LIBR 210-11
Reference and Information Services
Spring 2014 Greensheet

Dr. Johanna Tunon
E-mail -- For class-related communications, use the D2L email.
Home phone: (954) 249-1449
Office location: Phoenix, AZ
Office hours: By appointment by phone or via Collaborate.

Students will be automatically enrolled in the D2L site for this course. The course will be automatically available to students on January 23, 2014.

Course Description

Catalog Description: A process-oriented examination of how information professionals answer reference questions. The interpersonal skills required for effective question negotiation and the sources with which questions are answered are stressed.

Full Description: This course provides an overview of reference and information services. We will be examining and evaluating key information sources in a variety of formats and becoming familiar with professional resources. Because the field of librarianship is changing rapidly, we will be exploring various methods and models for delivering information as well as examining emerging trends and ways to use new ideas and skills that are impacting the future of reference services and access to information.

Course Requirements

• Assignment 1 (24%)
  Mini activities (8 X 3%)
• Assignment 2 (27%)
  Discussion topics/activities (9 X 3%)
• Assignment 3 - (15%)
  Complete a pathfinder/subject guide 
• Assignment 4 (15%)
  Reference bibliography 
• Assignment 5 (15%)
  Reference desk shadowing 
  ** Alternative option - prerecorded presentation
• Assignment 6 (4%)
  Reference interview scenario

Course Calendar

*Due dates are subject to change with fair notice. 

Description of Assignments and Grading Criteria
NOTE: If you have some special circumstance that makes completion of some activities difficult, contact me about possible alternative activities.

• Assignment 1: Mini Activities 24% (3% X 8 weeks)
  In eight out of the sixteen weeks of class, mini activities will have you actually look for appropriate sources for "information quest" questions, try search strategies, or examine specific types of resources. Post the mini activities in the dropbox provided. In some cases, you may need to locate a print resource in a library so plan ahead. See the scoring rubric in the class for grading details. If you are working in a special library setting and have a suggestion for an alternative assignment that would give you comparable skills using reference sources in a specific type of library setting, contact me.
• NOTE: You may want to consider using some of the mini activities as possible evidence for several of the core competencies for your e-portfolio. For example, sources for appropriate information  (Core Competency I), valuating resources  (Core Competency F), emerging technologies  (Core Competency H), resources for diverse populations  (Core Competency C)
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcome addressed: 
• SLO2: Use basic reference tools and searching techniques to answer a wide range of questions.

• Assignment 2: Weekly Discussions (9 X 3%= 27%)
  You will be asked to (a) visit a library or use some kind of reference service, (b) synthesize your experience based on the textbook readings and the questions provided in the discussion forums to help guide the discussions, and (c) report on your findings and conclusions. As a result, you will need to plan ahead for the weeks that may require you to physically visit a library. These weekly activities require more than posting your own personal opinions on the topic under discussion.  Address the posted discussion questions using substantive content by utilizing, analyzing, and synthesizing what you learned in the textbook, readings, etc., as well as providing any insights and experiences when appropriate. See the scoring rubric provided in the class for grading details.  If there is a week when you cannot do the prep work for the discussion topic, you will have the option to locate two research articles on a relevant reference or library instruction-related topic, and post summaries of the two articles and discuss how the findings are relevant to the weekly discussion topic. 

• NOTE: A number of the topics for the weekly discussions may serve as evidence to support various core competencies for your e-portfolio. When choosing your topics for weekly discussions, consider how you might use these to compile several postings on topics like the various methods of providing reference services (Core Competency I), comparing services in different types of libraries  (Core Competency B),  emerging technologies  (Core Competency H),  evaluation of services  (Core Competency H and/or  N),  ethical considerations  (Core Competency A),  and/or service to diverse populations  (Core Competency C).
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcomes addressed: 
• SLO4: Describe the relationships between user needs, information resources, and relevant information technologies.
• SL05: Describe current issues and trends in reference services, including the impact of technology on user needs and reference interactions.
• SLO6: Evaluate reference services that address the needs of a diverse and changing society.
• SLO7: Understand the relationship between reference service and information literacy instruction.
• SLO8: Begin to develop a personal philosophy of reference service.
   
• Assignment 3 (15%)
  Pathfinder/Subject Guide / LibGuide and Reflection
  A reference librarian needs to understand patrons’ information needs so it is important to be able to help them locate appropriate resources. In order to hone these skills, you will create some kind of pathfinder, subject guide, or LibGuide designed to help library patrons in a real or fictional library locate appropriate resources on a specific topic. In an accompanying document, reflect on what you learned in the process. Describe the relationships between your users’ needs, the type of information resources utilized, and any relevant information technologies. See the scoring rubric and Panopto video for Assignment 3 for grading and design details. 
  NOTE: You may want to use your pathfinder or subject guide as an artifact for your e-portfolio so consider framing the content of the accompanying reflection so that you can also use this for your rationale for choosing this assignment as evidence of one of the core competencies such as Core Competency H and/or I. You may find my Panopto video on using class assignments as possible artifacts for your e-portfolio helpful. 
  
   The guide can be a two-sided handout to use at a reference desk or organized as a web-based subject guide using generic web tools or LibGuide templates. I would encourage people to do some kind of web-based guide because this is a useful skill to have when you interview for a professional library job! You can use LibGuides or options such as weebly.com, sites.google.com, or wikidot.com. If you do opt to use LibGuides, contact me, and I can create a LibGuide shell for you to customize. For more information about LibGuides, see http://www.springshare.com/libguides/ and my Panopto video posted in the Content area.  You can also see examples of pathfinders and handouts from previous classes in the Content tab. Submit the assignment in the dropbox link provided. When submitting the assignment, use the dropbox link. If you have some kind of web guide, attach the file with the URL for your guide along with your name and reflection. 
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcome addressed:
• SLO4: Describe the relationships between user needs, information resources, and relevant information technologies.
   
• Assignment 4: Annotated Reference Bibliography (15%)
  Unlike Assignment 3, the goal of Assignment 4 is on developing an annotated list of current and relevant reference resources in a specific subject area. The annotated reference bibliography can be in a print format or using some technology such as a web site. Identify the best reference online and print resources for a specific subject and audience published or updated in 2009 or later.  This means that you can include both classic reference resources as long as they have been updated since in 2009 or later or new reference resources. Scholarly web sources can be used when appropriate. The final product needs to be formatted  for the reference citations as appropriate, and short annotations should use consistent formatting and include a critical evaluation of each source using appropriate selection tools. When identifying the characteristics and functions of the reference sources, include information on the coverage and scope, format, authority, treatment, arrangement, special features, and cost (if appropriate) of your selected resources as appropriate. Also when appropriate, include imprint/publication information (name of publisher, place, and date of publication), frequency, the audience, uses, limitations, and a description of why the resource was selected. It will help ensure consistency if you use a format that lists the price, type, and audience as standard elements. Include one paragraph that reflects on your selection criteria and what you learned. Sample annotations are provided in the Content area. See the scoring rubric and Panopto video for Assignment 4 provided in the class for grading details.
  NOTE: This assignment may serve as an artifact for for Core Competency F your e-portfolio. 
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcome addressed:
• SLO1: Identify and assess the characteristics and functions of various types of reference sources.
   
• Assignment 5: Reference Desk Shadowing (15%)
  Write an analysis of your experience shadowing a reference librarian for two hours at the reference desk.Use the RUSA guidelines, and incorporate the criteria in the textbook as well as two outside articles on reference desk face-to-face services when reflecting on your experience and discussing the conclusions you reach. Avoid scheduling your shadowing activity during "down times" such as between semesters. However, if it turns out that you observed during a slow period (no questions or only directional reference questions), either arrange for additional time at a better time or ask me for two chat transcripts that can be incorporated into your analysis. See the scoring rubric and Panopto video for Assignment 5 provided in the class for grading details.
  • NOTE: This assignment might be used as evidence to support Core Competency I for your e-portfolio.
  • LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcomes addressed: 
  • SLO4: Describe the relationships between user needs, information resources, and relevant information technologies.
  • SL05: Describe current issues and trends in reference services, including the impact of technology on user needs and reference interactions.
  • SLO6: Evaluate reference services that address the needs of a diverse and changing society.
  • SLO7: Understand the relationship between reference service and information literacy instruction.
     
  Alternative Option for Assignment 5: Prerecorded Presentation
  This option is designed to give students the opportunity to use some type of technology such as Collaborate or Jing for a 10-minute introduction to a database at SJSU, a library in your area, or some kind of digital repository. The presentation can be developed as a PowerPoint slide presentation with voiceovers, a screencast using a free application such as Jing, a video posted on YouTube, an archived Collaborate session, or some other appropriate method of your choice.  Be sure to allow yourself enough time in case you run into technology glitches if you select this option!
  NOTE: If you plan to use this as an artifact for your e-portfolio, check with me to be sure that you also address related learning principles and theories for Core Competency K. NOTE: If you have technological problems at the last minute, let me know, and we can discuss viable options. See the scoring rubric provided in the class for details. 
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcomes addressed: 
• SLO4: Describe the relationships between user needs, information resources, and relevant information technologies.
• SL05: Describe current issues and trends in reference services, including the impact of technology on user needs and reference interactions.
• SLO6: Evaluate reference services that address the needs of a diverse and changing society.
• SLO7: Understand the relationship between reference service and information literacy instruction.
• Assignment 6: Reference Scenario and Analysis (4%)
  Provide a written script that addresses a medical or legal reference question. In your script, illustrate the principals of a good reference interview using the RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference Information Service Providers and the RUSA Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses. Identify the setting for the type of library selected, and choose a topic appropriate for the setting. Use some method to identify or flag the RUSA steps as they are addressed in your reference interview scenario. Also include an analysis that addresses the ethical considerations in your scenario in light of the RUSA guidelines and the Cassell and Hiremath textbook. See the scoring rubric provided in the class for details.
  
  In case the two RUSA guideline hyperlinks are not showing properly, here are the links:
  • RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference Information Service Providers = http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral
  and
  • the RUSA Guidelines for Medical, Legal, and Business Responses = http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesmedical
  
  NOTE: You may want to consider using this assignment as evidence for Core Competency I or also possibly Core Competency A as evidence of ethics and foundational principles of librarians and information professionals.
  
  Alternative Option: Two students can create a video or audio recording of a reference interview and provide a written analysis describing how the scenario addresses the steps of the reference interview. 
• LIBR 210 Student Learning Outcome addressed:
• SLO3: Conduct effective reference interviews.
   
• Participation
  Only participation that goes beyond posting the content in required weekly postings will be considered when grades are on the edge between one letter grade and another. In other words, only additional participation in the form of thoughtful responses that go beyond the initial posting for weekly discussion topics or actively engaged participation for general course topics will merit rounding letter grades up rather than down! For example, this kind of value-added participation can include identifying useful reference resources or bringing useful articles on reference/technology/social media/information seeking skills/information literacy topics to the attention of the class. 
  
  *** NOTE: The details of the assignments, grading criteria, and grading rubrics are subject to minor adjustments with fair notice. 

Course Grading

• All assignments and discussion postings have a two-day no-questions-asked grace period. After that, there is a 10% penalty unless you contact me to make alternative arrangements.  
• I provide feedback for discussion postings in the dropbox so if you do not receive it, let me know! 
• Check assignment descriptions posted in the greensheet and the scoring rubric provided in the class before submitting assignments to be sure that you are addressing all of the elements that should be included in the assignments. 
• Feedback for major projects and mini activities will be posted in the dropbox when grades are posted.  
• No work will be accepted after the last day of class unless arrangements have been made in writing, meet university criteria, and approved by me for an incomplete. 

Additional Readings
Information about additional readings from online articles, Web resources, and videos will be posted as the semester progresses, but there will be no additional textbooks for the class that you need to purchase. Just FYI: We will be using APA for formatting of text and reference citations so you may want to get the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.), but that is not required. I will provide some resources that can help with the APA rules.

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

LIBR 202. 

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and assess the characteristics and functions of various types of reference sources.
2. Use basic reference tools and searching techniques to answer a wide range of questions.
3. Conduct effective reference interviews.
4. Describe the relationships between user needs, information resources, and relevant information technologies.
5. Describe current issues and trends in reference services, including the impact of technology on user needs and reference interactions.
6. Evaluate reference services that address the needs of a diverse and changing society.
7. Understand the relationship between reference service and information literacy instruction.
8. Begin to develop a personal philosophy of reference service.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 210 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Cassell, K. A., & Hiremath, U. (2013). Reference and information services: An introduction (3rd ed.). Neal-Schuman. Available through Amazon: 1555708595

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation.  You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student

As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.

Dropping and Adding

Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.

Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:

• "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
  • It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
  • In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
• "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."

Academic integrity

Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.

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