UNIT 7

LEGAL ISSUES OF INFORMATION USE

What is Intellectual property?

Intellectual property is the legal rights which result from intellectual activity in the industrial,
scientific, literary and artistic fields. It refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary
and artistic works and symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce (World Intellectual
Property Organization in Ojedokun 2007). Intellectual property rights (IPR) are right given to
person(s) over their creations and apply to all aspects of the information industry (hardware,
software, content, etc). These rights usually give the creator exclusive right over the use of the
creation for a specified period of time.
According to the world intellectual property organization handbook, countries all over the world
enact laws to protect intellectual property for two reasons viz:
1. To give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of the creators in their
creations and the right of the public to have access to those creation.
2. To promote, as a deliberate act of government policy, creativity and the dissemination
and application of its result and to encourage fair trading, this would contribute to
economic and social development.
The aim of intellectual property law is to safe guard the creators and other producers of
intellectual goods and services by granting them certain time limited rights to control the use
made of those productions.
Intellectual property is traditionally divided into two main branches viz: Industrial property and
Copyright.

CONCEPT OF COPYRIGHT
What is Copyright?
Copyright is the right which grants authority to writers to maintain exclusivity over their work in
terms of the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license the work itself or
derivatives thereof ( Gregory 2000). The encyclopedia of library and information science (1971)
cited in Otunla and Akanmu-Adeyemo, (2010) defines copyright as the exclusive, legally secured
right to publish and sell the substance and form of a literary, musical work by law to authors of
literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work to authorize the production or reproduction of such
work. Okwilagwe (2001) also cited in Otunla and Akanmu-Adeyemo, (2010) defined copyright
as the exclusive right granted an author and other creative artists to authorize the use of their
work in any way.
In other words, copyright is the legal right secured by the creator of a work whether it is literary,
musical or artistic in nature to protect the work from undue exploitation by members of a society.
Therefore, people who want to use the work in any form must get permission from the owner.
Copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished literary, scientific and artistic
work provided such works are fixed in a tangible or material form.

Why do we have Copyright Law?

According to Okwilagwe copyright law came into existence for 2 main purposes.
a) To encourage creative people to produce works of culture
b) To provide incentives for the effective dissemination of work produced.
In other words, copyright law seeks to protect the moral and economic rights of the creator of a
work. Just as Okwilagwe stated that an author is more likely to be motivated to embark on

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continuous production of intellectual products if there is the assurance that another individual can
claim neither credit nor the profit economically for the authors efforts.

Copyright Law in Nigeria

The Law of Copyright is governed by the Copyright Act, Chapter 68 of the laws of the Federation
of Nigeria, 1990 which was amended by the Copyright Decree No. 47 of 1998.
The Copyright Act in section 1 identifies five broad categories of works that are eligible for
Copyright protection these are:

a) Literary works
b) Musical works
c) Artistic works
d) Cinematograph films
e) Sound recording

Eligibility of Copyright
For a work to be eligible for copyright protection it must be original. A literary, musical or
artistic work will not be eligible for copyright unless it has been fixed in a definite medium from
which it can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated either directly or with the aid
of any machine or device. There is no registration requirement for copyright in Nigeria.
Copyright is vested automatically by the Copyright Act in all eligible works that qualify for
protection.

Exclusive Right of Copyrights

The Nigeria Copyright Act provides owners of a work the exclusive right to control and authorize
their materials in the following ways:
a) Promotion of the work in any material form
b) Publication of the work
c) Performing the work in public
d) Produce, reproduce, perform, or publish any translation of the work
e) Make a cinematography, film or record in respect of the work
f) Distribute to the public for commercial purposes copies of the work by way of rental,
lease, hire, loan or similar arrangement.
g) Broadcast or communicate the work to the public by a loud speaker or any other
similar device, and
h) Make an adaptation of the work

Copyright Owner
The owner of copyright is the person who created the work i.e. the author of the work. But there
are exceptional cases as provided by the national law, when an author who is employed for the
purpose of creating that work, creates a work, then the employer, not the author, is the owner of
the copyright in the work. However, the moral rights always belong to the author of the work.
This means that the owner of the copyright transfers it to another person or entity, who becomes
the owner of the copyright.

Copyright Coverage
There is no international copyright law that enables the author or creator to protect his/her work
throughout the world. Each country has its own copyright laws, which differs greatly from one
country to the other. However, most countries are members of two international treaties, which
prescribe minimum standards for member countries and require each country, to provide national
treatment to citizens of the other member countries. The treaties are the Berne Convention;
(revised 24th July 1971) but amended 2nd October 1979) and the Universal Copyright Convention;
UCC (revised 24th July 1971). Over 120 countries (including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa,

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Botswana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, United States, United Kingdom, etc) in the world
signed these treaties for the protection of literary, scientific and artistic works. These allow an
individual to protect his/her works in countries of which he/she is not a citizen or national.
The following works may be protected under these treaties.
(a) Both published and unpublished works of an author, who is a national or resident of a
country that is a member of these treaties.
(b) Published works, with permission, of an author, who is a national or resident of a
country that is a member of these treaties.

Copyright statement
Copyright statement is usually written as 2008. The date that is seen in copyright statements
refers to the date that the material was created. When several dates appear in a copyright
statement (e.g. 1976, 1999, 2003, 2008), it simply means that certain things were created in one
year and modified later. If an individual or an organization creates a work, the copyright notice
should consist of the symbol 2008 Cardiff University, USA.

The period of validity of copyright

The period of validity of copyright begins from the date that one see in the copyright statement.
The Berne Convention according to World Intellectual Organization handbook established a
general and a minimum period that last the life of the author and fifty years after his/her death, for
the validity of a work. Cinematographic and photographic works have 50 and 25 years
respectively as the minimum period of protection. The purpose of this law is to enable the
authors successor to have economic benefits after the authors death. It also safeguards the
investments made in the production and dissemination of works. This is only applicable to any
country that has signed the Berne Convention.

Fair use of copyright works

This is a legal principle that defines the limitations on the exclusive rights of copyright holders.
The fair use of a copyright work, including such use as reproducing copies for the purposes of
book reviews, criticisms, comments, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for
classroom use), scholarship or research is not an infringement of copyright. The provision for
instance, gives a teacher lecturer the privilege of photocopying materials for classroom use and
research without obtaining permission.

Types of fair use permission

1. For a teacher/lecturers personal and immediate use, fair use allows one copy of a
portion of a work, such as a chapter from a book, an article from a newspaper, a
picture or a short story from a collective work.
2. For one time classroom distribution of an entire work, this requires that a license be
obtained from the relevant copyright licensing agent for it to be fair use.
The Copyright Act does not allow a teacher/lecturer to distribute photocopies to the students, but
copyright license allows a University to go beyond what is allowed by the Copyright Act.
However, it is important that the teacher/lecturer does not distribute more than what the license
allows. Anything outside this is an infringement, which is subject to punishment under the
copyright law. For instance, copying a text or scanning pictures from postcards, magazines,
journals, books or any other work. But it allows photocopy of an article on a journal and a
chapter in a book.

Factors that determined fair use

a) The purpose and character of the use including whether such use is for commercial or
non-profit educational purposes
b) The nature of the copyrighted work

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c) The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a
whole.
d) The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The copyright law usually allows a fair use of up to 300 words though it varies from country to
country that may be cited without authorization of the copyright owner. But the origin of the
work or text and the name of the copyright holder must however be mentioned.

Violation of Copyright Law

Reprography
Reprography which manifests in the form of photocopy has been noted all over the world as the
major way in which the various activities amounting to violation or infringement of Copyright
such as plagiarism, counterfeiting and piracy are committed (Okwilagwe, 2001). Although with
copyright law exception for fair dealing for the purpose of research or private use, photocopy still
denies authors the normal benefits from their works. Hence, it still agreed that photocopy is still
the major way of violating copyright laws.

Piracy
According to Ojedokun (2007) it is the unauthorized copy of Copyright materials for commercial
purposes and the unauthorized commercial dealing in copied materials. Piracy has however
assumed an alarming proportion because of the digital technology revolution, which according to
the World Intellectual Property Organization handbook has had a tremendous impact on the
creation, dissemination and use of works.
Pirates do not incur and hence do not need to recover the original cost of production of the
investment, therefore, the pirated copies are usually sold at a lower price, thereby undermining
the original authors, performers, inventors and distributors possibility of obtaining a just,
moral and economic reward for their work and investment. The diversion of economic rewards
from authors and their business partners to pirates thereby removes the incentive to the
investment of time, effort, skill and resources in the creation of new work.
Counterfeits: This act is committed when fake copies of a authors work are reproduced for
commercial purpose.
Plagiarism: According to Collins dictionary, it is the act of using or copying someone else ideas
or work and pretending that you thought of it or created it, or to take words or ideas from
someones work and use them in your own work without admitting one has done so (Longman
Dictionary)
Plagiarism occurs anytime credit is not given where credit is due (Ojedokun, 2007). The action
involves using or copying someone elses ideas or work and pretending that you created it. The
act violate the copyright law of any country, it also violates the code of academic conduct, this
borders on academic dishonesty/misconduct, which in most institution attract disciplinary actions.
It takes an unfair advantage over the person who does the work and also devalues the original
work of others.
Note: Anybody who plagiarizes is cheating on himself/herself, as he/she fails to learn to write out
his/her thoughts/ideas in his/her own works.

Examples
- When a student copied verbatim from a published source but fail to reference that source.
- A lecturer publishing someone elses work using his/her own name.
- Copying blocks text, but not enclosed in quotation marks and referenced appropriately
- Paraphrasing material in such a way that reflects ideas taken from someones work without
appropriate reference etc.

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Exceptions
There are exceptions where copyright is not infringed according to the Copyright Act Section of
Nigeria. RERONIG (2004) cited in Otunla and Akanmu-Adeyemo (2010) stated that copyright is
not infringed if a work is performed, copied, reproduced or adapted for:
Research or private study
Criticism or review or the reporting of current events if acknowledgment is made.
The inclusion in a film or broadcast of an article work and shown where it can be viewed
by the public
Reproduced and distributed in a place where it can be viewed by the public
The performance or broadcast of a reasonable extract if sufficient acknowledgement is
made
Reproduced and/or performed for judicial proceedings

The Copyright Act also makes provisions for damages in the event of infringement on Copyright
Section 20 spells out penalties for offences.

Implication for us
Having come this far in understanding Copyright and what it has in store for scholars, it is
expected that as you start off doing assignments, term papers, writing projects etc, that you abide
by the regulation of this law. Give credit to who credit is due by a way of acknowledgment of
author through citation. Let your work be original in its content as much as possible.

CITATION
Citation is defined as both an acknowledgement and a signpost (Ojedokun, 2007), citation is the
basis of academics. As an acknowledgement, it gives credit to where credit is due; it shows that
person is indebted to that source. As a signpost it means that it shows the location of the source.
In academics, a researcher uses what is known already, to establish or create new knowledge, the
researcher, therefore, must cite his/her source accurately. In citation, you must note the
following:
1. Source of the work
2. The word used
3. The ideas or facts used in the written work

Reason for Citations

- To give credit to those who initiated the ideas used in the work, and also reward them by
giving recognition
- To keep track of sources used
- To trace the way ideas develop
- To give and/or improve the authors credibility as an expert in his/her field
- To give the reader a guide which may later be used to explore further the ideas presented in
the works
- To be honest about the extent of ones original contribution.
- To protect one from charges of plagiarism once credit it has been given to the words and
ideas of others.
Sources to be cited
Published work e.g. books, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, website, movies, photos,
paintings and plays etc.
Unpublished works e.g. materials from blog, class handout, lecture notes, speeches, etc.

Information to Cite
The works to be cited are:
All quotes
All paraphrases of other peoples original ideas and interpretations.

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 All summaries of others book, articles and reviews
All information found in primary source documents such as almanacs, government
reports
Work which includes, the words and ideas of others as well as art, graphics, computer
programmes, music and other creative work
Writing, charts, data, graphs, pictures, diagrams, websites, movies, TV broadcast or other
communication media.

Elements in Citation
The elements of citation are universal they are
a. Author(s)
b. Title
c. Publication information (place, date/year of publication, published and page number).

Citation content
Citation content can vary depending on the type of source and may include:
Book: author(s), book title, publisher, date of publication, and page number(s) if
appropriate [2[3]
Journal: author(s), article title, journal title, date of publication, and page number(s).
Newspaper; author(s), article title, name of newspaper, section title and page number(s) if
desired, date of publication.
Web site: author(s), article and publication title where appropriate, as well as a URL, and
a date when the site was accessed.
Play: inline citations offer part, scene, and line numbers, the latter separated by periods;
4.452 refers to scene 4, line 452. For example, In Eugene Onegin, Onegin rejects Tanya
when she is free to be his, and only decides he wants her when she is already married
(Pushkin 4.452-53).[4]
Poem: spaced slashes are normally used to indicate separate lines of a poem, and
parenthetical citations usually include the line numbers(s). for example: For I must love
because I live/and life in me is what you give (Brennan, lines 15 16). [4]

Parenthetical citation or in-text citation:

This is made in the text at the point where the material is used. This type of citation is made in
the body of the text, they are then grouped together at the end of the work, and constitute what is
referred to as the reference list or sometime made at the bottom of page known as footnotes, or at
the end of the paper known as endnotes. The elements of parenthetical citation are authors last
name, year of publication and page number if the author is referring to a quotation or figures/data
in the cited work (e.g. Jude, 2003). But, if the work has two authors, the last names are used and
linked together by the word and (e.g. Aduke and Tiamiyu, 2005).

For three to five authors list all the last name of the authors the first time you cite the source, but
in subsequent citations only the name of the first author is used followed by the phrase et al (et
al means and others, e.g. Aiyepeku et al, 2007)

A Reference List: This is given at the conclusion of a work. The list contains only sources that
are actually cited or referenced in the work. Any source consulted but not used in a work, must
not be part of the list.
Footnote: This is a style of citing that places an Arabic numeral in the body of the text. It begins
by placing an Arabic numeral at the end and slightly above the material to be acknowledged. It
usually appears at the bottom of the page separated from the text by a solid line.

Citation Styles/Format:
There are Styles for making these citations: They are:
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 American Psychological Association (APA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Harvard (Author Date System)
American Medical Association (AMA)
Council of Biology Editors (CBE)
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Turabian (Chicago)

We shall focus on the three commonly reference styles which are: American Psychological
Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA) and Harvard (Author Date
System)
The style of the American Psychological Association, or APA style, published in The Style
Manual of the APA, is most often used in the social sciences. APA style uses Harvard
referencing within the text, listing the authors name and year of publication, keyed to an
alphabetical list of sources at the end of the paper on a Reference page e.g. (Jude, 2003).

Referencing a book using APA

One author:
Ojedokun, A.A. (2007). Information literacy for tertiary education students in Africa.
Nigeria: Third World Information Services Limited.
Two authors:
Adegeye, A.J, and Dihoh, J.S. (1985). Essentials of agricultural economics. Ibadan: Impact
Publishers Nig. Ltd.
Three to five authors:
Ross, S. A.,Westerfield, R. W., Jaffe, J. F. and Jordan, B. D. (2006). Core Principles and
Application of Cooperate. New York: Mcgraw-Hill.

Six authors and more:

List up to seven authors name followed by ellipse (..) then the name of last author.
Unknown author:
The Holy Bible: old and new testaments in the King James version. (1972). Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers
Edited book:
Babawale, T. (ed) (2007). The place of research and studies in the development of Africa
and the African Diaspora. Nigeria: Concept Publications Limited.

Article or chapter in an edited book:

Aina, L.O. and Ajiferuke, I.S.Y. (2002). Research methodologies in information science.
In: L.O. Aina (Ed), Research in information sciences: an African perspective (pp.32-62).
Nigeria: Stirling-Horden Publishers Ltd.
Electronic book:
Thornton, Chris. Truth from Trash: How learning makes sense. Cambridge, MA:
MITP 2000. Netlibrary Seattle Central Community College Lib
Retrieved 24 February, 2003
http://emedia.netlibrary.com

Periodicals
Journal article (with issue starting with page one):
Ojedokun, A.A. (2003). Transforming the library into a teaching-learning laboratory the case
of University of Botswana Library. Campus-Wide Information System, 20 (1), 25-31
7
Journal article (when page numbering continues from issue to issue):
Dubeck, L. (1990). Science fiction aids science teaching. Physics Teacher, 28, 316-318
Newspaper article:
Gbadamosi, G. (2004, May 13). Government to fine-tune cyber crime bill, says Olujimi. The
Guardian, p.15
Editorial:
Schmemam, S. (1991, December 8). The world according to Gorbachev disappears.
[Editorial]. New York Times, p. E3.

Modern Language Association

MLA style was developed by the Modern Language Association and is most often used in the arts
and the humanities, particularly in English studies, other literary studies, including comparative
literature and literature and literary criticism in languages other than English (foreign
languages). And some interdisciplinary studies, such as cultural studies, drama and theatre, film,
and other media, including television. This style of citations and bibliographical format uses
parenthetical referencing with author page (Smith 395) or author-[short] title-page (Smith,
Contigencies42) in the case of more than one work by the same author within parentheses in the
text, keyed to an alphabetical list of sources on a Works Cited page at the end of the paper, as
well as notes (footnotes or endnotes).

Examples of MLA

For a book
One author:
Ojedokun, Ayoku, A. Information literacy for tertiary education student in Africa.
Nigeria: Third World Information Services Limited, 2007

Two or more authors:

Adegeye, A.J, Harris, Muriel and Dihoh, J.S. Essentials of agricultural economics. Ibadan:
Impact Publishers Nig. Ltd, 1985

More than three authors:

Roeder, Kenneth, et al. Nerve cells and insect behaviour. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press, 1969

Unknown author:
The Holy Bible: old and new testaments in the King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1972

Edited book:
Babawale, Tunde ed. The place of research and studies in the development of Africa and the
African Diaspora. Nigeria: Concept Publications Limited, 2007

Article or chapter in an edited book:

Aina, L. O. and Ajiferuke, I.S.Y. Research methodologies in information science. In:
Research in information sciences: an African perspective., edited by Aina, Lenrie.
Nigeria: Stirling-Horden Publishers Ltd, 2002. 32- 62.
Electronic book:
Thornton, Chris. Truth from Trash: How learning make sense. Cambridge, MA: MITP
Netlibrary Seattle Central Community College Lib , 2000.
Web 24 Feb. 2000
http://emedia.netlibrary.com
8
Periodicals
Journal article (with issue starting with page one):
Ojedokun, Ayoku A. Transforming the library into a teaching-learning laboratory the case
of University of Botswana Library Campus-Wide Information System, 20.1
(2003): 25-31

Journal article (when page numbering continues from issue to issue):

Dubeck, L. Science fiction aids science teaching. Physics Teacher, 28 (1990) 316-318

Newspaper article:
Gbadamosi, G. Government to fine-tune cyber crime bill, says Olujimi. The Guardian, May
13, 2004: 15

Editorial:
Schmemam, S. The world according to Gorbachev disappears. Editorial New York Times 8
December 1991: E3

Harvard style
The most commonly used referencing style among these three is Name-and-year, the Author-Date
style or Harvard Style referencing. This style was developed in the 1950s and 1960s mainly used
in the physical and natural sciences but it is newly embraced in the social sciences.
The advantages of this style include its flexibility, simplicity, clarity and ease of use. It has
different format of documentation when listing authors work.

Examples
One author:
Ojedokun, A.A. 2007, Information literacy for tertiary education students in Africa, Third World
Information Services Limited, Nigeria.

Two or more authors:

Moir, A. & Jessel, D. 1991, Brain Sex: The real difference between men and women, Mandarin,
London.

Adegeye, A.J, Harris, Muriel and Dihoh, J.S. 1985, Essentials of agricultural economics, Impact
Publishers Nig. Ltd, Ibadan.

More than three authors:

Roeder, Kenneth, et al. 1969, Nerve cells and insect behaviour. Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Unknown author:
The Holy Bible: old and new testaments in the King James Version. 1972, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, Nashville.

Edited book:
Babawale, Tunde (ed), 2007, The place of research and studies in the development of
Africa and the African Diaspora. Concept Publications Limited, Nigeria.

Article or chapter in an edited book:

Aina, L.O. and Ajiferuke, I.S.Y. 2002, Research methodologies in information science,
in L.O. Aina (ed), Research in information sciences: an African perspective, Stirling-
Horden Publishers Ltd., Nigeria, pp.32-62.
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Thesis:
Ojedokun, A.A., 2006, The impact of computerization on productivity in Botswana: a case
study of two stat corporations. Ph.D. Thesis University of Botswana

Conference paper:
Trump, A. 1986, Power play, proceedings of the Third Annual Conference, International
Society of Power Engineers, Houston Texas, pp 40-51.

Journal article (with each issue starting with page one):

Ojedokun, A.A. 2003, Transforming the library into a teaching-learning laboratory the case
of University of Botswana Library, Campus-Wide Information System, vol. 20, no.1
pp. 25-31.

Journal article (when page numbering continues from issue to issue):

Dubeck, L. 1990, Science fiction aids science teaching, Physics Teacher, vol. 28, pp. 316-318

Newspaper article:
Dibetle, M. 2006, Matatiele: Threat to hit streets, Mail Guardian, 25-31 August, p. 11.

REFERENCES

Berne convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. Retrieved November 12 2009
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention

Citation. Retrieved November 11, 2009 from

http://www.liu.ed/CWIP/library/workshop/citation.htm

Gregory, V. L. (2000) Selecting and managing electronic resources New York:

Neal-Schumann Publishers.

Ojedokun, A.A. (2007). Information literacy for territory education students in Africa. Ibadan:

The Third World Services Limited.

Okwilagwe, O. A. (2001). Book Publishing in Nigeria. In Otunla, A.O. & Akanmu-Adeyemo,

E.A. (2010). Use of Library. Ibadan: End Time Publishers.

Otunla, A.O. & Akanmu-Adeyemo, E.A. (2010). Use of Library. Ibadan: End Time Publishers.

RERONIG (2004). Copyright: What You Need to Know. In Otunla, A.O. & Akanmu-Adeyemo,

E.A. (2010). Use of Library. Ibadan: End Time Publishers, pp38-43.

10
UNIT 8

INTRODUCTION TO WEB SEARCHING

Web Search Tools

Web search tools are software designed to aid in the search of information on the World Wide
Web. There are four web search tools they are: search engines, web directories, library gateways
and specialized databases.

A. Search engines:
Search engines are tools that let you explore databases containing the text from hundreds
of millions of web pages (Alfred and Glassbrenine, 2001). Search engines work by
searching among the contents of public sites on the Internet for key terms that you
indicate.
Search engine, which is sometimes called intelligent agent, worm, crawler, spider, or
robot, deals with specific pieces of information, not categories. This means that, they are
not organized by subject category.
A search engine indexes are based on the keywords and phrases that are found on web
pages. It collects the documents in which they occur into a database. So, each time a
user searches the web using a search engine, what he/she is doing is asking the search
engine to scan its index of sites and match the users keywords and phrases with those in
the texts of documents within the engines database. Most search engines support the use
of Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further specify the search query.
Search engines are components of the internets cataloguing, but they can not be
compared to the library catalogues because they lack standardization. It is also difficult
to evaluate information retrieved, using search engines. Examples of search engines are:

1. Hotbot (http://www.hotbot.com or http://hotbot.1ycos.com1?guerg=)

2. Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com)
3. Allthaweb (http://www.alltheweb.com)
4. Google (http://www.google.com).

Advantages of search engines

1. They provide access to a major portion of the publications available on the web.
2. They provide current materials
3. Some also use relevance ranking and offer various features to facilitate retrieval of
information
4. Search engines are currently the best means of finding information from the web.

Disadvantages of search engines

1. Size of the index: unless the users search is very specific, it may result in millions of
hits.

2. There is no measure of quality: all pages are catalogued. There is the likelihood of the
search engine returning hundreds of thousands of irrelevant responses to a simple
search request because of sheer number of words indexed.

3. The index is not always up to date, and sometimes, links returned by the search point to
web pages which no longer exist or have changed since they were last catalogued
(Ojedokun, 2007)

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B. Web Directory
A web directory is a meaningful classification of collection, or database of websites
(Ojedokun, 2007). It is a directory on the www that specializes in linking to other sites
and categorizing those links (wikipedia, 2008). It is basically a subject directory. Each
category may also be a listing of sub-topics.

A directory may be organized topically and alphabetically within the topic.

Directories are created and maintained by human editors, who review and select sites for
inclusion in their directories on the basis of previously determined selection criteria. The
resources listed are then annotated. However, classification of pages by subjects is not
standardized, and therefore it varies according to the scope of each directory.
Directories are smaller than search engines, as they index only the home page or top level
pages of a site.

Although, they are meant to be browsed most of them have their own search engine, and
therefore can be searched. Directories are of various types:
- General (this covers resources of all types)
- Academic (it covers academic resources)
- Commercial (which covers business related resources) and portals.
Portals are directories taken over by commercial interests and then reconfigured
to act as gateways to the web. Portals sites are not only link to the popular
subject categories, but also offer additional services such as e-mail, current news,
stock quotes, travel information and maps.

A directory, when searched lists the sites that fit the searchers description, no matter the
number of entries it contains. It does not contain detailed information about the content
of the sites other than what it presumed from the subject matter. Therefore, searching a
web directory required the searcher to use the broadest possible terms.

Examples of web directory are:

Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
Open Directory (http://dmoz.org)
Go Directory (http://infoseek.go.com)
About.com (http://about.com)

Advantages of web directories

1. They are relatively easy to determine the potential relevance of materials from results
displayed without having access to the materials themselves.

2. They are most effective for finding general information on popular subjects.

3. Directories deliver a higher quality of content and fewer results out of context than a
search engines, as a result of hierarchical organization into browsable categories and sub-
categories.

Disadvantages
1. Not as comprehensive in their coverage as search engines.

2. Not automatically updated when sites or pages change addresses because most of them
do not compute databases of their own, but merely point to them.

3. It does not discriminate between sites in terms of their quality, because those who
developed them were only concerned with subject relevance of materials, and not
necessarily with their quality.
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 Directories are useful for the following:
1. For browsing and searches of a general nature especially when you requires information
on popular topics.

2. When you want to see the kind f information that is available on the web in a particular
field of interest.

C. Library gateways or subject gateways

Library gateways are collections of reviewed and recommended links (databases) that has
been created by subject specialists, usually librarians, to support research needs and to
pinpoint high quality sites on the web.

(Ojedokun, 2007), these gateways point to specialized databases on the web created by
professors, researchers, experts, governmental agencies, business interest or other subject
specialist and individuals, who have a deep interest in a particular field and have
accumulated and compiled web links to it. They support research and reference needs.
Most of the information in these databases are not available to search engine spiders
crawling the web. Each of the gateways is slightly different, but most provide access to
searchable and browsable databases of internet source descriptors within their particular
subject area. It is used to search for high quality information sites.

Advantages of Library Gateways

1. It relieves the user the work of filtering potentially useful sources from the vast amount
of information on the Internet, because, they are created by experts in the various fields,
who is assumed to have identified and evaluate relevant high-quality resources.

2. The criteria used by the services for evaluation are clearly and fully defined, as these
criteria are designed to assess a range of factors which affect the quality of an
information source including accuracy, reliability, currency and coverage.

3. They cover the full range of internet resources, as they do not discriminate between
materials according to their format.

4. There is less repetition in the search results because resources are evaluated and
described at the resource level rather than individual level.

5. The services use traditional cataloguing and classification techniques, which aim to
ensure accurate subject description and to facilitate retrieval of resources.

Disadvantages
1. This covers a relatively small number of materials because of high level of human input.

2. The subject restricts the audience, so it has little interest to a lay person who has no high
level of knowledge and understanding in the subject.

Examples of subject gateways

1. Academic information (http://www.academicinfor.net)
2. Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org)
3. Infomine (http://informine.ucr.edu)

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D. Specialized (Subject-specific) databases or portals (i.e. vertical portals)
They are databases devoted to assign subject, created by professors, researchers, experts,
governmental agencies, business interests, and other subjects specialists and/or
individuals who have a deep interest in, and professional knowledge of, a particular field
and have accumulated information and data about it.

Examples
1. ERIC Clearing house (http://www.eric,ed.org)
2. Search Edu (http://www.searchedu.com)
3. Search.com (http://www.cnet.com)
4. Complete Planet (http://www.completeplanet.com

Web Browser
A Web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing. The main
purpose of a web browser is to bring information resources to the user.

Information resources on the World Wide Web: An information resource is identified by a

Uniform Resource Identifier or Locator (URI/URL) and may be a web page, image, video, or
other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to easily navigate their
browsers to related resources.

This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), for example
http://en.wikipedia.org/, into the browser. The prefix of the URI determines how the URI will be
interpreted. The most commonly used kind of URI starts with http: and identifies a resource to be
retrieved over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

Although browsers are primarily intended to access the World Wide Web, they can also be used
to access information provided by Web servers in private networks or files in file systems.

The major web browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Fire Fox, Apple Safari, and Opera for
Windows and Mozilla fire fox, Apple Safari, and Opera for Macintosh systems.
Google Chrome, originally released for Windows and in the Fall of 2009 for Macintosh, is touted
as an alternative browser the major players listed above.

Search Strategy
A search strategy is a plan for finding relevant information (Ojedokun, A.A. 2007).
It is an important step for any information-problem solving exercise. Information search
strategies involve the identification of relevant information sources, e.g. bibliographic or full text
databases or the internet, etc selecting search terms or other symbols, developing search profiles,
modifying profiles by interactive search strategies. It allows effective searching, leading to the
identification of required information either from the library or an information system.

The search preparation exercise

A search preparation exercise is necessary for a good search strategy. Usually for every search
made there are parameters that influence how such search should be conducted:
What is wanted? i.e. a clear and concise definition of search objectives
What is known about the search area?
What information access tools are available?
How are those access tools constructed? and
What is known about the structure of those access tools? That is can the searcher search
by title, author or subject? Is Boolean operators allowed? Does it allow truncated words?
And does it allow the use of wildcards?
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For a searcher to search for relevant information, the searcher would need to ask the following
questions.
Does the topic fit within the broad subject area(s)?
Would a subject index, a general index or both suit my needs?
What type of information do I need on this topic? Is it current or historical?
Is there a subject index in print, but not electronic format that will be helpful?

Basic Search Tips

The tips below will work with most search tools in their basic search options. However, it is
important to be familiar with the features of the search tool the user have chosen to use. Explore
their search tips, help, and advanced search strategies. Many of the search engines have other
interesting features, including regional or country specific searching: and other current
information, etc.

The plus (+) and minus (-) signs work the same way as the operators AND and NOT
respectively in some search.

Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words to force their inclusion and/or
exclusion in searches. Use no space between the sign and the keyword e.g. + AIDS-
HIV

Use double quotation marks ( ) around phrases to ensure they are searched exactly as
it is, with words side by side in the same order e.g. south africa. Do not put quotation
marks around a single word.

Type your most important keywords first in the string.

Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find both lower and upper case version e.g.
Nigeria retrieves both nigeria and Nigeria, ghana retrieves both Ghana and Ghana.
Typing in upper case will usually return only the exact match.

Use truncation and wildcards (*) to retrieve variations in spelling and word form e.g.
comp* will retrieve computer, computing, computation, etc.

Combine phrases with keywords, using the double quotes and the plus (+) and/or minus
(-) signs e.g. + lung cancer +bronchitis-smoking. When you use a keyword with a +
sign, you must also put the + sign in front of the phrase. However when searching
for a phrase alone, you do not need to put the + sign.

When searching a document for keywords(s), use the find command on that page.

Know the default setting your search engine uses (OR or AND). This will have an effect
on how you configure your search statement because, if you do not use any signs (+-
or AND, OR, and NOT), the search engine will default to its own settings.

Know whether or not your search engine maintains a stop word list. If it does, dont use
known stop words in your search statement. Consider also trying your search on another
search engine that does not recognize stop words. Examples of stop words include: a, an,
and, as, at, of, on, the, or, into, to be, etc.

Always use CAPS when typing Boolean operators in your search statements. Most
search engines require that the operators (AND, OR, and NOT) be capitalized e.g. eating

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 disorder AND (bulimia OR anorexia). The search engines that do not, will accept either
CAPS or lower case. You are therefore on safe ground if you stick to CAPS.

Structuring of search query

In structuring a search query it is important that the following be kept in mind (especially for web
search):

Identify the important concepts within the question

Use nouns and objects as query keywords
Be specific
Put the most important terms first in your keyword list
Use at least three keywords in your query, but not more than six
Combine keywords, whenever possible, into phrases using quotation marks
Use synonyms via the OR operator. Try as much as possible to cover the likely different
ways a concept can be described.

Avoid common words e.g. weather, introduction, etc. unless they are part of a phrase

Think about words you will expect to find in the body of the page, and use them as key
words

Write down your search statement and revise it before you type it into a search query box

Pitfalls to Avoid
Misspelling e.g. querry instead of query

Use of Redundant term. A searcher should avoid using redundant terms. To spot a
redundant term, the researcher can ask questions, such as Is this term already covered by
another term? if the answer is yes, then the searcher should pick the term at the
appropriate level and discard the other one. For example, if the subject of the query is
peregrine falcon* where the sender also add bird * to the query, it would repeat information
at the wrong level.

Be aware of alternate spellings e.g. colour/color, organise/organize, behaviour/behavior. If

you suspect that a keyword in your queries may have alternate spellings, you are advised to
treat alternates in the same way you handle synonyms, listing both forms in an OR Boolean
expression e.g. (color OR colour)

Improper Boolean or complicated construction. Scale down your query terms and make
your construction simpler.

Unbalanced parentheses. Forgetting an open or close parenthesis e.g. (HIV) AIDS

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REFERENCES

Alfred and Glossbrenner, E. (2001). Visual quickstart guide search engines: for the World Wide
Web 3rd. ed. USA:Peachpit Press.

Ojedokun, A.A. (2007). Information literacy for tertiary education students in Africa. Ibadan:
Third World Information Services Limited.

Turner, Colin, (2001). The Information e-economy: business strategies for competing in the
global age. London: Kogan Page Limited

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UNIT 9

INFORMATION PROBLEM-SOLVING

Overview
In the previous units, you have learnt about various resources in the library, how to conduct
searches, etc. In this unit, we shall teach you information problem solving and how you can
apply the information skills you have gained to assignments, as well as to everyday information
problem-solving. We shall look into application of the Big Six in solving information problems.

Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should be able to:
o Define information problems.
o Apply information problem solving skills to assignment and everyday information
problems.
o Develop information seeking strategies.

TOPICS
Explain information problem solving.
Application of the Big Six, i.e.
a. Defining the problem (task definition)
b. Information seeking strategies.
c. Location and access.
d. Use information.
e. Synthesis.
f. Evaluation.

INFORMATION PROBLEM-SOLVING
Problem solving involves thinking about and finding answers or solution to a problem.
Information problem solving involves the following six steps known as the Big Six.

1. Definition the Problem (Task Definition)

This involves having full understanding of the problem at hand, by identifying keywords. Having
identified the keywords, you need to use different sources to find meaning to those keywords.
You can use sources like dictionary, encyclopedia, and the web or text books. You need to ask
questions like:
What information do I need to solve this problem?
How much information do I need? That is, do I need extensive information?
What type of information do I need (is it facts, opinion, graphic, charts, maps, etc.).

Note that you must have a clear understanding of what to do before you begin your work. For
example, you are working on a topic prevalent heart attack among middle-age men in Nigeria.
The keywords in the topic are heart attack, middle-age men and Nigeria, having done that; you
may need to ask some questions like:
What are the causes of heart attack?
Why are they prevalent among middle-age men in Nigeria?

As you are asking those questions, you are trying to define the problem and the next step is how
to get relevant information to solve this problem.

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2. Information Seeking Strategies
This is the second and very important step. Here you need to brainstorm and identify sources of
information. There are lots of sources but you need to evaluate the different sources to select the
best of the sources. Information that would be appropriate to problem or questions at hand should
be selected. You may need to consider the following sources:
Librarian (especially the Reference Librarian)
Encyclopedia:- For overview of a topic it provides factual background which you can
use to measure creditability of other sources.
Magazines/newspapers:- provide current information than books and more credible than
some website.
Journals: - provide access to the latest research in a particular field of study.
World-Wide-Web: - they are updated frequently and often give current information than
information in print. In using web it is always good to start with subject directory.
Ensure that you run search using keywords you already identified from the problem, and
know how much search tools you are using are functioning, (see detail on web
searching).

3. Location and Access

Having defined your problem and identified sources of information, the next step to consider is
location and access of information sources earlier identified. You may ask this question, where
can I find information sources? You can use bibliographies, indexes, abstracts, library catalogues.
For online resources use keywords to search.

4. Use Information
This involves interacting with information when you read. Any source you view or read, ensure
you understand and then extract relevant information relating to the problem at hand. It should be
noted that not all information found during location and access will be relevant. You should be
able to summarize the relevant information in you own words, and paraphrase or quote important
facts or details when necessary for accuracy and clarity. However whatever information you find,
it is necessary to determine the usefulness.

Having found useful information spread the information on your work and keep accurate record
of citation for future users.

5. Synthesis
This is the point at which all information gathered are brought together into a finished product.
Here, all prior knowledge, ideas, notes, facts, observation, etc are put together. This can be done
by:
Organize your information i.e. how best they all fit together to present new information.
Sorting out to make logical presentation.
Outline to help you organize information. This helps to be certain that all necessary part
of your work is covered.
Bring it all together for others to understand by including correct references.
Identify means of communicating the information to others i.e. speech, research, paper,
video tape, drama, etc.
6. Evaluation
Evaluation is judging the outcome of the research effort against aims and objectives. Evaluation
involves the process that takes place throughout the entire work. In evaluating your work, you
need to go through the steps mentioned above (i.e. from defining the problem to synthesis) and
see if you have followed the process accurately or not to ensure the content is appropriate for the
original task and properly organized. Having satisfied all these strategies, you can now have
confident in solving information related problems.

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REFERENCES

The Big6; The Big6 Skills Information Problem-Solving Approach. Accessed December 14,
2009 from http://www.big6.com/

Ojedokun, Ayoku A. (2007), Information Literacy for tertiary Education Students in Africa,
Ibadan: Third World Information Services Limited.

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