LIS618 lecture 0 Introduction to the course Thomas

Transcript:LIS618 lecture 0 Introduction to the course Thomas:
LIS618 lecture 0 Introduction to the course Thomas Krichel 2011-04-21 structure me the way I see it you the way you see it. me I am Thomas Krichel. My homepage is http://openlib.org/home/krichel. You can also use http://wotan.liu.edu/home/krichel, it contains almost the same contents at all times. my courses page My courses are at http://wotan.liu.edu/home/krichel/courses. These contain material for all current and previous editions of all courses that I ran at the Palmer School. I am an open access supporter. me and LIS618 In 2003, the course was called “database searching”. Since 2004, it has been called “online information retrieval techniques”. Let me try to clarify both terms. term “database” A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies). this is not our database The previous definition is not what librarians mean when they talk about databases, with the use of the term “database searching”. What they mean by “database” is any type of, usually remote access, resource that the library has purchased. Searching Google is not “database searching”. searching When using the term searching with database searching we mean the following process a user has an information need the user formulates a query the user is presented with a set of results Librarians love searching. Users love finding. why study database searching? There are historical reasons. There are pedagogical reasons. There are reasons of transparency. historical reasons When libraries first licensed remote content, it was very expensive and difficult to use. The telecommunications charges where high. The cost of the system access was high. There often was a charge by minute. The systems were difficult to use. They were not suitable for a non-trained user. Database searching by a librarian is a way to save cost. historical reasons today The historical reasons don’t seem to apply. There are still reasons why you have intermediated searching. One important one is to save the searcher (a high-salary individual) time and have the search conducted by someone with a lower salary. A lot of these job are outsourced. pedagogical reasons As librarians, we need to teach people how to use online information resources. Unless they can do this themselves. Many