INLS501: Information Resources and Services

Instruction Observation Assignment

Library instruction is an important aspect of public service librarianship, but for many, including former teachers, it is a source of mystery, confusion, and anxiety. Through class readings and lectures, you will learn about the history of information literacy, and some of the goals and techniques librarians use in their instruction. The goal of this assignment is to expose you to two different types of library instruction and get you thinking about the elements that make for a successful class.

You will sign up in to observe at least one academic library instruction session and at least one public library instruction session. Your instructors will provide a calendar of classes for you to choose from. After attending the sessions, you will write a brief report critically analyzing the sessions. Compare and contrast the two classes, noting the different goals, content, and delivery methods. This report should be around 3-5 pages and references to the literature should be cited using APA style format.

• Due dates: January 22--sign up for times to do instruction sessions; March 17--final paper due
• Total value of final grade: 15%
• Contact instructor: Lisa Norberg

Internet Public Library (IPL) assignment

The Internet Public Library (IPL) is a "public service organization and a learning/teaching environment founded at the University of Michigan School of Information and hosted by Drexel University's College of Information Science & Technology."[1] One of the services of the IPL is allowing students in courses such as this one to gain experience in answering real reference questions!

For this assignment, you will go through the IPL training for students, answer one practice question (which will be evaluated by the IPL), and three real questions from real users. These three real questions will be graded for this class.

In order for you to conduct the training, you will need to send me the email you would like to use for this assignment, if it is different from the one associated with your ONYEN. Please do that as soon as possible. The next step is for you to read and follow the instructions in the IPL training for students. The manual will take you through the next steps, which involve taking a pre-practice question quiz, completing one practice question, submitting the student practice question form, waiting for the question to be reviewed, and then moving on to real questions. As you can see by this process, you must begin early in order to complete this assignment in time.

Each of your three real answers will be graded for this class. The grading rubric used for this assignment was designed by Dr. Jeff Pomerantz. You will receive 5 points per question for a total of 15 points total. One point will be assigned for each of the following items, per questions:

1. 1. You found the answer to the questions.
2. 2. You found the answer in appropriate sources and used more than one source.
3. 3. You discuss the details of the answer you found, including disambiguating any ambiguities in the question.
4. 4. You discuss the details of the sources you used: features, pros and cons, what the sources included and did not include, appropriate evaluation crtieria, etc.
5. 5. You discuss the details of your searching process, for and within each source.

• Due dates: January 29--must have answered practice question; April 23--must have completed all three questions NOTE: start early and pace yourself!
• Total value of final grade: 15%
• Contact instructor: Cassidy Sugimoto

Reference consultation assignments

The experience with the IPL should expose you to some questions that you might see if working in a school or public library. The reference consultation assignment will provide you the opportunity to answer some questions which have been asked in an academic library. The corpus of questions used for this assignment will come from real reference consultation requests submitted to the UNC-Chapel Hill Davis Library. These questions are divided into three main categories: faculty, graduate, and undergraduate. You will formulate answers for each of these populations during the course of the assignment.

For this assignment, you will need to log in to Blackboard to access the list of potential questions. Each question will provide you with the user group (faculty, grad, undergrad), department or affiliation, and the question itself. You will choose two questions from each group to answer. You will turn in each group separately, as the feedback will allow you to improve your next set of answers. For each question, the following is required:

1. 1. At least three sources that you would provide for the user. (6 points)
1. a. You must provide a full citation for each of these sources (APA-style format). (3 points)
2. b. You must identify what type of source it is (encyclopedia, dictionary, index, monograph, journal article, etc.) AND describe why that source is the best type of choice for the given question. (3 points)
3. c. You may choose to provide a database as a source. However, you must be specific as to how it informs the question and what particular search terms/queries may be useful for the patron.
2. 2. Two questions that you would ask the patron if you were able to engage in question negotiation with the patron. (4 points)

NOTE: See that I do not want "answers" to these questions, rather "sources." We discuss this more in class.

• Due dates: Feb. 10--undergrad group due; Feb. 19--grad. group due; March 3--faculty group due
• Total value of final grade: 30%
• Contact instructor: Cassidy Sugimoto

Digital annotation assignment

As digital libraries mature beyond construction and content, librarians are beginning to focus on provided value-added services. While most of what we would consider reference work associated with digital libraries has taken the form of email, chat or other types of mediated reference service, there is an increasing role for librarians to provide reference through what is often referred to as digital annotation.

Annotation itself has a long and rich history (Agosti, M., et al., 2007). Digital annotation builds on the historical use of annotation to assist scholars and enhance access in this new digital information environment. "Annotations support user communities in accessing the information resources provided by the digital library in a personalized and customized way: indeed users can create annotations that link different documents, enabling alternative paths for browsing digital content and thus structuring them in different ways" (p. 12).

The goal of this assignment is to apply the sources you've been introduced to and the skills you've gained over the course of the semester to a new form of reference service.

This is a group assignment. Each group will be given a digital document to annotate and a web template in which to enter the annotation. The source for each annotation should be referenced using APA-style format and should provide a URL if it references another web source or digital document. Basic web training will be provided.

• Due dates: March 17--documents and groups assigned (nothing due); April 21/23--group presentations; April 27--final project due
• Total value of final grade: 20%
• Contact instructor: Lisa Norberg

"Future of information services and sources" paper

During the course of the semester, you will be exposed to literature and experiences of past and current information services, sources, and contexts. It is hoped that the readings, assignments, and discussions will have all contributed to your understanding of the current state of information services. The goal of this final assignment is for you to use this understanding, your own experiences, and additional reading of the literature to inform an essay of a potential future of information services and sources.

This essay should be between 3-5 pages and should use the APA-style format. Although this will be primarily an opinion piece, you should include at least 5 references to outside literature. Given the nature of this assignment, you may feel free to cite quickly transmitted communicative genres such as blogs-just make sure the url is stable at the time you turn in the assignment. This assignment will be graded on your knowledge and understanding of information services and sources as covered by class readings and discussions, your ability to incorporate your ideas and outside readings, your ability to think creatively about the future of information services and sources, and your ability to communicate your ideas clearly and convincingly.

• Due dates: April 16--final paper due
• Total value of final grade: 10%
• Contact instructor: Cassidy Sugimoto