four (4) points for this part.
• 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 under Exercises. You will be provided specific guidelines for each exercise.
  • The same Blackboard page (under Exercises on the left-side menu) for a specific exercise will be used to download the exercise and upload the answers. Do NOT use the DropBox, if the Exercise upload facility is not working for you. Instead, e-mail me the exercise to my personal e-mail address.
  • The exercises will be submitted in the form of Word (.doc) documents through the use of the Search/Results/Analysis Worksheet.  

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Remember that this is not a self-paced class. Readings, discussion contributions, and exercises will have to be done per the schedule and due dates.

Class Schedule

Still working on this. It will be up by the beginning of class.

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Grading

Grading Scale
Letter grade equivalents (SJSU recommended grading scale for graduate students.)
I will be using this scale:

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 one will will be worth a maximum of 9 points. Also see the important note below.

A note on grading individual questions

• 3/4 of the point value for each question will awarded for a record that provides a valid answer to the search question.
• 1/4 of the point value for each question will be awarded for a well-prepared search planning and analysis work sheet, with most of that awarded for a thorough analysis of your search experience for the individual question.
• Students have lost a grade because of lost points through an accumulation of poorly documented search strategies and analyses.
• See the details of the requirements on each Exercise.

Important Notes:

• I do not give letter grades for individual exercises, only points.
• Late exercises will not be accepted after I have graded and returned everyone else's assignment (usually 7-10 days). In other words, you will get zero (0) points for that assignment. Please contact the instructor if you have a medical illness (a medical certificate from your physician will be required) or a family tragedy. I hate to be heavy duty about this, but I have had students get answers from other students before turning in their own, late exercise. That is unfair to everybody else.
• INCOMPLETES ARE NOT ACCEPTED.

 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) basis, providing constructive, thoughtful contributions to the discussion of the:
  • Reading assignments.
  • Lectures.
  • Databases
  • Techniques of database searching.
  • Fellow students observations and comments.
  • Questions that I post for your consideration and debate.
• You can, of course, create new subject threads for the consideration of everyone. Just make sure that they relate to the subject(s) being covered by the class with an emphasis on the current subject being studied.

Academic Honesty & 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. Additional information on Academic Integrity and Dishonesty and the impacts are available in the SJSU Schedule and Catalog, in both the print and online editions.

Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
Students who need accommodation due to a disability must register with SJSU's Disability Resource Center (DRC) during the first three weeks of the semester. The Center will work with the students to determine the disability, document it, and determine the services and accommodations necessary for student success. Then, the DRC will contact the faculty member to determine the types of consideration necessary.

Students attending the Fullerton campus should first contact the Disability Resource Center in San Jose since they are SJSU students. The DRC will then direct the students to supporting resources on the Fullerton campus.

The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/

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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. Again, 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. Even dogs are getting into it: take a look at http://jokes.klabaster.com/pics/pc-cartoon01.png

All-in-all, 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 some of this knowledge on to library patrons, family, and friends. It's called "empowerment." I'll talk more about this in the introductory lectures and in e-mails and discussion topics. Good luck, good searching.

Cheers, John

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