New course design: Classification schemes and information architecture

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, Jun/Jul 2002 by Weinberg, Bella Hass

If memory serves, in teaching organization of information at Columbia University's School of Library Service in the early 1970s, Jessica Milstead observed, "We don't yet know the best way of doing anything." This statement remains true three decades later in the context of website design. There is, however, no more fascinating subject to explore than the methods of organizing information for optimal access by end-users of the Internet.

Acknowledgments

I thank Dr. Sherry Vellucci, acting director of the Division of Library and Information Science, and Catherine Hughes, a student in the information architecture course, for commenting on a draft of this article.

For Further Reading

Classification Theory

Advances in Classification Research: Proceedings of the ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop, 1990- . Medford, NJ: Information Today, 1991-.

Metcalfe, John. Subject Classifying and Indexing of Libraries and Literature. New York: Scarecrow Press, 1959.

Sayers, William Charles Berwick. Sayers' Manual of Classification for Librarians. 5th ed., [by] Arthur Maltby. London: Andre Deutsch, 1978.

Thomas, Alan R., ed. Classification: Options and Opportunities. New York: Haworth Press, 1995. (Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 3-4).

Information Architecture

Browne, Glenda; Jermey, Jonathan. Website Indexing: Enhancing Access to Information within Websites. Adelaide, Australia: Auslib Press, 2001.

Reiss, Eric L. Practical Information Architecture: A Hands-on Approach to Structuring Successful Websites.Harlow, England: Addison Wesley, 2000.

Rosenfeld, Louis; Morville, Peter. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. Cambridge; Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 1998.

Schwartz, Candy. Sorting Out the Web: Approaches to Subject Access. Westport, CT: Ablex, 2001.

by Bella Hass Weinberg

Bella Hass Weinberg is a professor in the Division of Library and Information Science, St. John's University, Jamaica, NY 11439. She can be reached by phone at 718-990-1456 and by fax at 718-990-2071. More information on the program of the Division is available at ww:.stjohns.edu