Summary of Weekly Work with Links to Readings

Summary of Weekly Work
with links to reading assignments
for
LIBR 56: Computers in Libraries
Karen Saginor

Every week you will EITHER turn in homework OR prepare to take a test. Homework must be turned in the day it is due unless you are too sick to come to class.

Week One

January 18
Quiz Zero: Background quiz, doesn't count for your grade.

Lecture topics: Class logistics and course requirements. Basic concepts of computer hardware and functions.

Homework One: Terminology.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Saginor, Karen. "Course Requirements for LIBR56: Computers in Libraries." 8 Jan. 2006. 11 Jan. 2005 <http://hills.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~ksaginor/56req.htm>.

Tyson, Jeff. "How PCs work: On the Inside." 2006 How Stuff Works. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc1.htm>.

Tyson, Jeff. "How PCs work: Connections: Input/Output." 2006 How Stuff Works. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc2.htm>.

Recommended for next time:

Burke, John J. "Chapter 3: Computer Workstations." Neal-Schuman Library Technology Companion. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001. 33-48. THIS CHAPTER WILL BE ON RESERVE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK.

Burke, John J. "Chapter 5: Networking and Communications Technology." Neal-Schuman Library Technology Companion. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001. 65-80. THIS CHAPTER WILL BE ON RESERVE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK.

White, Ron. How Computers Work. ANY EDITION OF THIS BOOK. Indianapolis, IN: Que, 1999-

Gralla, Preston. How the Internet Works. ANY EDITION OF THIS BOOK. Indianapolis, IN: Que, 1999-

Week Two

January 25
Lecture topics: Binary logic. Basic concepts of networking and data communications. Troubleshooting and workarounds.

Homework Two: Computer parts. Troubleshooting a networked system.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

"ASCII." Webopedia. Internet.com. 10 Jan. 2006 < http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ASCII.html>.

Library and Learning Resources. "Searching the Online Library Catalog." City College of San Francisco, 200?. Will be supplied in class.

Recommended for next time:

"ASCII." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 10 Jan. 2006. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII>.

Prepare for Test 1 (at the beginning of the fourth class): Terminology for basic computer functions. Review Homework 1 and terminology explained during first two weeks.

Week Three

February 1
Lecture topics: ASCII. Basic concepts of library databases.

Prepare for Test 1 (at beginning of fourth class) : Terminology for basic computer functions. Review Homework 1 and terminology explained during first two weeks.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Saginor, Karen. "Review of Searching Concepts." 2006. supplied as part of packet. also available online: <http://hills.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~ksaginor/56concept.htm>.

Week Four

February 8
Test 1: Terminology for basic computer functions. Review Homework 1 and terminology explained during first two weeks.

Lecture topics: Online catalogs. Record display. Searching concepts. Database indexing.

Homework Three: Online catalog functionality.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Melton, Beth. "Databases: Access Terminology and Relational Database Concepts." TechTrax Aug. 2005. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=73>.

Recommended for next time:

Hernandez, Michael J. Database Design for Mere Mortals: a Hands-on Guide to Relational Database Design. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1997. Rosenberg Circ QA76.9.D26 H477 1997

Taylor, Allen G. Database Development for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books, 2001. Rosenberg Circ QA76.9.D3 T39 2001

Week Five

February 15
Lecture topics: More about database structure.

Homework Four: Database structure.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

"Algorithm." Webopedia. 2 Aug. 2004. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/a/algorithm.html>.

Quinn, Doris (?) "Flow Charts." The Quality Library. 2000? 10 Jan. 2006 <http://mot.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/mt322/Flow.htm>. Read the first half of this page; you can skip the section on "Flowcharting a Clinic Visit."

Oakman, Robert L. "Flowchart Symbols." The Computer Triangle. 9 Oct. 1996. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://www.wiley.com/college/busin/icmis/oakman/outline/chap05/slides/symbols.htm>.

Recommended for next time:

Hansen, Dexter A. Flowcharting Help Page. 4 Nov. 2004. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://home.att.net/~dexter.a.hansen/flowchart/flowchart.htm>.

Osborne, Larry N., and Margaret Nakamura. "Chapter 6: Analyzing and Displaying Data in Flowcharts." Systems Analysis for Librarians and Information Professionals. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.

Week Six

February 22
Lecture topics: Algorithms for library tasks: Procedural flowcharts: begin and end; sequential steps; decision or branch; repetition or loop.

Prepare for Test 2 (at the beginning of the seventh class): Online catalog functions and trouble shooting. Review Homework 2 and 3 and terminology explained during first five weeks.

Week Seven

March 1
Test 2: Online catalog functions and trouble shooting. Review Homework 2 and 3 and terminology explained during first five weeks.

Lecture topics: More practice with flowcharting. Search parsing algorithms. Search options.

Homework Five: Write a procedure and construct a flowchart for a library task.
Recommended for next time:

Novotny, Eric. "I Don't Think, I Click: A Protocol Analysis Study of Use of a Library Online Catalog in the Internet Age." College and Research Libraries Nov. 2004: 525-537. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crljournal/crl2004/november/Novotny.pdf>.

Week Eight

March 8
Lecture topics: More about flowcharts. Online catalog interface. Search parsing algorithms.

Homework Six: Flowchart the execution of a catalog search.

Week Nine

March 15
Lecture topics: Review of flowcharts. Search engine mechanics. Stopwords. Field searching. Boolean searching. Phrase searching. Search limits.

Prepare for Test 3 (at the beginning of the tenth class): Database structure. Flowcharts. Review Homework 4 and 5 and terminology explained during first eight weeks.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Online help screens for Infotrac: "Subject Guide Search," "Keyword Search," and "Relevance Search." access from CCSF periodicals databases page at: http://www.ccsf.edu/Library/period.htm.

Week Ten

March 22
Test 3: Database structure. Flowcharts. Review Homework 4 and 5 and terminology explained during first eight weeks.

Lecture topics: Periodical database search engines: InfoTrac.

Homework Seven: Stopwords and results sorting in Infotrac's search engine.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Monash, Curt A. "Search Ranking Algorithms." The Spider's Apprentice: How to Use Web Search Engines. 11 May 2004. 10 Jan. 2006 <http://www.monash.com/search_engine_ranking.html>.

Week Eleven

March 29
Lecture topics: Web search engines: Controlled vocabulary; Ordered results. Searching concepts review.

Homework Eight: Ordering of results by web search engines.
For your convenience, links are provided for review readings here, but look in your packet for the homework questions!

"How Search Engines Rank Pages" in "How to Search the Web." Actrix. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.actrix.co.nz/help/tutorials/howtosearchweb.php>. Section on Ranking pages is quite short, about one screen.

Sullivan, Danny. "How Search Engines Rank Web Pages." 31 July 2003. SearchEngineWatch.com: The Source for Search Engine Marketing. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167961>.

---------------. "Search Engine Placement Tips." 14 Oct. 2002. SearchEngineWatch.com: The Source for Search Engine Marketing. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2168021>. Advice for people creating web pages, who are trying to get search engines to display their page frequently and near the top of the list.

"Google Searches More Sites More Quickly, Delivering the Most Relevant Results." 2004. Google. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.google.com/technology/>.

Heng, Christopher. "How to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking on Google." 3 Mar. 2003. thesitewizard.com. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/google.shtml>.

Kopytoff, Verne. "Google Targeted by Pranksters: Web Site Operators, Bloggers Skew Results." San Francisco Chronicle 26 Jan. 2004: E1. SFGate. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/26/BUG3M4GVDS1.DTL>.

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Burke, John J. "Chapter 4: Library Automation Systems." Neal-Schuman Library Technology Companion. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2001. 49-63. THIS CHAPTER IS ON RESERVE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK.

Recommended for next time:

Lopata, Cynthia L. "Integrated Library Systems." ERIC Digests Apr. 1995: ED38179. 4 Jan. 2005 <http://www.ericdigests.org/1996-1/library.htm>.

Week Twelve

April 5
Lecture topics: Integrated Library System Components: Catalog Maintenance; Acquisitions. Circulation; Reserves; Inter-Library Loan; Serials Management.

Prepare for Test 4 (at the beginning of the thirteenth class): Search engine mechanics. Review Homework 6 and 7 and terminology explained during first eleven weeks.

Recommended for next time:

Lewis, Roy. "Steps for Library Automation." 1 Mar. 2003. Northeast Texas Library System. 9 Jan. 2006 <http://www.netls.org/Technology/Auto/libraryautomationprocess.htm>.

Spring Break

April 12
NO CLASS

Week Thirteen

April 19
Test 4: Search engine mechanics. Review Homework 6 and 7 and terminology explained during first eleven weeks.

Lecture topics: Process of acquiring an Integrated Library System. Evaluation. Acquisition. Migration. Implementation.

Homework Nine: Describing and charting a library function. (Group work)

For next time read (REQUIRED):

Barnett, Andy. "How Technology Bites Back." Libraries, Community, and Technology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002. 117-134. THIS CHAPTER WILL BE ON RESERVE AT THE CIRCULATION DESK.

Week Fourteen

April 26
Lecture topics: Human / machine relations. How does automating a function change it?

Homework Ten: Automating a library function.

Week Fifteen

May 3
Lecture topics: ILS components review.

Homework Ten: Automating a library function.

Prepare for Test 5 (at the beginning of the sixteenth class): ILS components. Web search engine ranking. Review Homework 8 and Integrated Library System concepts and components. Review terminology explained during first fourteen weeks.

Week Sixteen

May 10
Test 5: ILS components. Web search engine ranking. Review Homework 8 and Integrated Library System concepts and components. Review terminology explained during first fourteen weeks.

Lecture topics: Case study presentations.

Week Seventeen

May 17
Lecture topics: Case study presentations. Other topics to be announced.

Prepare for Test 6 (the makeup test): Test Six will be offered on Week Eighteen for students who missed any of Tests One - Five. Test Six will review material from the entire semester. Prepare for this test by reviewing all the homework assignments, concepts and terminology presented over the course of the semester.

Week Eighteen

May 24
Test 6 (the makeup test): Review of material from the entire semester.

No Lecture

LIBR 56: Computers in Libraries

This page last updated 11 January 2006