Course Outline (Winter 2012)

Calendar Description

An examination of the integration of digital services into the array of reference services, with an emphasis on information retrieval systems and their effective use by professionals and end users.

Objectives

At the completion of this course, the students will be able to:

1. Discuss concepts and practices of digital reference services;
2. Use major bibliographic citation databases, OPACs, and Internet IR systems effectively;
   
3. Apply their understanding of how digital IR systems work to the formulation and execution of effective search strategies;
4. Carry out effective digital reference, including selection of databases and IR systems for given requests, formulation of search strategies, execution of effective searches, and evaluation of search results.
   

Content

This course includes three main areas of content:

1. Digital reference
• Differences between digital and traditional face-to-face reference;
• Opportunities and challenges brought by digital reference;
• Guidelines and procedures of digital reference;
• Management and assessment of digital reference services;
• Issues (e.g., privacy and confidentiality) in digital reference.
2. Information retrieval (IR)
• Basics of IR systems, including representation of information, representation of user information needs, matching between information and user needs, presentation of search results, and evaluation of IR systems.
• IR approaches and techniques, including retrieval by searching vs. by browsing, free text vs. controlled vocabulary searching, basic IR techniques (e.g., truncation; case-sensitive, Boolean, proximity, field searching), and advanced IR techniques (e.g., weighted searching).
• IR process, including query representation, evaluation of search results (precision and recall), and query expansion and modification for improved search results.
3. Features and search techniques of major types of databases
• Subject databases (biomedical, legal, business, social sciences and humanities, science and technology)
• Specialty databases (e.g., citation databases, databases for patent information, government documents, numerical data, and multimedia)
• Bibliographic databases (local OPAC and WorldCat)
• Web searching (Google, etc.)

Methods

A combination of lectures, in-class discussions, hands-on exercises, group work, and student presentations will be used throughout this course. Where possible, guest lectures and/or special presentations will also be included.

Recording of lectures

Recording of lectures is permitted only with the prior written consent of the professor or if recording is part of an approved accommodation plan.

Required Text

Course Relationships

Elective course; Prerequisites: LIS 501, 502, and 503.

Inclusive Language & Equity

The Faculty of Education is committed to providing an environment of equality and respect for all people within the university community, and to educating faculty, staff, and students in developing teaching and learning contexts that are welcoming to all. The Faculty recommends that students and staff use inclusive language to create a classroom atmosphere in which students’ experiences and views are treated with equal respect and value in relation to their gender, racial background, sexual orientation, and ethnic background. Students who require accommodations in this course due to a disability affecting mobility, vision, hearing, learning, or mental or physical health are advised to discuss their needs with Specialized Support and Disability Services.

Academic Integrity

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at http://www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

*Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.