LIS 745 Searching Electronic Databases - Spring, 2008
Mary J. Klatt M.A.L.S.

Office Phone: 708-216-5305
Home: 708-544-0996
Email: mklatt@lumc.edu

Course Description:

This couse will cover the following:

·         Elements of information retrieval system

·         Database services

·         Indexing methods

·         Search strategy

·         Searching technique

·         Intermediary searching

·         Database searching services and administration

Required Texts:

Bell, SS.  Librarian’s Guide to Online Searching.  Libraries Unlimited. 2006

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  • Identify and analyze information needs within traditional and non-tradition database environment
  • Describe the difference between database producers and database vendors
  • Use a database thesaurus
  • Conduct a presearch interview
  • Choose appropriate databases to search
  • Develop logical search strategies
  • Conduct database searches
  • Refine searches for relavancy
  • Teach others to identify, analyze, organize and use information from databases.

Assignments:

Assignments are listed on the Course Outline. Late assignments will be down grade one grade.

Midterm Exam: There will be an objective exam.

Midterm Project: See class documents

Final Project:

The final project will consist of one search across multiple databases. A 1-2 page summary should accompany the search. A ten to fifteen presentation describing the search experience will be required.

Grading:

Points: Assignments 300, Mid-term 150, Midterm Project 150, Final Project 250    Total  850

850-808            A

807- 780           A-

779-765            B+

764-739            B

738-722             B-

721-705            C+

704 -680          C

679 - 663          C-

662 -637           D+

638 -620           D

619- 599           D-

598-                  F

 Course Outline

Note: The Bell readings are in your textbook.  Many of the other readings are located in the Course Documents subfolder Weekly Readings in Blackboard.

Date

 

Due

1/15

Introduction.  The basics of searching. 

·         Seven steps

·         Database producers and database vendors. 

  • Database structure.  Database types.

 

 

 

Reading Assignments

·                                  Bell; Pages 1-11; 223-237

·                                  Basic Literature Searching Techniques (Klatt)

·            Armstrong & Large. Search strategies: Some general considerations.  In Manual of Online Search Strategies, p. 1-17. 

·            Quint, B. Inside a Searcher’s Mind: The Seven Stages of an Online Search. Part 1. Online 1991 May; 16(3) p. 13-18.

·            Quint, B. Inside a Searcher’s Mind: The Seven Stages of an Online Search. Part 2. Online 1991 July; 16(5) p. 28-25.

 

 

1/22

Basics of searching II.

  • The Reference Interview
  • Thesauri and controlled vocabulary. 
  • Blue Sheets.

·         Strategy formulation

 

 

Reading Assignments:

 

 

Assignment 1

1/29

1/29

Introduction to DialogClassic

·         Basic Commands

·         Basic Index

 

 

Reading Assignments:

·         Dialog Pocket Guide  http://support.dialog.com/searchaids/dialog/pocketguide/pktgde.pdf

·         DiMattia, Susan.  How we teach (or should teach) online searching.  Online. Mar/Apr 2007 v. 31 #2, p. 34-38.
 

 

 

 

Assignment 2

2/5

2/5

Basics of Search III

·         Percison vs. Recall.

·         Pearl Growing

More DialogClasic

Searching ERIC. Website: http://www.eric.ed.gov/

 

 

 

Reading Assignments:

·         Bell, 47

·         ERIC's Extreme Makeover Carol Tenopir. Library Journal 2004 p. 36

·         Morgan, EL What is more Important: the questions or the answers?

·         Ramer, SL Site-ation Pearl Growing. J Med Libr Assoc. 2005 July; 93(3): 397–400.

 

 

Assignment 3

2/12

2/12

Review of Searching Assignment.  Advanced Dialog.  Searching the Humanties: PsycInfo, SocialSci search. Software tools for publishing and managing bibliographies: Endnote, Reference Manager, RefWorks. Citation Databases.

 

 

 

Reading Assignments:

·         Kassel, Amelia Tales of a Searcher's Life: A Comedy of errors or a test of patience? Searcher; Sept. 2002 v. 10 #8, p. 48

 

 

 

Assignment 4

2/19

2/19

Review of Search Assignment.  More Advanced Dialog.  Searching Business Databases.  Dialog Web.

 

 

 

Reading Assignments:

 

 

 

 

Assignment 5

2/26

2/26

Review of Search Assignment. Basic OVID searching

 

 

Reading Assignments:

OVID Web Gateway User Manual.

 

 

 

Assignment 6

3/11

Spring Break March 3-9

 

3/11

MIDTERM PROJECTS ARE DUE. More OVID.  Science & Biomedical Databases

·         Medline (both on OVID and PubMed

·         Biosis

·         Cinahl

·         Embase

·         NCBI databases

 

 

Reading Assignments:

Bell, p. 89-106

Medline Fact Sheet http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/medline.html

Relationships in Medical Subject Headings In: Bean, Carol A.; Green, Rebecca, editors. Relationships in the organization of knowledge. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 2001. p.171-184. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshrels.html

Prasek MA. BIOSIS previews: the power of codes. [Journal Article] Medical Reference Services Quarterly. 17(2):43-9, 1998.

 

 

Assignment 7

3/25

3/18

MIDTERM EXAM

 

 

 

 

3/25

Newspaper databases.  Searching NEXIS

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment 8

4/1

4/1

The Legal Databases.  Searching Lexis

 

 

 

 

 

Assignment 9

4/8

4/8

Command searching in EbscoHost, FirstSearch,  Searching the Internet. Search Engines, Subject Directory, Meta-Search tools, Specialized engines, evaluating results. End-User Searching

 

 

Reading Assignment:

  • Bell, 239-251

 

 

4/15

Proquest, RefWorks, CSA Illumina

 

 

 

 

4/22

Presentation of Final Projects

 

 

 

 

4/29

Presentations of Final Projects