The information revolution
This activity is about information storage and retrieval, about books and journals, and about
comparing print with electronic information storage. Information storage is in the process of
transforming how we behave, both because of the ongoing explosion of the quantity of information
available and because of increasing ease of access.
Outcomes
Students will be able to:
 compare paper and print with electronic
media
 locate resources in a library
 use information research skills
 discuss the impact of information storage
technologies on their own learning.
Time required
Allow 1 to 2 hours, depending on the extent of
discussion.
Outline of the activity
Students carry out searches for information to
develop information research skills. These
searches can be done in the context of the
current topic being studied. Finally, there are
opportunities to discuss issues of the information
revolution.
Part 1 involves searching for information in the
library, and finding out about serial numbers of
books and journals.
It might be helpful to point out the existence of
ISBN and ISSN numbers, how these are subject to
international agreement, and how they are
useful for ordering books and journals whether
from a library or from a shop.
In Part 2 students learn about research skills
from the British Library web site, search in the
British Library catalogue, and learn about
refining their search.
Part 3 could be a collaborative piece of work
carried out for homework / private study. One or
two students should be responsible for collecting
information from the class and producing the
resource.
Discussion could be structured by allocating one
or two questions to small groups or pairs of
students, who then report back on their
discussion. If students become more aware of
living through an unprecedented information
revolution and the impact of this on all areas of
life, including their own learning, then the
activity will have achieved a great deal. If class
time can not be allocated to discussion of all
these questions, some of them could be given for
homework for individuals or pairs to discuss and
write about.
In preparation for the activity:
The teacher should ascertain whether students
have already had an introduction to the library
and its structure in the past year or so, and the
extent to which this specifically related to
science and technology resources (as opposed to
the arts and humanities). The level of the
students’ sophistication in using cataloguing
systems and information retrieval methods
should also be established.
The teacher should ensure that the library the
students are to use actually carries the books or
journals to which the students have been
referred to in this activity. If not, alternative
resources will have to be substituted
The librarian should be informed about the
activity which is expected to take place in the
library. They might even be invited to
participate. Involvement of the librarian greatly
contributes towards building healthy working
teacher / librarian and student / librarian
relationships.
The librarian’s talk must be short and to the
point so that the students do not lose patience,
particularly since this activity is mainly about
students becoming actively familiarised with
locating books in the library and the methods of
classifying them.
© 2008 Gatsby Technical Education Projects. This page may be copied solely for use in the purchaser’s school or college.
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The information revolution
Further information
Today books and articles can be located in the
library through a computerised catalogue by
typing only key words, thus answering the
problem of rapidly locating specific information
from databases. However, though the
computerised catalogue supplies information on
the location of a book or an article, for the most
part (at least for reference books) it is necessary
to go to the correct bookshelf in order physically
to get to the book. Therefore we have to know
the method of cataloguing and how to locate a
book on the bookshelf.
We might compare locating a certain book in the
library to locating a person who lives in London.
If we want to visit them where they live, we
don’t simply go into the street and call their
name! We have to know the name and location
of the neighbourhood they live in, the name of
the street, the number of the house, and even
the number of the flat. In a similar way, a Dewey
number gives us specific information about
where the book is located in the library.
The library generally includes two main sections:
1. Fiction books
2. Non-fiction books, text books and reference
books
Fiction books are arranged on the shelves
alphabetically according to author’s name. Non–
fiction books are arranged in the library
according to subject – most by the Dewey
method. This activity focuses on the non-fiction
books section.
When interdisciplinary subjects are involved, it is
sometimes hard to decide how to classify them
and to which branch to ascribe them. The Dewey
method does not always give a clear enough
answer to these conflicts. It is also possible that
the Dewey number of a certain subject has to be
changed from time to time. For example:
(629.4 space flight) when space flight became
more common, with an increase in the amount of
printed matter on the subject.
In other words, the classification must be
constantly updated. In many countries there is a
national committee for matters of decimal
classification which receives suggestions for
changes and innovations and passes them on to a
Centre in The Netherlands. From there proposed
corrections are sent to experts in the different
fields of interest and only after general
agreement is the correction or innovation
published in the bulletin, ‘Corrections and
Expansions to Decimal Classification’. The Dewey
method is equally common in very large public
libraries and in school or small neighbourhood
libraries throughout the world.
Students should identify – on the basis of their
familiarity with the Dewey method of
classification and cataloguing – the sub-divisions
and the sections and the sub-subjects by which
the books on the bookshelf are arranged and list
this for themselves. For example:
540
571
576
577
580
590
Chemistry
Human Physiology
Genetics and Evolution
Ecology
Botany
Zoology
Tips and strategies
This activity could combine whole group and
small group discussion, and provides
opportunities for individual research.
629
branches of engineering = section
629.1 motorised vehicles = sub–section
629.13 aviation
629.138 space flight (old number) – this entry
had to be given a new sub–section of its own
© 2008 Gatsby Technical Education Projects. This page may be copied solely for use in the purchaser’s school or college.
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The information revolution: briefing sheet
In this activity you will use information research skills and discuss the impact of information
storage systems on your own learning.
There are different estimates of the rate at which the total amount of information stored in the
world is increasing. In some specialist subjects, including large parts of the sciences, the
quantity of information is reckoned to double every 18 months.
Part 1 Books and journals
1 Visit your school or college library and locate the text books which may be useful for Science
in Society. Familiarise yourself with the books available, so you know where to look for
information you might need in the future. Look up one key term relevant to your current study
in the index of a selected book. Note the book title, author and page number, along with one
new fact you have discovered on that page.
2 Locate one text book relevant to your current area of study. Find the ISBN number on the
back of this book. Find out what ISBN stands for, and how this number might be useful to you.
3 What type of publication has an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)? Who issues ISSN
numbers?
Part 2 The British Library
4 Go to the home page of the British Library. (You can use the link from the LSS web site, or
search in Google.)
5 Search on ‘British Library research skills’. Explore the links from this page.
6 Choose one important and interesting point that is new to you, and you would like to share
with others. Make a note of the key information, including the full URL. Share the information
with others. Discuss as a class the usefulness or interest–value of the information.
Narrowing a search
7 Return to the research skills page. Click on Using The British Library. Click on the Catalogue
hyperlink. Click on Search the Integrated Catalogue. Type a key term relating to your current
topic of study, such as Cholera, John Snow or germ theory. How many results or records did you
obtain? Try another search, more tightly specified, by adding a second key term. For example,
try Cholera John Snow, or Semmelweiss germ theory.
© 2008 Gatsby Technical Education Projects. This page may be copied solely for use in the purchaser’s school or college.
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The information revolution: briefing sheet
Boolean search
Try using a Boolean search technique to find what you need in the British Library catalogue. This
technique can be used in any Internet search engine.
‘Boolean operators’ are link words which combine multiple search terms.
The three most common link words are: AND, OR, NOT.
AND
Narrows a search
Looks for articles containing both
keywords
You may need to enter AND or + (plus
symbol)
Using AND or + gives results which
contain both the
key terms you search for.
Using OR gives you either or both of
the terms you searched on. NOT
excludes a term from a search.
8 Draw Venn diagrams like the one above for OR and NOT Boolean searches on two terms.
9 Use a Boolean technique to narrow your search on your chosen topic.
10 When your search returns fewer than 10 records, have a look in more detail at each one (by
clicking on the title). How many of them are books and how many are articles in journals? How
can you tell?
Part 3 Discussion
11 Discuss whether there are some types of information you prefer to access electronically, and
others which you prefer in print.
12 Which is most reliable, electronic or paper information storage?
13 In an age of electronic information storage, how important is it to store knowledge in your
own head? Is it more important to have information in your own memory, or to know how to find
the information from other storage? (It might help to think about different professionals, such as
doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers, journalists and engineers.) Does this have significance for
your own study?
© 2008 Gatsby Technical Education Projects. This page may be copied solely for use in the purchaser’s school or college.
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