Instructor: Joan Durrance
Description: This course introduces students to frameworks, methods, and issues on information use in various levels of aggregation (individual, group, organization, and profession) and various contexts (work environments, community, and society). Students learn fundamental notions of information need, information behavior, knowledge construction associated with designing information systems, and services. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To see a report I developed for the city of Ann Arbor to help them improve their time tracking procedures, click here.

Instructors: Yan Chen and Gary Olson
Description: This course is about problem-solving. We study decision-making about problems given current information and resources. In particular, how do humans make choices? How do human factors affect choices? What is the role of information? We also study learning; that is, how can we prepare to make better future choices? What information should we acquire? In studying these problems, we combine two different disciplines: cognitive psychology, which is descriptive, perceptual and heuristic; and economics, which uses normative, deliberate reasoning to solve well-defined problems without cognitive limitations. To view a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.

Instructors: Dragomir Radev and Suresh Bhavnani
Description: This course examines search and retrieval from a variety of perspectives with the goal of understanding how information, technology and people work together more successfully. The perspectives include how different humans search the external visual world in addition to their internal memories, fundamentals of the computational aspects of information search and retrieval, emergent information-related phenomena on the Web, navigational search, and how social and organizational memory affect retrieval processes.

Instructors: Michael Cohen and Paul Edwards
Description: (Description coming soon.) To see an interesting paper I wrote about public interactions with cultural attractions in Ypsilanti's Depot Town area, click here.

Instructor: Paul Conway
Description: This course is an introduction to principles, practices, and current debates in the field of archives administration and records management. It is designed with two types of students in mind: For students who plan to specialize in archives and records management, this course provides an in depth introduction to the field; introduces terms and concepts that will be used in other courses in the specialization; and explains how the various components of archives and records administration fit together. For students who pursue another specialization, the course offers an overview of archives and records administration; helps students become conversant with archival and records management terminology; and explains how archives and records administration relates to other aspects of information management. The course will be a combination of lecture, discussion, demonstrations, and problem solving. It will include a site visit to a local archival institution and require independent research and writing. It is an intensive introduction to the field. Critical reading of course materials will be essential to stimulate active participation in class discussions. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To read a paper I wrote about public reaction to President Bush's Executive Order 13233 (modifying Presidential Records policy), click here.

Instructor: Shannon Zachary
Description: Preservation is commonly defined as the acquisition, organization, and distribution of resources (human, physical, monetary) to ensure adequate protection of information with continuing value for access by present and future generations. Preservation encompasses planning and implementing policies, procedures, and processes that together prevent further deterioration or renew the usability of selected groups of materials. Preservation management is most effective when planning precedes implementation and when prevention activities have priority over renewal activities. This course teaches the basic principles, policies, and procedures for protecting information resources from loss, damage, deterioration, destruction, and obsolescence. The course introduces current methods and best practices for extending the useful life of information in a wide variety of media. Considerable emphasis is on management and decision-making and current preservation issues, particularly preservation of digital information and the use of digital technologies for preservation reformatting. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. I am particularly proud of a preservation assessment report I created for the William Gosling Pop-Up and Moveable Book Collection of the University of Michigan Special Collections Library - you can see a copy by clicking here.

Instructor: Marilyn Kiefer
Description: Media programs in educational settings are unique in that they are integrated with curricular, technological, and societal interests. These programs serve all members of an educational community and are an integral part of the teaching and learning of a school. This course focuses on theoretical and practical issues in the organization and administration of media programs, particularly those in schools or other educational settings. Special attention will be given to STANDARDS FOR THE 21st-CENTURY LEARNER, the most recent publication of guidelines for school media programs. Reading assignments from the professional literature support and define media programs as they exist in educational environments. Projects are marketing a school library media program; a manual for managing a media program; current research relating to specific aspects of media programs. Upon completion of this course students will be prepared to: 1. Manage media services in a variety of settings. 2. Understand and utilize STANDARDS FOR THE 21st-CENTURY LEARNER. 3. Define a vision for the 21st-Century School Library Media Center. 4. Use technology to facilitate success. 5. Identify and discuss issues related to management of media programs in educational settings. 6. Explore and discuss the current research and professional literature related to school library media trends, issues and management. 7. Asses a school library media program. 8. Understand and develop your philosophy, vision and mission/goals; administrative policies, procedures, reports, plans and programs for the operation of a school library media program. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To see an extensive media center manual I helped create, click here. To check out a nifty brochure I designed to help promote the Burns Park Elementary School Media Center, click here.

Instructor: David Wallace
Description: This course examines the contexts associated with the identification, provision, and evaluation of resources to meet primary needs of clientele in different institutional environments. We will explore the defining characteristics of collections; scope and boundaries of collections; developing collections that are valuable to one or more identifiable communities; ensuring the sustainability of collections; and legal and ethical considerations associated with selecting, evaluating, collecting, managing and providing access to information and documentary artifacts. We will also discuss the lifecycle of information - from conception and creation to deaccessioning or long-term preservation and access. Other sessions will be devoted to issues that arise with specific types of materials and collections such as government documents; scholarly communications; internet-accessible materials (both collecting and creating via digitization); and non-textual materials. We will also consider ways in which cultural institutions can collaborate in their collecting activities and ways in which the efforts of different types of organizations (libraries, archives and museums) have begun to converge in recent years. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To read an interesting paper I wrote about the collaborative efforts of Project Aluka and Digital Imaging South Africa, click here.

Instructor: Margaret Taylor
Description: Study and evaluation of the wide range of materials and media for children and young adults (teenagers), including picture books, chapter books, books for babies and pre-schoolers, fiction, young adult novels, poetry, informational and reference materials, films and videos, filmstrips, audio/sound recordings, computer applications, multimedia CD-ROMs, television and radio programs, drama/theater, games, toys, etc. Topics to be covered: literary and other evaluative criteria; available resources for such study; characteristics, interests, needs, abilities of various age groups; history and development, current trends; current issues; use and value of these materials in a variety of settings (libraries, schools, homes, hospitals, etc.), and the place of such materials in "children's culture" in general. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To check out a paper I wrote about the decline in youth pleasure reading (and what can be done about it!), click here.

Instructors: David Wallace and Polly Reynolds
Description: This course examines the interactions of people, archival materials, and technological tools to promote increased access. It outlines and critiques assumptions about uses and use, the management of descriptive programs and the practices surrounding the provision of access to and representation of archival materials, the history and theory behind these practices, the tools and technologies that enable access, and a vision for how these basic elements can work together in access systems to better provide information to users. The course will also look at access tools and representations as part of an entire descriptive program that has economic, political, and cultural ramifications. Students will examine and learn to analyze issues of effectiveness, economics, technological implementations, and audiences for different types of surrogates for primary sources. Students will also learn to create bibliographic records (MARC) and encoded archival description (XML/EAD). Issues of content and context, appropriate levels of control, selection, and interpretation will also be studied. The course deals with the questions of whom, what, and how. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To read an analysis I helped compose about the online access system for the East Riding Archives, click here.

Instructor: Margaret Hedstrom
Description: This course takes an unconventional approach to the topic of appraisal. First, in selecting readings for this course I have tried to reduce the number of readings that present opinions about various of theories appraisal rather than presenting theories or assessing their implementation. Second, my own opinions about appraisal are influenced heavily by eight years as manager of the appraisal function at the New York State Archives and Records Administration (1987-1995) and by my even longer concern with integrating electronic records into archival programs. One of the problems with the literature on appraisal is that there is a very weak research base and few methods for evaluating the feasibility or effectiveness of different appraisal methodologies. As a consequence, I will place considerable emphasis on the outcomes of different theories and methods of appraisal and on implementation of appraisal recommendations and decisions. We will also look at appraisal and selection as a particular type of information problem, namely: how do archivists make decisions about what to keep in an environment of great uncertainty about supply (what else is out there) and demand (especially future demand). For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To see a mock Wikipedia entry I wrote for the term "appraisal" (in an archival sense), click here.

Instructor: Margaret Hedstrom
Description: The World Wide Web is the primary delivery mechanism for digital content. Preservation administrators need to be familiar with the tools and appropriate techniques for preservation of information delivered through the "surface" web (static web pages, blogs, e-mail discussion lists, etc.) and information that is part of the "deep" web (e.g. databases, streaming media, and authenticated resources). Once web content is captured and brought into a preservation environment preservation administrators are responsible for transforming them into persistent formats and data structures. This course will expose students to existing and emerging tools for capturing web content with a heavy emphasis on laboratory practice using the current generation of web crawlers. Students will also learn about current preservation formats and how to migrate various types of web-based content from their native formats to persistent formats. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.

Instructor: Marilyn Kiefer
Description: Of interest to students who plan to work in K-12 environments or in positions that may focus on K-12 interests. Examples include school media centers, classrooms, school media administration, youth services in public libraries, museum outreach services, community services, product design, and Internet services. Students work individually or in teams to design and execute a teaching unit in cooperation with K-12 professionals or a K-12 outreach program. Students select from a wide range of possible associations, from individual teachers or librarians to existing outreach groups, such as CHICO (Cultural Heritage Initiative for Community Outreach), the University of Michigan Digital Library Middle Years project, or the Internet Public Library. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To see a lesson plan I used to teach a class of third graders at a local elementary school, click here.

Instructor: Joan Durrance
Description: SI 643 builds on the conceptual framework of information needs and the use of information provided in SI 501. In that course the focus is on techniques that information professionals use to understand the needs of people who employ a wide variety of information systems. The emphasis here is on professional practice occurring both in institutional settings (including public, academic, special, and school libraries and information centers) and directly between information professionals and clients (such as information brokers). SI 643 prepares students for need-based, client-centered professional practice in a variety of information environments in a period of change. Professional practice consists of information environments in a period of change. Professional practice consists of a variety of functions and practices which increase clinet access to information and knowledge. It is based both on an understanding of user information constructs and on knowledge of information systems and services. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.

Instructors: Maurita Holland and Darlene Nichols
Description: Objectives of SI 647 include: Understand how information resources and services evolved in libraries, considering the past, present and future of reference activity; master basic print and digital resources used in meeting information needs and answering reference questions; understand the process for determining individual user information needs; evaluate information resources, determining their purpose, appropriate use, acquisition; appreciate the various and missions of public service reference activity; read representative professional literature. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To see an example of a response I drafted to a question from an Internet Public Library patron, click here.

Instructor: Bonnie Dede
Description: This course examines: the basic principles and practice in the organization, access and representation of information, current metadata standards and tools that have been developed for use in libraries and other information settings, and emerging metadata and organization schemes. Course Objectives: Learn basic principles of cataloging and metadata standards in current use ; Learn to apply introductory skills to print and digital media; Become familiar with emerging metadata and organization schemes; Learn to think critically about the use of these standards in various types of information settings and for various types of users, and to adapt the standards appropriately; Learn basic skills and background which can lead to more in-depth knowledge needed for professional practice; Learn about the tools and services available for help in cataloging, and how to use bibliographic records from providers such as OCLC, other bibliographic utilities and vendors; Learn principles of how people search for information and how cataloging and metadata tools can assist in finding information. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here. To read a paper I wrote about catalog search habits of younger users, click here. You might also want to check out the presentation that accompanied my report; if so, click here.

Instructor: Nancy Bartlett
Description: The purpose of this course is for students to gain knowledge and skills in diverse areas of archives administration. Agencies of most relevance to the course are archives, special collections, records centers, and preservation departments. Through engagements at sites, students will be able to experience the daily work of administration in these types of agencies. The internship portion of the course is an intensive practical engagement experience. Through the weekly class meetings, students will examine issues with more than thirty senior administrators in archives and closely related institutions with unique holdings of evidence and historical value. Class meetings will also afford students the opportunity to compare their work experiences. The emphasis in class discussions will be on what is particular to the administration of archives and the nature of archival holdings. As a Practical Engagement Workshop, the course follows the current Society of American Archivists' "Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies" (http://www.archivists.org/prof-education/ed_guidelines.asp). These guidelines state in part, "Graduate archival education, in contrast to archival training, is both academic and professional; therefore, it includes both original research and experiential learning. Ultimately, archival education creates an intellectual framework that enables students to understand the ideas on which their profession is founded, to engage in the development of archival principles, and to apply this knowledge in a variety of settings." To view the syllabus for this course, click here. If you'd like to see the online collection guide I helped devise as part of my internship at the Bentley Historical Library, click here. Or, to see examples of letters I wrote in response to remote reference requests from patrons, click here.

Instructor: Alison HK Tan
Description: Coming Soon. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.

Instructor: Liz De Groot
Description: This course is designed to be an overview of current theories and research in educational psychology. We will discuss cognitive science and cognitive psychological models of learning and cognition and their implications for classroom instruction and education. We also will discuss developmental theory and research and how developmental differences in children force us to contextualize general models of cognition and learning. We also will consider motivational theories and their implications for instruction. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.

Instructor: Stuart Rankin
Description: ED 649 examines the forces leading to school reform; the social, economic, political, historical, legal, legislative, and educational foundations behind those forces; key strategies used in reform efforts; and the research findings on the effectiveness of some of those strategies. There will be a special (but not exclusive) focus on urban school reform including some multi-cultural emphases. The plight of urban school districts will be considered with Kozol's work as a major resource. Effective school-level strategies and teacher-level strategies will be examined using Marzano's work as a guide. Criticisms of public schools in America will be confronted using some views expressed by Barber's and Berliner and Biddle's works. It is assumed that changes in schools are occurring all the time. Changes that are considered "school reform" are generally those that are systemic, i.e., they impact a whole school (or one or more departments or grades in a school), or a district, or a state or a country. For a copy of the syllabus for this course, click here.