GNED 008 Eureka! Information Skills for Life-Long Learning

Class 1Instructor: Victoria Caplan

lbcaplan@ust.hk

http://teaching.ust.hk/~gned008/

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Today’s Class

• Outline of course & its requirements

• Pre-test of information Literacy

• Information Literacy & The Information Buffet

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Today’s Learning GoalsYou will understand:• The class requirements • What is “information literacy”• Why looking for information is like going to a buffet

dinner

You will Know• What is a library catalog record• How to perform a basic search of the Library Catalog• How to open your account• How to email your results to yourself• How to save a search in your account• Basics of where things are in the Library

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Class Requirements• Attendance & Participation:

– Students must attend at least 80% of all classes.– Less than 80% attendance = an automatic fail.

• Homework:– Late submission will not be accepted.

• Final Project– Students must choose a research topic by week 5– Topic may be for another course (e.g.- 3rd year project) or a topic of personal interest.– You will:

• Create a research question• Choose what to search (databases, library catalog, etc.)• Search for books articles, DVDs, etc.• Evaluate what you find• Select the books, articles, DVDs, etc. that would best answer the research question• Create a properly formatted bibliography of sources.

– Failure to hand in the final project or achieve a pass = automatic fail

• Plagiarism and Copying will NOT be tolerated & will be grounds for failing the class.

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Goals of GNED 008

By the end of the course, you will gained skills in…• Asking questions• Seeking information• Finding information• Evaluating information• Using information sensibly & ethically

To be able to apply these skills in:• Your academic career• Your professional life• Your personal life

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Take the Pre-test!

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What is Information Literacy• Know when & why you need information• Know where to find information• Know how to evaluate information• Know how to use & communicate it in an ethical way

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"Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." 1

- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)2 "Too much information running through my brain

Too much information driving me insane...“ song - Sting (1951-) 3

1. Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. (2004). Information literacy: A definition". Tuesday, December 21, 2004.

2. Retrieved from http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationliteracy/definition/ on January 10, 2007. 2. From John Boswell's Life of Johnson 2 Vol. v. Chap. ix. 1775. As cited in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919, no. 4060. Retrieved from Bartelby.com - http://www.bartleby.com/100/249.77.html December 7, 2005. 3. From the song, "Too Much Information" on the album, The Ghost in the Machine by The Police (1981).

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Welcome to the Information Buffet

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Why is Information Literacy like Going to a Buffet?

When you go to a buffet you…

• Scan the environment

• Find Out Your Options

• Evaluate What is Available

• Choose What You Think Is Suitable

• Eat it Properly

• Digest well

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Scan Your Environment

http://library.ust.hk/guides/selftour/ground-floor.html

Physically And Online

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Find Out Your Options - FormatsBooks

– Paper-based, microform, or E-book?

Journal articles– Paper-based, microform, or E-journals?

Newspaper articles– Paper-based, microform, or E-news?

Videos– Streaming, DVD, LD, VCD, or VHS?

Music– Streaming, or CD?

Data– Paper-based, CD-ROM, or online?

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Library Catalog Records

Plus– Is it available? – where is it?

http://ustlib.ust.hk/record=b807107

• Like a description on a menu

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Library Catalog Exercises (~7 min.)

•We will perform a basic search of the Library Catalog• Author• Keyword• Subject• Limiting – format & year

•Mark you results & email them to yourself

•How to save a search in your account

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Find Out Your Options Searching & Finding

• Finding Books– http://library.ust.hk/guides/findbook.html

• Finding Articles– http://library.ust.hk/guides/findarticle.html

• Finding Audio & Video– http://library.ust.hk/guides/findav.html

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Libraries Organize with

Classification systems

•Dewey-Dewey Decimal Classification -

Example: At HKU - 658.34 D18

•LC (Library of Congress)-http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html

Example: at UST - HF5549.5.M63 D36 1994

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Bookstores Use

• Broad Categories & few subdivisions– Fiction – Non-fiction (history, money, self-help)– Comics

• Often subdivided alphabetically

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Online Search services Use

• Categories

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A rule of information organization

• Big things contain little things.– A book has "chapters"– A journal has "articles"– A newspaper has "articles"– A website has "pages" or "sub-pages"– A CD has "tracks”– A video has "scenes“

• A Library catalog usually lists the “big things”