School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies Graduate
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17:610:501 Introduction to Library & Information Professions
Orientation to the M.L.I.S. program, the information professions, basic concepts and vocabulary, and the literature of the field.

17:610:502 Colloquium
A series of lectures with discussions featuring guest speakers that highlight current and recurring issues and introduce students to leaders in the field.

17:610:510:85 Human Information Behavior
Behavior vis-à-vis information as it bears on problems in library and information services and forms a theoretical and professional base for such services. Diverse contexts of information behavior; processes of information seeking, searching, using, and valuing. Assessment of studies of human information behavior in terms of relevance to library and information services.

17:610:514 Learning Theory, Media and the Curriculum
Focuses on the structure and design of school library media programs by examining learning theories, information literacy, standards, and current trends. Integration of information literacy across the curriculum and inquiry learning emphasized.

17:610:522:01 Cataloging and Classification
This course is an introduction to the theories, systems, and practices of cataloging and classification presented within a broad historical and contemporary context. Emphasis is on a basic understanding of the function and creation of library catalogs and catalog surrogates and on acquiring the ability to use and interpret cataloging tools effectively. The major cataloging schemes, formats, and systems used in the U.S. will be examined, including AACR2R, the MARC21 format, the Dublin Core Metadata Set, Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress Classifications, and Library of Congress Subject Headings. Extensive hands-on OCLC searching and editing experience.

17:610:530 Principles of Searching
Principles and practices associated with searching a variety of information resources, based on services for information users. Structure of resources relevant to searching. Information retrieval (IR) models, including Boolean (exact match), ranking (best match), and interactive models. Web search engines. Web reference sources. Interactive processes in information seeking and searching; mediation and interviewing process to model users. Search strategies and tactics for effective searching. Presentation and evaluation of search results. Laboratory exercises and assignments include database vendors, such as DIALOG and LEXIS/NEXIS, the web, and reference sources.

17:610:540 Reference Sources & Services
Focuses on the full range of information resources studied and used in applied contexts, placing emphasis on access to information through reference tools and the uses of information by learners. Important considerations are an analysis of strategies for searching and evaluating these works and comparisons between printed and electronic media. Emphasis placed on research tools, communication, information services, policy development, and evaluation.

17:610:547 Materials for Children
Examination and evaluation of both print and nonprint materials for children, birth to age twelve. Emphasis on literary and artistic interpretations of picture books and other visual media, including the World Wide Web.

17:610:548 Materials for Young Adults
Evaluation and selection of materials based on literary criteria and the biological, sociocultural, psychological, and developmental characteristics of young adults; guidance in their use. Emphasis on gender-fair and multicultural materials and the attitudes, interests, problems, and opportunities of young adults in contemporary society.

17:610:550:85 Information Technologies for Libraries and Information Agencies
With 17:610:530, an introduction to concepts and techniques essential to information handling in the networked electronic environment. Topics include: operating systems; client server and server-browser systems; the Internet and basics of http, ftp, and telnet; web search engines and basic HTML for web page construction; data structures (files, records, fields); UNIX.

17:610:553 Digital Libraries
Fundamental issues, problems, and approaches to digital libraries, reflecting differing efforts and thinking in a number of fields and enterprises. Variety of digital library collections; organization, access, and use of digital libraries. Technical infrastructure; socioeconomic issues; integration of information resources; relation to traditional libraries. Current projects and initiatives.

17:610:555 Multimedia Production
A laboratory course in the design and production of multimedia resources for libraries, media centers, and information systems and other informational applications. Examines and critiques current uses of new media and provides skills in user-centered multimedia design.

17:610:558 Digital Library Technology
Organizational, technical, and logistical issues concerning the design and implementation of electronic collections, documents, and services. Students learn in the context of building their own prototype digital library.

17:610:570 Management of Library and Information Centers
An introduction to the current state of management theory, ethics and practice focusing on leadership and the management of organizational change. Organizational culture explored as an underpinning for the principle roles and functions of managers, including developing information policy; and managing new information technologies, information and decision support systems, finances, human resources conducive to the creation of a multicultural workforce for a multicultural society.

17:610:575 Management of School Library Media Program
Students conduct a case study of a school library media center, with emphasis on how it responds to the nature of the community and the mission of the district and the school. The facility, the collection, staffing, and funding are analyzed. A long-range improvement plan is produced.

17:610:592 Field Experience
Requires a minimum of 150 hours of supervised professional work in a library or other information organization; attendance at meetings with the faculty adviser and other students; keeping a journal; and a brief summary paper. Placement is based on the student's background and career objectives.

17:610:598 Social Software for Collaboration
New courses developed in response to emerging areas of interest, and courses in traditional areas given occasionally as student demand dictates.

17:611:513 Developing User-Centered Educational Media

17:611:521:90, 92 Curriculum Design/Integration and Teaching Methodologies for the School Library Media Specialist

17:611:522:90 Student Learning Development and Behavior Management for the School Library Media Specialist
An introduction to the characteristics and learning styles of learners, techniques for classroom management, and rules and expectations in the school library and classroom. Prerequisites: permission to enroll in this course will be granted to students who are seeking certification as a school library media specialist or associate school library media specialist, as evidenced by current or previous enrollment in appropriate coursework; experience using email and basic World Wide Web searching techniques, your own reliable Internet account, and the hardware and software required for an online course.

17:611:530 Cataloging for School and Small Public Libraries

17:611:531 Information Sources and Services for Youth
This course is an introduction to standard print and electronic reference resources, placing emphasis on access to information through reference tools and the uses of information by students in K-12 schools and libraries. Course content focuses on how school library media specialists can develop information-literate students by teaching information processing skills and by building an excellent reference collection in their school media centers.

17:611:547 An Educator's Survey of Children's Literature
Biographies, autobiographies, diaries, and personal narratives are all ways of telling the narrative of a life. In this course, we will examine how writers take a life lived and turn it into a story. We will read picture books, chapter books, collective biographies, autobiographies, and biographical narratives for young people of all ages. Most titles will be recent (within the past five years). The focus will be on reading widely, and on intense engagement with the texts. Students will have the opportunity to create book lists, booktalks, and/or Web pages to explore their interpretations of biography materials for young people.

17:611:549 An Educator's Survey of Young Adult Literature

17:611:581 Children's Literature Goes to the Movies
This course examines the interpretive structures of American children's movies that are based on children's literature with a focus on how themes, storytelling, and characters are translated from one medium to another. Discussions will center on a variety of contemporary issues, including how literal fidelity relates to creative license (i.e., adaptation versus translation); how the technical differences between film and literature impose directorial choices; how evolving understandings of race, gender, ethnicity and age affect filmic interpretation and presentation; and whether a book's theme or core narrative can be divided from the vast body of cultural, ideological and political influences that constitute its identity. While the primary focus of the course will fall on the process of inter-media translation, significant attention will be paid to questions of intra-generic translation as well: To what extent do the conventions of the children's film dictate a director's interpretive decisions? How do successful children's films of the past, whether recent hits or old classics, impose upon the presentation of new works? What, if any, are the generic paradigms to which new movies must conform? Finally, Children's Literature Goes To The Movies will ask students to decide whether knowledge of the original book enriches the experience of going to the movies (and if the movie enriches one's understanding of the original book), or whether movie and book are essentially separate, and knowledge of one does not meaningfully translate into a deeper knowledge or a richer experience of the other. Films we will study will include: The Little Mermaid , Snow White, Cinderella, Aladdin, Pinocchio, I Am the Cheese, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Matilda, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, The Fellowship of the Ring, and several versions of Little Women. Genres that we will consider in relationship to these films will include: the bildungsroman, the fairy tale, enchanted realism, and the quest.

17:611:584 Gender and Culture in Children's Picture Books
An examination of children's picture books from a feminist standpoint and various cultural perspectives. Emphasis on the identification of books that use powerful verbal and visual images to promote self esteem and cultural awareness.

17:611:592 Field Experience