Key Concepts Learned Throughout the Program

Librarianship as a C A R E E R

C ommunication

During the time spent in this program, one of the key concepts learned was the importance of communication . Here are a few examples:

• LIS 503-Foundations of Librarianship provided a great opportunity for learning about the importance of communication with a mentoring project.


• ILS 565-Library Management provided an opportunity for communication with an assignment for interviewing a library manager or director.


• ITC 575-Instructional Design Principles provided an opportunity to learn about the importance of communication with colleagues and with potential students for teaching library skills in this case how to use an OPAC to find books for classwork.


• ILS 615-Humanities-Literature and Sources provided an opportunity to learn about communicating with faculty about the library with an interview assignment, as well as an interview with a librarian that works in the Humanities. In addition, the course required a peer review of the final projects.


• ILS 616-Social Science-Literature and Sources provided an opportunity to learn about communication with an assignment for interviewing a librarian with a social science specialization. In addition, the course required a peer review of several final projects for the course.


• ILS 620-Legal Bibliography and Libraries provided an opportunity to learn about the importance of communication with an assignment to interview a law librarian at a university in Canada.


• ILS 655-Digital Libraries provided an opportunity to learn about the importance of communication with peers with a "peer" review of several student projects.


• ILS 680-Evaluation and Research provided an opportunity to research Computer-Mediated Communication, an important part of communication, and the opportunity to provide peer reviews for research proposals and projects for the course.

A cquire

Acquiring materials, data, or information is a second key concept. Examples of this concepts are as follows:

• ILS 519 - Acquisitions and Development of Library and Information Resources was an important course for this concept, especially with regard to materials. In order for a library to keep up-to-date with materials, librarians must acquire new materials, new technology (e.g. new databases), and new knowledge about these things.


• In ILS 616 - Social Sciences-Literature and Sources provided an opportunity with the pathfinder to collect valuable sources for financial aid that could be acquired by other libraries, if they so choose, as valuable sources of information for financial aid.

R eference

A third key concept learned in this program was reference. This was an extremely important concept within my program of study. Several courses in the program were of this type. Examples are included as follows:

• ILS 504-Reference and Information Resources and Services provided a good background of the general types of sources available for librarians to use. The instruction stressed the importance of the reference interview for reference transactions.


• ILS 615-Humanities-Literature and Sources was also important for reference. With my background in a medical library, this was a particularly useful course in order to learn about the types of sources used in the various fields in the Humanities. The instructor was eloquent in his lectures about the changing world of reference, especially with regard to the availability of more electronic sources.


• ILS 616-Social Sciences-Literature and Sources is another group of fields with a large amount of information to learn. The instructor provided insight into the various aspects of reference in this area. The major project was a pathfinder, which is a vary practical assignment, considering academic librarians often create them as a part of their jobs.


• ILS 620-Legal Bibliography and Libraries was another useful course for reference. Law is a very challenging field for reference librarians. The materials are organized very systematically. It is the most paper-based area of reference that I have studied. In the past, I have used a few of the materials with limited understanding of what I was looking at. After this course, I feel as though I have a better grasp of the keys to look for.


• ILS 680-Evaluation and Research provided an opportunity for using reference skills to find materials for Computer-Mediated Communication with the content of the project, as well as the bibliography of the project, which can lead readers to further informaton about the topic.

E valuate

The fourth concept learned in this program is Evaluation. In general, the ability to evaluate is important for every aspect of this program. Examples are as follows:

• ILS 501 – Introduction to Information Science and Technology – Required the evaluation of three search engines for their effectiveness of information retrieval for a carefully constructed search.


• ILS 503 – Foundation of Librarianship – Required evaluation of various policies and other documents for their meaning.


• ILS 504 – Reference and Information Resources and Services – Sources (Electronic and Paper) were evaluated for their usefulness content and availability.


• In ILS 506 – Information Analysis and Organization – OPACs were evaluated for content and useability.


• ILS 519 – Acquisitions and Development of Library and Information Resources – The course provided assignments that involved evaluation of library vendor web sites. Additionally, the course project was to evaluate a piece of a library collection.


• ILS 565 – Library Management – The course required evaluation of a book about library management.


• ITC 575 – Instructional Design Principles – Required evaluation at various points within the Dick, Carey, and Carey model that was used in the course project.


• ILS 615 – Humanities – Literature and Sources – Required evaluation of electronic materials for the mid-term project and evaluation of print materials for the final project.


• ILS 616 – Social Sciences – Literature and Sources – Required evaluation of sources to be included in a pathfinder for a chosen topic. In this case, the pathfinder was concerning financial aid for college students.


• ILS 620 – Legal Bibliography and Libraries – Required a final project to evaluate sources (print and electronic) for a legal library.


• ILS 655 – Digital Libraries – The course required evaluation of two digital libraries in a comparison paper.


• ILS 680 – Evaluation and Research – Required the evaluation of articles and various other sources for relevance for the course proposal and project.

E ducate

The fifth concept learned in this program is to educate. This is especially important for an academic librarian. All of the courses provided opportunities to educate each other via threaded discussions because many students were in various states, as well as other countries (I am currently in Canada), and military bases. Other examples include the following:

• Each of these courses required students in pairs to lead the unit, which provided education for the other students in the class.
  
  • ILS 501 – Introduction to Information Science and Technology
  • ILS 503 – Foundations of Librarianship
  • ILS 615 – Humanities – Literature and Sources
  
  
• ITC 575 – The course project for ITC 575-Instructional Design Principles was designed to educate a group of individuals how to do something, in this case it was how to use Quad-Linc (the OPAC of the River Bend Library System in Coal Valley, Illinois.


• ILS 616 - Social Sciences - Literature and Sources provided an oppoprtunity to educate with the course project-the pathfinder and study paper.


• ILS 620 – Legal Bibliography and Libraries provided an opportunity to educate classmates and the instructor about legal materials in Canada.


• ILS 680 – Evaluation and Research provided an opportunity for working through the process of research, the cumulative project provided an opportunity to disseminate information about a topic, in my case Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). In doing so, it was a way to educate other students about various topics of interest.

R esearch

A sixth concept learned in this program is research. The term research can be used to describe finding materials about something, such as "I need to research materials before I buy a new car." Research can also be used to describe the work done in ILS 680-Evaluation and Research, which is called basic research. Examples of both are as follows:

• ILS 615 - Humanities - Literature and Sources provided an opportunity for researching Pablo Neruda. The pathfinder created as the final project is an annotated bibliography of electronic and print sources that are by or about Pablo Neruda. In researching this topic, materials were analyzed for quality and availablility.


• ILS 616 - Social Sciences - Literature and Sources provided an opportunity for researching education literature, as well as materials for Financial Aid for many types of students.


• ILS 620 - Legal Bibliographies and Libraries provided an opportunity for researching important sources of legal materials in Canada.


• ILS 680 - Evaluation and Research provided an opportunity for basic research for a chosen topic, in this case it was a research report regarding Computer-Mediated Communication and the effect of gender on asking reference questions on the Stumpers-L listserv.