LIBR 220-12
Resources and Information Services in Professions and Disciplines (Focus: Prison Library Management)
Summer 2006 Greensheet
William David Mongelli, MLS
E-mail
| Greensheet Links Required Text Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials |
The instructor will personally enroll you into the Blackboard course. Frequently check MySJSU for course-related information.
Course Description
Examines the history, methods, and underlying principles of this genre of librarianship, and how they can be applied in the working world, with particular emphasis on why there are libraries in prison; what prison librarians do; the librarian/prisoner psychodynamic; prison politics; the socio-economic necessity for prisons in American society; and which librarians (and library students) make the worst correctional librarians.
Prerequisites: None, although completion of all core classes is highly recommended.
Course Objectives
At the completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- Introduce prison librarianship as a viable & intriguing career alternative
- Inculcate the notion that prison librarianship aids in the rehabilitative effort of corrections
- Compel students to contact a prison librarian from their local Department of Correction
- Direct students to explore the CA Department of Corrections (CDC) Web site
This course supports the following SLIS objectives:
- Schooling students in the major theories and current practice of:
- Advocacy and leadership for citizen access to information and knowledge resources;
- The principles and practices of management as specifically applied to information environments.
- Recognizing the social, cultural and economic dimensions of information use.
Required Text
The only required text is my book, CONSentrating on the Law. Well, adjunct professors have to eat, too, and we use every capitalistic means legally available to us; and we give our students the opportunity to reward 21 years of research and experience in corrections.
Here's the publisher's Web site: http://www.lmcsource.com/tech/prison1.html
Course Requirements
Class Location
This is a totally online class.
Office Hours
Like you, I retrieve my e-mail with obsessive-compulsive regularity. If you e-mail a question, I will answer it ("If you build it, he will come"). We are wrestling a time difference of three (3) hours, but I'll make myself available online on Wednesday nights 'til about 9PM your time. Maybe we can 'chat'. Or something.
Implied Consent Dept.
By your participation in this course, you acknowledge that 15 weeks of study are being compressed into 10, and therefore you're expected to do the same amount of study and work as in a regular semester. Which means that I'm expected to do the same. Let's hope we each hold to our side of the bargain.
How Letter Grades Are Determined
I use no mystical*magical construct for determining final grades. You have assignments, a paper, class participation, and the prison librarian interview. They have, therefore, equal weight. For those of us (including me) who are mathematically obtuse, this comes out to 25% for each.
Readings |
25% |
Forum discussions |
25% |
Subject report |
25% |
Librarian Interview |
25% |
Penalties For Late Work
Due dates are given for many reasons. I have mine; they are very good reasons. That's why you shall ('shall' is what the legal research swells call mandatory language) make every effort to finish and post all assignments by the date they're due. By the way, the assignments and due dates are listed on our course site in Blackboard. I, however, have other responsibilities in my routine, and know that Life oft-times throws us a curve we can't hit. My two requirements are that you notify me 48 hours before the assignment due date, and you give me one good legitimate reason why the submission will be late. We'll go from there.
Penalties For Work Not Turned In
My assignments are mind-numbingly simple ones to negotiate. Any properly disciplined graduate student would be insulted at how little there is to do. Therefore, you don't get the same kind of molly coddling with me that you may find with other online instructors. I give you plenty of time for reading, posting, research, writing, and assignment submission. No one should miss any assignment. If you do, you get graded accordingly.
A Note On Class Participation
Especially for an online course, sharing ideas and opinions with your fellows is as important as any assignment given, and so it merits a reward equal to the other expectations. I want to hear from you, and I want you to share ideas with fellow classmates. The only way the rest of us can find out what thoughts and opinions you have swirling about in that squirrelly brain of yours is to see hard cold evidence that you're posting to the discussion forums and responding to your fellows. I will truck with no lurkers & wallflowers in this course. You didn't bring yourself this far in your academic development by cultivating an empty head. Show us what you know, and tell us what you're thinking. The only way you'll embarrass yourself is by not participating.
Grading Scale
Final grades will be based on the following grading scale established for graduate students by San José State University:
| 97-100 | A |
| 94-96 | A- |
| 91-93 | B+ |
| 88-90 | B |
| 85-87 | B- |
| 82-84 | C+ |
| 79-81 | C |
| 76-78 | C- |
| 73-75 | D+ |
Academic Integrity
Read the SJSU Academic Integrity Policy at
http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S04-12.pdf
Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to establish record of their disability.
No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/
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Phone: 408-924-2490
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