IRLS573-010 Information Technology in Libraries

Thu, 07/17/2008 - 14:47 — trevors

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

Information Technology in Libraries
IRLS 573 Section 010

[Prerequisites: IRLS 504 and IRLS 571, or consent of the instructor.]

Instructor: Trevor Smith

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

"Explores various information technologies and how they are used in libraries and information services. 3 credit hours."

IRLS 573 picks up where its important prerequisite, IRLS 571, Introduction to Information Technology, leaves off. We start day one assuming you are comfortable with basic computer and networking concepts, operations on the command-line, remote log in, file transfer, HTML, and all the usual web and desktop application programs (Office, HTML & text editors, Blogs, Wikis, OPACs, etc.). You should also have a solid grasp of the human factors related to technology including user interface design, information seeking behavior, computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), and some of the social consequences of technology (especially coevolution and disintermediation).

This course will cover a collection of advanced information technologies from the perspective of a librarian. While some of the topics will require us to look at background and theory, the vast majority of work and learning will be of the “hands on” variety—often requiring you to figure things out, debug issues, and create deliverables. We won’t just be reading about technology, we’ll be using it.

The list of topics we will study this semester includes the following:

• Information power tools (with a focus on both spreadsheets and scripting)
• Wikis, blogs, and podcasting
• Javascript
• Adobe Flash
• Mashups
• Folksonomies
• Gaming and virtual worlds
• The future of technology in the library

We will brush up against, but not go into great detail over, the definition of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, server-side technologies (cgi, php, webserver and system administration), databases, intellectual property issues, and digital video creation.

Course Delivery
This is a virtual course with the majority of interaction taking place in the UA's course management system, Desire2Learn (D2L). In D2L we have access to email, announcements, discussion boards, an assignment drop-box, a resource repository, a chat room, and a secure grade book. We will use all of these features this semester. Many of the online lectures include both video and sound. No on-campus attendance is required.

A normal week will start on Monday with the posting of the week’s readings, support material, and any new Unit Assignment. Lectures will be posted on Wednesday. Announcements and discussion postings may be added at any time. Every attempt will be made to release the grades and individual comments for an assignment within a week of the submission date.

What to Expect
There are two areas to consider when planning your time commitment during the semester. We will share about 40 hours of "mediated instruction" (it would be "classroom time" if we were in a face-to-face course), or about 2.5 hours per week. This will consist of everything from text-based lectures and interactive tutorials to multi-media Flash presentations and movies.

The rest of the time you devote to this class will be spent on the homework, Unit Assignments and your Individual Project. This will include required reading, finding and using optional resources, answering questions, discussing issues, and hands-on activities with specific technologies.

IRLS 573 is entirely asynchronous, you can log in to D2L any time you wish. Having said that, to keep up with the discussion boards and announcements, you should expect to check in about 5 times a week; once a day Monday-Friday is perfect. Keep in mind that most of the important information will be distributed on Wednesday. If you are going to be unable to access the class for more than three or four days in a row, please let me know so we can make some special arrangements.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the completion of this course, you will:

have studied a number of advanced Internet- and Library-related technologies and will understand their strengths, weaknesses, how they can be utilized effectively, and when they should not be used
have implemented an individual software development project from proposal to delivery and critique
be able to use tools like spreadsheets and scripts to effectively manipulate basic library data
be able to create online content with multimedia and/or interactive components
be able to evaluate and implement Web 2.0 technology in a library context

This course is intended to address, in part, the following Student Competencies and Learning Outcome:

A3) Students will demonstrate understanding of the use of information and communication technologies in the provision of information resources and services in libraries and other settings.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

Textbook:

Courtney, N (Ed.). (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. (ISBN-13: 978-1-59158-537-4)

The bookstore should have copies by the first week of classes, but you might want to look at the major online sites and compare price and availability.

Technology:

One of the most important things you will need for this class is a computer on which you have the authority and access to install and uninstall software programs. Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems are all fine for the majority of the course, but the development environment for Flash requires either Mac or Windows. Don’t rush out and buy any additional software, we will be using open-source products and free trials for all the Unit Assignments. High speed Internet such as broadband cable or DSL is highly recommended.

U-System Account:

You will need to have a U-System account for several of the individual homework assignments. You must request this account be created for you (it is not automatically created when you get your email address); but, if you have recently taken IRLS 504 or IRLS 571, you probably have already completed the process.

If not, go to https://account.arizona.edu/ and follow the "Create your U of A Email and other CCIT computer accounts" link. Request a U-System Computing account. The process can take 24 hours or longer, so try to get this done as soon as possible. If you have any trouble, contact the CCIT helpdesk at http://support.ccit.arizona.edu/.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Coursework (Unit Assignments)
Individual Project

The coursework will consist of four Unit Assignments, each worth 10 points, for a total of 40% of your final grade. These assignments will require you to perform and document "hands-on" exercises, post information on the discussion boards, and answer essay questions. While study groups, either in-person or virtual, are encouraged, the Unit Assignments should be your own work. In other words, you can talk to each other about the assignments but do the exercises and write-up the results independently.

The Individual Project is 60% of your final grade; the points are distributed as follows:

Proposal -- 10 points
First Progress Report -- 5 points
Second Progress Report -- 5 points
Project Deliverable -- 30 points
Critiques of Other Students' Projects -- 10 points

We will spend a significant amount of time in the first part of the course discussing the nature, acceptable topics, and evaluation criteria of the Individual Project.

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

How to submit assignments: All Unit assignments must be submitted in the D2L drop-box. They may be submitted by email (either D2L or my external email) only if there are technical problems with the drop-box. The format must be "standard" HTML--what this means is that you can not just use your word processor to "save-as" an HTML file. If you have Dreamweaver or FrontPage, they will work fine for your assignments; but if not, check out NVU, a free web development tool for all three major PC operating systems. If a unit assignment asks you to make a contribution to the discussion groups, please cut-and-paste what you posted into your drop-box submission. If you have any graphics or other objects referenced in your HTML, make sure that you submit all the files and use a relative link to objects from the same directory as your HTML document.
Assignment due dates: The Course Schedule will list specific due dates for assignments, and reminders will be posted in D2L. In general, late assignments will not be routinely accepted. I understand that emergencies and problems can occur in the course of the semester, so please contact me as soon as you find you may not be able to make a particular due date; under certain circumstances partial credit may be possible. To avoid technical problems remember my digital mantra, "save early, save often!"
Writing style: Be sure to include your name at the top of every submission. Clear and concise writing consistent with graduate coursework is expected on all assignments. I am not a stickler for precisely following a style manual (it can be almost impossible to create some things like "hanging indents" in HTML), but be certain to properly attribute the quotes, work, and ideas of others with citations--check out APA and Citation Machine for help. Spell-check is your friend.

Incompletes

The current Catalog reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a term, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded in place of a failing grade or when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case, a grade other than I must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the term ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

Every effort will be made to rapidly correct homework assignments. Feedback will be provided through the gradebook feature of D2L or email.

Point Distribution:

Coursework (4 Unit Assignments/10 points each)	40 Points
Final Individual Project	60 Points

Grading:

Letter Grade	573
"A"	90-100 points
"B"	80-89 points
"C"	65-79 points
"D"	N/A
"F"	below 65 points

How to get a good grade:

Read, understand, and follow the assignment instructions. This bears repeating, every assignment will include a set of instructions--follow them.
If you aren't sure what I expect, ask me for clarification; better yet, post a question in the discussion boards--it is likely others are wondering as well.
Don't be afraid to venture outside the assigned readings and lectures. The Internet is a fabulous resource for resolving problems with technology. Odds are that you aren't the first one to have a particular issue.
Go with your strengths! If you are a gamer, pick a final project that has to do with gaming or virtual worlds. If you live and die over information literacy, think about an online tutorial of some kind. Bend your interests into the context of the class and you will get more out of the course, and likely a better grade.

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Email is the quickest and most reliable way of contacting me. For class matters, internal D2L email is preferred and I will be checking it frequently during the semester. You can also contact me at my regular email address: smitht followed by @cochise.edu .

If you feel more comfortable with online chat, IM, or Skype, just email me for an appointment and detailed contact information. I’m glad to work with the type of communication technology that best fits your learning style.

If you have a question or situation that might be easier to talk about than exchange email, or if you get frustrated with technology and just want help from a human voice, I am available via telephone virtually any time by appointment. Feel free to call my number at Cochise College, (520) 515-5421, but please understand if I have to reschedule our conversation to work around my "day job".

--Trevor Smith

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IRLS506-011 Research Methods

Mon, 07/14/2008 - 13:33 — seavey

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

[Prerequisite: IRLS 504 or consent of the instructor.]

Instructor: Professor Charley Seavey

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

professor seavey This is a classic example of "what goes around, comes around." 506 is the first pure online course I taught at Arizona many, many, years ago. It convinced me that we can, in fact, teach online although it is not for everybody. Anyway, onward.

A word of advice here. Read the whole syllabus now. If there is critical information in here somewhere, and you miss it because you did not read this thing, guess whose fault it is.

A Tentative Schedule

I have things noted in weeks here. Think of this as a once-a-week class that meets at 8 a.m. on Thursday. In fact, that is when the lectures will pop up on D2L. I don't expect you to be sitting at your computer at 8 a.m., but I would think that by Sunday evening you had best have the lecture read. Hence, Week 1 starts Thursday, August 28. Week 2 starts Thursday, September 4. Etc. Etc. I say tentative because I have rarely been able to stick to a syllabus in my life. Who knows what we'll get going on?

When in doubt as to what is going on check the SIRLS calendar at http://www.sirls.arizona.edu/calendar or the UA calendar at http://catalog.arizona.edu/calendar/0809cal.html paying particular attention to such things as drop and add dates.

I will be on the road October 10-18, but there will be a class. Thanksgiving is exactly when it usually is and there will be no class. And nothing due. Enjoy the massive overeating that ensues. Keep Thanksgiving in mind when we get to correlation statistics. I have a story to tell.

Week 1: Introduction to Research	Week 2: Research in LIS	Week 3: Paradigms, Hegemony, and the Like
Week 4: Introduction to Statistics	Week 5: Descriptive Stats II: Measures of Variability	Week 6: Descriptive Stats III
Week 7: Theories and Hypotheses; Evidence and Variables First Stats Exam Due	Week 8: On Probability and Statistical Significance	Week 9: Inferential Statistics
Week 10: More Inferential Statistics	Week 11: Experimental Design Issues Second Stats Exam Due	Week 12: Evidence: Numerical and Historical
Week 13: Thinking About History	Week 14: Guest Page Research Article Evaluations Due	Article Evaluations Due Week 15: Final Considerations Final Posts

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

506, as taught by the Professor is more or less mainstream social science research methodology. The idea is not to make researchers out of you, but to make you better consumers of research. Libraries and information agencies are frequent targets of research, as well as depositories of research. Many users are both producers and consumers of research, so it is best that the librarian involved have at least some idea of what the process is all about.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

Text and Readings

The text for the course will be Ronald R. Powell and Lynn Silipigni Connaway Basic Research Methods for Librarians 4th Ed. Libraries Unlimited, 2004. It is available in paperback from Amazon new for $40, used for $23.97 (as of July 7. '08.) We'll use it largely as supplemental and background material for lectures. I'll try and make reading assignments, but feel free to use the index and chapter headings to find what you need to know.

Five other articles will become available to you on the D2L site in PDF format. You won't need any of them from the get-go and I will let you know when I have them posted. Other readings will all be online, either in a database available through the UofA library at http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/articles/ ,or http://sabio.arizona.edu or simply floating on the web.

Some Techno Suggestions

Go get the Firefox browser from http://www.mozilla.org/ and use it instead of Internet Explorer. Other techno items you will need- Adobe Acrobat, mentioned below. Those of you with high speed connections should have the latest version of the Quicktime streaming video software- http://quicktime-2008.com/. For those of you without high speed access get an audio plug-in for your browser such as RealPlayer, Microsoft Mediaplayer, or some other streaming audio player. I will be posting audio clips in both RealPlayer and WMA format. You can go to Microsoft or Realplayer directly, or go to WinPlanet or Tucows and see what you like the looks of. There will be an audio component, so start looking.

Gizmos

A basic four function calculator will handle anything we are going to do in this class but it will require a lot of notes and keeping track of in-between stages on your part. A reasonably priced calculator with one or two memory functions will work nicely, or something that has some statistical functions will do even better. Eventually I will let you use a spreadsheet, but first we must learn some basics. Pretty much any spreadsheet will do. There is a tutorial on the beasties at TBA

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The course will consist of lectures and discussion of common readings. Heavy emphasis will be placed on the student's ability to analyze and critique published research in the field. Participation in class discussion sessions is essential. See the schedule below for due dates. Everything but the final will be due while class is in session.

Statistics Exercises

Students will solve two sets of statistical problems, outside of class. One set will involve the use of calculators, the other a spreadsheet program. In general I can read almost any version of Excel or QuattroPro, Windows or Mac. Work done on Microsoft Works for reasons that are totally mysterious to me, are difficult to translate.

Guidelines on Stats Quizzi

I. The first stats exercise is essentially descriptive in nature. I'll provide you with some data and some relatively simple questions involving descriptive statistics. You answer the questions, and everything is fine.
RULE 1: Do your own work. This is not a committee, or team assignment.
RULE 2: You may use a calculator, abacus, Ouija board, whatever, but no computers.
RULE 3: Lay out all your work and all your calculations in a reasonably neat fashion so I can figure out what went wrong if you come up with the wrong answer. I tend to give a lot of partial credit for these things, but I have to see what mistakes you made in order to figure out how much you know, or don't know, about what is going on.

II. The second stats exercise is more complex. Questions, and data, will be provided. In this case you will have to work out the answers on a spreadsheet.
RULES: Rules 1-3 apply here except for the bit about no computers. There is no rule 6.

Article Evaluations

The four research articles mentioned above will be posted on D2L. They are cited below should you have access to the paper versions. Students will evaluate all of these articles as works of research. The articles are:
Buttlar, Lois, and William Caynon "Recruitment of Librarians Into the Profession: The Minority Perspective" Library and Information Science Research volume 14, (1992) pages 259-280.
Maxwell, Margaret "The Lion and the Lady: The Firing of Miss Mary Jones" American Libraries volume 9, number 5, May, 1978, pages 268-272.
Wiegand, Wayne "The Lion and the Lady Revisited: Another Look at the Firing of Mary L. Jones as Los Angeles Public Librarian in 1905" Library and Information Science Research volume 5, 1983, pages 273-290.
Williams, Robert V. "Public Library Development in the United States, 1850-1870: An Empirical Analysis" Journal of Library History 21/1 (Winter, 1986) pages 177-201.

These are all a trifle old, but all, in one fashion or another, are excellent examples of points I wish to make. Besides which I already have them in PDF format.

A Final Exam

Along with the last class I will post a final exam. While not long (I hope) it will cover the entire semester. As of this writing I am not sure how Arizona schedules finals- if it is as I remember, the final will be due the day the final is scheduled. If not I will make it due roughly the middle of finals week.

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

Important Information

1. Late material will be graded down at the rate of 10% of the grade per day late. Which means that a paper that would normally grade a 90 is a day late, the grade is 81. If two days late the grade is 72. After that you don't want to think about it. If, and only if, you let me know beforehand that there are going to be problems we can make adjustments. Problems do not include vacation, family reunions, or trips to concerts. I can be flexible, but remember you are a student in graduate school.

2. I expect submitted papers to be written in clear, concise, and grammatically correct English. Material not meeting these standards will be redone until they do so, losing points along the way. Suggestions on how to write for this course are TBA. All material will be submitted in electronic format. Standards for submission are in the box below. Kindly read them and follow directions. My inclination towards mercy on this topic is not what it used to be.

3. Papers may be written in either Word or WordPerfect. I can translate pretty much any other wordprocessor, although if you are not using Word or WP please check with me first- send me a test file just to make sure I can translate before we get into difficulties. If you are using Microsoft Works, please try and find something else. For reasons known only to Bill Gates, Works is difficult to translate.

Standards for Submitting Material in Electronic Format

In order to facilitate the whole process of grading and returning papers, quizzes, and anything else, in electronic form the following standards should be followed. If material is not submitted according to these standards it will arrive back in your lap with no grade assigned. I will accept submissions written in Word, or WordPerfect, and saved as .doc, .wpd, or RTF files. If you are going to use anything else, check with me first. Do not write papers in HTML- I think I said that somewhere already.

1. Formatting Your Submission

Word processed papers are the only kind I will accept. The following standards apply.

A. Margins.
Top and bottom margins: 1 inch.
Left and right margins: 1.25 inches, or as close as you can get. This largely has to do with what I can see on a screen. Trifocals and old age are not necessarily compatible with teeny tiny print.

B. Type Size.
Type size should be 12 points. I don't care about font, but have mercy on my trifocals and set it at 12 points. I recognize that larger point sizes are a way of artificially lengthening your paper, and will automatically reset anything larger than 12 points back to the required size. Please do not use the Courier typeface.

C. Heading. The heading of all submissions should include the following information:
Your name
The title of the paper, or whatever.
The class for which the paper has been written.
The name of the professor for whom the paper has been written.
The semester in which the paper has been written.
The word processor and version in which the paper is written.

Hence:

Another Country: Searching for the Southwest United States
Your Name
9450, Spring, 2008
Professor Seavey
WordPerfect version 11

I don't care if it is centered like, that, or in that particular order, but the information elements should all be present.

2. Checking Your Submission

A. Spell Checking.
Most, if not all, current word processors have a built in spell checker. Use it. Spell check dictionaries are not always comprehensive, so if the spell checker complains about a word that seems legitimate to you, have a dictionary handy just to make sure you have it correct. If my spell checker complains about something in your submission, that is what I do... if it is a word that does not exist, or is spelled wrong, woe be unto you.

B. Proof Reading
The spell checker only catches spelling errors, it doesn't care about context. So if you are thinking "too many" and write "two many," the spell checker won't catch it. The prof once wrote a lengthy explanation of a statistical technique called "factor analysis," and distributed it to a doctoral seminar. Everybody was fascinated with my somewhat peculiar explanation of "factory analysis." The point is, read your paper, and see if it makes sense. Or have your significant other read it, or your next door neighbor. Most folks, after they have read their own work once or twice, see exactly what they want to see, not the mistakes.

C. Grammar Checking
Most word processors have a grammar checker. I have mixed feelings about these because most of them are set to something akin to standard business English usage, which may not be appropriate for academic papers. Word underlines things that it does not like in green. I at least look at those bits and see if I can figure out the nature of the complaint. The use of "that" and "which," in my work has improved considerably since I started using this.

3. Naming Your Submission
Filenames.
The name of your submission will be your last name, and only your last name. Modifications are acceptable only where two classmembers share a common last name. In that case the form of entry will be: last name first initial: seaveyc, rather than just seavey. Note that capitalization is not necessary. Do not worry if you wind up sending in more than one thing with the same file name. The professor is old enough to understand folders, sub-directories, and tree structures. Trust me, I can keep all this stuff separate.

B. Extenders.
Most wordprocessor (in fact most current programs) assign an identifier, known as a file extender, to files processed by that program. The file extender identifies the type of file to the user- human or computer- trying to look at the contents of that file. Some examples:

Program - File Extender
Word for Windows - .doc

Excel (a spreadsheet)- .xls

WordPerfect (most recent version) - .wpd

Lotus Organizer - .org

A Joint Photographic Experts Group graphics file - .jpg

The program you are using will assign the file extender. Make sure that this is so. Experiment with whatever you are using and if file extenders are not assigned, ask the prof for advice.

That, I think, should do it. If there are questions, let me know.

A Few Words on Evaluating Research

The main thing to remember here when evaluating the journal and the articles is evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence evidence. I am not interested in the stories they collectively tell- I am interested in how you dissect each item as evidence. Think of the things you are reading as your unit of analysis- you are a researcher asking questions, the articles are the evidence you have collected. What can you tell me about each? Look at the evidence- how do you describe it? What questions does it answer? The research evaluation guide below provides at least one possible framework for an approach. This framework does not necessarily apply to all research, it is just a suggestion. There are many frameworks for research evaluation, and having such usually helps you approach the beast.

One Set of Criteria for Evaluating Research Reports

The following is presented as a guideline only. Not all of it will apply to all research pieces, nor are these the only possible criteria that should be addressed. Each piece will require additional thought on the part of the evaluator. There's a lot of language in here that you are not going to understand right away. Do not worry about it, by the time you get there, you will have the terminology you need.

I. Report of Prior Research:
Is the literature cited relevant?
Is the literature cited significant?
Is the literature cited sufficiently identified so that you could retrieve it?

II. Purpose and Justification
Is it sufficient, logical, and convincing?
Is there a general problem area identified?
Is a specific problem evident?
Are definitions given and are they clearly operationalized?
Are assumptions stated?
Hypotheses: Are they stated- implied, clear, precise? Are they directional?
Is lack of an hypothesis accounted for?

III. Sampling (if appropriate):
Is the population clearly described, implied?
Is the sample clearly described?
Is it representative, random, adequate in size?
Are limitations on generalizability presented?

IV. Instrumentation:
Adequately described?
Reliable?
Valid for the purpose?

V. Procedures:
Are they clearly described?
Are extraneous variables controlled?
Is procedural bias controlled?

VI. Data Analysis:
Are statistical methods appropriate?
Are limitations pointed out?

VII. Results
Clearly presented?
Written description consistent with data?
Are there a minimum of inferences?
Are they debatable?

VIII. Interpretation:
Is it consistent with the results?
Relevant to the purpose?
Does it place the study in a broader perspective?
What does it signal?

How to Write for this Course

Because this course is about research we will follow the instructions to authors of Library Quarterly, the original library research journal, as far as citation styles go. Ignore the formatting stuff, do pay attention to citation style. Otherwise:

"Say a thing in one sentence as straight as it can be made, and then drop it." William James

I expect that papers for a graduate level course will be written as if for publication. Not only must the basic facts of the subject be mastered, and all the relevant sources explored, but the text must be written clearly:

1. Who, what, where, when, and exactly how much must always be obvious. Know what you wish to say, and say only that; define new terms or new uses of old ones.

2. Avoid ambiguity. "You can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor."

3. Link sentences and paragraphs logically and intelligibly. The reader shouldn't have to rearrange your ideas to make sense out of them.

4. Sentences should not be so long that the reader loses his or her way. Otherwise you are likely to lose the readers attention, as so often happened with the prose of 19th century essayists such as Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was not only a doctor, professor, and novelist, but also the father of the famous Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (an intriguing character who combined the ideals of New England humanism with the prejudices of the upperclass, wealthy society in which he moved)...and before you know it you will have wandered very far afield. For practice, read lots of Jesse Shera. Or Barbara Kingsolver.

5. Avoid irrelevant or tangential topics. Stick to the point. [see number 4}

6. No obstacle should come between you and your reader. When revising, imagine the reader over your shoulder and apply the rules listed above before typing your final product.

Incompletes

The current catalog reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a term, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded in place of a failing grade or when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case, a grade other than I must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the term ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

Students will be evaluated on the following:

Statistics Assignments: 30% taken together
Article Evaluations: 40%
Final Exam: 20%
Class Participation: 10%

All material will be graded on a numerical basis. The following standards apply in assigning final grades:

A= 93
B= 83-92
C= 73-82

Numerical scores are not rounded up when computing grades.

A Word on Grading

This is graduate school. Simply doing the work on time in a reasonable fashion earns a grade of "B." The grade of "A" is reserved for work that shows evidence of going beyond the mere requirements of completing the assignment. Heavy emphasis will be placed on the student's ability to analyze and critique published research in the field- in other words, critical thinking is a must. Participation in class discussion sessions is essential.

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Professor: Charley Seavey

As of this writing I do not have access to D2L. As I understand it there is an internal email system or you may use Rangaslaws@gmail.com "Rangaslaws" refers to the Five Laws of Library Science set forth by Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan many years ago that I invite you to read and understand as they are applicable to all library situations.

In general I expect that you will check in on the class website at least every other day to see if you have email, or there are interesting class discussion notes on the bulletin board.

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IRLS506-001 Research Methods

Sun, 07/06/2008 - 14:18 — higginsm

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

Research Methods

IRLS 506 Section One

Instructor: Margaret Higgins

This is a core course for the SIRLS Masters degree; there are no course prerequisites.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

"The course introduces research techniques and their application in social research, while emphasizing the need for good research design. Students will gain both an appreciation of factors involved in research and an ability to critically evaluate research. Statistics will be addressed, with the emphasis being on developing a level of familiarity with statistical concepts. This course will not create statisticians: it will, however, provide a platform for discussion, with experts, of the statistics required for research." Three credit hours.

The course is taught face to face.

My approach to teaching this course is (via the use of group work) to emphasise a critical appraisal of research designs, and to understand that there is no one 'best' design: the driving force behind any chosen design is the problem being addressed.

While learning, we will consider the multiple times that any one of us may have been involved in research - whether it be answering surveys or taking part in experiments. We have nearly all been involved in research, even if unbeknownst to us at the time. We will also be addressing research as reported in the media, to ascertain the quality of the results (as being conveyed to the public). I need students to understand that this is NOT a course that covers searching for material as a result of a library user's request. This is a course that covers the scientific method of research.

There are usually about 15 sessions in this course, one per week, lasting for up to three hours (with a short break in the middle).

Learning materials will be print based, apart from material the student may find online to augment the print.

On a weekly basis, I will set readings from the text,: the readings will be based on the discussions we have been having that day (to consolidate learning); or they will be to ensure that students grasp a point that I will not be addressing directly. Additionally, if I wish students to have some advance understanding of a topic on which I will be speaking, then in advance I will set appropriate reading material. Be warned - I will be asking students to read and absorb quite a lot of 'Campbell and Stanley' (every Research Methods student's favorite!).

Throughout the course, students will be in touch with me via email, via telephone, via chatting before, during, or after class. I hold an 'office' hour during the hour prior to class.

Lecture Schedule (subject to refinement as semester progresses)

Aug 26: General Introduction and Expectations

Sep 2: Research: What is it? Why do it?

Sep 9: The Research Process

Sep 16: Fundamental Research concepts

Sep 23: Designs & Errors

Sep 30: Designs & Errors (cont.)

Oct 7: Basic & Applied Research

Oct 14: Introduction to statistics

Oct 21: Introduction to statistics (cont.)

Oct 28: Qualitative Research

Nov 4th: Qualitative Research (cont.)

Nov 11th: Veteran's Day (no class)

Nov 18th: Survey Research

Nov 25th: Research & Decision Making

Dec 2nd: Review

Dec 9th: In class Exam

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the course students should be able to
• identify and implement research strategies appropriate for addressing problems in their own working environment.
• identify well executed, reliable, and valid research
• identify research results which can be applied to their own library or information centre.

Aims of the course
To provide an understanding of the nature, role and value of scientific research.
To demonstrate the importance of, and need for, scientific research.
To familiarize students with a variety of research methods and designs
To enable students to interpret and evaluate research.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

Note that the books listed below are readily available either from the publisher or via sources such as Amazon. Please acquire them prior to class.

Required Text: Orcher, Lawrence T. Conducting Research: Social and Behavioral Methods (2005). California: Pyrczak Press. (Note: this may be obtainable from recent students of 506 or from the UA Bookstore. Otherwise, it is readily acquired directly from Pyrczak)

Required Reading: Campbell, D & Stanley, J. (1963). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Reprinted from Handbook of Research on Teaching. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally College Publishing Company.

Required Reading: Johnson, Steven. (2006). The Ghost Map: The story of London's most terrifying epidemic - and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world. New York, NY. Riverhead Books (Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Optional but informative reading: Any issues of the publication Skeptical Inquirer: The magazine for science and reason. Published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

The class emphasis will be on demonstrating absolute and complete knowledge of the assigned texts and of Campbell & Stanley. To this end, to demonstratyour grasp of the material covered in the text and in class, students will be reading and providing weekly written reviews of assigned chapters.

Johnson's book is an easy and terrifically interesting read, and an inexpensive one. There will be an assignment on this work. Feel free to read it before class begins.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Participation (Worth 5%)

I expect input, and few students have failed to meet this expectation. The course is designed to encourage participation.

Paper 1 Value of Research. Due In class Sept 23rd (Worth 15%)

Length: five double spaced pages , excluding references; 12 point font. Use the APA style. (Writing more, or substantially less, than 5 pages will incur penalties); Please write your name on the back of your assignment.

Please provide me with a thoughtful exposition of the value to society of Library and Information Science research. By this I mean research done by academics, practitioners and students who are in the field of LIS. Please find three research articles that ilustrate and support your statements, and discuss how these articles support your views. Also present a brief critique
of the methods used in the research articles you have selected.

Paper 2 Ghost Map. Evaluation.

Due in class October 21st (Worth 15%)

Length: five double spaced pages , excluding references; 12 point font. Use the APA style. (Writing more, or less, than 5 pages will incur penalties); Please write your name on the back of the assignment.

Write a five page essay outlining in some detail the research methods used by Snow and by Whitehead. Critique the methods, do not merely describe them. What were the strengths of their methods? The weaknesses? What does the book - their research - tell us about how progress is made in society? What can we say about the reactions to their findings?

Paper 3 Research Proposal

Due In class on November 25th (Worth 45%)

Length 10 double spaced pages, excluding references, 12 point font. APA. (Writing more, or less, than 10 pages will incur penalties). Please write your name on the back of your work.

Writing a research proposal will provide you with the opportunity to give in depth thought to your topic of concern. The research proposal will be in report format, containing an introduction, background to the problem, a broad statement on the nature of the problem, a literature review, a theoretical framework in which the problem is placed, a statement of the hypotheses, and a methods section which includes such design details as the variables in the research, how the hypotheses could be tested / measured, which statistical tests are appropriate, and to whom the research results could be generalized. Note that I am not expecting a tremendously detailed proposal - just one that contains all the necessary elements of one. Examples of proposals can be found on line and also in many text books.

Examination In class. December 9th (Worth 20%)

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

Asignments will be handed in to me personally in class, on the specified date. If you cannot be in class on that particular day then please make arrangements with me to receive your work in another way - perhaps by email, for example. I do not accept late assignments, except by rare and special arrangement, and only if special circumstances pertain (medical reasons, for example).

Assignments wil be returned to you personally, with myriad comments on them. Please note my earlier instructions about placing your name on the back of each assignment. Please also note my instructions about using APA style, and about font size. Advice about APA can be found online.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester.
If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

A: 100 - 90

B: 89 - 80

C: 79 - 70

Less than a C = 'fail'

Grades will be written on each paper.

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Instructor: Margaret Higgins, PhD

Tel: 520 623 4590 (work)

Tel: 520 406 7813 (cell)

Margaretahiggins@yahoo.com (preferred email address)

Higginsm@email.arizona.edu

Office Hours: 5.30 - 6.30pm i.e. the hour before class

Class Location for Fall 2008: Psych 305

Class meeting times: 6.30 - 9.00

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IRLS574 Digital Libraries

Wed, 06/25/2008 - 16:32 — pkb

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

IRLS 574 Digital Libraries

IRLS 504. This course has no other prerequisites and does not assume you have technical qualifications beyond the skills of an experienced academic library user. Students with advanced computer skills are certainly welcome, but I’m assuming that the majority are aiming to be advanced users and consumers of library technology and not programmers or system administrators.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is intended for all Masters-level students with an interest in digital information resources. If you expect to work primarily with digital collections, this course will introduce you to the people, institutions and technologies that make up a digital library today. If you plan to work in traditional library operations, this course will acquaint you with some key issues facing libraries as they adapt to the historic growth of digital resources.

Our natural focus will be the development of technical infrastructures for managing digital collections in libraries. We will also pay close attention to the policies and organizational strategies that are shaping digital collections.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Our overall aim is to acquire a broad understanding of how digital librarianship is both different from, and similar to, traditional print-based librarianship. In so doing, this course is designed to pave the way for more advanced and specialized learning related to building, managing and preserving all types of digital collections.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

All readings for this course are available online. The majority can be accessed openly on the Web. Others can be accessed through the UA Library e-journal databases, and a few will be available as Library e-reserves.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The course will be taught online (using the D2L platform) and asynchronously, so you will not be required to log in at any specific time. But this is not a self-paced course, so students will be expected to keep up with the weekly schedule in the syllabus. Also, students should plan to log in to D2L more than once a week, and to check their email regularly, especially since minor adjustments are likely to be made to the syllabus during the semester.

The course content is divided into 14 units, with each unit lasting one week, starting on Monday. At the start of each unit, the instructor will post a lecture on that week’s topic as well as blog notes giving feedback and updated information about the course. As a guideline, the lecture and accompanying readings for each unit should be read within four days, giving you three days to complete the unit’s two mandatory assignments.

The first assignment for each unit is a short-essay quiz. This will consist of one question drawn primarily from the readings. Answers should be roughly 200-300 words. Completed quizzes must be posted to the D2L dropbox by each week’s deadline.

Note: When you upload files to D2L, please name them beginning with your last name first, then the assignment, then the unit number, as follows:

<BotticelliQuiz1.doc>

The second assignment involves class participation through a discussion forum that will be set up for each unit. Each week I will post a question, and all students will be expected to post a response, either as a direct answer to the instructor’s question or to a question of your own choosing as long as it’s directly relevant to that week’s topic.

Finally, students will be asked to complete a semester project, working individually or as part of a group, the contents of which will be announced and discussed early in the semester.

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Instructions and Deadlines

Communicating Online

http://web.arizona.edu/~uawc/

www.powa.org

Incompletes

The current Catalog reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a term, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded in place of a failing grade or when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case, a grade other than I must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the term ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

The final grade for the course will be based on the following elements:

Weekly quizzes: 300 points
(13 quizzes worth 25 points each, with the lowest score dropped.)

Class participation: 300 points
(25 points per 13 weeks, with lowest score dropped.)

Note: For both the quizzes and class participation, you will be required to complete assignments for all 13 weeks, even though the lowest scores will be dropped. Thus, if you fail to turn in one quiz, that one will count as zero and your second lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Semester Project: 600 points
(Details on grading will be forthcoming.)

Semester Total: 1200 points

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Contacting the Instructor

Teaching is more than presenting information. It includes guiding the learning process, and helping students acquire skills as well as knowledge. Students should never hesitate to contact the instructor whenever they have concerns about how well they are doing. Not only will this help the students get assistance they need, it will also provide valuable feedback as to how the course can be improved.

For questions that may be of general interest to the class, please use my instructor’s discussion forum in D2L. For more specific questions about the class, or to discuss matters that are personal in any way, please use my D2L email account:

peter.botticelli@d2l.arizona.edu

If for some reason D2L isn’t working, you may also use my UA email account:

pkb@email.arizona.edu

Also, if at any time you are in Tucson, feel free to make an appointment for a face-to-face meeting.

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1 attachment

IRLS561 Academic Libraries Practice and Administration

Sun, 06/22/2008 - 17:32 — wilding

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

Academic Libraries Practice and Administration, IRLS 561-010. This course meets the requirements for the management distributed elective.

[Prerequisite: IRLS 504 or consent of the instructor.]

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course will provide an overview of the present context and organization of libraries in academic institutions, including universities, colleges, community colleges, and post-secondary specialized institutions, merging current issues in academic library administration and practice with selected trends in higher education and the world of scholarship.

The course focuses on administrative principles and practices as applied to college and university libraries, including standards, services, materials, personnel, budget, space, reports, and statistics. It examines the problems, issues, and trends related to the organization and management of academic libraries within the context of higher education, information technology, and scholarly publishing. A particular emphasis will be on information literacy and the role of academic libraries in working with faculty to improve learning.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the semester, students will have demonstrated knowledge and understanding of: · Issues and trends in academia, especially those affecting academic libraries;

· The mission of colleges and universities and the role of academic libraries in enabling colleges and universities to achieve their missions;

· The relationship of academic libraries to their various environments (e.g., scholarly publishing, technology);

· Information literacy and library instruction, including the preparation and delivery of class related instructional sessions;

· Nature of and issues related to services provided by academic libraries;

· The resources available for the study of higher education and academic libraries.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

There is not textbook for this course. The required readings are listed on the course site. Most are available digitally either on the web or in the Library’s electronic offerings. A few will be scanned and available through electronic reserves.In addition to other readings, students will be expected to look at the Chronicle of Higher Education each week for materials that are relevant to class discussions. I will be pointing out some things and will be sending articles from the online version of the Chronicle when appropriate. A lot of the content of the Chronicle is included in some of the article databases that the Library provides, although some may not include articles from the last month. There is also a full text subscription available through the library, which includes access to the archived articles.

There are many standards journals you should be aware of and become familiar with. These include, but are not limited to: Educause Review, Educause Quarterly, College and Research Libraries, College and Research Libraries News, and the Journal of Academic Librarianship.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

The effectiveness of this course will depend on the development of an active and engaged learning community. It will require that students keep up with the content, readings, and assignments; and that they be active participants in the discussions related to the class. It will require that the instructor be actively engaged as well, meeting deadlines, communicating frequently; and providing feedback in a timely way. The assignments are described elsewhere. In addition to compliance with the code of integrity cited elsewhere, the instructor will expect that all assignments are completed on time, meet the specifications for that assignment, and are professional in appearance and grammatically correct.

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

- Completed assignments will be submitted via the D2L dropbox unless otherwise specified. Some completed assignments will be shared with other students. Assignments will normally be commented on and graded and returned to students via the dropbox.
- Assignments will be expected to be submitted on or before the dates specified, with the date ending at 11:59pm. The instructor will be willing to negotiate alternative dates as needed but only if such negotiation takes place prior to the due date. Late assignments that have not been negotiated beforehand will be accepted at the discretion of the instructor.
- Assignments are expected to be professional in appearance; that is, they are neat, grammatically correct, with no spelling or typographical errors. Citations may be in any recognized format as long as they are consistent. (Please see the “Guide for Formal Written Assignments in Graduate School” in the contents area on D2L.)
The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

In order to receive a grade of B for the class, students will have to have completed all assignments for the class reflecting a good grasp of the topic, integrating lecture material, discussions, and readings. An A will signify that all work has been completed well and a substantial amount of the work has been completed excellently. In addition, to receive an A or B, students must be engaged actively in discussions throughout the semester and demonstrate familiarity with lecture materials and readings. A C or lower will be given if some assignments are not completed, if a significant number of assignments are not completed acceptably, or if students fail to participate in class discussions or to engage with the course content. Assignments will be given letter grades (A, A-, B+, B, etc.). An A should be considered to be in the middle to high 90s; an A- in the low 90s; a B+ in the high 80s; a B in the middle to low 80s; a C+ in the high 70s; etc. The percentage that each assignment bears on the final grade is as noted on the assignments. Discussion and participation will be the final 15%. By discussion and participation I mean that students are expected to make substantive contributions to the discussions that help the learning process. This may be comments about interesting things they have read, questions about materials in the readings and other content material, insights from their own experience that have a bearing on topics under discussion, etc.

Each assignment will be graded, and each assignment will be given a percentage weight for the semester grade. Assignments will be given the following grades:

A (95-100)

A- (90-94)

B (85-89)

B- (80-84)

C (75-79)

C- (70-74)

D (65-69)

D- (60-64)

E (59 or below)

University grades do not include + or -. Final grades will be computed on the work of the semester plus participation in class discussions. Students will receive a grade of A, B, C, D, or E for the semester unless we have negotiated an Incomplete.

Each assignment is due on the date specified. A student may negotiate a revised due date if necessary, but this must be done in advance. Assignments will be accepted late only at the discretion of the instructor.

A significant portion of the semester grade is dependent on active participation and engagement in the substance of the class including the discussion topics, lectures, and readings. There will be ongoing discussions throughout the semester. Students will be expected to read the postings in the discussion forum and to contribute their ideas and opinions on a continuing basis. Participation points will be given on the basis of the percentage of postings read and the number and quality of contributions. A substantive posting is one that contributes new information, new ideas, or new perspectives or one that moves the conversation along or into new areas. On average students will be expected to contribute at least two or three substantive postings per week in addition to responding to others’ posts.

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Instructor: Tom Wilding, Professor of Practice

Contact Information: SIRLS Room 8 Campus Phone: 621-5221Home Phone: (520) 229-3261; (520) 820-4239Email: wilding@email.arizona.edu

Office Hours: Thursday 10:00 - 12:00 noon. The instructor will be available at other times by appointment Virtual office hours will be held in the chat room and will be scheduled at various times, and the instructor would be happy to meet individually with students in the chat room, or by email or phone, so please arrange this with him.

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in progress

Wed, 06/11/2008 - 12:00 — janabrad

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

[Prerequisite: IRLS 504 or consent of the instructor.]

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

dkdkdkddkdkdk

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

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REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

dkdkdkd

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

sksksk

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

<Put your own material for the stuff in red>

How to submit your assignments: How do you want students to submit assignments? Do you want them to include any particular identifying information on their assignments? Will assignments be returned to them, or will they just see a posted grade? Anything else that they'd need to know?
Assignment due dates: Since the Course Schedule section (above) will spell out specific due dates, this section is used to describe any late penalties and any particulars about exactly when items are due (e.g. "Surface-mailed assignments must be postmarked no later than the stated due date.")
Writing style: Are students supposed to use any particular writing style, such as APA or Chicago Manual? Are there any on-line writing resources that might be helpful to your students as they prepare their assignments? What if English is not their native tongue...is help available to them?
Late Policy

Incompletes

The current Catalog reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a term, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded in place of a failing grade or when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case, a grade other than I must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the term ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

sksksk

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

dldldl

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IRLS622-010 Information Quality

Wed, 05/14/2008 - 15:33 — fallis

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

Information Quality (previously Verifiable Information)

IRLS622 Section 010

Instructor: Don Fallis

This course satisfies the Evaluation of Information Resources distribution requirement for the Master’s degree. There are no course prerequisites.

Don Fallis

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

"Principles of evaluating information exchanges and sources. Topics include the verification of the accuracy of information and the evaluation of resources in specialized subject domains."

Library and information professionals provide people with access to information. In most cases, we would like that information to meet certain quality standards (e.g., in terms of accuracy, completeness, currency, and comprehensibility). At the very least, we would like people to be able to evaluate for themselves the quality of the information that they access.

This will have three main components. First, we will discuss what these quality standards are. Second, we will discuss how we can determine whether an information resource meets these standards. Third, we will discuss how we can make it easier for people to evaluate the quality of an information resource.

During the course, the concepts of information quality will be applied to several practical problems for library and information professionals. For example, is Wikipedia a reliable source of information? Which scholarly journals should an academic library collect? How should we distinguish between misinformation from disinformation? How can we determine whether information on the Internet is accurate?

Technical Prerequisites:

Students taking this course will need to satisfy the standard SIRLS technical requirements. In addition, several assignments in this course require students to create web pages. Furthermore, at least one assignment requires students to create a web page and post it on the web. Tips for doing this will be posted in D2L. Please contact the instructor if you have questions about these prerequisites.

Course Format:

This course will be taught virtually using a D2L course on the Web. Enrolled students will be given accounts by the start of the semester.

Note: Information about using D2L is available at http://sirls.arizona.edu/resources/computing#d2l. If you have trouble with D2L, you can contact the D2L Support Staff (d2l@email.arizona.edu). (In addition, you can contact the SIRLS "D2L GAT" for the semester.) Send the D2L staff an email message explaining exactly what is happening.

I plan to post one lecture per week. I plan to post these lectures on Wednesday afternoon or evening. So, you should find them posted in the "Content" area of the D2L course by the following morning.

I will set up a discussion forum for each lecture. Online discussions of the content of the course will take place in these forums. The participation requirement for this course requires active participation in these discussions. Lectures will typically conclude with a few possible discussion questions. You should have something thoughtful to say (a question, a comment, a reply, etc.) every week or so. But in order to stay up-to-date on discussions and announcements, you should check into D2L every day or so.

Note: The last day of classes this semester is December 10th. This will be the last official day for participation. However, D2L should still be accessible for at least a couple of weeks after that point. I will still be checking in on the discussions and you are free to continue posting to the discussion forums.

Note: I do not always post announcements on the D2L Course Home page. I often post announcements in the Main discussion forum. That way, people can reply to the announcement if they have questions or need clarification. So, please be sure to check any postings to the "Main" discussion forum (or the other Administrative discussion forums, for that matter).

I have a couple of small requests with regard to the discussion forums. These forums will be our main mode of communication in this course. In order to keep this communication more or less organized, I will set up different forums for different purposes. For example, in addition to a forum for each lecture, I will also set up a "Greetings" forum for you to describe who you are and why you are taking this particular course. So, my first request is that you try to direct your comments to the appropriate forum. My second request is that you use D2L email, instead of the forums, for any personal correspondence.

Note: If I need to communicate with you directly, I will typically send you a D2L email message. So, in addition to regularly checking the discussion forums, you need to regularly check your D2L email account (or you need to have your D2L email forwarded to your regular email account).

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of this course, students will:

know what the various dimensions of information quality are.
be able to evaluate the quality of information resources along these dimensions.
learn techniques for making it easier for people to evaluate the quality of information resources.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

There is no required text to buy. The required readings for this course (which are subject to modification) will all be available electronically. Some readings will be on the web. Other readings are in journals that can be accessed online through the UA Library. (You will need a CatCard number to access these readings.) Still other readings will be available through electronic reserves. (The password will be distributed in D2L.)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

There are five components that go into the final course grade:

Requirement Percentage of Final Grade

Participation 15%

Midterm 20%

Group Presentation 25%

Individual Project 25%

Short Assignments 15%

Participation is discussed above under Course Format.

The Midterm will consist of a few essay questions (and probably a few short answer questions) that cover the lectures, readings, and discussions. It will be posted on a Wednesday in the middle of the semester in lieu of a lecture. The midterm will be due one week after it is assigned (i.e., the following Wednesday).

Note: All of the assignments in this course (including the midterm) will be due at 11:59pm Tucson time. I don't plan to start grading them at midnight; I just want to be sure that I have them in my hands when I get up the following morning. By the way, Tucson is always on Mountain Standard Time (MST).

The Group Presentation requires each of you to participate in creating an online presentation on a topic within the scope of information quality. These presentations will take place during the last few weeks of the semester. Each group will sign up for a specific date to put their presentation online. We will treat the presentations like any other virtual lecture. For instance, I will set up a forum for each presentation, presentations will be required reading, etc.

Note: I do understand that group presentations, especially in a virtual course, present certain difficulties. Please let me know if you are having any problems.

The Individual Project requires you to create some "verifiable" online information (basically, a web page containing information whose quality is easy to assess).

Short Assignments consisting of a few short questions will typically be posted on Wednesdays at the end of some of the lectures. These assignments will be due on the following Wednesday.

Further details about these assignments (including due dates) will be provided in D2L. All assignments must be submitted as HTML or PDF files. Information about creating HTML documents is available at:
http://sirls.arizona.edu/resources/computing#html.

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

Further details about turning in assignments will be posted in D2L.

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

Final Grade	Overall Percentage Score
A	90% and above
B	80% to 89%
C	70% to 79%
D	60% to 69%
E	59% and below

Each assignment will be graded on a point system. For example, you might receive 17 out of a possible 20 points on your Individual Project. At the end of the course, the points received on each of the five components will be aggregated (using the percentages given above under Course Requirements) to yield an overall percentage score. Students with scores of 90% and above will receive an A, those with scores between 80% and 89% will receive a B, those with scores between 70% and 79% will receive a C, etc. Further details about the grading of assignments will be posted in D2L.

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Office: SIRLS 14
Office Hours: TBA.
Telephone: 621-3565
D2L email: fallis at d2l dot arizona dot edu
Regular email: fallis at email dot arizona dot edu

If you have questions for me about the course, post a message to the D2L discussion forums or send a message to my D2L email account. (I prefer that you not use my regular email account for questions about the course.) In addition, if you are going to be in Tucson, you can come to my office hours or set up an appointment.

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IRLS515

Wed, 05/07/2008 - 20:52 — hongcui

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

IRLS 515 Organization of Information

[Prerequisite: IRLS 504 or consent of the instructor.]

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Official Course Description

Introduction to the theories and practices used in the organization of information. Overview of national and international standards and practices for access to information in collections.

Specific Course Description

We will study the history, theories, and practices in the organization of recorded information, print and digital. An introductory course, IRLS 515 will survey the information and knowledge organization techniques that exist or are emerging, such as controlled vocabularies and the Semantic Web. We will focus on standards and tools that are used in large text-based information environments. We will approach these fascinating topics through intellectual discussions and hands-on exercises. We will be using the D2L (Desire to Learn) learning support system. All course related materials can be found there. Log on D2L at http://d2l.arizona.edu using your UA username and password. That website also contains d2l tutorials you may consult. Further D2L help can be found at D2L@email.arizona.edu or (520) 626-6804.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The main goal of the course is to help students become familiar with the concepts and practices of bibliographic and non-bibliographic information organization and to nurture students’ interests in exploring this field further after completing the course. By the end of the course, the student will be able to:

· Understand the existing and new challenges involved in organization of information.

· Define a number of approaches that have been used to organize information in different settings and for different purposes.

· Compare and contrast the range of information organization approaches.

· Describe the main theories of information organization in library settings.

· Demonstrate basic skills in controlled vocabulary creation.

· Demonstrate basic knowledge of at least two metadata standards.

· Demonstrate basic skills in database construction.

· Articulate the similarities and differences between foundational concepts such as a thesaurus, ontology, authority file, subject heading list, and library classification scheme

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS:

· Taylor, Arlene. 2004. The Organization of Information. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. [We will use this text only in the first half of the term. This text provides a comprehensive coverage on more traditional IO approaches, even though some content in the text is out of date. A few chapters from this text are available at our course site.]

· Other course readings are online. Students will be able to access them without charge. [We will use these readings mostly in the second half of the term. Readings marked as “for interested readers” are not required.]

· It is absolutely necessary for students to complete all required readings and note their questions before coming to the class.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Students will complete five assignments. Assignments to be completed by 2-3 students as a group are marked with a (G). Assignments 3-5 build on assignment 2, so in some sense assignment 2 is especially important. Students are encouraged to be creative in assignment 2, but be sure to check with instructor to avoid regrets.

1. Encoding Standards

2. Metadata Schema and Revision

3. Controlled Vocabulary

4. Database Theory and Construction

5. (G) Metadata Crosswalk

COURSE, SCHOOL, AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES:

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an Instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

The University has a Disability Resource Center. If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

· All work must be turned in on the dates due by midnight (12:00pm) Arizona time. Late work without prior notice to and approval from the Instructor will receive 5% deduction for each late day. For example, if your work is marked at 80% but you hand it in 1 min after the midnight, your mark for that assignment will be 80%*0.95=76%. Assignments late for 5 days will not be marked unless an extension is granted by the Instructor.

· In case of D2L malfunctions, email your assignment to hong1.cui@gmail.com (so your assignment will not be marked as late) and then resubmit your assignment to D2L dropbox (or “late” dropbox). Only assignments in D2L dropbox will be graded. Email submissions only establish a timestamp on an assignment.

· Be sure to check your submissions are successful. “I am not sure what had happened, but I honestly thought I had submitted my assignment on time” is not an acceptable excuse for waiving the late penalties.

· HTML format must be used for all written assignments turned in for grading. Assignments in any other format are discarded without grading. Feel free to use any editor to produce the HTML documents.

· Missing one assignment will result in a C, so please DO stick to these guidelines. You’ve been warned.

· An assignment is due on the same date the next assignment is assigned. See the schedule for the starting dates.

· All work may be checked by Turnitin.com or other tools made available to the Instructor.

Incompletes

The current Catalog reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a term, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded in place of a failing grade or when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case, a grade other than I must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incomplete grade before the end of the term ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

GRADING:

Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A=90+ (Superior Work)
B=80-89 (Very Good)
C=70-79 (Marginally Satisfactory)
F=0-69 (Failed to meet requirements)

INSTRUCTOR NAME AND CONTACT ADDRESSES:

Dr. Hong Cui

hongcui@email.arizona.edu

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IRLS520-010 Ethics for Library and Information Professionals

Tue, 05/06/2008 - 07:54 — fallis

COURSE NAME, NUMBER AND PREREQUISITES:

Ethics for Library and Information Professionals

IRLS520 Section 010

Instructor: Don Fallis

This course is a core course for the SIRLS Masters degree. There are no course prerequisites.

Don Fallis

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

"Study of the basics of ethical theory and its application to problems in information management. Application and development of ethical codes in case studies."

Library and information professionals play an extremely important role in society. And it is critical that they carry out their mission in an ethical manner. Toward this end, many organizations of information professionals have adopted codes of professional ethics. See, for example, ALA’s Code of Ethics and ASIST’s Professional Guidelines.

Such codes of professional ethics provide library and information professionals with guiding principles. However, there are a number of reasons why such professionals need to understand the ethical reasoning that justifies acting in accordance with these principles. First, it is no simple matter to apply these principles to particular concrete situations. An understanding of the underlying ethical reasoning can help us to apply these principles to such situations. Second, these principles often come into conflict with other obligations that we have. (They can even come into conflict with each other.) An understanding of the underlying ethical reasoning can help us to resolve such conflicts.

In this course, we will study the various ethical theories that have been proposed by philosophers. We will then apply these theories to the ethical dilemmas that most commonly confront library and information professionals. In particular, we will focus on issues such as intellectual freedom, equitable access to information, privacy, and intellectual property. In addition, we will look at how advances in information technology have created new ethical dilemmas.

Note: Libraries and librarians face certain uniqu

School of Information Resources and Library Science

Fall 08

IRLS573-010 Information Technology in Libraries

"Explores various information technologies and how they are used in libraries and information services. 3 credit hours."

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

IRLS506-011 Research Methods

IRLS506-001 Research Methods

Paper 1 Value of Research. Due In class Sept 23rd (Worth 15%)

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

IRLS574 Digital Libraries

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Incompletes

IRLS561 Academic Libraries Practice and Administration

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Instructor: Tom Wilding, Professor of Practice

in progress

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

IRLS622-010 Information Quality

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

Office: SIRLS 14
Office Hours: TBA.
Telephone: 621-3565
D2L email: fallis at d2l dot arizona dot edu
Regular email: fallis at email dot arizona dot edu

IRLS515

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

IRLS520-010 Ethics for Library and Information Professionals

Fall 08

"Explores various information technologies and how they are used in libraries and information services. 3 credit hours."

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

Paper 1 Value of Research. Due In class Sept 23rd (Worth 15%)

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Incompletes

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Instructor: Tom Wilding, Professor of Practice

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

Office: SIRLS 14 Office Hours: TBA. Telephone: 621-3565 D2L email: fallis at d2l dot arizona dot edu Regular email: fallis at email dot arizona dot edu

Academic Code of Integrity

Accommodating Disabilities

Assignment Policies

Incompletes

Office: SIRLS 14
Office Hours: TBA.
Telephone: 621-3565
D2L email: fallis at d2l dot arizona dot edu
Regular email: fallis at email dot arizona dot edu