Syllabus

LIS 5703 Information Organization

Florida State University School of Information

Fall 2017

Thursdays 8-10 p.m.

Contact Information:

Professor: Dr. Michelle Kazmer
mkazmer [at] fsu [dot] edu
@michellekazmer
http://mkazmer.org

Office hours: I am available via email most days, most times, including weekends; if you need something specific, we can schedule a time to talk via phone, facetime, skype, fb chat, anything, just let me know.

The best way to reach me is by using the Canvas discussion forum. But you are very welcome to email me (my email address is above). I make every effort to respond to emails within 24 hours; if I don’t respond within 48 hours, please email me again, as your message (or my response!) might have gotten lost [or junked accidentally]. Remember to include the course number, 5703, in your subject line. I’m really serious about this: if you don’t get a response in 24 hours, please email me again! I want to answer your questions or concerns.

Course Materials:

Required readings are found online, as noted in the course calendar. Learning to use information organization databases to locate assigned readings is an integral part of the course, so direct URLs and other location information are often not provided, and you should not ask for this information or for a copy of the reading (you should definitely ask for help in finding something you cannot locate; just do not ask for a direct link or a copy of the reading).

The text we used to use was Taylor, Arlene G., & Joudrey, Daniel N. (2009). The Organization of Information. Third Edition. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN-10 (paperback): 159158700X; ISBN-13 (paperback): 978-1591587002. If you want it and you can find a used copy CHEAP, go ahead and grab it, but this is VERY optional.

Course Description:

LIS 5703 Information Organization (3 credit hours). Establishes conceptual and practical frameworks for organizing and retrieving information, including the study of systems, their objectives and structures, formats, standards, and vocabularies; and the information object and its relationship to organizing systems and to other information objects.

Course Objectives:

Having completed this course, a student will be able to:

  • Explain the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for organizing and retrieving information
  • Explain how information organizing systems meet their objectives
  • Define and explain the nature, attributes, structures, and varieties of information objects and the methods for describing and representing those objects to meet system objectives
  • Apply and use information organizing structures, formats and standards
  • Explain the ongoing technological changes for organizing information and their implications
  • Apply methods, techniques, tools, and standards for organizing information in specific contexts

Course Policies:

The main policy to remember, if you forget all else, is: Don’t Panic! This is my only hard-and-fast rule, but if you break it by accident, whatever you do: Don’t Panic! (This phrase is a classic literary allusion, and is meant to be funny, not to induce fear; if you don’t recognize this catchphrase, ask a classmate about its provenance :-).)

The remaining (less important, but still required and binding) course policies are:

  1. Inform me, early and often. Let me know what is going on, if you have questions, if you need help, if you will be handing in an assignment late, or anything else you think will help me to make your learning experience more successful and more pleasant. Handling issues before things get out of hand is always our best bet.
  2. This course is a lot of work, and it requires thinking about information in a way many of us have not done before. The readings are difficult, long, and dense; they are replete with terminology that is unusual and is specific to the field of info org — and THAT is absolutely appropriate for this subject area. BUT … info org is *tremendously* fun, and more so if you let yourself get immersed in the assignments. It is normal to feel at sea for quite some time, and I do not expect you to know what is going on right away. Just keep working at it, and keep asking: ASK, ASK, ASK! ASK me, ASK your colleagues! (And when you feel comfortable, ANSWER, ANSWER, ANSWER! — I expect you to ask and answer questions with great frequency and intense interest!)
  3. The three main learning tools in this course are assignments, participation in class, and readings. I have guided many hundreds of students through this course over many years, and I promise — for *this* material, this is how learning happens. Trust me :-). (I know, famous last words, but really!).
  4. You are required to check your FSU email and the course discussions regularly. Classwide emails from the instructor, and posts to the discussions by the instructor, are considered official communication and you will be responsible and held accountable for incorporating this material in assignments, for responding if requested, for following instructions contained therein, etc. Many of the discussions for the class will have the “subscribe” option activated, so you can have the posts sent to your email (be active about managing your Canvas notifications so you get the most useful type and timing of updates).
  5. All emails to the instructor must include the course number, 5703, in the subject line; emails without a course number in the subject line will NOT be read or answered. *Emails that do not include your full name somewhere in the email AND the course number in the subject line will not receive a response*.
  6. Lurking is permitted in synchronous sessions in this class. If you like to come to synchronous sessions (which are all optional but the first one) but like to watch rather than talk, that’s fine with me. Questions about the course and/or the assignments are often answered during synchronous sessions; plus, many weeks we have field trips during the synchronous session that you should go through even if you don’t attend the session. If you don’t attend the session, you should watch the recording and follow up with any questions via discussion board or email.
  7. You don’t *have* to have the assigned readings done before the weekly synchronous sessions, although it is a good idea to do so. I encourage you to keep up with the readings. Your assignments will be marked as if you have done all the required readings! Don’t fret if you cannot complete them before the scheduled synchronous session — you’re still welcome in the session — but it will help you keep on top of the material and be able to direct your questions to the right place (synchronous session or discussion) if you complete them before our weekly meeting.
  8. (I didn’t write this part: http://facsenate.fsu.edu/Curriculum/Syllabus-Language): Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

General assignment policies

See “Assignments” section of the course site for additional policies associated with specific assignments.

  1. Assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (EDT or EST as appropriate) on the dates indicated.
  2. Late work will generally not receive full credit, will be graded after all on-time assignments have been marked, and will not receive substantive feedback other than a numeric mark. If you have extenuating circumstances, contact me immediately. Either way, the more advance notice I have about a late paper, the more likely we are to arrive at a mutually satisfactory alternative plan.
  3. Each student must complete and, if relevant, submit, every assignment in order to earn a passing grade in the course (i.e., a Cminus or higher, see http://www.registrar.fsu.edu/bulletin/grad/info/grad_degree.htm

Discussions

Our discussions are in Canvas. There is a Faculty Office where you can ask me questions about the course in general. There will be Questions & Answers for each assignment where you can ask and answer questions about specific assignments; these will become available as we proceed through the semester. For the SYSTEM assignments, there will be SYSTEM discussions for each weekly discussion. Again, make sure you actively manage your Canvas notifications so you are getting what is most useful to you, when it is most useful to you.

Grading/Evaluation:

Final point tallies and their associated letter grades:

  • 93-100 A
  • 90-92 A-
  • 87-89 B+
  • 83-86 B
  • 80-82 B-
  • 77-79 C+
  • 73-76 C
  • 70-72 C-
  • 67-69 D+
  • 63-66 D
  • 60-62 D-
  • 0-59 F

Assignments:

Please see the “Assignments” for more detail about each assignment. The 100 points available in this course can be earned as follows:

  • Asynchronous discussions of information organization systems: 5 @ 11 = 55 points
  • Asynchronous contribution of resources for papers: 5 @ 3 = 15 points
  • Metadata application profile project: 15 points
  • Subjects project: 15 points

Course Topics:

  • Introduction to information organization
  • Information objects and access to them: Description, part 1 (concepts)
  • Information objects and access to them: Description, part 2 (metadata as a way to describe an item or object)
  • Facilitating retrieval via description: Information retrieval of known items
  • Standardizing retrieval across a collection: Metadata standards, content & encoding
  • Standards case 1: AACR2, RDA, and MARC/MODS/BIBFRAME
  • Standards case 2: Dublin Core
  • Organizing across collections: Interoperability crosswalks, linked data, open data
  • Access & authority (name authority)
  • Subject analysis and visual description & retrieval
  • Classification: Classification schemes, taxonomy
  • Vocabulary control: Subject headings, thesauri, ontology

Academic Honor Policy:

The Florida State University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of students’ academic work, the procedures for resolving alleged violations of those expectations, and the rights and responsibilities of students and faculty members throughout the process. Students are responsible for reading the Academic Honor Policy and for living up to their pledge to “. . . be honest and truthful and . . . [to] strive for personal and institutional integrity at Florida State University.” (Florida State University Academic Honor Policy, found at http://fda.fsu.edu/Academics/Academic-Honor-Policy.)

American With Disabilities Act:

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:

  1. register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center; and
  2. bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type.

Please note that instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodation to a student until appropriate verification from the Student Disability Resource Center has been provided.

This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request.

For more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the

Student Disability Resource Center
874 Traditions Way
108 Student Services Building
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4167
(850) 644-9566 (voice)
(850) 644-8504 (TDD)

sdrc@admin.fsu.edu
http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/

Student Eligibility for an Incomplete Grade:

Incomplete (I) grades will not be assigned, except in the case of exceptional unforeseen circumstances that occur within the last three weeks of the semester and your work has otherwise been satisfactory (C average).

Syllabus Change Policy:

This syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice.