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Home - Course Web Pages - Spring 2006 - LIBR 244-02 Greensheet

LIBR 244-02
Online Searching
Spring 2006 Greensheet

Robert Wagers
E-mail
Phone:(831) 234-5044
Office Hours: Feb 8, Mar 1, Mar 22, Apr 12, 1430-1600; virtual and by appointment

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Greensheet Links Textbooks and Resources Course Requirements

Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials

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Students should self-enroll on the Blackboard course site. The instructor will provide an access code to all registered students, no later than January 10, via MySJSU.

Course Description

This course focuses on learning search techniques and content for the major commercial (fee-based) online aggregators, and integrating this search expertise with Internet research. Topics will include searching techniques, evaluation of services and databases, database structure, and introductions to search systems, including Internet-based information. Other topics may include economic issues and library and information center online services management. This is a survey course designed to introduce students to computer-based research in a wide variety of databases and search services. Systems involving online exercises include Dialog, Lexis-Nexis, Factiva, Web search engines, subscription-based databases, and other resources.

Prerequisites: LIBR 202 (LIBR 210 is recommended)

Course Objectives

The student will:

• gain an experience necessary to perform basic online searches
• learn the features and files of a variety of systems
• develop criteria for evaluating online sources of information
• evaluate current developments in database retrieval.

This course meets the School objective:

Teaching students the major theories, important principles, and current practice in: Information transfer; Information management, including the selection, organization, storage, retrieval, dissemination and utilization of information resources;

Textbooks and Resources

Required Textbooks
The required textbooks for this course are:

• Introduction to Dialog for Information Professionals 2005.  http://gep.dialog.com/instruction/workbook
• Walker, Geraldine. Online Retrieval. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2nd edition, 1999.
• Hock, Randolph. The Extreme Searcher’s Internet Handbook. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2004.

Available from the publisher, Amazon, other vendors, and the Spartan Bookstore.

Online Vendor Resources
Vendor provided online guides, tutorials and other reference materials, available at no cost.

• Dialog
  • Dialog Pocket Guide (HTML or PDF versions)
    http://support.dialog.com/searchaids/dialog/pocketguide
  • Dialog DataBase Catalog PDF 3Mb
    http://support.dialog.com/publications/dbcat
  • Dialog Database Catalog Supplement PDF 845KB
    http://support.dialog.com/publications/dbcat
  • Introduction to Dialog; Featuring DialogClassic
    http://training.dialog.com/sem_info/courses/general.html#idc
  • Download: Introduction to Dialog; Featuring DialogClassic (PDF file, 1.2MB.)
  • Reference Card with Basic Commands (use as a cheat sheet)
    http://gep.dialog.com/instruction/pdf/student_ref_guide.pdf
• LexisNexis Resources
  http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/courses/244/lexisnexis.htm
• Factiva.com Inside Out Guide
  http://www.factiva.com/collateral/download_brchr.asp?node=menuElem1526

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Course Requirements
Students will satisfactorily complete:

• online exercises
• readings
• online discussions
• examinations

Grading
See description of assignments on the Blackboard site:

Online Exercises	50%
Readings/Discussion	30%
Exams	20%

General Expectations for Students
I expect the following:

• Have the minimal home computing environment as described at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm
• Use a current virus protection program to scan all assignments before they are submitted electronically to Blackboard, other students and to your instructor
• Enroll in Blackboard to participate in class. (http://tigris.sjsu.edu)
• Submit selected assignments electronically. Use the following scheme for submitting files: [Course Number]_[Student's Last Name]_Assignment] Example: LIBR244_MyName _Exercise1 . Do not use special characters in the name—BlackBoard doesn’t tolerate them!
• Submit assignments by midnight of the due date. Reading late assignments is at the instructor’s discretion.  The highest grade you can earn with a late assignment is C.  Generally the only excuses for late submissions are illness or emergency.  Family, work, and recreational problems are usually not emergencies.  Do not wait until after the assignment is due to request consideration for late submissions.
• Consistently follow the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) for formats, citations and references
• Avoid spelling, grammatical and syntactical errors. Professional level skills are expected.

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism
All assignments submitted must be your own work. Sources in papers must be properly cited. The San Jose State University regulations governing plagiarism will be enforced. Those regulations may be found at:

• http://info.sjsu.edu
  search option: Academic Dishonesty.
• SJSU Academic Integrity Policy
  http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S04-12.pdf

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/

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