Information Organisation
“In the colossal labor, which exhausts both body and soul, of making into an alphabetical catalog a multitude of books gathered from every corner of the earth there are many intricate and difficult problems that torture the mind.”
Hyde, Thomas (1674) Catalogue for the Bodleian Library
Why Organise Information?
Information is organised so that anyone who wants to, can retrieve it. A method of organisation for easy retrieval is needed to link the person who wants the information with the source of the information.
The purpose of organising information is that it:
- Provides access to recorded information for the purpose of retrieval
- Brings together related pieces of information
- Distinguishes between similar pieces of information
- Forms an inventory of what information exists and where it is located
- Keeps recorded information in an accessible format for the future
Methods of Information Organisation
- Cataloguing - https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/05/cataloging.html
- Classification - https://www.librarianshipstudies.com/2015/08/library-classification.html
- Indexing and abstracting - https://www.slideshare.net/iqratasifali/index-and-abstract-3
- Database design - https://www.guru99.com/database-design.html
- Information architecture - https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/information-architecture.html
- Content management - https://www.vasont.com/resources/what-is-content-management.html
- Knowledge management - https://www.valamis.com/hub/knowledge-management
History of Information Organisation
- Ancient world - Simple lists
- Middle Ages – Inventories
- Eighteenth Century – Taxonomic systems developed
- Nineteenth Century – Library Classification schemes
- Twentieth Century – Extensive codification & automation
- Twenty-first Century – Metadata and new cataloguing formats
This is a great visual on the history and evolution of data storage and organization:
Library cataloguing
- Library cataloguing became an important function of librarianship in the late 19th Century when each item in a library was described in a standardised way and assigned a shelf number for retrieval.
- Rules were written for cataloguing collections and adopted by various national library associations.
Bibliographic Records
- Include standardised descriptions of authors, titles, publishing details, physical characteristics
- Form a catalogue when arranged or accessed systematically
- Various terms - bibliographic records, catalogue records, catalogue entries. bibliographic entries and library records
Access points in records
Any term in a record that may be used to locate that record - think about how you might search for something in your own library's catalogue. You could search by Title, subject, keywords, author etc.
Underlying Assumptions of Information Organisation Systems
- Information seekers can express their information needs and navigate the system
- Information seekers’ needs may require looking at related records (e.g. all items by a given author, on a given subject, in a certain genre)
- The Information seeker may find multiple records and need to evaluate them in order to select the appropriate item
Information Organization in Libraries
Traditional processes:
- Organize items on shelf by a classification scheme
- Create & maintain a catalogue that provides access to information resources (surrogate records)
- Create indexes & databases
- Create bibliographies
New processes:
- Create library portals
- Provide access to variety of resources through unified interface (federated search)
- Catalogue, databases, resource links, archives, digital libraries, etc.
- Customize for personal information (my library)
- Create and organize digital libraries
Information Organisation with Library Portals
- Provides access to variety of resources through federated/common interface e.g. Chisholm library’s SuperSearch
Catalogues, databases, resource links
- Customisation for personal information – My Library concept
End users of Information Organisation
All people who have an information need and seek to find this information.
Information seekers vary:
Experts: Librarians, information professionals, researchers i.e. people who know a domain and have some idea of vocabulary and the kind of information that’s likely to be available
Novices: People who never learned to use retrieval tools or people who only have a vague idea of what they’re looking for, e.g., a student assigned a research topic or a person who wants to find out why their dog is scratching.
Conclusion
The ultimate purpose of all Information Organisation activity is to create structured data out of unstructured data for the purpose of information storage and retrieval
Information Search
How do you search for information?
The Internet:
- choose appropriate or relevant search engine and work out a search strategy
The library:
- consult the library catalogue for relevant items in the library collection
- consult relevant reference books such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries, handbooks, manuals etc.
- search library databases for full-text articles, bibliographic citations or article abstracts
Searching the Internet
Search engines
When you are deciding which search engine to use, think about what type of information you need and choose one that is appropriate for your needs.
When you are deciding which search engine to use, think about what type of information you need and choose one that is appropriate for your needs.
Do you need to do a generalised search? Google or similar search engine using simple search
Use Google more effectively https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srs94rQ6Ffo&feature=youtu.be
Essential Google search tips for Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XZk9CLxK4
*** Country Codes ***
Here is a list of the country codes for top level domain
Do you need to specify language, Boolean, domains, filetypes, dates etc.? Google or similar search engines have the ability to use Advanced searching.
Do you need a directory search engine such as Best of the Web? Back in the early days of the web, most search engines were directory based including Yahoo!
Would a meta search engine be useful? An example might be https://www.dogpile.com/ https://www.dogpile.com/support/aboutus
Do you need more privacy when searching? Try Duck Duck Go https://duckduckgo.com/about
Do you need a specialised search engine? You might try http://www.blogsearchengine.org/ or http://www.animalsearch.net/
Do you need to find “Deep Web” information?
These articles have information about the "Dark Web" and "Deep Web"
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3249765/what-is-the-dark-web-how-to-access-it-and-what-youll-find.html
These articles have information about the "Dark Web" and "Deep Web"
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3249765/what-is-the-dark-web-how-to-access-it-and-what-youll-find.html
Direct Research
Ask people for information. This could be by having a formal or informal interview with the person.
Who do you ask?
Professionals:
Someone who has expertise through working a particular field of endeavour
Someone who has expertise through working a particular field of endeavour
Academics:
A person who has expert knowledge of a particular subject by studying that subject for many years
A person who has expert knowledge of a particular subject by studying that subject for many years
Researchers:
A person who has gained expertise by doing research in a particular field of enquiry
A person who has gained expertise by doing research in a particular field of enquiry
Evaluating Information Sources
Read the article Evaluating Information Resources from the University of Alaska Fairbankshttps://library.uaf.edu/ls101-evaluation
and
Study Help: Evaluating Information, University of South Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U3dkTLjuvE
Examples of Traditional Reference Books
Readily available sources of information
- Reference books and websites
- Parts of the book and the information sources contained within these parts
- Abstracts, catalogue entries, subject headings etc.
History of Reference Sources
- Collections of reference sources were developed by libraries in order to facilitate access to a particular body of literature, subject area, or to assist specialized groups of users.
- Catalogues, bibliographies, and subject guides (pathfinders) were developed as in-house tools to facilitate access to a collection or a subject area.
- Reference books as we know them today are a fairly modern development in the history of the book
- The first encyclopaedias in an alphabetical format were published in the 1700s but did not flourish until the 19th Century
- Samuel Johnson’s “A dictionary of the English Language” was published in 1755 and was the pre-eminent English dictionary until the Oxford English Dictionary was published 173 years later.
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Examples of Traditional Reference Books
- almanacs
- directories
- dictionaries
- encyclopaedias
- gazetteers
- handbooks
- indexes
- maps
Purpose of traditional reference books
- Find facts quickly – look up rather than read
- Establish the basic information from which a search strategy can be formulated to find more in-depth treatment of a topic
- Different categories designed for different types of information
- Geographical information – atlases, gazetteers, map directories etc.
- Words and meanings – dictionaries, thesauri, lexicons, glossaries etc.
- General facts – encyclopaedias, handbooks, almanacs etc.
- Specialized facts – biographical dictionaries, yearbooks, language dictionaries, specialized encyclopaedias etc.
Non-traditional information sources
- Online versions of print sources e.g. Britannica Online
- Sources available only online e.g. Internet Public Library Reference Center
- Apps for smart phones and tablets – Britannica Kids Apps Series
- Search engines e.g Google
Sources of information inside books
- Spine - call number
- Cover - title, author, illustrator, editor etc.
- Title Page – details of authors, editors, illustrators, titles, subtitles etc.
- Copyright Page – details of publishers, places of publication, copyright and other information
- Table of Contents - list of chapter headings, sections etc. (not all books have but)
- Preface - author comments on text (not all books have)
- Body - main part of the book
- Glossary - mini dictionary of specialized terms used in book (not all books have)
- Index - alphabetical listing of all important topics discussed in the book with corresponding page numbers (not all books have)
- Bibliography – listing of all sources of information used by author when writing book
Copyright Page – verso of title page
- Copyright information - Paragraph about all rights being reserved, no copies, reprints, etc. without permission
- ISBN – International Standard Book Number. Used for ordering. Every book has a unique number
- CIP – Cataloguing in publication. Details given by the relevant national library. Includes subject headings
By skimming through the pages before and after the main body of text readers can ascertain all sorts of information
- what the book is about and whether it is scholarly or popular in tone
- whether it was well researched,
- Whether the author, editor or illustrator are well know, expert, reputable etc.
- whether it was published by a reputable publisher
- whether the information is current
- Whether different topics can be picked out
- Whether there are CIP details
- And more……
Catalogue entries as sources of information
Much of the bibliographic information found in a physical book, multimedia source and even an online source such as a website can be found in their library catalogue entries
- Title
- Author/editor/illustrator/collaborator etc.
- Copyright date
- Physical description or URL
- Subject headings
- Summary – not in all cases
- Contents – not in all cases
- Inclusions e.g. index, illustrations etc.
Issues with printed reference resources
- Time-sensitive data can quickly go out of date
- Reference books are expensive
- Complicated information can be difficult to locate
- Comparing data can require much manual labour
- Only available to one user at a time
- Only available to users within the library
Good points about online reference sources
- Accessed by more than one simultaneous user
- Accessed by users outside of the library
- Updated constantly
- Search function can make it easier to access information
- Database format can make it easier to compare information
Is Wikipedia a good online source?
Wikipedia is a good starting point, but always keep in mind…
- Facts not opinion: anyone can edit Wikipedia or put up a webpage; Wikipedia has a bias towards certain countries and types of information
- ODLIS (Online dictionary of library and information science)
- CREDO Reference
- Atlas of Living Australia
- Catholic Encyclopaedia
- Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Columbia Gazetteer of the World
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
There are so many more as well as online reference sources accessed through library subscriptions
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