LIBR 259-10
Preservation Management
Spring 2015 Greensheet

Katherine E. Skinner, PhD
E-mail (please ALWAYS use 259 in the subject)
Phone: 404-783-2534, as needed
Other contact points: Skype (katherine.skinner)
Office Hours: Virtually via weekly Elluminate sessions (see Canvas for schedule), by e-mail, and by Skype

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning January 22nd, 12:01am PST unless you are taking an intensive or a one unit or two unit class that starts on a different day. In that case the class will open at 12:01am PST on the first day that the class meets.

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

The course is designed to introduce you to the world of preservation, both analog and digital. Together, we will explore various methods and models of preservation while regularly discussing hot topics and emerging trends in the field. This is a broad, introductory course that will cover the historical, theoretical, managerial, analytical, and practical aspects of preservation. About a quarter of the class will be dedicated to analog preservation issues, over half to digital preservation management, and the remaining portion will address issues that relate to both.

Topics will include:

• Preservation history
• Fundamentals of disaster preparedness and response
• Analog preservation (paper, microfilm, audiovisual)
• Digital preservation and digital curation
• Preservation planning and policy creation (analog and digital)
• Preservation metadata (PREMIS)
• Preservation standards (OAIS, PREMIS, TRAC)
• Preservation tools, systems, and services
• Preservation management (economics, staffing)Intellectual property management
• Trends in the preservation field

Students learn best through actively engaging with the course materials. In addition to weekly readings from professional literature, this course will feature brief weekly "lecturettes," occasional guest lecturers, and activities that will provide further information on the week's topic and engage you in thinking about and working with the course materials. All course "meetings" will be recorded to allow students to attend asynchronously.

Course Requirements

Mode of Instruction
This course is entirely asynchronous. We will use Canvas and Elluminate as our classroom and lab settings. We will use Canvas for access to readings and course materials, assignments, and discussions. We will use Elluminate as an optional synchronous environment for an office hour each week. I encourage those with questions or a desire for interaction with me and/or the class to come to office hours whenever possible. Each week, I will work with those in attendance to post any questions/responses from office hours that we believe may benefit the class as a whole.

Course Organization
The Canvas course site contains everything that you need to succeed in this course.

• Course Information contains info essential to your success in the course, such as our syllabus, details on assignments and exams, assignment submission deadlines, discussion/participation requirements, point distribution and grade scale, as well as policies and expectations. Be sure to read all posted components carefully as you are expected to know all of the course requirements and policies and will be held accountable for the information. Failing to familiarize yourself with these details can negatively impact your ability to excel in the course.
• Weekly Units include details about the work you are expected to complete each week, including: reading assignments, questions to keep in mind while you are reading, learning objectives, audio/video lectures, lecture notes, and assignments (including discussion questions and self-quizzes).

Assignments

Please see our Canvas site for details regarding due dates, assignment requirements, and grading information.

• Book Soaking Exercise (20% of total grade; supports SLO #3, SLO #6 and competency F)
  During this 10-day activity, you will conduct a small-scale simulation of water damage conditions for analog materials. You will wet a book (both the book and the method are yours to choose), and you will research, select, and apply appropriate drying methods. You will maintain a journal about the experience and will write a formal, four-page description of the exercise, including your drying method and results. The intent of this assignment is to provide you with practical experience in analog preservation and a sense of the gravitas of water damage.
• “Wik-tionary” of Digital Preservation Terms (20% of total grade; supports SLO #4, SLO #7  and competency F)
  This group assignment will require each student to individually define a list of important terms (provided by the instructor) related to digital preservation. You will be placed into groups, and each group will then decide together which of their individual definitions best describes the terms. Each group will post its final set of terms on the course wiki. This assignment will help you to enrich your topical understanding of digital preservation, learn to determine validity of sources, and build your working relationships with your peers.
• Position Paper (20% of total grade, supports SLO #4, SLO #7 and competency F, N)
  This assignment will enable you to explore an area of interest in greater depth by taking a position (pro or con) in response to a contemporary digital preservation issue. You do not have to personally agree with which side you take on the issue, but you are expected to provide supporting evidence for whichever angle you choose, either affirmative or negative. The assignment is designed to help you learn to construct a solid argument and to begin building your own personal philosophy of preservation.
• Final Project: Digital Preservation Policy (20% of total grade, supports SLO #5, SLO #6 and competencies F, N)
  For this assignment, you will establish a relationship with a local institution (library, archive, public radio/tv affiliate, business, etc) that is building its digital collections and that has not yet produced a digital preservation policy. You will design and implement a needs-assessment interview to gather pertinent information about the institution and its collections, and then you will produce a digital preservation policy in conjunction with the institution’s staff. You will also keep a journal of the experience, and will write up a brief paper documenting the challenges and successes of the project and any remaining work that you believe the institution should complete in the future. The assignment is designed to provide you with a mini-practicum that will deepen your understanding of digital curation/preservation, policy development, and teamwork.
• Online Discussions (20% of total grade, supports SLO #1, SLO #2, SLO #3, and SLO #4)
  Because this class is entirely asynchronous, the online discussions are an integral part of this course. These will be structured, and participation is mandatory. For each week’s class material, one substantive, thoughtful initial post and one response to another person's posts are required.

Assignment Submission
Assignments must be double‐spaced using a 12‐point font, and include a one‐inch margin on all sides. They must be submitted by 11:59 pm PT on the day that they are due using the Canvas drop box provided in the relevant weekly module. Ten points per day will be deducted for assignments that are turned in after the due date without prior approval.

If your life circumstances require that you request an extension, please do so at least a week before the assignment due date. No extensions will be granted for discussion posts or for the “Wik-tionary” definitions assignment because students are dependent on each others’ work in these cases.

Required Readings
There is no required textbook for this course, and all of your readings will be available via the Web, either through citation (for articles available through SJSU’s databases), reserved readings (available to you using your King Library account) or through openly available websites. Readings will be posted on the Canvas course site and listed in the syllabus. In addition to completing your readings, you will sometimes need to also “analyze” websites, “do” an online activity, or “watch” audio/video lectures.

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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 200, LIBR 202, LIBR 204. 

Student Learning Outcomes

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

1. Describe the evolution of preservation theory and practice.
2. Identify the decision-making process behind selection for preservation.
3. Summarize the causes of deterioration of various types of information objects.
4. Identify key concepts and standards in digital preservation, including the OAIS model and repository development.
5. Define the principles of a workable preservation policy in libraries, archives, and corporate DAM settings.
6. Identify and apply disaster planning, prevention, response, and recovery strategies.
7. Locate and evaluate tools, research, and other resources on preservation.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 259 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

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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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