Charles A. Seavey, Professor
Wednesday, 6:00-8:30pm, Psych 407
Office: rm 12, phone: 621-3957
email: cas@convx1.ccit.arizona.edu
Office Hours: MW 2:00-4:00pm
Semester project. Students will prepare a paper on the question of Library Service in -------------" another country. Students will be prepared to make a brief (depending on the number of students enrolled in the course) presentation on their country in the last two weeks of the semester. The evaluation sheet for the presentations is appended at the end of this sylabus. My advice is to start working on the paper and presentation early. A midnight oil production becomes painfully obvious when standing in front of your classmates.
PAY ATTENTION TO "HOW TO WRITE FOR THIS COURSE" which is attached to this schedule.
All grades are numerical. They are entered into a spreadsheet for computing the final grade. The computed grade is final. There is no rounding up. Letter grade equivalents are as follows:
A: >93
B: 82-91
C: 72-81
E: <72
As we get further into the class I will be mentioning various WWW home pages with their URLs. I expect you to know what I am talking about and how to get there.
Buckland, Michael Library Services in Theory and Context
Budd, John The Library and its Users
Harris, Michael, and Stan Hannah Into the Future: The Foundations of Library and Information Services in the Post-Industrial Era
Shera, Jesse Introduction to Library Science
Shuman, Bruce A. Foundations and Issues in Library and Information Science
The readings package contains a considerable amount of material designed to supplement the lectures. In some cases the lectures supplement the readings. It is expected that you will all keep up with the assigned readings. There is a vast amount of literature out there on virtually every topic we cover. Get familiar with Library Literature, LISA, and whatever other indexes you think might help. The more you bring into it, the more you get out of it.
There are a very few things on reserve. The professor doesn't much like the reserve system, but we can't always get copyright permissions for everything.
You will notice that we don't start til January 24th. This is because the professor is at the ALISE/ALA conference in San Antonio on January 17th. My advice is to get started on the readings and your semester projects.
Ranganathan, Shiali Rammarita "The Five Laws of Library Science" in his The Five Laws of Library Science Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1957. p. 9.
Rothstein, Samuel "Why People Really Hate Library Schools" Library Journal 110/6:41 48, April 1, 1985.
Butler, Pierce "Introduction" in his Introduction to Library Science, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1933, pp. xi-xvi.
Budd, John "The Best and the Brightest" Library Administration and Management 2/2, March, 1988, 103-104.
Shera, Jesse H. "The Library as an Agency of Social Communication" chapter 12 of his Knowing Books and Men; Knowing Computers, Too. Libraries Unlimited, 1973, pages 190-193.
January 31: Professional Organizations/Literature of Librarianship
McChesney, Kathryn "Major Professional Organizations and Professional Literature" IN: Roberts and McChesney The Library in Society, pp. 219-228.
February 7: The Professional Debate, Or What Are Libraries and Librarians all About, Anyway?
Wiegand, Wayne A. "The Socialization of Library and Information Science Students: Reflections of a Century of Formal Education for Librarianship" Library Trends Winter, 1986, 383-399.
Wiegand, Wayne A. "Perspectives on Library Education in the Context of Recently Published Literature on the History of Professions" Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 26/4, Spring, 1986, 267-280.
II: "UP THE CENTURIES FROM SUMER" THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN GRAPHIC RECORDS
February 14: Introduction to Human Communication; The Coming of the Book
Shera, Jesse H. "Up the Centuries from Sumer" Chapter 1 of his Introduction to Library Science Libraries Unlimited, 1976, pages 13-43.
Mandrou, Robert "New Worlds and New Intellectuals" (excerpt), chapter 1 of his From Humanism to Science Penguin Books, 1973, 167-183.
February 21: The Modernization of Printing; Maps and other forms of graphic communication.
Chappell, Warren "The 19th Century" chapter VIII of his A Short History of the Printed Word Nonpareil Books, 1970, pp. 171-203.
February 28: Libraries In the United States
Rudolph, Frederick "The Emerging University" chapter 13 of his The American College and University Vintage Books, 1962, pp. 264-286.
Brough, Kenneth "The Heart of the University" Chapter 2 of his The Scholars Workshop: Evolving Conceptions of Library Service University of Illinois Press, 1953, pp. 23-36.
Due this week: Journal review. Guidelines attached.
March 6: More Libraries in the U.S.
Ditzion, Sydney "Democratic Strivings" chapter 4 of his Arsenals of a Democratic Culture American Library Association, 1947: pp. 51-76.
Shera, Jesse "Causal Factors in Public Library Development" chapter VII of his Foundations of the Public Library: The Origins of the Public Library Movement in New England, 1629-1855. Shoe String Press, 1974 (the dissertation from which this is taken was completed in 1947 or '48), pp. 200-244.
Harris, Michael H. "The Purpose of American Public Library History" Library Journal, September 15, 1973, pp. 2509-2514.
March 13: Spring Break!
March 20: Form and Function in Library Designs
"The Future of Libraries" editorial in Architecture October, 1995, pages 43-47.
Curtis, William. "Desert Illumination" Architecture october, 1995, pages 56-65.
Washington, D.C. : American Institute of Architects
For those of you who are architecturally inclined, you might want to look at the entire October, 1995 issue of Architecture. It is in both main and the architecture libraries at NA1 .A326.
Due This Week: Professional Debate, guidelines attached.
SPECIAL EVENT: Saturday, March 23: Optional field trip to various public libraries in Tucson and Phoenix. An Architectural Extravaganza featuring College of Architecture Associate Professor Abby Van Slyck. Details TBA.
March 27: Family Values and ALA: Political Agenda, or Open Access?
Shera, Jesse H. "Intellectual Freedom-Intellectual? Free?" from his "The Compleat Librarian" and Other Essays Case Western Reserve University Press, 1971, pages 127-130.
Intellectual Freedom, ALA Handbook of Organization, 1994/1995. Chicago: American Library Association, 1992, pages 130-151. See, in particular the Library Bill of Rights.
Focus on the Family material in the readings package.
See also the Focus on the Family page at:
http://www.cs.albany.edu/~ault/fof/fofbegin.html
As of this writing (November 13, 1995) the Family Friendly Library crowd does not have a home page. I assume that when they do there will be a link from the FoF page.
April 3: Cataloging and Classification
April 17: The MARC Revolution, and Knowing Computers, Too.
Rather, Lucia J., and Beacher Wiggins "Mother Avram's Remarkable Contribution: Henriette D. Avram" American Libraries, October, 1989, 855-861.
Stevens, Norman "The Black Box Syndrome" Wilson Library Bulletin 57/6:475-80, February, 1983.
April 24: Class Presentations on Individual Countries-
May 1: Finish Class Presentations. The Future?
Shera, Jesse "The Quiet Stir of Thought, or What the Computer Cannot Do" in his The Compleat Librarian Case Western Reserve University Press, 1971, 167-183.
Seavey, Charles A. "A Failure of Vision...." American Libraries 24/10:943-944, November, 1993.
Final versions of the country papers are due at noon, Wednesday, May 8th
1. Late papers will be graded down. No exceptions.
2. This is graduate school and I expect papers written at graduate school level. Recitation of what is in the literature is not sufficient cause to earn an A, or maybe even a B. Always keep in mind that the overall goal of the course is to encourage critical thinking. To award an acceptable grade, I have to see evidence of critical thinking.
3. Submit papers on 8.5 x 11 paper, stapled in the upper left corner. Do not use binders, fancy or otherwise.
4. I expect papers to be at least typewritten, and preferably word processed, in clear, concise, and grammatically correct English. Papers which have not been spellchecked and proofread will not be read and a grade of 0 (zero) entered into the spreadsheet. Suggestions on how to write for this course are attached.
5a. IF you a r e writing w ith a word pr oces sor/com puter comb ination do not use full justification unless your software /hardware combination supports true proportional spacing. Papers not meeting these stan dards will not be read and a grade of 0 (zero) will be entered into the spreadsheet.
5a is incorrect, according to the guidelines
5b. IF you are writing with a word processor/computer combination do not use full justification unless your software/hardware combination supports true proportional spacing. Papers not meeting these standards will not be read and a grade of 0 (zero) will be entered into the spreadsheet.
5b is correct according to the guidelines
6. THE FOLLOWING POLICY APPLIES TO WORK DONE FOR THIS CLASS:
Students assume full responsibility for the content and integrity of the academic work they submit. The guiding principle of academic integrity shall be that a student's submitted work, examinations, reports or projects must be that student's own work. Actions constituting a violation of the Code shall include those outlined below. Students shall be guilty of violating the Code and be subject to proceedings if they:
a. Represent the work of others as their own.
b. Use or obtain unauthorized assistance in any academic work.
c. Give unauthorized assistance to other students.
d. Modify, without faculty approval, an examination, paper, record, or report for the purpose of obtaining additional credit.
e. Fail to meet other conditions of academic integrity as required by a faculty member for a specific course.
This is excerpted from the University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity, as printed in the University Handbook for Appointed Personnel. There are also excerpts from the Code in the SLS student organization handbook.
If you are not sure what any of this means, find out. I interpret this very strictly. Unless specific permission is granted for group, or team projects, I expect that your work will reflect only you own efforts.
Be very careful about observing the rules for citation of other folk's work. I don't care what citation style you use, other than preferring those that use author's full names as opposed to intials. If you are citing a web page the URL will be sufficient until someone comes up with a decent citation guide.
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"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 Winston Churchill.
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 draft.
Guidelines for the Professional Literature Review
Locate at least two journals in librarianship that appear to serve roughly the same purpose. Compare and contrast the journals along roughly the guidelines below. If any particular aspects of your journals are not included in these questions you should try and bring the topic up.
1. When did they begin publication? How frequently are they issued? Approximately how many pages per issue?
2. Who publishes them? Are they associated with a professional organization or is it published commercially?
3. What types of "departments" or regularly repeated articles do they print? What sorts of special features?
4. Who is the intended audience? How does that affect the content?
5. What sorts of research topics could you use it for?
6. What is the "authority" of the editor?
7. Are they refereed?
8. Does the journal review books? If so, what kind, and how far after the publication date of the book does the review appear? Can you compare the "authority" level of the reviewers?
9. Any electronic version?
See next page for some suggestions.
Some obvious pairings, or groupings for compare and contrast purposes- you should be able to think of others. Check Ulrich's or the other periodical guides for ideas.
Library Quarterly Library and Information Science Research
College and Research Libraries Journal of Academic Librarianship
Journal of Government Information Government Information Quarterly
School Library Journal School Library and Media Quarterly
Public Libraries Public Library Quarterly
American Libraries Library Journal
Libraries & Culture Library Quarterly
etc etc etc
Guidelines for the Professional Identity Paper
There seems to be some debate over the nature of libraries, and the people who work in them. The literature in the readings package is just the tip of the iceberg. Using the readings package as a starting point investigate the literature on either the nature of the library, or the nature of librarians and their relationship to the professions (or lack thereof). In no more than ten pages take, and defend, a position on the topic. Clarity of thought and ability to demonstrate critical thinking, count heavily.
GUIDELINES FOR THE FINAL PAPER
The final paper is to acquaint you with development of library services in a country other than the United States. Each student will select a nation, and write a paper describing the development, and current status, of library services in that country. Things to think about:
1. Shera says that the public library (and by extension all libraries) are "social (agencies) dependent upon the objectives of society. It followed- it did not create- social change."
2. Funding mechanisms.
3. Who uses them and why?
4. Who works in them, and where did they come from?
These are but a few factors which might be considered in writing about library services in a given nation. See what you can think of on your own. Remember, the library system here as 3.5 million volumes. You would be surprised about how much information you can find out about a place.SCHOOL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE
University of Arizona
LIS504: FOUNDATIONS
"COUNTRY" PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM
NAME____________________________________________________
COUNTRY__________________________________________________
TIME______________
1. Explanation:
Background
Changes
Current thinking/issues
3. "Stage Presence" voice, diction, clarity.
4. Use of visuals/handouts/AV
5. Overall impression