LIS 610 Instructions for Group Reports on Readings

Oral presentation skills and teamwork are essential in graduate school and in professional life. This assignment provides necessary practice in these skills. The group reports are designed to:

• encourage personal discussion of the topics in the readings;
• give you an opportunity to critically analyze ideas and concepts in the literature that are important to the field;
• establish a practice of critical thinking;
• provide a forum for making informative presentations to colleagues on topics of vital interest;
• provide an opportunity to synthesize and package information for a professionally-oriented audience.

Guidelines

1. Sign up for one group report. You may choose from among the dates and topics listed. Each presentation will be done by two people. If there are an odd number of students in the class, one presentation may have three people.
2. Your entire group report should take 15 minutes, plus 15 minutes for questions. Partners should have equal time in the presentation and in the question session. Practice together to stay within the time limit. Successful groups meet together at least twice to discuss the content and plan the logistics.
3. Use computer presentations and handouts to assist the audience in following your presentation. Incorporate these materials explicitly into your presentation. For example, when using an outline of what you will cover in a handout or Powerpoint slides, tell the audience where you are on the outline as you go along.
4. In general, spend some time in the presentation summarizing the content. For very long articles, select the most relevant or intersting parts to summarize, not the entire article. You may read some very brief key passages or terrific quotes that you want to comment on. Be sure to note that these are quotes from the article.
5. Critique the article for the class and share parts of your discussion. Give you own opinions, interpret, relate to your own personal experience, and integrate points from the other readings and lectures for that session or for another session. Tie ideas from the unit readings together with the article or topic you are presenting. If you have a viewpoint that differs from the author(s), share it with the class and solicit their reactions.
6. Establish rapport with the class by being creative, inventive, and flexible. Ask them questions; get them involved with your topic. Make the article interesting for the audience. Be very clear so that the class members will learn from you report on the material. Give students a chance to ask you questions at the end (or throughout), and pause long enough until someone asks a question. About 15 minutes should be allowed for the question period.
7. Use a clear voice that is loud enough for all to hear. Do not read your report to the class. Use good eye contact. Make an effort to communicate with your colleagues. Handouts or Powerpoint slides should be clear, readable, uncrowded, and directly relevant to your talk.

Evaluation criteria

Audibility, eye contact, well-structured presentation, audience involvement, critique, integration with other readings, information value, legibility of handouts and Powerpoint slides.

Preparations

Preparation for January 30, 2007

Bancroft, Audrey F. Vickie F. Croft, Robert Speth, and Dretha M. Phillips. "A Forward-looking library use survey: WSU libraries in the 21st century." Journal of academic librarianship (May 1998): 216-224.

1. Briefly summarize the method and findings of the Bancroft et al. survey of academic library users.
2. What was the primary goal of the survey and was this accomplished?
3. How did they accomplish all four of their goals?
4. What do you make of those "disparate perceptions"?
5. What decisions have they made based on their data?

Preparation for February 6 and 13, 2007
Types of libraries and information work

The sources listed in the course bibliography for Unit II can assist you in creating reports on types of libraries, librarians, and information specialists. They are found in the regular stacks of Hamilton Library, as are other potentially useful sources. In addition, you will need to visit a library to explore its ambiance and services, and interview a librarian in the type of library your group chooses as the subject of your report.

For each type of library (special library, community-school library, information specialist/entrepreneur, etc.), a group will report on the aspects listed below. For groups reporting on special libraries, select one particular type. In addition to the listed sources in the course bibliography consult the Web sites of the professional organizations for that type of library, as well as Web sites of particular libraries. Your interest group will prepare a fifteen-minute oral report, covering:

1. Role in society—What social functions (education, information research & scholarship, recreation, cultural seem most important? Which functions (educational, informational, research/scholarship, recreation/cultural) does this type of library or librarian serve, and how?
2. Clientele—Who are the users? Or, for whom is this activity undertaken? What is the largest user group? Do these groups present any special concerns or difficulties? Who might be the potential users?
3. Management/governing authority—Tom whom is this operation, or kind of professional, accountable? How do librarians get promoted? What professional organization supports this type and in what ways?
4. Ambiance—What seem to you to be the features that give this particular type of library of information work its distinctive character?
5. Special aspects—What are the typical problems or challenges that arise in this type of library or information setting? Are there remote users? If so, how are they serviced? Are there outreach efforts?

Preparation for February 20, 2007

Berninghausen, David. 1993. Social Responsibility vs. the Library Bill of Rights. And Wedgeworth et al. The Berninghausen debate. Library Journal September 15, 1993: 81-83; 83-88.

1. Explain Berninghausen's point.
2. What is the significance of this article being reprinted over twenty years later?
3. Discuss the reactions of the various library leaders to his point.
4. Were do you stand?

Swan, John C. 1990. Rehumanizing information. Library Journal 115(14):178-182. (Note: in online databases the author's name is represented as "Swanson, J.C.")

1. What is the nature of the problem that Swan discusses between form and content of information in our profession?
2. What is "commodification" of information and how does it relate to us?
3. What does he mean by "re-humanizing" information?

Preparation for February 27, 2007

Shera, Jesse. 1972. The foundations of education for librarianship. Wiley. Chapter Five: "The Role of the Library in the Social Process," pp. 135-162; and Chapter Six: "The Role of the Library in the Dissemination of Information," p. 163-194.

1. What made conservation so important historically?
2. What does Shera see as the library's basic process in its educational role?
3. How does he justify the promotion of reading?
4. Has the information function, so dominant how, always been as important?
5. How does he distinguish the research function from the information function?
6. What—in Shera's opinion—is the ultimate role of the library in the communication process?

Preparation for March 6, 2007

Marcum, James W.. 2002. Rethinking information literacy. The library quarterly 72(1):1-26.
Strong, Gary E. "A Life in Literacy." pp. 36-37; Audrey Gorman. "Toward a New Definition of Literacy." pp. 38-39; Mary Anne DiAlesandro. "From Among Us: Literacy Programs Offer Tangible Benefits." pp 40, 42-45; Carla J. Stoffle. "Literacy 101 for the Digital Age." pp. 46-48; Kimberley M. Donnelly. "Learning From the Teaching Libraries." p. 47; Carole Talan. "Real-Life Empowerment through Family Centered Literacy." pp 49-51; Jo Ann Ellingson. "21^st-Century Literacy: Libraries Must Lead." pp. 52-53. American Libraries (December 1998): 36-53.

1. How did the public library's involvement in and commitment to literacy changed in the latter half of the 20th century?
2. What do you see as the public library's role in promoting literacy in the 21st century?

Preparation for March 13, 2007

White, Herbert S. Pseudo Libraries and Semi-Teachers, Parts 1 and 2, American Libraries 21:2 and 3:103-6 and 262-6, February and March, 1990.

1. Does White think we are doing anything right?
2. What are his concerns?

Schuman, Patricia Glass. 1990. The Image of Librarians: Substance or Shadow? Journal of Academic Librarianship 16:2:86-89, May 1990.
McMasters, Paul. 1999. Dr. Laura: Wronging our rights in the library. http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=4589.

• Which is it—are librarians benign servants or dangerous gatekeepers?

Preparation for March 20, 2007

Avery, Chris and Kevin Ketchner. 1996. Do instruction skills impress employers? College & Research Libraries (May 1996): 249-258.

1. How important are instruction skills or teaching and instructional design to academic library administrators?
2. Should academic librarians take courses in this area to prepare for an instructional future?
3. What is the future of instruction in academic libraries?

Perritt, Patsy H. 1996. Your Ticket to Teach: School Library Media Certificate Requirements. 1996 Update. School Library Journal 42(6) (June 1996): 33-52.
Thomas, Margie J. and Patsy H. Perritt. A higher standard. School Library Journal 49(12) (Dec. 2003):52-57.

1. What does Perritt have to say about changes in certification requirements. Is this encouraging?
2. Compare the requirements set as summarized by Perritt in 1996 and Thomas and Perritt in 2003. Have there been positive changes?

Winston, Mark D. and Deborah Fisher. 2003. Leadership education for young adult librarians: a research study. Public library quarterly 22(3):23-35

• According to Winston and Fisher, why is leaderhship education important for young adult librarians?
• How well do library schools in general perform in preparing young adult librarians for leadership roles, according to Winston and Fisher?

Preparation for April 3, 2007

Bodi, Sonia. 1998. Ethics and Information Technology: Some Principles to Guide Students. Journal of Academic Librarianship (November 1998): 459-463.

• Outline the ethical principles Bodi presents and use the three cases to involve the class in critical, ethical thinking.

Preparation for April 10, 2007

Sheerin, William E. 1991. Absolutism on access and confidentiality: principled or irresponsible? American Libraries 22(5) (May 1991):440-444.

1. What are Sheerin's main concerns?
2. How do Sheerin's concerns relate to Gremmel's?

Preparation for April 17 and 25, 2007

Guidelines for Reports on National Libraries

Select one of the national libraries listed on the sign-up sheet or propose another national library. Your profile should describe the origins, development, present size, and services of the library. Give any current information you have uncovered.

The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (Z1006 .E57 2003 in Hamilton) provides useful information about national libraries. An older sources (useful for history) is the World encyclopedia of library and information services (Z1006 .W67 1993). Also, be sure the visit the Web site of the library.

As with other group reports, allow 15 minutes to present your library and 15 minutes to involve the class in discussion.

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