Course Description for IRLS 696B
The career of a librarian or information professional frequently
requires both written and oral presentations in formal and informal
settings and circumstances. This course aims to provide partial
preparation for those career assignments. It is a writing seminar in
which students will select and investigate focused aspects of a wide
array of issues in librarianship that make up the Course Agenda. That
Course Agenda, a multipart listing of current topics, questions, and
issues currently faced by the information professions, is issued to
students at the beginning of the course. Each student will develop an
individual position on each of the issues he or she selects from that
agenda, and articulate that position in written papers and oral
presentations delivered to the entire class. Students will also develop
policy documents and internal communications for libraries and
information agencies, both individually, and in team exercises. Classes
are devoted to the oral presentations of student work, papers and
documents, and to critiques and discussions of the presentation and
content of both the oral and written work.