School of Library and Information Science
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Louisiana State University
School of Library and Information Science
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Prerequisite: LIS 7008 Information Technologies or permission of the instructor. For the students who have not take LIS 7008 already but seek to take both LIS 7008 and LIS 7410 simultaneously, only (1) advanced students who have taken Dr. Dow's LIS 7603 EDAM course and/or Dr. Stauffer's advanced cataloguing and classification course, and (2) techonologically very strong students are permitted to do so.
| Instructor | Teaching Assistant | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Yejun Wu | ||
| Email: | wuyj (at) lsu.edu | ||
| Office: | 272 Coates Hall | ||
| Office or Lab Hour: | Tuesday 11AM-12PM |
We will cover one online session every week. A syllabus that summarizes what we will cover each week and gives a preview of the homework assignments and a reading list showing the reading for each week can be found on the Syllabus page. Slides with detailed notes will be posted on Moodle. We will also use Moodle for online discussions.
I am always happy to meet with students after classes, during office hours, and at any other mutually convenient time by appointment. Email is the best way to reach me to set up an appointment, and it is also a good way to get a quick answer to a simple question. When you email me, please put "LIS 7410" (followed by your topic) in the Subject line (if your message is related to the course) so that you can get a quick response.
Students wishing to discuss accommodations for unusual circumstances (such as diability issues) should contact me, and should do so no later than the third week of classes.
Students are expected to demonstrate mastery of the following prerequisite knowledge throught the course. These skills are not taught as a part of this course. Students concerned about their mastery of specific skills on this list should discuss the matter with the instructor prior to the second class of the semester.
The required text book is:
Lesk, Michael, 2005. Understanding Digital Libraries (2nd ed). San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann;
Boston: Elsevier; 424 p. $54.95. ISBN: 1-55860-924-5.
The book is available from the university bookstore and also downloadable page by page at
Netlibrary via LSU Libraries.
(Referred to as Lesk on the Syllabus page.)
Various parts of the following books will be used in the class. These books are all available at NetLibrary via LSU Libraries.
To make sure you read the required readings before class, students are highly recommended (although not required) to post at least one question and/or idea/comment on Moodle each week before class to respond to the issues raised in the required readings. Your responses can be concise and informal, but need to discuss your thoughts and questions, and indicate the part of the text that has triggered your questions. Your questions and/or ideas will be credited toward your class participation grade, each of which may count for 0.5 points (up to 10 points in total). At least 10 questions in total are expected from every student. Other online discussions will also be credited toward your class participation grade. Online discussions will be credited based on general impression on quantity and quality. We will count intellectually meaningful posts that advance discussions on Moodle. Any post fewer than 25 words, or expressing an opinion without evidence or reason will be ignored when grading. However, recommending good learning materials will be credited.
You will also need to obtain a PAWS account so that you can access LSU's wireless network and download necessary software (such as FileZilla FTP Client). Every student will be assigned an FTP account by the instructor to host his/her course Web site at http://classes.slis.lsu.edu/wu/7410/sp11/your_folder/ where your_folder is your first initial followed by your last name, all in lower case, such as jsmith for John Smith. You are also allowed to use commercial Web space to host your course Web site, but we do not provide any technical support.
It is required that students arrange for regular access to a computer with an Internet connection, either at home or at work, unless they will be on campus daily. There is a tremendous amount of detail to be mastered in this course, and experience suggests that there is no way to learn it all if you only have access to computing facilities only one or two days a week. For this reason, you should plan to use a computer in an intellectually meaningful way at least five days a week. Furthermore, since much of the information in the course will be distributed only electronically (on the course Web site, Moodle, or by email), access to a computer throughout the week will be important to ensure that you have timely access to this information. If you have a broadband Internet connection at home (cable modem or a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connection) then you should be able to reach the University's computers through that conection. Help getting connected is available from ITS Help Desk or http://grok.lsu.edu (read Wireless at LSU and Student Section). Networked computers on compus are available at Public Access Computer Labs. The SLIS Open Lab has also some networked computers available. The current schedule of the SLIS Lab is:
M-Th: 7:30am - 8:00pm
F-Sat: 8:00am - 4:30pm
Sun: 12pm - 6pm
Note: closed on home football game days.
Since digital libraries is an interdisciplinary research and practice area, we have students from library
and information science, computer science, engineering and other disciplines. The homework and project are
designed in two tracks - Professional Track and Research Track. Generally MLIS students are advised to take the Professional
Track, whereas advanced students from computer science and doctoral students from libray and information science
are advised to take the Research Track. However, any student is free to select any track, but she/he can not switch
between the two tracks back and forth during the course, that is, she/he has to stick to the track once selected.
| Component | Percentage | Computation |
|---|---|---|
| Homework | 30% | Professional Track: 8% each for H1, H2, and H3, 6% for H4 (digitization sampler); |
| 23% | Research Track: 8% for one case study (H1), 15% for the survey paper. | |
| Term Project | 40% | Professional Track: 1/3 project proposal, 1/3 sample digital library, 1/3 project report and presentation; |
| 47% | Research Track: 35% for research paper, 12% for presentation. | |
| Final exam | 20% | |
| Class Participation | 10% | Active response to required readings and contribution to discussions |
Scores for each course requirement (homework assignment, exam, document, project, class participation) will be assigned on a 100 point scale (with 90-100=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, etc). No curve will be used when assigning final grades.
Students will post their homework on their own course Web sites. Homework is due before the start of class. Credit for partial work will be given. Late assignments will be accepted only if the submission is no later than 3 days. In this case, however, a 20% reduction of grade per day will be applied. In other words, if an assignment is due on a Wednesday and submitted on a Saturday in the same week, then the maximum grade is 40%; if sumbitted on Sunday, it will be corrected but receive no credit.
Students may work together on the homework assignments, but all of the material that is turned in for grading must be produced individually. For example, students may form study groups and discuss solutions and ideas, but it would not be permissible for one student to create a computer file containing the solutions and then for other students to copy that file and submit it as their own work. The goal of this policy is to encourage the use of homework as a learning aid. A concentration on grades to the exclusion of learning when working on the homework can be counterproductive, since the final exam will reflect the homework in some way.
For the term project, individuals, pairs or groups of three (maximum) will design and implement a digital library. Students who work in teams are expected to create a significantly larger digital library than individuals do. Each individual or group will be asked to discuss their project plans in the week indicated on the Syllabus page (see P/RP Talk). This is intended to help shape the focus and scope of the project. Project discussion will not be graded. Students are encouraged, however, to get an earlier start; they may submit a one page description of their plans by email to solicit feedback at any time. A written report describing the project is due at the start of the last class session of the semester.