Digital Information

Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain and use information from both human and virtual sources. It is a basic skill that people in the 21^st Century need for their academic and career work. LIS 587 addresses how to assist users of information services and libraries to accomplish this important task. The course addresses information seeking theories, methods and user behaviors with a goal of students gaining an understanding of how people seek, gather, retrieve and use information. The course draws on literature from library and information science, psychology and communications. Understanding information seeking is applicable broadly for information professionals.

The owners of intellectual property have moral and legal rights that constrain how information can be disseminated. Those working in libraries, archives, or other information services should understand when and why these constraints apply to advocate for a robust and equitable cultural and intellectual commons. Digital content creators should also be aware of the licenses, networks, and creative practices at play in the circulation and reuse of audio, video, photographic and multimodal works. In this course, we will discuss the various legal aspects of copyright  (e.g., fair use, the first-sale doctrine) in the context of information services and content creation as well as the ways intellectual property rights affect information services and shape media reuse in the 21st century.

The U.S. government collects, generates, publishes and distributes a vast amount and variety of information. All information professionals-even those who do not intend to specialize as government document librarians-should understand the organization of and promote access to this body of work. In this course, lectures, discussions, and readings will acquaint students with theoretical and practical knowledge. The assignments will provide opportunities for deeper exploration of government information policies and resources. Graduate-level requirements include a policy paper worth 35% of their final grade.

This course covers theory, methods, and techniques widely used to design and develop a relational database system and students will develop a broad understanding of modern database management systems. Applications of fundamental database principles in a stand-alone database environment using MS Access and Windows are emphasized. Applications in an Internet environment will be discussed using MySQL in the Linux platform. Graduate-level requirements include a group project consisting of seven sections: Database Design; Implementation (Tables); Forms; Data Retrieval (Queries/Reports); Project Presentation; Project Report; and, Peer Evaluation.

All information organizations (libraries, archives, museums, and public and corporate organizations involved in information management) have leadership expectations of their professional employees whether they are in management positions or not.  This course focuses the theories, principles, and practices of leadership in these organizations.  The course will cover what is leadership and how it differs from management.  It will identify what it means to be a professional-- career versus job orientation; understanding personal strengths and management styles (Myers-Briggs, Emotional Intelligence); and professional values-- customer focus, continual learning, diversity.  It will also cover understanding organizations and organizational cultures; working on teams; collaboration and negotiation; project management; data based decisions;  program development and budgeting, assessment and evaluation; communication skills and interpersonal skills-- including giving and receiving constructive feedback; managing conflict; relationship building and networking; leading change and managing up; and what to look for in a new position.

Since the 1990s, the concept of marketing as applied to library environments has been misunderstood. Instead of just public relations or advertising, marketing is the process of communicating with customers and potential customers to determine needs, to design services to meet them, to inform the community about services, and to evaluate them so that they can be improved. This course will look at the marketing cycle as it may be applied to a variety of library environments. It will look at the relationship of marketing to program planning, branding, focusing on customers and customer relations, promoting services, and evaluating them. It will look at both physical space and virtual space as they promote the image of libraries and provide places for service delivery.

This course explores the ways in which groups of persons may be knowers and what information rights this knowledge might give them, within groups defined by their ethnic or cultural origin, e.g., indigenous peoples, ethnic and racial groups. In addition, libraries and other information services can be designed so as to foster the development and preservation of group knowledge and respect for group information rights.

Designed for information professionals who intermediate between information seekers at all levels and information resources in all forms including texts, images, audio, and data. Course material and assignments focus on intermediating services such as interviewing; online searching of catalogs, indexes, and open-access repositories; instruction; and reference collection curation.
 

This course will focus on how to insure that we can reliably get quality information and will also consider information quality from the perspective of the suppliers of information.  Principles of evaluating information exchanges and sources will be discussed and topics will include the verification of the accuracy of information and the evaluation of resources in specialized subject domains.  Graduate-level requirements include a stronger emphasis on the group presentation. Participation, midterm exam, individual project, and short assignments will not contribute as heavily to the final grade.