The broad objective of this course, designed for graduate students and upper-level undergraduate students in departments across the University, is to work with and study the theoretical implications of the tools and techniques used to create, gather, manipulate, analyze, and present electronic information both locally and via computer networks. Students will pay special attention to the techniques available to facilitate scholarship, especially collaborative scholarship, in the humanities, and to the creation and publication of "compound documents," be they on diskette, on CD-ROM, or on network servers.

In addition to each student's pursuing work to generate an individual product, by the middle of the semester all students in the class will work in groups of four or more to tackle a real project in the humanities and produce a fairly sophisticated and substantial multimedia product. Such projects might include, for example:

• The generation of an online resource, including historical material, video clips, class handouts, science lessons, and literary criticism in the support of the University's existing lecture/discussion course in science fiction
• The publication of a poetry anthology, using typographical techniques and page design to get a desired effect in digitally published paper versions, and augmented for an online version with graphic and textual critical and background materials made available through hypertextual links
• The assembly of a documentary resource annotating a series of films, complete with film clips to illustrate points
• The creation of a literary research paper using digital texts alongside images of the originally published paper texts
• The design and construction of information products, for example, a 17th-century English culture database that can be searched online and/or explored on CD-ROM or via a hypertext navigator such as Netscape, or, using similar techniques, a database exploring the uses of verbal and visual idioms across cultures

Explores related and sometimes competing legal and policy frameworks for the development and dissemination of ideas and expression in the Information Age. The ways in which principles of free speech and expression compare and contrast with intellectual property rights are explored in relation to the advancement of knowledge and innovation, with particular focus on the impact of the Internet and new technology. The impact of other legal considerations and values on the development and dissemination of ideas and information (such as security, privacy, local control vs. national and international considerations, competition, and the protection of minors) are also examined. The course draws upon the contexts of education, business, and government.

• Outline what records management is and what records managers do
• Discuss the history and development of recordkeeping systems
• Define the concept of a "record" and the systems that support records
• Foreground the links between organizational theory and recordkeeping
• Apply contextual inquiry specifically to recordkeeping systems
• Review the basic principles and functions of a records management program
• Consider records management's place in the information professions (especially its relationship to archival administration, preservation management, information resources management, and the information and library sciences)

An introduction to programming using Java, with special emphasis on graphical user-interface design and implementation.

1. Learning Sciences and Design: Students look at current work in educational scaffolding and how scaffolding techniques can be designed and implemented in technology to mediate learning.
2. Key Issues in Designing Effective Learning Technologies: Students look at the design process and other human-computer interaction issues in relation to designing educational software and the differences between learner-centered design and the more traditional usability-centered approach to software design.

Federal government publications as products of government activity and sources of information. Access issues and problems; methods of increasing access. Includes print, computer-based, and other formats.

Provides an understanding of why societies, cultures, organizations, and individuals create and keep records. Presents cornerstone terminology, concepts, and practices used in records management and archival administration. Examines the evolution of methods and technologies used to create, store, organize, and preserve records and the ways in which organizations and individuals use archives and records for ongoing operations, accountability, research, litigation, and organizational memory. Participants become familiar with the legal, policy, and ethical issues surrounding records and archives administration and become conversant with the structure, organization, and literatures of the archival and records management professions.

Preservation is commonly defined as the acquisition, organization, and distribution of resources (human, physical, monetary) to ensure adequate protection of information with continuing value for access by present and future generations. Preservation encompasses planning and implementing policies, procedures, and processes that together prevent further deterioration or renew the usability of selected groups of materials. Preservation management is most effective when planning precedes implementation and when prevention activities have priority over renewal activities.

This course teaches the basic principles, policies, and procedures for protecting information resources from loss, damage, deterioration, destruction, and obsolescence. The course introduces current methods and best practices for extending the useful life of information in a wide variety of media. Considerable emphasis is on management and decision-making and current preservation issues, particularly preservation of digital information and the use of digital technologies for preservation reformatting.

Course features lectures and discussion with some visits to campus preservation facilities and occasional guest lectures. This course is an introductory overview. Students wishing to specialize in preservation management acquire the basis for seeking additional training through Directed Field Experiences, internships, apprenticeships, workshops, and other practical engagement activities.

Preservation is commonly defined as the acquisition, organization, and distribution of resources (human, physical, monetary) to ensure adequate protection of information with continuing value for access by present and future generations. Preservation encompasses planning and implementing policies, procedures, and processes that together prevent further deterioration or renew the usability of selected groups of materials. Preservation management is most effective when planning precedes implementation and when prevention activities have priority over renewal activities.

This course teaches the basic principles, policies, and procedures for protecting information resources from loss, damage, deterioration, destruction, and obsolescence. The course introduces current methods and best practices for extending the useful life of information in a wide variety of media. Considerable emphasis is on management and decision-making and current preservation issues, particularly preservation of digital information and the use of digital technologies for preservation reformatting.

Course features lectures and discussion with some visits to campus preservation facilities and occasional guest lectures. This course is an introductory overview. Students wishing to specialize in preservation management acquire the basis for seeking additional training through Directed Field Experiences, internships, apprenticeships, workshops, and other practical engagement activities.

Uses and evaluates sources of information in music, including research methods, theory and practice in modern editions of music, and bibliographic descriptions of scores and recordings.

• Identify technology trends and issues that impact digital librarianship
• Make management and policy decisions with respect to digital library collections
• Provide reference services in a virtual information environment
• Evaluate the collections and services of digital library
• Utilize collection development software associated with one digital library (Internet Public Library)

The "information" revolution and the expanding use of information technology within all organizations, profit and non-profit, public and private, has created an environment in which access to massive quantities of information, at startling speeds, is now possible through electronic means. Within this environment, policy makers, managers, indeed all individual users of the technology must make decisions about how they want to use new technological capabilities and in some cases, even if they use technology in particular ways. The changing environment requires that all individuals clarify their values, understand ethical and unethical responses, and actively process information making informed decisions.

This discussion and lecture course provides in-depth study of the development of moral and ethical reasoning. It focuses on the ethical issues and value dilemmas that arise within then new information environment. It explores some of the information and technology-related incidents faced by individuals and institutions as they become familiar with, and adjust to, the impact of technology on work, recreation, and education.

Participants have an opportunity to do investigation and data gathering on specific issues relating to the handling of electronic information in various settings and the ethical issues involved. They analyze technology-related incidents. Incidents are discussed in relation to ethical, moral, impulse-related, and social cognitive human development, conflicting values, existing literature, and law. Discussion topics include, among others, copyright, security, freedom of speech, personal boundaries, ownership, anonymity, and civil liberties. Students examine, in-depth, the development and dynamics of impulsive behavior, lying, secrets, and access to pornography, looking specifically at ways in which information technology is bringing these processes into play. Participants learn methods of issue analysis and practice solving dilemmas by understanding the values and ethical issues surrounding the dilemmas.

1. Develop a theoretical framework for understanding and responding to ethical and values issues
2. Develop an individual point-of-view regarding various issues arising in the area of information technology use in personal life and organizations
3. Identify and practice a methodology for analyzing and understanding the ethical and values issues embedded within information and organizational dilemmas
4. Provide experience in problem solving where ethical and values issues are in conflict

Course reflects "children's culture," including television, movies, games, toys, etc.. As well as being a survey course covering the media and culture of children and young adults, this course serves as an "introductory" course to give students information and skills that they can use in other SI courses in which they might be working on or with materials for children and young adults.

Content includes resources for the study of media for children and young adults (bibliographies, journals, review publications, critical writings, Internet sites, organizations, awards and best books lists, etc.); characteristics and interests of the age groups; history and development, including current publishing trends of media for children and young adults; evaluative criteria for media; illustrations in children's media; potential use and value of this media in a variety of settings (libraries, schools, museums, zoos, hospitals, homes, Internet, etc.); and, of course, the media itself (materials for babies and pre-schoolers, picture books, chapter books, fiction, young adult novels, informational and reference materials, films and videos, filmstrips, audio/sound recordings, computer applications, multimedia CD-ROMs, Internet/Web sites, movies, television and radio programs, games, toys, etc.).

Various professions, including archivists, entrepreneurs, information specialists, and librarians, devise and manage information services. Once considered primarily the responsibility of library and archives organizations, the functions of information service management have enlarged, merged, or been subsumed within management information services and systems. This course surveys the highly diverse organization and management of information services with a special emphasis on corporate information provision.

Because more than half of the services are staffed by a single professional, solo practice demands a knowledge of all aspects of management and service delivery. At the same time, rapidly-advancing information technology applications require attention so that efficient and cost-effective use timely access to information critical in highly competitive and highly specialized venues.

As work environments become increasingly information intensive, complex, multi-layered services have grown in large organizations. In these venues, technical competency in narrowly focused areas may be decentralized yet team-driven. These generally technologically sophisticated and networked environments require skills and knowledge quite different from those of the solo practitioner.

Information professionals find that no matter whether they choose a career as a single entrepreneur, solo librarian, archivist, or whether they join a large organization, they become managers -- of themselves, of clients or staff, and sometimes of substantial systems and services.

Through classroom instruction, eight one-hour mini-workshops on specific management skill, assignments, readings and discussion, tours and guest lecturers, this course studies types of practice, considers the users' information needs and seeking behavior, and examines highly dynamic, current issues in systems and services.

• Who are the users of archives?
• What do archivists need to know about users? Needs?
• What are the tools and methods used to provide access to archives different from tools for bibliographic systems and databases?
• What constitutes use? What are the options for access to archival materials?
• What is it about the nature of archival materials (or primary sources, or records, or archives) that is different from other types of information (library books or information databases)? What are the unique problems in providing access to them? (Keep in mind that the term "archival materials" is defined broadly and includes archives, manuscripts, photographs, film and video, sound archives, oral histories, electronic documents, and other unpublished materials.)
• How do archivists assess user needs and evaluate services?
• How do archivists use finding aids, cataloging, indexing, and imaging to improve access? How do users employ these same tools?
• How are decisions made concerning the level of access, the types of access, and the development of an access system?

Thematic focus of this research seminar is collective memory and the role of archives as "memory institutions." Students examine the role of archives and archivists in shaping memory through appraisal and selection, creation and collection of oral history, and interpretation and display of documentary evidence. Most of the readings place archives in the context of a broader literature on memory and interpretation of the past, including comparisons between archives and other memory institutions, such as museums.

Acquaints students with representative sources of information in all formats as well as with delivery methods for services and systems in a variety of information environments. Emphasizes the dynamic nature of contemporary provision of information service and the importance of understanding users' information needs and behaviors. Resources considered include all formats and delivery methods: print-based, vended online services, Web-based resources, Internet search engines, CDs/integrated media, large data files, digital libraries, community networks, GIS, knowledge management systems, etc. Students study a representative sample of resources and services and their applications.

Covers understanding users' information-seeking needs and behaviors and meeting those needs through both human-based/face-to-face and technology-based services, through direct or intermediated provision of information, as well as through education and training activities; evaluation of such resources and services; preparation of information resources; management issues; current developments, trends, and future research. Format is lecture and discussion, with students using actual reference questions for searching practice and to demonstrate mastery of the material. Students may work with a single partner to develop Web-based or other information resource or service plans.

• Learn about the information needs, information resources and delivery mechanisms available in both human and technology-based systems
• Study a representative sample of same and apply these sources to real-life situations
• Consider the on-going management and evaluation of systems and services designed to meet information needs
• Learn about likely developments and future research in this area

• Locate "Polar Bear IA" within the broader context of the field of information architecture
• Employ heuristics and apply core principles of IA in critiques and redesigns of Web site features and functionality
• Understand issues and disciplines adjacent to or intertwingled with IA, such as usability, user experience (UX), interaction design (IxD), search engine/Web site optimization (SEO/WSO
• Discuss and apply research from the Stanford Web Credibility project to IA design and analysis
• Create a report describing IA strategy and recommendations for Web site design, accompanied by standard IA deliverables, such as of wireframes, blueprints, and analytics findings

• Locate "Polar Bear IA" within the broader context of the field of information architecture
• Employ heuristics and apply core principles of IA in critiques and redesigns of Web site features and functionality
• Understand issues and disciplines adjacent to or intertwingled with IA, such as usability, user experience (UX), interaction design (IxD), search engine/Web site optimization (SEO/WSO
• Discuss and apply research from the Stanford Web Credibility project to IA design and analysis
• Create a report describing IA strategy and recommendations for Web site design, accompanied by standard IA deliverables, such as of wireframes, blueprints, and analytics findings

Prepares students to start businesses in the information industry or to work effectively in new start-up businesses. Discusses aspects of creating a business and expects students to develop an idea into a business plan that could be used to either guide the creation of the business or secure funding for a new business.

Focuses on the presearch interview, database selection, search strategy development, and evaluation of search results. In-class online searches and lectures cover basic and intermediate levels of systems command languages that students enlist in weekly lab assignments. Learn how to choose vocabulary for online searches using printed and online thesauri, subject headings lists, and other controlled vocabularies, and determine when to enlist such vocabularies prior to or during online searches.

Group projects require students to explore on their own capabilities of intermediate-level system capabilities and to make comparisons between searching databases available through commercial online retrieval systems and Web search engines and browsing services. In-class discussions conclude with managerial aspects of in-house online searching services and the status of and future trends in the online industry.

• To become familiar with the terminology and jargon of online searching
• To understand communication skills needed for conducting a successful research interview and debriefing of the client
• To recognize the variety of commercially available online databases and the process of database selection
• To learn how to use printed and online thesauri, subject headings lists, other controlled vocabularies for subject term selection
• To become acquainted with other types of printed and online tools associated with online searching
• To develop a tentative search strategy on a directed topic prior to going online making use of controlled vocabularies and other online searching tools
• To be able to interpret a bibliographic record and determine its relevancy in view of the search topic
• To be able to determine when to use the different types of online search strategies
• To understand where the online searching industry is headed

Provides a conceptual understanding and skills in the organization, access, and representation of information in a variety of formats. Students learn basic concepts and principles of cataloging and metadata, organization and classification, and standards that have been developed for the ways in which information is organized and described.

Students work with tools that have been accepted as national standards and evaluate emerging methods that provide alternative means for providing surrogate descriptions and organization. The focus is on cataloging and classification standards and tools developed in library environments, with a view toward evaluating the effectiveness of these models in both libraries and other information environments.

Examples of standards include the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Dublin Core, Library of Congress Subject Headings, Library of Congress Classification, and Dewey Decimal Classification. The class also looks at emerging metadata standards developed for digital record control. An emphasis is given to evaluating the extent to which current and emerging standards are developed with the needs of users in mind.

Cataloging and metadata standards are examined in the larger social context in which they were developed and are being applied, including evaluating subject access schemes and the way in which they reflect social biases and constructs.

Class format includes lecture, guest presentations from practitioners from a variety of information environments, hands-on small group exercises, weekly assignments to apply specific skills, and a major group project which explores in depth some specific theme of the course. The emphasis in skills is on understanding the nature of the standards with the understanding that specific expertise will require practice in an internship or the workplace.