COURSEWORK

UNC School of Information and Library Science Coursework (Fall 2008 – Fall 2011)*

Archives
  • Professional Field Experience – Carolina Digital Library and Archives

Supervised observation and practice in an information setting. The field experience typically takes place in a library or another information agency. Faculty-led seminars and a paper enhance the experience.

  • Introduction to Archives and Records Management

Survey of the principles, techniques, and issues in the acquisition, management, and administration of records, manuscripts, archives, and other cultural and documentary resources in paper, electronic, and other media formats.

  • Digital Preservation and Access

Focuses on best practices for the creation, provision, and long-term preservation of digital entities. Topics include digitization technologies; standards and quality control: digital asset management; grant writing; and metadata.

  • Electronic Records Management

Explores relationships between new information and communication technologies and organizational efforts to define,identify, control, manage, and preserve records. Considers the importance of organizational, institutional and technological factors in determining appropriate recordkeeping strategies.

  • Master’s Paper

Provides a culminating experience for master’s degree students, who engage in independent research or project effort and develop a major paper reporting the research or project under the supervision of a faculty member.

Libraries
  • London Summer Seminar

This seminar offered an opportunity to gain an in-depth view of libraries and librarianship in Great Britain. The seminar was held in London and featured lectures and presentations at University College London (UCL) as well as tours of libraries and cultural heritage institutions in England.

  • Resource Selection and Evaluation

Identification, provision, and evaluation of resources to meet primary needs of clientele in different institutional environments.

  • Organization of Materials I

Introduction to the organization of library materials. Covers formal systems for description, access, and subject cataloging including AACR2, MARC, Dewey Decimal classification, Library of Congress Classification, and subject headings.

  • Information Resources and Services

Analysis, use, and evaluation of information and reference systems, services, and tools with attention to printed and electronic modes of delivery. Provides a foundation in search techniques for electronic information retrieval, question negotiation, and interviewing.

  • Young Adult Literature and Related Materials

 A survey of print and nonprint library materials particularly suited to the needs of adolescents.

Genealogy
  •  Core Genealogy

A genealogy maps family traditions to historical events and cultural tradition. A core genealogy defines the set of related people to which all persons within a given culture can link their ancestry. A core genealogy can be used as a unifying index into a digital collection or archive. The events that are documented within the archive can be indexed based on the relationships between the persons involved in each event. This course will explore a core genealogy for persons of European descent. The core genealogy will be used to index historical persons referenced in “A History of the Modern World” by Palmer and Colton.

 Information Science & Technology
  •  Web Development I

Introduction to Internet history, architecture and applications. Introduces design principles for creating usable and accessible Web sites. Develops technical skills and understanding of standards.

  • Database Systems I: Introduction to Databases

Design and implementation of database systems. Semantic modeling, relational database theory, including normalization, query construction, and SQL.

  • Information Tools

Tools and concepts for information literacy: client-server relationships, Web and internet standards (including open-source), underlying structure and use of specific software.

  • Human Information Interactions

The behavioral and cognitive activities of those who interact with information, with emphasis on the role of information mediators. How information needs are recognized and resolved; use and dissemination of information.

Other Competencies
  •  Research Methods

 An introduction to research methods used in library and information science. Includes the writing of a research proposal.

  • Management for Information Professionals

 An introduction to general management principles and practices intended for information professionals working in all types of organizations. Topics include planning, budgeting, organizational theory, staffing, leadership, organizational change, and decision making.

*Course descriptions are borrowed from the UNC School of Information & Library Science.

In a paper environment, records were an unintended by-product of other activities; records just happened. At the University of Texas, Harry Ransom built his reputation by collecting the many drafts of authors’ works; he saw those drafts as evidence of the creative process that gave a richer understanding of the final work. In the digital environment, records don’t just happen. With word processing, many—if not most—of the drafts Ransom would have wanted are lost. Each time a document is opened, revised, then saved, the previous version disappears unless consciously preserved. Few database systems are designed to be able to roll back data so that it is possible to see the state of the data at any given point in the past; data is added, changed, and deleted, with no thought to preserving older data for future reference. The challenge of paper documents is an excess of irrelevant memory captured in piles of paper. The challenge of electronic records is incremental amnesia. right quote

— Richard Pearce-Moses,
The Archival Lexicon