INFO 284-12
Seminar in Archives and Records Management
Topic: History of Books
Summer 2020 Syllabus

Dr. Linda Main
Email
Office Hours: Virtually by e-mail

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning June 1st, 6 am PT 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 on the first day that the class meets.

This class runs from June 1st -July 20th.

You will be enrolled in the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

This class examines the role of the book and the library in expressing and fostering culture throughout history. It traces the development of the book through its many stages--cuneiform fragments, illuminated manuscripts, printed books, and electronic journals-and explores how the creation, use, and storage of information are affected by social and technological change. The development of early libraries and librarianship and how they have accommodated themselves to the changing form of the book will also be considered.

Course Requirements

Assignments
Note: All work will be of graduate standard. This means:

• No assignments submitted after the due date and time
• Spelling, grammatical, and syntactical errors will not be allowed

Late assignments will not be accepted. If you have an illness (medical certificate supplied) or a family tragedy, please contact the instructor.

• Manuscript Study. Each student will select a manuscript to research and study. Criteria will be provided to guide the research. The results of the study will be presented via a Web site built on a Wordpress blog dedicated to the class. It is due by 4 pm on the 22nd of June Pacific time.  CLOs 1-5
  
• Printed Book Study. Each student will select a printed book (pre-1900) to research and study. Criteria will be provided to guide the research. The results of the study will be presented via a Web site built on a Wordpress blog dedicated to the class. It is due by 4 pm on the 6th of July Pacific time. CLOs 1-5
  
• Exhibit Presentation. Students will be given a list of items/objects drawn from each period covered in the course. They will locate examples of the items and build a small exhibit. It is due by 4 pm on the 20th of July Pacific time CLOs 1-5
• Weekly Activities  You will be assigned six weekly activities using Quia web to illustrate your ability to present information in different formats. CLOs 1-5

Course Calendar

(All times are Pacific)

• First Weekly Activity set 1st June; due 8th June by 4 pm
• Second Weekly Activity set 8th June; due 15th June by 4 pm
• Third Weekly Activity set 15th June; due 22nd June by 4 pm
• Manuscript Project due by 4 pm on 22nd June
• Fourth Weekly Activity set 22nd June due 29th June by 4 pm
• Fifth Weekly Activity set 29th June; due 6th July by 4 pm
• Printed book project due by 4 pm on 6th July
• Sixth Weekly Activity set 6th July; due 13th July by 4 pm
• Exhibit Presentation due by 4 pm on 20th July

Grading

No rounding up of points

Class Format and Technology Requirements

This class makes use of a variety of technologies. The Manuscript and Printed Books Assignments will be submitted as websites built on a passworded Wordpress site dedicated to the class.  No Web programming skills are required, but you will be expected to be comfortable with Web tools that have easy to use user interfaces. The weekly activities will use Quia web. You will be given access to the software.

top

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

INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204, other prerequisites may be added depending on content. 

Course Learning Outcomes

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

1. Describe the evolution of graphic communication symbols, and identify alphabetic and ideographic systems in use in various parts of the world.
2. Exhibit familiarity with the materials and methods of book production in various parts of the world from the manuscript era to the present.
3. Analyze aspects of external forces—social, economic, political, religious, and artistic—that have affected the content and appearance of books in several specific parts of the world.
4. Identify and discuss economic problems that have shaped methods of publishing and distributing books.
5. Attribute major technical and artistic developments in typography, book design, and book production to persons and nations originating these developments.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 284 supports the following core competencies:

top

Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

top

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 or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — 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 if you wish to stay in the program. 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.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader to access PDF files.

More accessibility resources.