[Asis-l] Continuing education rate for Organization of Information: Language Structure and Thesaurus Development

[Division of Library and Information Science]

Organization of Information:
Language Structure and Thesaurus Development 
LIS 224/LIN 224

Fall 2003 Semester, September 3 - December 22, 2003
Thursday evenings, from 4:40 to 6:40 p.m.  Queens campus

Skill in manipulating language is crucial to success in information
retrieval, according to an article in the Bulletin of the American
Society for Information Science (August/September 1996). Language
Structure and Thesaurus Development is a course that is designed to
develop such skills. Offered by the Division of Library and Information
Science of St. John's University, the course may be taken either for
three graduate credits or three continuing education credits. Please
call the DLIS office for CE fees.

The focus of Language Structure and Thesaurus Development is on the
design of controlled vocabularies (thesauri) for indexing and searching.
Thesaurus software has been installed on the University network for use
in this course. Considerable attention will also be paid to natural
language search techniques and to automatic ranking algorithms used on
the Internet. Multilingualism will be discussed, but knowledge of
foreign languages or non-Roman scripts is not a prerequisite for the
course. An introduction to, or experience with, cataloging, indexing,
online searching, lexicography, or information architecture constitutes
sufficient background for LIS 224/LIN 224. 

This is an applied linguistics course that may satisfy the requirements
of various St. John's programs. Students interested in linguistics
should check with their advisors. 

The course will be taught by Bella Hass Weinberg, Professor of Library
and Information Science, whose research and publications focus on the
relationship between language and information. A Past President of the
American Society of Indexers and the 1998 recipient of its Hines Award,
she chaired the committee of the National Information Standards
Organization that developed the revised American National Standard for
thesaurus construction, which was reaffirmed in 1998. Dr. Weinberg
consults on the design and restructuring of controlled vocabularies and
has expertise in transliteration and the cataloging of materials in
non-Roman scripts. 

For further information, contact: 

Division of Library and Information Science
St. John's University
8000 Utopia Parkway
Jamaica, New York 11439
Tel. (718) 990-6200; Fax: (718) 990-2071
E-Mail: libis at stjohns.edu 
Web address: http://www.stjohns.edu/


Liliane Blattner - Database Manager
St. John's University - Division of Library and Information Sciences 
8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica NY 11439 
Tel. (718) 990-6200    Fax: (718) 990-2071
mailto:Libis at stjohns.edu  http://www.stjohns.edu