Course Syllabus
Z501—User Services and Tools
Fall, 2015
Ron Day, Associate Professor
Department of Information and Library Science, SoIC, Indiana University, Bloomington
Class meets, Tuesdays, 1-3:45, Wells Library 031
(This syllabus is subject to changes with appropriate notice)
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Instructor: |
Ron Day |
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E-mail: |
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Office Hours: |
Tuesdays, 3:45-4:15 (or by appointment) Wells/ILS 015 |
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Tel: |
email me
Assistant for this class: Mr. Chase McCoy
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Course Description: This course focuses upon user services and tools within the context of library and other documentary (or ‘information’) systems. “Systems” refers to synergistic relationships of documentary institutions, creators of information, and users of information, and the human and technological and technical agents that function in that ecology. Because we approach libraries and other means of documentation as systems, we must take account of their cultural, social, and technological tools and affordances as historically created and situated agencies. We should also be aware that documentary systems might occur physically and digitally for users. Documentary institutions are undergoing rapid and radical changes, and so their managers need to be aware of historical and ‘theoretical’ perspectives in order to adapt to change, as well as their needing basic tools to be a successful information professionals serving user information needs.
There are four module assignments for this class. Each carries a weight of 25% of the grade.
Readings are available on IU Canvas under this class and the tab ‘files’ or via web links provided or through IUB library resources.
Personal computers, tablets, phones, and other personal devices are not necessary in this class and I have found that they will distract you and your classmates and me from our class time together. Therefore, they are not allowed in class unless you have an authorized note that states their need due to a disability that requires their use. When we need these tools, then we will go to the ILS lab. Please be respectful of others and me (and yourself) and do not use these in class unless instructed to do so.
Classes and readings:
Module 1: Introduction to the user services and the library profession—history of libraries—history of documentation.
Class 1, August 25: Introduction to user services and the library and information profession
Kalin, S. W. (2011). What skills are needed for the next generation of librarians? In D. Zabel (ed.) Reference Reborn: Breathing New Life into Public Services Librarianship. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, pp. 281-298).
Detmering, R., & Sproles, C. (2012). Forget the desk job: Current roles and responsibilities in entry-level reference job advertisements. College & Research Libraries, 73(6): 534-555.
Class 2, Sept 1: History and philosophy of libraries
Encyclopedia Britannica: “Libraries” (history)
Shera, Jesse (1973). “Toward a theory of Librarianship and Information Science.”
Blair, David C. (2004). “The data-document distinction revisited”
Class 3, September 8: History and philosophy of documentation
Paul Otlet, “The science of bibliography and documentation” http://archive.org/stream/internationalorg00otle#page/70/mode/2up Links to an external site.
Briet, Suzanne (1951) What is Documentation, part I. http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~roday/what%20is%20documentation.pdf Links to an external site.
Buckland, Michael (1991). “Information as thing.” http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/thing.html Links to an external site.
Buckland, Michael (1997). “What is a document?” http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/whatdoc.html Links to an external site.
Assignment (1):
Do research on the future of libraries or documentation centers in the type that you would like to work in (e.g., academic, school, special libraries, etc.). Write a five page paper on what you think these libraries will do 15 years from now that is different than now? What economic and social forces may they have to respond to? How do you think that these will change their economic models, technologies, and service priorities?
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Module 2: Information Searching and Information Retrieval
Class 4, September 15: Organization of knowledge and Information Retrieval: MARC records, library catalogues, subject searching and keyword searching, thesauri vocabulary, Internet search engines
Belew, R. K. (2008). Overview (pp. 1-38). In Finding Out About: A Cognitive Perspective on Search Engine Technology and the WWW. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Manning, C. D., Raghavan, P., & Schütze, H. (2009). Boolean retrieval (pp. 1-17). In Introduction to Information Retrieval. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Buckland, M. K. (2008). Reference library service in the digital environment. Library & Information Science Research, 30(2), 81-85.
Class 5, September 22: General database searching
Class 6, September 29: Specialized databases
Assignment (2):
Do the resource searching assignments package (found in your class documents)
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Module 3: (Classes 7-9; October 6, 13, and 20) Reference interview: Reference services and user needs—the future of reference services—the reference interview—types of reference services in different types of libraries (e.g., special libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, school libraries)
Readings:
Buckland, Michael. "Reference library service in the digital environment." http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/libref.pdf Links to an external site.
O’Groman, J. and Trott, B. (2009) What will Become of Reference in Academic and Public Libraries? Journal of Library Administration, 49. 327-339.
Kesselman, M. and Watstein, S. B., (2009) Creating Opportunities: Embedded Librarians. Journal of Library Administration, 49. 383-400.
Taylor, Robert S. "Question-Negotiation and Information Seeking in Libraries." College and Research Libraries, May 1968, 178-194. (RD: Old, but still good).
Wilson, Patrick (1986). "The Face Value Rule in Reference Work."
Dewdney, P.; & Michell, G.B. (1996). "Oranges and Peaches: Understanding Communication Accidents in the Reference Interview." RQ 35(4), 520-536.
Assignment (3):
- Go to a library of your choice where you aren’t known and ask the reference librarian for help. Observe what he or she does and write a paper of two to three pages on it. Be prepared to discuss this in the last class of this module. Observe whether the librarian turns the monitor toward you so that you can be instructed as you are being helped. Observe whether the librarian uses keywords or subject headings. Is the librarian doing a reference interview with you? If so, are you being asked ‘closed questions’ (yes and no questions), open questions (‘what would you like?’ etc.), or neutral questions (‘would you like a journal that discusses xyz?’) Does the librarian ask you to return? How is the interview closed?
- Do an online chat reference interview. Observe how it differs from your live interview. Write a two to three page paper on this and be prepared to discuss in the last class of this module.
- Do the research consultation assignment that is in your class documents. Be prepared to discuss this in the last class of this module.
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Module 4:
System: from information production to users to instruction
Class 10, October 27: Ecologies of knowledge and information life cycles
Nardi, B.A. & O’Day, V.L. (1999). Information ecologies (pp. 49-58) and Librarians: A keystone species (pp. 79-104). In Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Christine Borgman, Big Data, Little Data, No Data: Scholarship in the Networked World, chapters 8,9,10
Class 11, November 3 : The publishing industry and collection development. Guest speaker, Debora ‘ralf’ Shaw, Professor Emeritus and former Dean and Chair, Dept. of Information and Library Science, IUB.
Goedeken, Edward A. & Lawson, Karen. (2015). The past, present, and future of demand-driven acquisitions in academic libraries. College & Research Libraries, 76(2): 205-221.
May, Micah & English, James. (2015). Click, click, read: Building a library-owned delivery channel for ebooks. American Libraries e-content supplement to June 2015: 14-18.
Class 12, November 10: Bibliographic/documentary instruction. Guest speaker, Brian Winterman, IUB Libraries
The role of librarian as an instructor: Julien, H., & Genuis, S. K. (2011). Librarians' experiences of the teaching role: A national survey of librarians. Library & Information Science Research, 33(2), 103-111.
Palmer, C. (2011). This I believe...all libraries should be teaching libraries. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 11(1), 575-582
(SKIM) Information literacy: Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm Links to an external site.
(SKIM) Winterman, B., & Malacinski, G. M. (2015). TEACHING EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION (EBI) AS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONAL SKILL IN AN UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY WRITING WORKSHOP. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8(2), 423.
Assignment (4):
In groups of two or three, construct a reference or other type of bibliographic or library instruction page using a wiki. You may want to use the Wiki in oncourse. You will present your wikis in the next class, class 13.
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Module 5: Digital and non-traditional collections
Class 13, November 17: Cyberinfrastructure
S.L. Star and G.C Bowker, Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences. Chapters 1, 9, and 10
Edwards, P., et. al. Knowledge Infrastructures: Intellectual Frameworks and Research Challenges. http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/Edwards_etal_2013_Knowledge_Infrastructures.pdf Links to an external site.
Bowker, G., et. al., “Toward Information Infrastructure Studies: Ways of Knowing in a a Networked Environment.” http://interoperability-dev.ucsd.edu/docs/07BowkerBaker_InfraStudies.pdf Links to an external site.
Class 14, December 1: Algorithms, Big Data, and social networks
Gillespie, T. The Relevance of Algorithms http://www.tarletongillespie.org/essays/Gillespie%20-%20The%20Relevance%20of%20Algorithms.pdf Links to an external site.
Reider, B. “What is in PageRank? A historical and conceptual investigation of a recursive status index.” Computational Culture.
boyd, d. and Crawford, K. 2012 'Critical Questions for Big Data', Information, Communication and Society, Volume 15, no 5, pp 662-679. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2012.678878 Links to an external site. [pdf Links to an external site.]
Crogan, P. and S. Kinsley, eds. (2012) “Paying Attention: Towards a Critique of the Attention Economy”. Culture Machine (13).
Class 15: Digital libraries and data visualization
Christine Borgman, Digital Scholarship and Digital Libraries: Past, Present, and Future (powerpoint presentation, 2013) http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1302&context=borgman Links to an external site.
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Christine Borgman, What are digital libraries? Competing Visions. Information Processing and Management: an International, 35(3), May 1999, 227-243 Katy Borner, Atlas of Knowledge: Anyone Can Map. Chapters 1, 3, and 4
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Grading:
Module 1, 2, 3, and 4 assignments: 25% each.
Grading Rubric:
Module 2 (assignment 2):
Exceeds expectations: Correct answers to exact answer questions; thoughtful, compete essays within the word limits that take into account types of libraries and any published literature (e.g., book reviews), if applicable. Grade=A to A+
Meets expectations: Correct and/or a few in the ballpark answers on exact answer questions; essays that are general and not specific regarding types of libraries, published literature (e.g., book reviews), if applicable. Grade=B+ to A-.
Below expectations: incorrect or not even in the ballpark answers on exact answer questions, minimal essays not meeting work limits, not answering questions or reading the questions completely. Grade=B to below.
Projects, modules 1, 3, 4:
Exceeds Expectations: Original, thought provoking, work. Makes use of literatures when available and appropriate. Grade=A to A+
Meets Expectations: Fulfills the requirements of the assignment. If group work is done, all members participate and show this. Grade= B+ to A-.
Below Expectations: Little effort put into it. Unoriginal work. If group work, it is clear that some members have not participated in the project. Grade= B to below.
Points will be deducted for non-attendance/non-group participation, save for illness, etc., up to 21% of total class grade.
Course Summary:
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