LIS510

Introduction to Library and Information Science

2005–04–22

If you are reading a printed copy of this page, you are reading an incomplete version, please print http://openlib.org/home/krichel/courses/lis510b05s/lis510b05s.letter.pdf for US letter paper or http://openlib.org/home/krichel/courses/lis510b05s/lis510b05s.a4.pdf for A4 sized paper.

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to library and information science.

Course objectives

The Palmer School objectives met by this course are

articulate the mission of the library and information professional in the context of the constituency served;
meet the information needs of society through the application of principles of organization, selection, and evaluation of information resources;
exhibit comprehension of the varied mission and organizational patterns in libraries and information agencies and their interrelationship;
recognize the importance of the contribution of other fields of knowledge to the profession, of ethical behavior, and the commitments to the ideals of intellectual freedom.

After taking this course the students

will have been introduced to broad topics of library and information science;
will appreciate the breadth of opportunity within the information professions;
will be able to address some of the issues that the library and information professional in a rapidly changing technological environment;
will be ready to rock to explore further courses.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisite for this course.

Mailing list

There is a mailing list for the course at https://lists-1.liu.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwp-lis510-krichel. All students are encouraged to subscribe. As a rule, answers to email sent to the instructor will be copied to the list. There are exceptions to this rule

if the question writer requests the answer not to be posted
if the question is a purely private matter

Instructor

Thomas Krichel
Palmer School of Library and Information Science
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548–1300
krichel@openlib.org
work phone: +1–(516)299–2843

Private contact details may be obtained from the online CV.

Class structure

Classes will be held Wednesdays on the Brentwood graduate campus of LIU, between 18:20 and 20:10.

Class details:

0	2005–01–19	introduction to the course
1	2005–01–26	guest lecture by Antonella de Robbio
2	2005–02–02	the information architecture
3	2005–02–09	information science: a service perspective
4	2005–02–16	guest lecture on Brentwood library facilities
5	2005–02–23	libraries and technological change
6	2005–03–02	information policy in general
7	2005–03–09	guest lecture by Gerald Nichols
8	2005–03–16	information policy issues in libraries
9	2005–03–30	organizing information
10	2005–04–07	library history
11	2005–04–13	visit to Newsday
12	2005–04–20	libraries as organizations I
13	2005–04–27	study day, no class
14	2005–05–04	cheese and whine party

To print the slides in Microsoft powerpoint, press control-p to print, then under "Print what" choose "Handouts", and under "Color/grayscale" choose "Pure Black and White". You can also use openoffice to print the slides.

Readings

The main reading is Rubin (2004). This is a standard book. Students are required to purchase the book if they want to do the readings. Other suggested readings, that acted as the source for the presentations of the instructor, will be listed at the beginning of the presentations.

Assessment

Before each class except the first and second, as well as when the instructor says that there is no quiz, there will be a quiz on the issued covered in the previous class and the reading. Students answer one of three questions. Two will be covering past class and reading the third the current reading. The two worst performances in quizzes will be discounted. The average of the remainder counts for 50% of the class average. 10% is given for the test essay to be handed in on 16 March. 40% is for the final essay that has to be handed in at the beginning of the last class meeting. The topics of the test essay and the final essay has to be agreed with the instructor.

In addition, there is the optional Rubino assignment. It can be handed in any time up to the last class date. You will interview an information professional to get a detailed account, with some figures, on what precisely they do on a typical day, what portion of time they spend on different tasks and what the surrounding hierarchy is. Then you write this account in a two page paper.