iSchool Course Work

 

Fall 2012

IST 601 Introduction to Information Literacy

To kick off your tenure at Syracuse University, every new iSchool student must complete two weeks worth of information literacy online modules and spend a weekend on campus interacting with LIS, Telecommunications, and Information Management first year grad students. We form groups, attend information sessions given by professors, and create a group project. We present the project to a larger group, competing to present to the entire iSchool at the end of the weekend. It was a great experience to get to know other students and build camaraderie between the LIS students. 

 

IST 511 Introduction to Librarianship

This course provided an introductory overview of librarianship. We discussed the history and modern challenges and opportunities librarians face. Over the course of the semester we analyzed issues such as libraries and MOOCs and librarian's roles in politics and disaster situations. Our final project was a poster session in which my group advocated for embedded librarianship. This is a core course of the LIS program. 

 

IST 605 Reference

This course is an introductory course, and a required course in the MSLIS program. Taught by Dr. Megan Oakleaf, it provided introductory level instruction in reference services and information literacy instruction. We role played answering reference questions, created lesson plans and taught an information literacy instruction session, and created LibGuides using SpringShare. 

 

IST 676 Introduction to Digital Data

Digital libraries are an area of librarianship I am interested in. This course provided an overview of the project management, creation of digital files, storage issues, policies and procedures, and metadata standards involved in creating a digital library. The culminating project involved creating a digital collection for University of Missouri, St. Louis. I proposed the University work with the German American Society to digitize photos of German American Immigrants, and start a social network for the German American population in St. Louis. I created a collection development policy, a digitization policy, and proposed how to get the social network off the ground. I firmly believe in libraries creating connections throughout the community, and I think one way we can do this is through digital libraries.  

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Spring 2013

IST 613 Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment

Project planning, marketing, and assessment are some of  the most important concepts librarians need to be familiar with when we graduate, but we do not always get the chance to experience while in school. Fortunately, one of the required courses in the MSLIS program involves a semester-long group experience where we work one-on-one with a library to plan, market, and create an assessment plan for a project for their library. I worked with a group of three other students to create a project around using Little Free Libraries as an outreach program for a public library in the Syracuse area. 

 

IST 637 Digital Information Retrieval Systems 

This course provided an overview of multiple types of digital searching tools including commercial bibliographic databases, Web search tools, and other specialty search tools. We discussed the selection, understanding and use of these tools, search tool funding, and evaluation of the search tools and results. Ultimately, I learned  a lot about search strategies for each type of search tool, as well as the architectural differences of the tools. 

 

IST 971, Internship - Reference and Instruction Intern at Bird Library, Syracuse University 

The internship is a culminating experience in the LIS program, which I completed in my second semester in graduate school. I think this has been one of the most valuable experiences in my time at Syracuse University. I studied theory and practice of reference and information literacy instruction services under my internship supervisor, Steven Hoover. I was able to observe reference transactions,  co-reference, and work reference shifts by myself at the library. I also co-taught with librarians and other interns classes involving information literacy including database instruction, and narrowing down a topic for a paper. I was able to gain experience in course coordination as I coordinated instruction sessions for four sessions between five interns and an instructor's classes. Finally, I received event planning experience as I coordinated an internship panel in which interns from previous years met with new students to discuss internships, how to find them and how to get the most out of them. We coordinated two sessions - in person and online. I co-ran the F2F session and independently ran the online session myself via Adobe Connect. 

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Summer 2013

IST 618 Information Policy

Information policies such as copyright, fair use, broadband networks, and open access have a major impact on libraries and library services. As a librarian, we need to know the law, inform our patrons about their rights, and be able to influence policy makers. Projects for the class included current policy analysis, building a wiki about public service information and civil service organizations, and creating a tool kit for building digital repositories in developing countries.

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Fall 2014

IST 616 Information Organization and Access 

This course served as an "introductory survey of principles, techniques, and standards used in information systems to represent and organize information, especially implemented in libraries and information centers" (taken from the syllabus). I gained experience in basic description of information resources, standards for bibliographic/metadata encoding, knowledge of organization structures (LCSH, LCC, and Dewey), use of knowledge structures in indexing and classifying information, the characteristics of presently available systems, and how different system components work together. Some activities included creating RDA and MARC21 records for items, exploring bibliographic and authority records searching, indexing and classifying the records we created using RDA and MARC, and a final project resulting in a website demonstrating our cataloging and classifying of information, creating our own cataloging policies, and discussing cataloging issues of the present day. 

 

IST 662 Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals 

This course was probably my favorite course while at SU, and one of the most rewarding courses I have taken in my entire academic career. Librarians are called upon to teach and train in a variety of capacities from one-shot information literacy instruction in academic libraries, to a workshop on health literacy in a public library, to one-on-one instruction on using a tablet. Our role as teacher is ever more important, and this class gave me the skills to succeed when called upon to teach. Projects included observing and journaling several librarians leading an instruction session, researching and discussing current literature surrounding various topics such as learning styles and information literacy standards, writing our own teaching philosophy, designing two lesson plans and teaching one, providing our peers with feedback on their lesson plans and teaching, and presenting on assessment methods. Please see my Project Page for some of these projects. 

 

IST 735 Copyright for Information Professionals

Copyright is an area that all librarians should be familiar with as it affects our work on a daily basis. This course provided me with a firm background in the law and how the law affects all areas of librarianship from course packets and ILL, to instructional videos and faculty research, and plagiarism to fair use. Projects included writing a brief on a current issue of copyright and libraries (I chose 3D printing), creating a handout that explained a section of the law for public libraries, writing a short paper explaining a significant court case (Viacom vs. YouTube), and a final project, which is a workshop of five lesson plans for a librarian to teach faculty members in an academic institutions the basics of copyright law. 

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Spring 2014

IST 600 Academic Libraries: Value, Impact and ROI

This course focuses on academic library value in the context of institutional or organizational missions. The course content centered on impact and return-on-investment principles. I partnered with a librarian at Le Moyne College; we worked through activities, and applied course concepts to Le Moyne and their assessment activities. This allowed me to gain real-world experience. The culminating report analyzes the current situation in regards to library stakeholders, institutional focus areas, and assessment. I then make recommendations to my partner librarian regarding assessment and ways to make a bigger impact across the institution. Please click here for the full report. 

 

IST 614 Management Principles for Information Professionals

This course is the final required course for the LIS program. We learn the basic principles of management, communication, and leadership.