1. Organization of Information
Or Avoiding the Info Avalanche

2. History
• Information used to be easier to keep track of
• Books take up physical space, can be easily
moved around, and don’t disappear when the
electricity goes out
• Systems of organizing information were
developed by people who were used to
dealing with print
• Even the people who invented the Internet!

3. Libraries
Image by Hegemony77

4. Libraries
• Academic libraries use the Library of Congress
Classification System (LC, for short)
• Different formats/information types are in
different sections: books, periodicals,
reference, government documents,
media/reserves
• Books have LC Call Numbers, which
function as the home address
of the book.

5. Online Library Content
• Online library content is a (relatively) new
phenomenon – libraries have been around for
thousands of year & the Internet is only about
30!
• Only certain kinds of information is available
online: journal articles were the first, and then
video, audio, and books
• A lot of academic information is still only
available in print
• There are many theories about how to best
organize online library content for ease of use

6. Publishers
• Libraries subscribe to content packages
(commonly called “databases”) provided by
publishing companies
• CSUEB subscribes to over 100 of them!
• Each publisher has their own platform (or
interface) which makes it difficult for libraries
to provide seamless access to information
• Publishers (unlike web designers) are also
working on a “born in print” model

7. Search Engines
Image by Riaz Phillips

8. Search Engines
• Libraries organize information by putting it in
categories and attaching subject headings (the
original hashtags!)
• Search engines don’t even try to organize
information – they focus on using algorithms to
automatically sift through millions of results
• Since search engines are working with “born
digital” content (web pages), they have the
freedom to develop interfaces that are intuitive
to the online environment

9. Pretty

10. Less pretty

11. Keywords
• Because of the ways information is (and is not)
organized, knowing how to search effectively is
key
• Google will accept anything as a search term
• Library resources are much less forgiving: they
require keywords
• Keywords are words and phrases (including
names and dates) that are directly related to
your topic
• Keywords come from your research question

12. Keywords & Research Questions
• If my research question is:
How can we improve traffic safety on the Spoon
superhighway and reduce fatalities caused by space
tourists from Earth?
• My keywords might be
– Traffic safety
– Reduce
– Fatalities
– Tourists

13. Synonyms & Related Terms
• When you’re thinking of keywords, also
consider synonyms or related terms
• Synonyms are words that mean the same
thing
• Related terms are words that are closely tied
to your keywords
• Remember that databases are DUMB! They
need you to tell them what to look for.

14. Review
• Libraries have been around for 1000s of years;
the Internet is about 30 years old
• Academic libraries organize books using LC call
numbers
• Online library content is relatively new and
some scholarly content is only published in
print
• Articles are available in databases provided by
publishing companies

15. Review
• Search engines rely on algorithms; library
content is organized by subject headings
• To do effective library research, use keywords
• Include synonyms and related terms to make
sure your list of keywords is comprehensive
• Your search results are only as good as your
searches