LIS 5203 Assessing Information Needs - Course Calendar


Spring 2013, Tuesdays, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Online

Contact Information

Dr. Michelle Kazmer, Associate Professor, School of Library & Information Studies, Florida State University

Office: 242-A LSB
Office Hours: By appointment

The best way to reach me is by using the Blackboard discussion board (this is only because FSU's email has been very, very sketchy over the past few semesters). But you absolutely are very welcome to email me: mkazmer@fsu.edu. I make every effort to respond to emails within 24 hours; if I don't respond within 48 hours, please email me again, as your message (or my response!) might have gotten lost [or junked accidentally]. Remember to include the course number, 5203, in your subject line. Also: I'm really serious about this: if you don't get a response in 24 hours, please email me again! I want to answer your questions or concerns.

You can also find me all over (Skype, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) @michellekazmer. If you need to talk about something specific at a specific time, we can schedule that. Just ask!

There is a required text for this course:

Additional readings were selected to introduce you to some of the seminal historical works in this area over the past decades, as well as more recent articles that illustrate current approaches to "information needs, seeking, and behavior research."Reading these articles will help you see how the topics we discuss each week are implemented by scholars and researchers, past and present.

Note: Almost all journal articles are available ONLINE through FSU's database subscriptions, and/or can be found 'somewhere on the internet'. Those that are not will be available on RESERVE in Blackboard. Items listed as OPTIONAL are strictly optional; you are not accountable for them in class or in the assignments.


Each week ends on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. There is no 'starting boundary' on each week.

Week 1 (January 7 - 13): Introduction and Examples (Synchronous Session January 8; First Day Attendance Required)

No blog post this week.

Week 2 (January 13 - 20): Examples (Synchronous Session January 15)

BLOG: POST: 500-700 words. Select and describe an information behavior from your life. This should be purely descriptive. Make it interesting; be colorful, specific, and realistic. Due Sunday January 20.

Week 3 (January 20 - 27): Concepts, Part 1 (Synchronous Session January 22)

No blog post this week.

Week 4 (January 27 - February 3): Concepts, Part 2 (Synchronous Session January 29)

BLOG: INTERACT. 200-300 words EACH. Respond to at least 2 other students' posts from Week 2, identifying and naming examples that they included that demonstrate the concepts of information, information needs, information seeking, and information behavior. Due Sunday February 3.

Week 5 (February 3 - 10): Concepts, Part 3 (Synchronous Session February 5)

BLOG: POST. 500-700 words. Using the responses you got last week, plus the course readings and in-class discussions so far, write about what your information behavior demonstrates about the information sources you use, your information needs, your information seeking, and your other information behavior(s). Due Sunday February 10.

Take a much-needed breather and prepare for the rest of the semester! No class on February 12, but you should read your colleagues' Week 5 blog posts and make sure you're prepared to discuss next week's readings in class to support your colleagues' discussion leading.

Week 6 (February 17 - 24): Models, Paradigms, and Theories, Part 1 (Synchronous Session February 19)

There is discussion leading this week.

BLOG: INTERACT. 200-300 words each. Respond to at least 2 other students' post from Week 5, identifying potential models they might use to create a rich and fruitful analysis of their information behavior and explaining why you think the model would be useful. Due Sunday February 24.

Week 7 (February 24 - March 3): Models, Paradigms, and Theories, Part 2 (Synchronous Session February 26)

There is discussion leading this week.

BLOG: POST. 400-500 words. Share two annotated citations to published articles, books, or book chapters that we did not already read for class that include information about the model and paradigm-or-theory (MPT) you are using in your Paper 1 (i.e., one citation to an item about your model, and one citation to a different item about your paradigm-or-theory). You might find where the MPT originator first explicated the MPT, or where they applied or revised it; or where another scholar applied or tested the MPT. Each annotation should summarize the content and significance of the item in your own words, and should share what you learned about the MPT itself (not your info behavior) from each additional reading. Due Sunday March 3.

Week 8 (March 3 - 10*): Methods, Part 1 (Synchronous Session March 5)

There is discussion leading this week.

BLOG: POST. 400-500 words. Analyze your information behavior using either the model or the paradigm-or-theory you selected last week. Your presentation of this analysis should be very linear and explicit, matching your own problems/needs/activities/behaviors/thoughts/sources/etc. directly to those in the model or paradigm-or-theory. Think of this as half of Part 3 of Paper 1, and cite your primary source from last week (as well as any other relevant sources) accordingly. Due Sunday March 10.

Another breather! It's spring break, no class on March 12.

Week 9 (March 17 - 24): Methods, Part 2 (Synchronous Session March 19)

There is NO discussion leading this week, and a reduced reading assignment, because Paper 1 is due.

Paper 1 due Monday March 18.

BLOG: POST. 50-100 words. Identify the population you want to write about for Paper 2. Try to be somewhat specific. This is an itty-bitty post, and you don't need to think about it or work on it until after your Paper 1 has been handed in! Due Sunday March 24.

Week 10 (March 24 - 31): Methods, Part 3 (Synchronous Session March 26)

There is NO discussion leading this week, and a reduced reading assignment, because of the high workload for the blog post.

BLOG: POST. Annotated bibliography part 1. Post citations to 7 peer-reviewed published research articles that report empirical research findings related to your population. Each citation should be a complete citation PLUS an annotation of less than 50 words that includes 2 parts: (1) the theme(s) you see emerging from this item and (2) the major knowledge point about this population you took away from this item. Week 10 blog post is due Sunday March 31. *YOU MAY POST AHEAD FOR WEEK 11 IF YOU'D LIKE, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO*

Week 11 (March 31 - April 7): Research Results and Reflections, Part 1 (Synchronous Session April 2)

There is NO discussion leading this week, and a reduced reading assignment, because of the high workload for the blog post.

BLOG: POST. Annotated bibliography part 2. Post citations to 8 peer-reviewed published research articles that report empirical research findings related to your population. Each citation should be a complete citation PLUS an annotation of less than 50 words that includes 2 parts: (1) the theme(s) you see emerging from this item and (2) the major knowledge point about this population you took away from this item. Due Sunday April 7.

Week 12 (April 7 - 14): Research Results and Reflections, Part 2 (Synchronous Session April 9)

There is discussion leading this week.

BLOG: POST. Share the major concepts and themes, and the the major unanswered (or partially answered) research questions, that emerged when you reviewed the research literature about your population. This will sort of summarize Parts 2 and 3 of your Paper 2; if you have trouble pulling out the themes, concepts, and questions easily, then you should consider revising your Paper 2 to make those themes, concepts, and questions easier to find. This week's post has no word limit because if you have already written Parts 2 and 3 I don't want you to have to do any unnecessary cutting down of text just to fit it into an artificial word limit here. On the other hand, if you are using this post to help you get started with Parts 2 and 3 of your paper, it can be outline-y and should help you create your major subheadings and topic sentences. Due Sunday April 14.

Week 13 (April 14 - April 21): Research Results and Reflections, Part 3 (Synchronous Session April 16)

There is discussion leading this week.

BLOG: POST. 400-500 words. Last week you shared the major unanswered research questions(s) you found from analyzing the literature about your population. This week, describe and discuss a research study you would design to answer these question(s) in the future. What questions would you ask? What research methodologies would you use? How would you analyze the data you gather? Due Sunday April 21.

Week 14 (April 21 - April 26*): Research Results and Reflections, Part 4 (Synchronous Session April 23)

BLOG: POST. 400-500 words. Using the research project you sketched last week, discuss some of the specific benefits (focusing where possible on benefits to the users) of applying those research findings in real-life information settings. How might the research you designed, and the research you reviewed, improve our provision of information services to your population? Due Sunday April 28*.

Paper 2 due Wednesday May 1 [this is during finals week; course grades are due to the university on Tuesday May 7].