Program: Master of Library and Information Studies
Year: Winter session 2004-2005, term 2
Course Schedule: Thursdays, 9:00-12:00
Location: FNS 40
Instructor: Mary Sue Stephenson
Office location: SLAIS, room 332
Office phone: 604-822-6392
Office hours: As is my practice I will not have posted office hours during the term, but you can generally count on my being at SLAIS all day Monday, and Wednesday-Friday. I will not be at SLAIS on most Tuesdays. In any case, if you want to be sure I'm going to be available then I suggest you make a firm appointment - otherwise just pop in if I'm in my office and the door is open.
E-mail address: mary.sue.stephenson@ubc.ca
Course website address: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr512/04-05-wt2/index.htm

Course Goal: The goal of this course is to provide students with knowledge of the theory and practice of indexing of traditional, electronic and object-based documents.

Course Objectives:

Course Topics:

• Pre-coordination & post-coordination
• Indexing languages
• Thesauri
• Types of indexes
• Controlled vocabulary indexing [open system]
• Abstracting
• Back-of-the-book indexing [closed system]
• WWW indexing [both open & closed system]

Prerequisites: LIBR 500, 510, 540, 560 or permission of SLAIS Graduate Advisor.  Limited to graduate students.

Format of the course: Class meets on Thursday mornings. Class sessions will be a combination of lectures, discussions and in-class exercises

Required and Recommended Reading:

Course Assignments, Due dates and Weight in relation to final course mark:

Course Schedule [subject to change]:

Attendance: The calendar states: "Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes."

Regular on-time attendance in class is an important and required part of this course. Much of the material covered during class is not readily available from other sources. I will provide copies of all handouts distributed during sessions you miss, but it is your responsibility to obtain notes from one of the other class members. I recognize that sudden unexpected problems arise for everyone (including myself), but I expect you to attend and be on time for class. Repeated absences or tardiness will result in a lower course mark or in a request from me that you drop the course. The extent of the reduction is at my discretion. If you know ahead of time that you will be coming in late, please let me know. If you ARE late for class (for whatever reason) please go ahead and come into the classroom rather than waiting for the break.

Evaluation: Assignments will not be accepted late unless prior arrangements are made with me. Consideration will be given to legitimate emergencies. If an extension is granted, a late penalty may be imposed at my discretion; this will be discussed when you request an extension.  Please see note above on class attendance requirements as related to course marks. All assignments will be awarded letter grades using the evaluative criteria given on the SLAIS web site: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/RESOURCES/slais-marking.htm. If you receive a mark such as A-/B+ you should interpret it as a low A-, likewise a mark of B+/A- should be interpreted as a high B+. [The top mark represents the awarded letter grade, and the bottom mark indicates the relative position of the numerical equivalent in the range for the letter grade on the SLAIS web site].

Written & Spoken English Requirement: Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English.

Course Internet Discussion List: Each of you MUST sign-up for the class internet discussion list. From whatever email account you wish to use, send the following [leave the Subject line blank]: address-- To: majordomo@interchange.ubc.ca message-- subscribe l-512 end This is the mechanism that I will use to make announcements to you outside class. You are also welcome to post comments/questions to the list if relevant to other students. For particular problems or questions you should e-mail me directly at mary.sue.stephenson@ubc.ca, see me in my office or call me.