Laurabelle's Courses

So I have to take classes in grad school, huh? Bummer.

Actually these classes are pretty fun, and to prove it to you, here's a list of the classes I have taken, am taking, or am planning to take, complete with assignments I turned in for them (and in some cases, including instructors' comments!).

Spring 2004

• LIS 580: Management of Information Organizations
• LIS 587: Library Technology Systems
  • Assignment 1: Comparison of systems librarian positions (due 9 April 2004)

Winter 2004

• LIS 544: Information Retrieval Systems
  • Assignment 1: Exploring the IR-Toolbox (due 30 January 2004)
  • Assignment 2: Search Evaluation (due 20 February 2004)
  • Group Project: Information Retrieval System Specification (due 6 February 2004 and 12 March 2004)
• LIS 566: Young Adult Materials: Evaluation and Use
  • Interview Assignment (due 29 January 2004)
  • Review of Sweetblood (due 5 February 2004)
  • "Reluctant Readers" Poster: poster and accompanying paper (due 9 March 2004)
• LIS 570: Research Methods in Library and Information Science
  • Research Project: A Keyword by Any Other Name: An Analysis of the Search Field Label Vocabulary in KCLS' Online Catalog

Autumn 2003

• LIS 531: Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification (requires UW NetID login)
  • Assignment 1: Issues in Description and Access (due 5 November 2003)
  • Assignment 2: Library of Congress Subject Headings (due 5 December 2003)
  • Final Project: Catalog Evaluation (due 12 December 2003)
• LIS 559: Digital Libraries
  • Marbled Paper Project for MSCUA
• LIS 565: Children's Materials: Evaluation and Use
  • Library/Bookstore Comparison Paper (due 25 October 2003)
  • Reading Journal (due 29 November 2003)
  • Final-project presentation on World Fairy Tales for Strong Girls, with Betsy O'Neil and Sonia Gustafson (6 December 2003)
    • PowerPoint presentation (in PDF format)
    • Annotated bibliography

Summer 2003

• LIS 529Aa: Introduction to Digital Reference
  This class was a lovely expedition into the world of digital reference, both synchronous and asynchronous; unfortunately it only lasted two weeks. I would have liked more time to get used to QuestionPoint and to develop a standard by which I can evaluate my performance. What I learned most was that I don't have a good mental checklist by which I know whether I've done well or not; having one would help me not only to provide better service but to have more confidence in my ability to serve.
• LIS 560: Instructional and Training Strategies for Information Professionals
  • Training Program Part 1: Background (research, survey, and analysis of user needs and characteristics related to an information literacy skill) (due 9 July 2003)
  • Training Program Part 2: Module (due 23 July 2003)
  • Presentation or Skill Training: Server-Side Includes with Malia Tanji (due 21 July 2003)
• CSE 142: Computer Programming I
  As a graduate student, I'm not getting credit for this course, but I'm taking it for my personal edification, because I enjoy it, and because I'm good at it.

Spring 2003

• LIS 521: Principles of Information Services
  • Professional Shadowing Assignment (due 7 May 2003)
  • Digital Reference Assignment (due 28 May 2003)
  • Information Services Assignment (due 11 Jun 2003)
  Reference class, covering reference materials (both print and digital) and customer service. For a classroom-centered course, it was very hands-on. One assignment was to shadow an information professional for four hours; another was to answer a minimum of nine questions for the IPL. There was also a final exam which consisted of two two-hour, six-question sessions of finding answers in a library.
• LIS 549: CM Logical Design
  • Content Management Analysis of First Place School
  I thought this class was going to be about XML, and it is, but it's even more about content management systems and metadata. It provides another technology for modeling information. (The CM analysis used to be a link, but unfortunately that site is no longer running, now that the quarter is over.)
• LIS 550: Information in Social Context
  • Crystal Springs Public Library Report (due 25 May 2003)
  This class is where we talk about the gritty issues of copyright, accountability, liability, ethics, privacy, and intellectual freedom. To my surprise, I found that I enjoy this stuff, so I think I'll end up taking more classes in this decade. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that I 4.0'd the class.
• LIS 589A: Leadership
  • Annotated bibliography of sources about leadership (due 19 May 2003)
  One-credit class about leadership, what it is, and particularly how it is different from management.

Winter 2003

Over winter quarter I knocked off two more core requirements. This was a hellish quarter, with difficult classes.

• LIS 507: Preservation and Conservation of Library Materials
  • Format Preservation Fact Sheet: Compact Discs (due 24 Jan 2003)
  • Microfilming and deacidification of a serial run (group project, due 26 Feb 2003)
  An overview of the administrative aspects of developing and implementing an institutional preservation policy for library and archival materials.
• LIS 530: Organization of Information and Resources
  • Response essay (due 28 Jan 2003)
  • Indexing assignment (due 18 Feb 2003)
  • Controlled vocabulary assignment (due 13 Mar 2003)
  Introduction to knowledge organization. This course taught me that I am not a cataloger; I just don't "get" cataloging beyond a superficial level. Jens-Erik is a very fun professor, and I will take LIS 531 at some point, because it is useful, but I would have to undergo a major mental transformation before I could be happy as a cataloger.
• LIS 540: Information Systems, Architectures and Retrieval
  • Specification for the ultimate music information retrieval system: The Stream (group project, due 14 Mar 2003)
  By reputation, this is the most difficult class in the program. Since I'm already a techie, I found learning the material less difficult than making our 5-member group function productively. I learned a lot about teamwork and about producing a professional-level report. I am proud of the work we did and of the fact that we got a 4.0 on our specification!

Autumn 2002

These three courses are required for the first semester of the MLIS program. LIS 500 is a credit/no-credit orientation to the whole program. It lasted two weeks, and then LIS 510 and 520 started. 510 and 520 cover important theoretical and practical material, but they can also be viewed as "Introduction to Groupwork," as they both feature group final projects, and much of the MLIS program consists of group projects.

• LIS 500: The Life Cycle of Information (requires UW NetID login)
  • "What does it mean to be a complete information professional?" (due 12 Oct 2002)
  Orientation to the universe of information science. Very "oh heck what did I get myself into" but also fun in a friendly getting-to-know-people kind of way.
• LIS 510: Information Behavior
  • My Information Need (due 28 Oct and 13 Nov 2002)
  • Model Comparison: Dervin and Kuhlthau (due 25 Nov 2002)
  • Information Behavior of Physicians (group PowerPoint presentation, 25 Nov 2002)
  • Comparison of Information Behavior: Physicians and Nurses (due 11 Dec 2002)
  Behavior of people, not information. This course studies how various user groups interact with information (including needing, searching, and using). The final group project was on the information behavior of some user group, whether professional or other. My group's presentation was on physicians.
• LIS 520: Information Resources, Services, and Collections (requires UW NetID login)
  • Reference Evaluation (due 10 Nov 2002)
  • Resource Consultation (due 1 Dec 2002)
  • Collection Development (group project, due 15 Dec 2002)
  Companion course to 510; the focus is on how to meet the user needs and behaviors detailed in 510, including collection development and the use of professional indexes and databases.

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