LIBR 261A-10
Programming and Services for Young Adults
Fall 2009 Greensheet

Jennifer Velásquez
E-mail
Home Phone: (210)534-9916
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 8:15pm to 10:15pm (Central Time) via live chat  and/or via alternate method by appointment

Mission of the School
The School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) educates professionals and develops leaders who organize, manage and enable the effective use of information and ideas in order to contribute to the well-being of our communities.

ANGEL Information
SLIS utilizes a networked learning environment called ANGEL for class communications, submitting assignments, and grade records. You should enroll in our 261A-10 ANGEL site. You will be required to use a password access code I will send to you via the MYSJSU e-mail Messaging system prior to 24 August.

Course Description

A comprehensive introductory survey of competencies required of librarians working with or around today’s young adults, featuring an introduction to the skills, relationships, methods, materials, and resources necessary for the delivery of a successful, developmentally-appropriate, and professional library service profile.

Course Objectives

Throughout this course students will:

• Develop practical knowledge and skills in delivering direct library service to teens in today's demographically complex culture;
• Develop practical understanding in the areas of youth development and youth participation in aspects of library service including programming, materials and resource management;
• Begin developing professional skills and capacities to successfully advocate for teens and teen service in the library culture including developing capacity to train colleagues;
• Establish familiarity with a wide range of resources for teens including new media forms and teen created content;
• Develop an overarching philosophy of today’s young people that includes ways in which the library can contribute to their lives and to the institution’s public value in general.

LIBR 261A supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:

• articulate the ethics, values and foundational principles of library and information professionals and their role in the promotion of intellectual freedom;
• compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice;
• recognize the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use;
• use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information;
• contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities

In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:

• apply the fundamental principles of planning, management and marketing/advocacy;
• design training programs based on appropriate learning principles and theories;
• demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities;
• demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations;
• evaluate programs and services on specified criteria
• contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities

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Course Requirements

General Requirements
As this is an advanced course (i.e., not a required "core" course), the instructor makes some assumptions about student skills. More specifically, it is assumed that students possess skills in navigating bibliographic resources, group or collaborative work, and in delivering presentations. We will rely upon these skills throughout the term, but apply them to young adult-specific content.

Further, this 261A course requires that you:

• complete reading and writing assignments as required in Course Outline (including the instructor’s comments following short class writing assignments)
• perform literature searches and produce critical written analysis
• be responsible for all lectures
• refer to and post to our course discussion/ participation  opportunities frequently
• produce a final project as detailed in the Course Outline
• have minimal home computing environment required by SLIS, see http://ischool.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/homecomputing.htm
• access to the required software downloads (free):
  • Adobe Reader available at:
    http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
  • RealPlayer available at:
    http://ischool.sjsu.edu/ecommunication/realplayer.htm
  • Second Life download

All assignments and written products are to be completed and submitted by 11pm on the Friday of the week in which they are due, unless noted otherwise. Thought Bubbles are to be completed and submitted by 11pm on the Thursday of the week in which they are due. For instance, the ThoughtBubble entry for Week 1 is due 11pm (Central Time) on Thursday 27 August for posting via Discussion Forum.

Dropping the Course
The last day to drop this course without an entry on your permanent record is Thursday 3 September 2009.

Assignments

• Readings Assignments are detailed in Course Outline, and indicated by orange text color.
• ThoughtBubbles & Wiki Entries : 10 topical entries (short, usually no more than 150 words) indicated in the Course Outline by pink text (instructions provided in Course Materials).
  
• One, 2-3 page Developmental Assets/ Programming & One, Developments Asset/ Professional Competencies WorkSheet
• One, 5 -7 page Implementing Advocacy Paper: report and analysis on an in-the-field librarian interview
• One, 2 - 3 page Correspondence Scenario: professional correspondence and advocacy exercise.
• One, 12 - 14 page Staff Development Workshop Kit Preparation including presentation and annotated bibliography
• Participate in Discussion Forums, wikis etc.

Note: ThoughtBubbles/ Wiki entries must all be submitted on time to receive a total of 20 points, they do not constitute a series of discretely graded assignments.

All of your major written work will receive written analytical comments. These comments are designed to help strengthen skills and build confidence to perform and deliver developmentally-appropriate library services for young adults at a professional level. They are not necessarily intended to explain your grade.

Late Assignments
Assignments date-stamped after 11pm Central Time on the due date or submitted after the respective deadline will receive a 20% reduction of the total points possible for that assignment. Any late ThoughtBubbles/Wiki entries will forfeit the entire points for all ThoughtBubbles (20 points).

Assignment Changes
The instructor reserves the right to alter assignments with fair notice

Incompletes
Students should avail themselves of the policy for uncompleted coursework on the School’s website under "Registration."

Textbooks and Readings

Required Textbook:

• Jones, P. (2002). New directions for library service to young adults. ALA. Available through Amazon: 0838908276.

• Jones, P., & Shoemaker, J. (2001). Do it right! Best practices for serving young adults in school and public libraries. Neal-Schuman. Available through Amazon: 1555703941.

• Vaillancourt, R. J. (2000). Bare bones young adult services: Tips for public library generalists. ALA. Available through Amazon: 0838934978.

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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