GRADUATE
LIS
745: SEARCHING ELECTRONIC DATABASES (3 sem. hours)
Fall Semester
2007 Sep. 5 - Dec. 22, 2007
Section 745-01 River Forest Tuesdays
6 - 9 p.m. Lewis 004 (9/11 - 12/18/07)
Section 745-02 River Forest Wednesdays
1 - 4 p.m. Crown 330 (9/05 -12/19/07)
Instructor Marilyn
A. Lester, Adjunct Associate Professor
Ph.D. Library & Information Science, Univ. of
Ill. Urbana-Champaign
Mailing address W5470 County Road ES, Elkhorn, Wisconsin 53121
Home office 262-742-4796
(8 a.m. - 9 p.m.)
E-mail LesterMarilyn@aol.com
Office hours one
hour before every class; other times by phone, e-mail, appointment
Online information Blackboard.dom.edu
REQUIRED TEXT:
Bell, Suzanne S. Librarian's
Guide to Online Searching. Westport,
CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2006.
To be handed out in class (free):
·
Dialog Database Catalog
2005 and Supplement 2006
·
Introduction to DIALOG
for Information Professionals. [Dialog
workbook Sec. 1-4]
·
Download
other publications at www.dialog.com
DIALOG materials
and student passwords are provided through the courtesy of the Thomson Corp.'s Dialog
Graduate Education Program
Related Texts:
Bopp, Richard and Linda C. Smith. Reference
and Information Services: An Introduction. 3d ed. Englewood,
CO.: Libraries Unlimited, 2001.
Walker, Geraldene and
Joseph Janes. Online Retrieval: A
Dialogue of Theory and Practice. Second ed. Englewood, CO.: Libraries Unlimited, 1999.
Course (catalog) description:
Advanced study of the principles, concepts
and skills needed in reference and information services in order to help answer
users' information queries by searching electronically accessible databases. An
overview of existing and state-of-the-art information systems and the
development of appropriate search strategies.
Prerequisites for this class: LIS 701 Introduction to Library &
Information Science, LIS 703 Organization of Knowledge, and LIS 704 Reference
& Online Services.
Learning Objectives:
At
the end of this course, students will be able to:
·
Perform effective search question
negotiations, facet analyses, search strategy formulations, and online
searches.
·
Identify the subject contents and
producers of major free and fee-based databases.
·
Retrieve information effectively using
free and fee-based online databases.
·
Query databases by vendors and producers
such as Dialog, Ebsco, H.W. Wilson, OCLC,
LexisNexis, OVID, ProQuest/CSA, others.
·
Evaluate databases and systems based on
ease of use, level and subject of coverage, cost, and other considerations.
·
Produce a professional Information Product
for a client with a real information need, and describe the process used to
produce it.
·
Create an annotated bibliography applying
APA, Chicago/Turabian, or MLA citation style.
·
Discuss issues and trends in searching
online databases and information retrieval.
Relationship
of this course to Dominican University’s M.L.I.S. degree objectives:
LIS 745 will
support the program objectives by teaching and guiding students:
·
to identify and analyze information needs (MLIS objective # 3);
·
to develop creative solutions to information problems (MLIS
objective # 4);
·
to evaluate and use systems, technologies, services and products
that connect users with information. (MLIS objective # 5);
·
to promote and practice values of ethical responsibilities,
confidentiality, intellectual freedom, and universal access to information
(MLIS objective #2).
How I Teach
My philosophy of teaching is grounded in adult
learning theory. As your instructor, I
am a facilitator of your learning. As
graduate students, you are expected to teach yourselves by reading, discussing,
thinking, and doing. Students are
expected to learn as much from each other as from the instructor. Attendance and discussion are essential
components of this class. You are expected to perform database searches and
other exercises both inside and outside of class.
Assignments and Grades
10% Active
class discussion, exercises, attendance
10% Paper
1: Indexing (due Class 3)
15% Exam
I (Class 5)
10% Paper
2: Evaluating Databases and Vendors (due Class 6)
15% Exam
II (Class 10)
20% Final
project - oral presentation
20% Final
project - Information Project for client
(due Class 15)
DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY GRADING POLICY (definitions approved by GSLIS faculty 12/15/2004)
A 95-100 Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command
of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or
creativity that far surpasses course expectations; nearly flawless work.
A- 90-94 Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough
knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing
all requirements in a superior manner.
B+ 85-89
Good solid work. Student
performance demonstrates strong comprehension of the course materials and
exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
B 80-84
Satisfactory acceptable work.
Student performance meets
designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course
materials and performs at an acceptable level.
B- 75-79
Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete,
substandard understanding of course materials, or absence of required work;
indicates danger of falling below acceptable grading standard.
C+ 70-74 Unsatisfactory work
C below 70
Unacceptable work
Classroom policies regarding
attendance and late arrival:
Graduate students are
expected to attend all classes and actively participate in the teaching and
learning process. Instructor must be
notified if absence is essential; points may be deducted for missing class.
Completion of work:
Students are expected to
complete all assignments on time. Late
assignments may be accepted with approval of instructor.
Consequences for failure to
meet the requirements of the course and classroom policies:
Students who are
unprepared for class and/or fail to complete assignments can expect their final
grades to be at least one full letter grade less than other students.
Academic
Honesty Policy
Student are expected to conduct themselves
in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty and
integrity. Appropriate credit must be
given to original creators of all works used.
Please see the Dominican University Student Handbook for the full
statement of Academic Integrity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COURSE CALENDAR AND ASSIGNMENTS
Class 1 BASICS OF ONLINE SEARCHING Tues Sep. 11; Wed Sep. 5
Course
objectives, assignments, Blackboard, bibliographic citation styles
Final project:
Information Product and presentation to the class
What's online
searching all about? Users and Information
Information
retrieval systems; searching the Invisible Web
Basics of
Searching - The Seven Stages (Quint)
Facet Analyses
Part 1 - turning the research question into searchable concepts
Database producers, vendors, aggregators - Dialog, Ebsco, Factiva,
H. W. Wilson, OCLC, OVID, ProQuest/CSA,
Subject contents
of online databases
Gale
Directory of Databases 2007. Detroit: Thomson
Gale, 2006. Dialog (File 230)
"Dewey, Indexes, and
Databases" (Lester's list of major databases by subject)
Introduction to
ERIC, MEDLINE, ABI/Inform, MLA, NTIS, Agricola
In-class exercise: Reference questions
and facet analyses
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS 2:
Bell, Ch. 1
Database Structure for Everyone: Records, Fields, and Indexes
Bell, Ch. 2 Searcher's Toolkit - Part 1 (Boolean,
Controlled Vocabulary, Field Searching)
Bell, Ch. 3 Searcher's Toolkit - Part 2 (Proximity,
Truncation, Limiting, Pearl Growing)
Quint,
Barbara. "Inside a Searcher's Mind:
The Seven Stages of an Online Search - Part 1." Online 15, no. 3 (May 1991): 13-18; "… Part 2." Online 15, no. 4 (July 1991): 28-35.
Tenopir, Carol. "Human
or Automated, Indexing is Important."
Library Journal 124 n. 18
(Nov. 1, 1999): 34, 38.
Read other articles by Tenopir, Markey, Drabenstott, Roose from
Bibliography
Class 2 INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING Tues Sep. 18; Wed Sep. 12
SUBJECT
HEADINGS, THESAURI
Scholarly information
and publication cycle: journals and their indexes
Concepts of indexing, abstracting, information retrieval
Database Fields
Uncontrolled
access: natural language, keyword, and free text searching
Controlled
access: subject headings, descriptors, thesauri
LCSH: www.authorities.loc.gov
ERIC: www.eric.ed.gov/thesaurus
PsycInfo:
http://www.apa.org/psycinfo/products/thesaurus_full_list.pdf
Facet Analyses Part 2 - turning natural language into subjects/descriptors
Precision
(relevance) and Recall
Introduction to DIALOG - passwords, logging on and off, basic commands, Bluesheets, Demonstration of a DIALOG search; Dialog workbook
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS 3:
Paper 1: Indexing a Journal
Article (10 points) (instructions distributed in class)
Class 3 CLIENTS
AND THEIR QUESTIONS Tues Sep. 25; Wed Sep 19 MULTI-DISCIPLINARY DATABASES
Paper 1 due. What did you learn?
Information seeking behavior of users;
user vocabulary match failures
Reference interview
Database Content: Selecting the best
databases to answer the client's questions in all disciplines, computer
science, library science, information science):
Worldcat; Dissertation Abstracts
Academic Search Premier (Ebsco)
Academic Universe (LexisNexis)
OmniFile Mega (H.W.Wilson)
Periodicals Abstracts, FirstSearch, ArticlesFirst (OCLC)
Gale Group Magazine Database (Dialog)
Newspapers (various indexes)
Government publications
Library Literature (H.W.Wilson);
LISTA (Ebsco)
In-class exercise:
Searching multi-disciplinary databases
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR CLASS 4:
Final Project Client and Topic due for approval by instructor
Bell, Ch. 4 Social Sciences Databases
DIALOG CATALOG (browse subject lists and database descriptions)
Class 4 SOCIAL
SCIENCES & PSYCHOLOGY Tues Oct 2; Wed Sep. 26
Database Content: selecting the best
databases to answer the client's question in sociology, anthropology, political
science, economics, law, education, commerce, and customs)
ERIC (U. S. Dept. of Education); Education Index (H.W.Wilson)
Social Sciences Abstracts (H.W.Wilson)
Social Sciences Citation Index (Institute for Scientific Information)
Sociological Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific)
PsycInfo, Psychological Abstracts
(American Psychological Association)
In-class exercise: Searching social science and psychology databases
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS 5:
Prepare for Exam: contents of multi-disciplinary, psychology, and social sciences databases; facet analyses; how to answer reference questions; scholarly publication cycle; basics of online searching; chapters assigned in Bell; and anything else covered so far in this class.
Read: Introduction
to DIALOG for Information Professionals
Sec. 1 Basic Commands for Online Searching Using
Dialog Classic
Sec. 2 Planning the Search Strategy
Sec. 3 How Databases are Constructed
Class 5 EXAM
I and Tues
Oct 9; Wed Oct 3
DIALOG
SEARCHING - Part 1
Searcher's toolkit - proximity, truncation,
limiting, pearl growing
Dialog
databases - where do they come from?
Subjects and
producers of Dialog databases
Using the
Dialog Bluesheets and other documentation
Basic Search and Output Commands (B, S, C,
T, DS, and AND, OR, NOT)
Downloading
and formatting Dialog output
Cost
monitoring and control
Field (code)
searching
In-class: Dialog
Workbook Exercise Sec.1 & 2, numbers 1-2, 4-5, 7-8
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS 6
Paper 2: Evaluating Databases and Vendors (10 points) (See instructions on page 9)
Bell,
Read Introduction to DIALOG for Information
Professionals
Sec. 4 Choosing the Right Database and Searching
Multiple Databases
Class 6 DIALOG
SEARCHING - Part 2 Tues Oct 16; Wed Oct 10
Paper 2 due: what did you learn?
Exam review
Searching
Multiple Databases - Dialog's DIALINDEX and OneSearch functions
Evaluating
your search results, revising search strategy
Precision
and recall
Using controlled vocabulary and thesauri (Expand and EXPLODE! commands in
Dialog)
In-class:
Dialog workbook Exercises Sec. 3, no. 1-10 and Sec. 4, no. 1-7
ASSIGNMENTS
FOR CLASS 7
Bell,
Beam, Pauline S.,
et al. "The Changing
Library: What Clinicians Need to Know."
Practice searching in MedlinePlus www.medlineplus.gov and PubMed www.pubmed.gov
Class 7 MEDICINE AND PHARMACOLOGY Tues Oct 23; Wed Oct 17
The future of
health information
Ethical delivery
of legal and medical information by information professionals
Professional and
researcher medical and health-related databases
MEDLINE/PubMed
Embase
CINAHL
DrugInfo
MeSH
Thesaurus (Medical Subject Headings -
National Library of Medicine)
Consumer-level
medical information on the Web
MedlinePlus
(U.S. National Institutes of Health) http://www.medlineplus.gov
NOAH
(New York Online Access to Health) www.noah-health.org
Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.com
WebMd, Inc. www.webmd.com
In-class
exercise: Medical Resources
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS
8
Practice
searching ABI/Inform and 5 other business and management bibliographic and
non-bibliographic databases available from Dominican and Dialog on the Dewey, Indexes, and Databases list. Prepare 1 database (to be assigned) to
present the class, including examples of reference questions that database
could answer.
Class 8 BUSINESS Tues Oct 30; Wed Oct 24
Database Content: selecting the best
databases to answer the client's question in business, manufacturing, engineering, management, banking and finance,
insurance, marketing, competitive
intelligence, and international business.
In-class exercise: Business and Management Information
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS
9
Practice searching
at least 5 different databases in science and technology subject categories. Prepare to present and demonstrate 2
databases in class (to be assigned).
Class 9 SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY DATABASES Tues Nov 6;
Wed Oct 31
SciSearch (Institute for Scientific Information) (Dialog File 34)
Web of Knowledge (Thomson Scientific) http://isiwebofknowledge.com (includes Web of Science and three ISI citation indexes)
Scirus, the Search Engine for Science (Elsevier) www.scirus.com (keyword only)
Specialized databases:
Biological sciences, medicine, allied health
Chemistry & physics
Earth Sciences, Geology, agriculture
Technology (applied sciences)
NTIS (U. S. National Technical
Information Center)
In-class exercise: Science and Technology
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS
10
Prepare for Exam: database contents in business, sciences, technology, and medicine; complex facet analyses; simple Dialog searches; and everything else covered since Exam I.
Read: Bell,
Class 10 EXAM
II and Tues
Nov 13; Wed Nov 7
HUMANITIES
Databases
for literature, book reviews, films, biographies, fine arts, music, dance,
history, philosophy, religion, and more.
Arts &
Humanities Search/Arts & Humanities Citation Index (ISI)
In-class exercise: Humanities
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS
11
Practice
searching Foundation Grants Directory (File 26) and Foundation Grants Index (File
27) on Dialog. Print out Bluesheets for
these files and bring to class.
Class 11 FINDING
MONEY - GRANTS and Tues Nov 20; Wed Nov 14 ADVANCED DIALOG
REPORTS
Exam II
review
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) www.Grants.gov
Foundation Center publications/database (Dialog Files 26 & 27)
Grants Database (Greenwood Pub.) (Dialog File 85)
Sources of info on nonprofits, grantors, grantees: Guidestar, Donors
Forum
Advanced Dialog features, preparing reports, other special
features
In-class exercise: Finding Money; Locating 990s for Non-Profits
ASSIGNMENTS FOR CLASS
12
Work on
Final Projects
********THANKSGIVING BREAK Nov. 21 - 25********
Class 12 NON-BIBLIOGRAPHIC
DATABASES and Tues Nov 27; Wed Nov 28
Final
Project Presentations (Group 1)
Census &
TIGER, labor statistics, business directories,
Geographic
information systems (possible guest speaker)
In-class exercise: Non-bibliographic Databases
Class 13 PATENT SEARCHING and Tues Dec 4; Wed Dec 5
Final
Project Presentations (Group 2)
In-class
exercise: Patents and trademarks, Patent Office
classification
Class 14 LAW
AND LEGAL RESOURCES and Tues Dec 11; Wed Dec 12
Final Project Presentations
(Group 3)
Federal and
state laws, municipal and local laws
Courts,
reporter systems
Legal
publication sources (government, Westlaw, Shepard, Lexis, Commerce Clearing House,
Dialog, Prentice-Hall, universities,
associations)
In-class exercise: Legal
information
Dominican
University Course Evaluations
ASSIGNMENTS FOR
CLASS 15
Class 15 TEACHING
ABOUT DATABASES and Tues
Dec 18; Wed Dec 19
CURRENT ISSUES and
Final Project
Presentations (Group 4)
Library and
information professional's role in teaching clients how to search online databases
effectively.
Discussion
of current issues regarding online databases.
Final
Projects due - Information Products
Hand in paper copy AND e-mail an electronic version to instructor.
If you want me to mail the graded paper to you immediately, please give
me a stamped, self-addressed large envelope. Otherwise, pick up your paper in the GSLIS
office next time you are on campus. The
GSLIS office holds them for one term, then throws them away.
Don’t forget to give it to your client!
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR GRADED PAPERS
Papers
written for my classes are expected to be brief and to the point. Follow instructions carefully. Write
succinctly to get your point across. I
look for evidence of understanding the concepts taught in class, applications
of knowledge, and critical thinking.
Paper 1: Indexing a Journal
Article (10 points) due Class 3
Read the journal article handed out in class. Write an entry for this journal article as if for publication in an index/online database, including bibliographic description, abstract, index terms, subject headings, and field codes. Follow the instructions on handout in class.
Paper 2: Evaluating
Databases and Vendors (10 points) due
Class 6
Compare the
ways that different vendor systems search, retrieve, and display information
from identical databases.
First, read:
Bell, Chapter
11 Evaluating Databases
Othman,
Roslina and Nor Sahlawaty Halim.
"Retrieval Features for Online Databases: Common, Unique, and Expected."
Online Information Review 28
no. 3 (2004): 200- 210. Available online: Emerald Group Publishing
Limited.
Choose one
of the following databases, then evaluate three vendors' products of the
same database. Read the vendors'
instructions and Help screens before you start.
ABI/INFORM (business)
Producer: Proquest
Print name: none
Vendors: ProQuest/CSA,
Dialog, OVID, others
Vocabulary: ProQuest Controlled
Vocabulary
AGELINE (multi-disciplinary
articles related to seniors)
Producer: American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
Print name: none
Vendors: Dialog,
Ebsco, OVID, ProQuest/CSA, others
Vocabulary: Thesaurus of Aging
Terminology
ERIC (education)
Producer:
Print name: Resources in Education
and Current Index to Journals in
Education
Vendors:
Vocabulary: Thesaurus of ERIC
Descriptors
Conduct a simple
subject search using two subject headings (controlled vocabulary).
Example:
"Thoracic Surgery" and "Infant." Repeat the identical subject search in
the other two versions. Your resulting
sets should be identical, or within 10 citations, in all 3 versions; if not,
you have done something wrong. Try
again. WARNING: do not do a
keyword search.
5. Write a 3-page (maximum) double-spaced paper:
·
In your opening paragraph, include the subject
headings (controlled vocabulary terms) and number of citations retrieved. Do
not turn in printouts of search results.
·
Compare and contrast ways that the same database
is accessed, searched, and presented to users by different vendors. Consider the categories in Othman article,
coverage, free or fee, controlled vocabulary, control of search, etc.
·
Consider ways that each vendor tries to
make its products user-friendly.
Physical appearance of the screen pages is less important that the way
the database functions. Pay close
attention to the process to do a controlled vocabulary search.
·
Do not limit your search by availability
of full-text (document delivery). This
is a function of each vendor's ability to contract with publishers, which has
no relationship to a quality subject search of the literature.
FINAL PROJECT (capstone
project – 40% of final grade)