Serving Information Needs Page 1

Brian Real Fall 2017

University of Maryland, College Park

LBSC602

Serving Information Needs

Course Syllabus

Fall 2017

Instructor: Brian Real Class time: Online, asynchronous

Telephone: By Request Class dates: Aug 28 – Dec 10, 2017

E-mail: breal@umd.edu Office hours: By appointment

A. Course Description

How can we best help people with their needs for information? In this course, we will focus on

the skills needed to successfully interact directly with individuals from diverse populations in the

course of helping to fulfill their needs for information. We will approach this topic from a

number of different directions, including information professional practice and information

behavior theory. The course will touch on the following topics: collection development,

reference services, user education, information literacy, search strategies, and policies and ethics

of the information profession.

B. Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an appreciation of the role of institutions in generating and disseminating

information to users.

2. Demonstrate awareness of the core values, ethics, social responsibilities, and information

policy issues that affect the profession and users' lives and the roles of professional

associations in supporting them.

3. Analyze the effects of technologies on resources, service delivery, and uses of collections

and information resources.

4. Explain the role of information services in supporting the lifelong learning of diverse

populations.

5. Analyze models and theories of user behavior and understand how they can inform the

practice of serving the information needs of users from diverse populations.

6. Apply concepts, principles, and techniques of reference and user services that provide access

to relevant and accurate recorded knowledge and information to various user groups.

7. Apply methods of interacting successfully with individuals of various groups using current

media (face-to-face, e-mail, Web, instant messaging, etc.) to provide consultation, mediation,

and guidance on their use of recorded knowledge and information (e.g., conduct successful

reference interviews).

8. Explain techniques to identify, locate, evaluate, and synthesize information from various

sources for use by diverse user groups.

9. Demonstrate an understanding of concepts, issues, and methods related to the evaluation,

selection, and “weeding” of resources.

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Brian Real Fall 2017

10. Develop policies and procedures designed to assess and serve the information needs of

diverse user groups.

11. Create experiential learning experiences for user education, including development of

training materials, presentations, and use of media.

C. Course Approach and Expectations of Student Participation

This is an online course that uses Canvas as our main means of instruction. The course content is

accessible via http://elms.umd.edu in the LBSC602-ML01: Serving Information Needs site. Each

week’s content will consist of numerous readings and a lecture. Readings that are not linked on

the syllabus or are behind a pay well will be placed in that week’s corresponding folder under the

Files tab on ELMS.

I have not listed the lecture for each week for each individual unit, but I have listed the readings.

You are responsible for reading and viewing all relevant materials before the date noted on the

syllabus. Lectures for each week will be placed under the Files folder of ELMS.

D. Students with Disabilities

I take the need to provide reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities very

seriously. If you have a documented disability, please provide me with a letter from the

University’s Disability Support Service and I will follow their suggested guidelines.

E. Extensions

Students should manage their time well and submit assignments in a timely manner. I will

initially deduct half a letter grade for any assignment that is more than an hour late, and I will

deduct an additional letter grade for every 24 hours that passes. This does include discussion

board posts.

If two of the assignments, exclusive of discussion board posts, are turned in more than 48 hours

late then I will only accept any future late assignments with appropriate documentation (doctor’s

note, obituary, et cetera). Likewise, the final deliverables for Assignment 5 will not be accepted

more than 48 hours late without documentation of an emergency situation.

I understand that most students in this course have busy lives outside of the classroom, including

work schedules. It is for this reason that I will post lectures and other course materials well in

advance of when their respective units must be completed, thus allowing students to plan ahead

and mitigate these issues.

If personal or family emergencies occur, I will make case-by-case exemptions for this. In such

circumstances, though, you need to contact me as soon as is reasonable. If you know you will be

facing delays in the course, please quickly send me an e-mail at breal@umd.edu as soon as you

possibly can.

F. Academic Honesty

Work submitted in this course will be individual and original, in line with the University’s

Academic Honor Code and Honor Pledge. Engaging in any academic dishonesty will result in

consequences in line with university policies. Academic dishonesty includes but is not limited to

plagiarism, cheating, buying work, multiple submissions of the same paper, forging signatures,

Serving Information Needs Page 3

Brian Real Fall 2017

submitting fraudulent documents, and facilitating the academic dishonesty of others. When

writing papers, be sure to carefully and thoroughly cite all materials you use in writing your

paper and make sure all ideas and quotations are properly acknowledged.

G. Office Hours

Since this is an asynchronous online course, “Office Hours” are offered on an as-needed basis.

E-mail questions – either through ELMS or breal@umd.edu – will be answered within 24 hours.

If you wish to meet with me via phone or Skype, I will strive to arrange this within 48 hours of a

request.

H. Weekly Topics, Readings, and Review Material

The class begins on August 29, 2016 and ends December 10, 2016. The date for each class is

the start of that week. Initial discussion board posts are due by the end of the following

Thursday, and responses to other students are due by the end of the following Sunday. Lectures

for each lesson will be posted at least three days in advance of the unit start date.

I. Syllabus Change Policy

This syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice and

discussion with students.

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Brian Real Fall 2017

J. Weekly Topics and Assignments

Date Topic Readings / Activities Due

Week 1

8/28 – 9/3

Course Overview/

Evolving Landscape

of Librarianship and

Information

Services

Required

Bertot, J. C., Real, B., & Jaeger, P. T. (2016).

Public libraries building digital inclusive

communities: Data and findings from the

2013 Digital Inclusion Survey. The Library

Quarterly, 86(3), 270-289.

Buckland, M. K. (2008). Reference library

service in the digital environment. Library

and Information Science Research, 30(2), 81-

85.

Duff, W. M. & Haskell, J. (2015). New uses for

old records: A rhizomatic approach to

archival access. The American Archivist,

78(1), 38-58.

Recommended

Chow, A., & Croxton, R. (2012). Information-

seeking behavior & reference medium

preferences. Reference & User Services

Quarterly, 51(3), 246-262.

Lewis, J. (2013). Information equality for

individuals with disabilities: Does it exist?

Library Quarterly, 83(3), 229-235.

Discussion Board

✓ Introduction

✓ Week 1 Class

Discussion

Week 2

9/4 – 9/10

Information

Services and

Information

Professionals

Required

Bates, M. J. (2015). The information professions:

Knowledge, memory, heritage. Information

Research, 20(1), paper 655.

Trinkaus-Randall, G. (2013). The good, the bad,

and the ugly: The archival profession and

future challenges. The American Archivist,

76(1), 7-18.

Horrigan, J. (2015). Libraries at the Crossroads.

Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Coleman, J., Mallon, M. N., & Lo, L. (2015).

Recent changes to reference services in

academic libraries and their relationship to

perceived quality: Results of a national

survey. Journal of Library Administration.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 2 Class

Discussion

Week 3

9/11 – 9/17

The Concept of

Information

Optional In-Person Activity

Tuesday, 9/12, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Library Orientation

Rachel Gammons, Head of Teaching and

Learning Services, McKeldin Library

Room 6107, McKeldin Library

Required

Discussion Board

✓ Week 3 Class

Discussion

Assignments

✓ Assignment 1:

Library /

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Brian Real Fall 2017

Bush, V. (1945). As we may think. The Atlantic

Monthly, 176(1), 101-108.

Case, D. O. & Given, L. M. (2016). Chapter 3:

The concept of information. In Looking for

Information: A Survey of Research on

Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior (4th

ed., pp. 55-78). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group

Publishing Limited.

Bates, M. (2005). Information and knowledge:

An evolutionary framework for information

science. Information Research, 10(4).

Buckland, M. (1991). Information as Thing.

Journal of the American Society for

Information Science, 42(5), 351-360.

Recommended

Yakel, E. (2004). Seeking information, seeking

connections, seeking meaning: Genealogists

and family historians. Information Research,

10(1), paper 205.

Information

Center Visit

Report (Sat.

Sept. 16)

Week 4

9/18 – 9/24

Models and

Theories of User

Behavior

Required

Case, D. O. & Given, L. M. (2016). Looking for

Information: A Survey of Research on

Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior.

Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing

Limited.

● Chapter 1: Information behavior: An

introduction. (pp. 3-18)

● Chapter 7: Models of information

behavior (pp. 141-175)

Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Chapter 8: Zones of

intervention in the process of information

seeking. In Seeking meaning: A process

approach to library and information services

(2nd ed., pp. 127-144). Westport, CT:

Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

Duff, W. M. & Johnson, C. A. (2003). Where is

the list with all the names? Information-

seeking behavior of genealogists. The

American Archivist, 66(1), 79-95.

Chatman, E. A. (1996). The impoverished life-

world of outsiders. Journal of the American

Society for Information Science, 47(3), 193-

206.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 4 Class

Discussions

Week 5

9/25 – 10/1

Search Strategies Optional In-Person Activity

Tuesday, 9/26, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Discussion Board

✓ Week 5 Class

Discussion

Serving Information Needs Page 6

Brian Real Fall 2017

Information Behavior of International Students

Settling in an Unfamiliar Geo-Spatial

Environment

Chiyoung Oh, Doctoral Candidate

Room 0115, Hornbake Building, South Wing

Required

Bell, S. S. (2015). Librarian’s Guide to Online

Searching (4th ed., pp. 1-8). Santa Barbara,

CA: Libraries Unlimited.

● Chapter 1: Introduction to library

databases (pp. 1-8)

● Chapter 2: Database structures for

everyone: Records, fields, and indexes.

(pp. 9-26)

● Chapter 3: The searcher’s toolkit: Part 1.

(pp. 27-48)

● Chapter 4: The searcher’s toolkit: Part 2

(pp. 49-62)

Recommended:

Bates, M. J. (1989). The design of browsing and

berrypicking techniques for online search

interface. Online Review, 13(5), 407-424.

Connaway, L. S., Dickey, T. J., & Radford, M. L.

(2011). “If it is too inconvenient, I'm not

going after it:” Convenience as a critical

factor in information-seeking behaviors.

Library & Information Science Research,

33(3), 179-190.

Assignments

✓ Assignment 5A

User Instruction

Proposal (Sept.

30)

Week 6

10/2 – 10/8

Research Design,

Methodology, and

Methods

Required

Case, D. O. & Given, L. M. (2016). Chapter 9:

Research Design, Methodology, and Methods.

In Looking for Information: A Survey of

Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and

Behavior (4th ed., pp. 217-273). Bingley, UK:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Blakesly, E. (2016). The constraints of practice,

or we work in libraries, that's why we can't do

research. Journal of Academic Librarianship,

42(1), 635.

Conway, P. (2000). Chapter 19: Facts and

frameworks: An approach to studying the

users of archives. In R. C. Jimerson (Ed.),

American Archival Studies: Readings in

Theory and Practice (pp. 433-448). Chicago,

IL: The Society of American Archivists.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 6 Class

Discussion

Serving Information Needs Page 7

Brian Real Fall 2017

Week 7

10/9 – 10/15

Collection

Development

Required

Bell, S. S. (2015). Chapter 12: Evaluating

databases. In Librarian’s Guide to Online

Searching (4th ed., pp. 253-268). Santa

Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Becker, R. L. (1993). On deposit: A handshake

and a lawsuit. American Archivist, 56, 320-

329.

Corrall, S. (2012). Chapter 1: The concept of

collection development in the digital world. In

M. Fieldhouse & A. Marshall (Eds.),

Collection Development in the Digital Age

(pp. 3-25). Great Britain: Facet Publishing.

Fieldhouse, M. (2012). Chapter 2: The process of

collection management. In M. Fieldhouse &

A. Marshall (Eds.), Collection Development in

the Digital Age (pp. 27-44). Great Britain:

Facet Publishing.

Recommended:

Agosto, D. E. (2007). Building a multicultural

school library: Issues and challenges. Teacher

Librarian, 34(3), 27-31.

Hunter, G. S. (2003). Developing and

Maintaining Practical Archives: A How-To-

Do-It Manual. 2nd edition. New York: Neal-

Schuman Publishers, Inc. Chapter 4.

Mills, A. (2015). User impact on selection,

digitization, and the development of digital

special collections. New Review of Academic

Librarianship, 21(2), 160-169.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 7 Class

Discussion

Assignments

✓ Assignment 2:

Search Strategy

(Oct. 14)

Week 8

10/16 – 10/22

Information

Literacy/

User Instruction

Optional In-Person Activity

Tuesday, 10/17, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Chat Reference

Paul Chasen, Maryland AskUsNow! Statewide

Coordinator

Room 0115, Hornbake Building, South Wing

Required

Association of College and Research Libraries.

(2016). Framework for Information Literacy.

Booth, C. (2014).” Teaching Effectiveness” in

Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning :

Instructional Literacy for Library Educators.

Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

Klipfel, M. (2013). “Forget about Learning

Styles.” Rule Number One Blog.

Nunes, A. (2016). "Do you suffer from library

anxiety?" JSTOR Daily.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 8 Class

Discussion

Serving Information Needs Page 8

Brian Real Fall 2017

Yakel, E. (2002). Listening to users. Archival

Issues, 26(2), 111-127.

Recommended:

Bell, S. S. (2015). Librarian’s Guide to Online

Searching (4th ed). Santa Barbara, CA:

Libraries Unlimited.

● Chapter 13: Teaching other people about

databases. (pp. 269-283)

● Chapter 14: Database teaching

opportunities. (pp. 285-297)

Week 9

10/23 – 10/29

Reference and

Information

Services

Required

Reference and User Services Association

(RUSA). (2013). Guidelines for Behavioral

Performance of Reference and Information

Service Providers and Guidelines for

Implementing Virtual Reference Service.

Smith, L. C. (2009). Reference Services. In M. J.

Bates & M. N. Maack (Eds.), Encyclopedia of

Library and Information Sciences (3rd ed., pp.

4485-4491). New York: Taylor & Francis.

Bopp, R. E. & Smith, L. C. (2011). Chapter 4:

Organization of information and search

strategies. In Reference and information

services: An introduction (4th ed., pp. 95-

120). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Brown, S. (2008). The reference interview:

Theories and practice. Library Philosophy and

Practice.

Recommended:

Agosto, D. E., Rozaklis, L., MacDonald, C., &

Abels, E. G. (2011). A model of the reference

and information service process: An

educator’s perspective. Reference & User

Services Quarterly, 50(3), 235-244.

Bopp, R. E. & Smith, L. C. (2011). Chapter 5:

Electronic resources for reference. In

Reference and information services: An

introduction (4th ed., pp. 121-160). Santa

Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Morris, R. C. T. (1994). Toward a user-centered

information service. Journal of the American

Society for Information Science, 45(1), 20-30

Pugh, M. J. (2005). Providing Reference Services

for Archives & Manuscripts. Chicago, IL:

Society of American Archivists.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 10 Class

Discussion

Assignments

✓ Assignment 3:

User Group

Profile (Oct. 28)

Week 10

10/30 – 11/5

The Reference

Conversation

Required Discussion Board

✓ Week 11 Class

Discussion

Serving Information Needs Page 9

Brian Real Fall 2017

Elmborg, J. (2002). Teaching at the desk: Toward

a Reference Pedagogy. portal: Libraries and

the Academy 2(3), 455-464.

Bell, Suzanne S. (2015). Chapter 11: Choosing

the right resource for the question. In

Librarian’s Guide to Online Searching (4th

ed., pp. 237-252). Santa Barbara, CA:

Libraries Unlimited.

Dewdney, P. & Michell, G. (1996). Oranges and

peaches: Understanding communication

accidents in the reference interview. RQ,

35(4), 520-523 & 526-536.

Recommended:

Bell, Suzanne S. (2015). Chapter 10: Focus on

people. In Librarian’s Guide to Online

Searching (4th ed., pp. 211-235). Santa

Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Pyati, A. (2003). Limited English proficient users

and the need for improved reference services.

Reference Services Review, 31(3), 264-271.

Taylor, R. S. (1968). Question negotiation and

information seeking in libraries. College &

Research Libraries, 29(3), 178-194.

Week 11

11/6 – 11/12

Policies and Ethics Required

Bopp, R. E. & Smith, L. C. (2011). Chapter 2:

Ethical aspects of reference service. In

Reference and information services: An

introduction (4th ed., pp. 29-56). Santa

Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

American Library Association (ALA) Policy

Manual (Revised January 2013).

Skim, but pay particular attention to the

following sections:

A.1: Mission, Priority Areas, Goals

B.1: Core Values, Ethics, and Core

Competencies

B.2: Intellectual Freedom

B.3: Diversity

B.4: Equity and Access

B.5: Libraries and the Public Good

B.8: Services and Responsibilities of Libraries

Also, select three of the readings listed below:

● Code of Ethics of the American Library

Association (Last amended January 22,

2008).

● ALA Core Values of Librarianship

(Adopted June 29, 2004).

Discussion Board

✓ Week 12 Class

Discussion

Assignments

✓ Assignment 4:

Reference

Comparison

(Nov. 11)

Serving Information Needs Page 10

Brian Real Fall 2017

● American Association of Law Libraries

(AALL) Ethical Principles (Approved

April 5, 1999).

● Society of American Archivists (SAA)

Strategic Plan 2014 – 2018: Vision,

Mission, Values, Goals, Strategies, and

KPIs as adopted by the SAA Council

(January 24, 2014)

● SAA Core Values Statement and Code

of Ethics (Approved May 2011).

● Special Libraries Association (SLA)

Vision, Mission & Core Values

Statements (10/2003).

● Medical Library Association Code of

Ethics for Health Sciences Librarianship

(6/2010). Association of College &

Research Libraries (ACRL) Diversity

Standards: Cultural Competency for

Academic Libraries (2012).

● Association for Information Science &

Technology (ASIS&T) Professional

Guidelines (Adopted May 30, 1992).

● Association for Library and Information

Science Education (ALISE) Diversity

Statement (Approved September 30,

2012).

Recommended:

Lazar, J. & Jaeger, P. (2011). Reducing barriers

to online access for people with disabilities.

Issues in Science and Technology, 27(2), 69-

82.

Week 12

11/13 – 11/19

Scholarly

Communication and

Open Access

Optional In-Person Activity

Tuesday, 11/14, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Open Access at UMD

Terry Owen, Digital Scholarship Librarian,

University of Maryland Libraries

Room 0115, Hornbake Building, South Wing

Required

Van de Sompel, H., Payette, S., Erickson, J.,

Lagoze, C., and Warner, S. (2004). Rethinking

scholarly communication. D-Lib Magazine,

10(9), September 2004.

Oppenheim, C. (2008). Electronic scholarly

publishing and open access. Journal of

Information Science, 34(4), 577-590.

Suber, P. (2013, December 16). Open Access

Overview.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 13 Class

Discussion

Serving Information Needs Page 11

Brian Real Fall 2017

Bohannon, J. (2013). Who's afraid of peer

review? Science, 342(6154), 60-65.

Recommended:

Jimerson, R. C. (2007). Archives for all:

Professional responsibility and social justice.

American Archivist, 70(2), 252-281.

St. Jean, B., Rieh, S. Y., Yakel, E., & Markey, K.

(2011). Unheard voices: Institutional

repository end-users. College & Research

Libraries, 72(1), 21-42.

Suber, P. (2009, Feb. 9). Timeline of the Open

Access Movement.

Week 13

11/13 – 11/19

Thanksgiving Break

Week 14

11/20 – 11/26

Effects of

Technology on the

Information

Professions

Required

Abram, S. (2008). Evolution to revolution to

chaos? Reference in transition. Searcher,

16(8), 42-48.

Houghton-Jan, S., Etches-Johnson, A., &

Schmidt, A. (2009). The Read/Write Web and

the Future of Library Research. Journal of

Library Administration 49(4), 365-382.

Jaeger, P. T. (2015). Disability, human rights,

and social justice: The ongoing struggle for

online accessibility and equality. First

Monday, 20(9).

Recommended

St. Jean, B., Rieh, S. Y., Yang, J. Y., & Kim, Y.-

M. (2011). How content contributors assess

and establish credibility on the Web. Research

paper presented at the ASIS&T 2011 Annual

Meeting, New Orleans, LA, October 9-13,

2011.

Discussion Board

✓ Week 14 Class

Discussion

Week 15

11/27 – 12/4

User Instruction

Presentations (Wk

1)

No readings, work on completing assignment 5

Discussion Board

✓ Semester

reflection

✓ Small group

pathfinder

Assignments

✓ Assignment 5

(December 4) -

submit through

Canvas + post

on small group

discussion board

✓ 5A Exec.

Summary

Serving Information Needs Page 12

Brian Real Fall 2017

✓ 5B

Presentation

✓ 5C

Pathfinder

Week 16

12/5 – 12/12

User Instruction

Presentations (Wk

2)

+

Course Wrap-up

No readings, view, respond, and post questions to

classmates’ presentations + pathfinders

Discussion Board

✓ User

Presentations

(December 10)

Assignments

✓ Course

Evaluations

Serving Information Needs Page 13

Brian Real Fall 2017

K. Assignments and Grading

Your final grade will be calculated based on the weighting of course assignments shown in the

following table. Please note that revision and resubmission of assignments for the purpose of

obtaining a higher grade will not be permitted. Also, you will not be allowed to drop any of these

grades. All assignments must be submitted through our class Canvas site (‘LBSC602’) on the

due date.

# Assignment Description Due Date %

Class Participation Every week 20%

1 Library/Information Center Visit Report Sept. 16, 2017 10%

2 Search Strategy Assignment Oct. 14, 2017 15%

3 User Group Information Behavior Profile Oct. 28, 2017 15%

4 Reference Services Comparison Paper Nov. 11, 2017 15%

5 User Instruction Assignment 25%

5A: Proposal Sept. 30, 2017 Check-off

5B: Executive Summary Dec 4, 2017 (10%)

5C: Presentation Dec 4, 2017 (10%)

5D: Pathfinder Dec 4, 2017 (5%)

Letter Grade Equivalents

A+ 98-100

A 93-97

A- 90-92

B+ 87-89

B 83-86

B- 80-82

C+ 77-79

C 73-76

C- 70-72

D+ 67-69

D 63-66

D- 60-62

F 0-59

Message board posts and other online assignments may be submitted following the default

formatting established on ELMS.

Papers that are submitted to the instructor should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents,

allowing for easy markup. Papers should be double spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman or a

similar, easy-to-read font, and have 1” margins. Please do not include a cover page, but do

include your name, the course number and name, semester, and instructor name in one of the

upper corners of the first page.

Please use APA style for citations.

Serving Information Needs Page 14

Brian Real Fall 2017

If your paper falls short of or exceeds the suggested length, do not adjust the margins, spacing, or

font size. If you have completed the requirements of the assignment in less than the required

length or clearly needed more space to adequately express your analysis, I will not deduct points.

However, if you have not taken enough time to fully complete the assignment or you did not edit

your work to make it concise, this will affect your grade regardless of formatting changes.

The following assignment descriptions are abbreviated. Full descriptions are included on the

ELMS site for the course as separate documents.

Participation and Discussion (20% of final grade).

I will post some initial thoughts and questions about each week’s materials. This will be the

starting point for each week’s conversation, but if you have questions or comments related to the

unit that fall outside of my remarks, feel free to go in that direction.

Students are required to make an initial post by midnight each Thursday, and they must respond

to at least one other student by the end of the following Sunday. Your initial post should refer

heavily to the readings and the lecture, even if framed as a response to another student. Your

responses should build on your fellow students’ ideas. Length is not important – around one to

three paragraphs is about right – but substance is. You may also post your weekly discussion

posts and responses as video or audio recordings, if you prefer to do so this way.

Students are responsible for posting to the first week’s discussion – basic introductions, with no

required responses – as well as nine additional weeks. This will allow students to skip posting for

several weeks, but you are still responsible for reading through the posts. I may select several

weeks to make mandatory, and these will come with at least one-week advance notice.

I have listed several weeks when students may visit Dr. Beth St. Jean’s in-person version of this

same course. If you do so, please ask Dr. St. Jean to let me know that you are present. In these

cases, you make skip that week’s discussion or select another week to skip.

I hope that this is unnecessary, but some basic ground rules: It is essential to maintain a collegial

tone with your fellow students. If you disagree with a fellow student, disagree politely. Likewise,

it is not the job of students to police the forums. If you have a problem with a fellow student’s

tone or behavior, please bring this to my attention and I will follow-up.

Assignment #1 – Library / Information Center Visit Report (10%). Visit a library, archive, or

other information center. If you are undecided about what type of information center to visit,

public libraries have a broad range of programs and services and are available to all members of

the community. Write a 3-4 page, double spaced paper in which you:

1. Observe the environment – is the building centrally located, a pleasant place in which to

be? Within the building, can you easily locate specific service areas (e.g., children's

services, reference services, public access computers, circulation services, etc.)? Are

books, journals, films, etc. easily accessible?

Serving Information Needs Page 15

Brian Real Fall 2017

2. Observe users and what they are doing (e.g. attending programs (what programs?), using

reference services, working on public access terminals, looking for specific book titles or

journals, browsing, etc.). What are their ages? How diverse a group do users appear to

be?

3. Observe library staffing. Are librarians and/or other staff readily available to users? Does

there appear to be sufficient staff or are users waiting for service in some areas? If the

latter, what types of services are users waiting for?

4. Be an information user. You may wish to have a question in mind before your visit. After

your visit, assess how satisfied you were with your ability to access information – did the

information you found meet your needs?

5. Check the information center's website. How useful is it in terms of information about the

center and its programs, access to its collections, connection to databases for reference

use, etc.?

6. Overall, what was positive in the environment and activities you observed? If there were

negative observations, how would you suggest they be corrected?

This is perhaps the least formal of your assignments, so while you are welcome to directly cite

course literature and other materials, you are not required to do so.

Due on Saturday, September 16

Assignment #2 – Search Strategy (15%). Identify a substantive information need that you are

currently facing. This information need must be one that will require use of at least two library

databases. For information about library databases, see Rachel Gammons’ guide, Information

Studies for the Online MLS iSchool Students. Draft a search strategy that reflects how you plan to

go about gathering the information you need. This plan should include both the names of the

information resources you intend to consult, as well as the ways in which you will interact with

these resources. Then carry out this search strategy, adapting it as necessary as your search

evolves

Write a 5-6 page double-spaced paper in which you,

1. Describe the information need and the context surrounding this need.

2. Delineate the initial search strategy that you and your partner developed, indicating the

information resources you intended to consult and how you intended to interact with each

resource. Also, provide a rationale for your plans.

3. Recount how you carried out your search, describing and explaining how and why your

search adhered to and/or deviated from your initial plan. Be sure to also describe any

non-search activities in which you engaged in an attempt to further your progress (e.g., I

heard something relevant on the radio on my way to work last week).

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4. Evaluate your search process – talk about how you might carry out this search if you

were to repeat it – which of your strategies would you keep, which would you adapt

(how?), and which would you discard?

5. Discuss the usability and/or usefulness of the information resources. How can these be

improved? Please provide specific, concrete suggestions.

6. Provide a list of references, using APA style

Due on Saturday, October 14.

Assignment 3 - User Group Information Behavior Profile (15%). For this assignment, you

will research what has already been learned about the information behavior of the audience you

have selected for your user instruction assignment (assignment 5), and consider the implications

of these findings for information professionals who assist this user group with their information

needs.

Find at least three scholarly sources that describe the information behavior of your selected

population. You may look outside library literature if you are unable to meet this requirement

within the discipline. You can also include up to two additional popular sources (blogs, news

articles, websites, etc). After carefully reading these articles, prepare a paper(s) of approximately

7-9 double-spaced pages containing the following sections:

● Introduction: Who is your selected user population? What motivated you to select this

particular population?

● Literature Review: What have you learned about the information behavior of this

population?

● Implications: How might these findings be used to inform/improve practices of

information professionals who assist individuals from this population with their

information needs?

● Potential Significance/Impact: Why are the implications that you’ve identified

important? What might be the impact be if information professionals adapt their practices

to better suit the population(s) with whom they work?

● Ideas for Future Research: What else do we need to know about the information

behavior of your selected population? How would having this knowledge potentially

improve our ability to assist this population with their information needs?

● References: Please provide a list of your references, using APA style.

Due on Saturday, October 28.

Assignment 4 – Reference Services Comparison Paper (15%). Asking and answering

questions is a key activity of all information professionals. Librarians and archivists provide

reference services in-person and via telephone, as well as via email, discussion forums, and chat

services. In addition, a variety of free or fee-based question and answer services have cropped up

in non-library or archive settings, such as ChaCha, Yahoo! Answers, and a variety of specialized

online communities. It is important to recognize how these services are similar or different in

order to know when one is more appropriate than another, as well as how to effectively interact

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when using different media. The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about the

similarities and differences among these services so that you can effectively navigate and

participate in them.

Instructions:

1. For this assignment, you will pose a reference question via three different services. Your

question may relate to a paper you are writing or a personal information need. It should

be something you are genuinely interested in. It should not be a ready reference question

that can be answered through Google. Instead, this should be a question (or series of

questions) that is likely to lead to a reference interview or at least some back-and-forth

with the answerer. When developing your question, also make sure you have a scenario

of why you need the answer.

2. Decide on three different types of reference services to which you will pose your

question. Make sure all three are significantly different services. A small list of the

different services available is provided below to get you started, but please feel free to

try something not listed here. While you can use the University of Maryland Libraries, I

recommend that you try other sources first.

3. Ask your question of all three services. Feel free to ask your question multiple times if

your initial experience doesn’t give you much to talk or write about. You can play

around with more than just three types of services, but you should end up focusing on

just three in your write-up. Otherwise, you won’t have enough space.

4. Write a 6-8 page (double-spaced, 12 point font) paper comparing your experiences

with the three different services. Your write-up should state the question you posed,

identify the three services you used and how the interviews unfolded, and compare the

overall interactions, drawing attention to the similarities and differences among the

services and across your experiences. Your paper should consider how the underlying

platform and nature of the service impacted the experience. You should relate your

experiences to several concepts from the readings (e.g., approximately three to six

references to class readings we’ve covered or perhaps pertinent readings from another

class). You should consider e the level of interaction and negotiation of the question, the

quality and timeliness of the response, your overall satisfaction with the answer, and the

enjoyability of the interaction. You may supplement your own experience with the

experiences of others that you may have observed in the same setting if desired,

although this is not required. At least 4 pages should be dedicated to the comparison, so

do not spend too much space discussing the nuances of what you did. Instead, focus on

comparing and contrasting your experience and how each medium affected the

experiences.

Due on Saturday, November 11.

Assignment 5 – User Instruction (25%). The purpose of this assignment is to give you

experience with preparing and presenting a user instruction session, as well as creating a relevant

pathfinder. You will complete this in sections, including an initial proposal (due Sept. 30),

executive summary, presentation, and pathfinder (all due Dec 4). You will also review and

provide feedback on one another’s projects, which will take place during the final week of the

semester (Dec 3 - Dec 10).

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To complete this assignment, you will select a topic and identify a vulnerable or underserved

community for your presentation/pathfinder. For example, “services for veterans with PTSD” or

“public health resources for trans* population” or “job seeking for recent immigrants” or

“computer literacy for senior citizens.” For guidance on underserved groups, the American

Library Association’s Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach. Your proposal must be

approved (assignment 5A) before you begin parts 5B - 5D.