LIBR 280
History of Books and Libraries
Spring 2005

Linda Main
Room E104 (San Jose)
E-mail
Phone: 408-924-2494
Office hours: Virtually by e-mail
In person by appointment

Debbie Hansen
Room LS 57
E-mail
Phone: 714-278-7288
Office hours: Wednesdays, 2-4
By appointment

GREENSHEET

Course Description:

The purpose of this class is to lead students to a greater awareness of the roles of (1) the book and (2) the library in expressing and fostering culture throughout history.

The "book" is taken to mean all forms of records, e.g., cuneiform fragments, manuscripts, printed books, periodicals, and newspapers.

Expressing culture refers in this context primarily to the appearance of books; the arts of writing, lettering, and illustration involved in the production of manuscripts; and the technical developments of papermaking and of printing, engraving, and lithography involved in creating books.

Fostering culture refers to the content of books, the preservation of sacred and secular knowledge through carefully supervised copying of ancient texts during the manuscript period, and the dissemination of contemporary as well as traditional ideas through the ability to multiply copies by printing.

The development of libraries has naturally followed the historical course of the book, first as conservators of relatively rare and precious repositories of knowledge and imagination for the few who could afford and read books; later as retreats for scholars under the patronage of wealthy and cultured rulers; and finally as information resources for a large and literate public. Buildings, facilities, organization, and staffing have accommodated themselves to this development, and to the changing forms of the book itself—tablet, scroll, folio, codex, octavo, fiche, or data bank.

Course Objectives:

(1) Students will become aware of the evolution of graphic communication symbols, and be able to identify alphabetic and ideographic systems in use in various parts of the world;

(2) Students will become familiar with the material and methods of book production in various parts of the world from the manuscript era to the present;

(3) Students will be able to 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) Students will understand the economic problems that have shaped methods of publishing and distributing books;

(5) Students will be able to attribute major technical and artistic developments in typography, book design, and book production to persons and nations originating these developments;

(6) Students will understand the institutional development of libraries and how libraries have evolved in response to economic, social, and technological change;

(7) Students will be able to analyze the social functions of the library and understand how, why, and when library service evolved from a collection-centered to a client-centered institution;

(8) Students will appreciate the development of librarianship as a profession and be able to identify seminal theorists and practitioners in the field.

School Objectives:

The course supports the following objectives from the School’s Teaching goal:

Upon completion of the program the student will know and be able to identify the major theories and important principles as well as to demonstrate current practice in:

• The foundations of information services.

The course supports the following objectives from the School’s Research goal:

• Providing students the opportunity to evaluate and utilize relevant research studies from a variety of disciplines in their coursework.

Evaluation Methods:

1. Exams. Students will be required to take 2 exams.

The midterm will be an in-class exam on the history of books and early libraries to be held on the 21st of March. Questions will be drawn from the readings and the class lectures. You will answer questions from one of the following periods:

The Ancient World
Monasteries and Scriptorium
Key Illuminated Manuscripts
The Incunabula
Ancient and Medieval Libraries
17th -20th Century Developments
Changes in Book Design (to cover paperbacks, dime novels, comics, children's books, and e-books)

The final will be another in-class exam on the history of books, reading, and libraries in America. This exam will also be based on the assigned texts and class lectures and will take place on the 16th of May.

Please note: You must attend in person at either San Jose or Fullerton to take both the mid-term and the final.

2. Manuscript and Printed Book Studies. Each student will select a manuscript and an early printed book to research and study.

3. Weekly Activities and Discussions. During the History of Books section of the class you will be assigned six weekly activities based on your last name. During the History of American libraries portion of the class you will participate in three discussion forums.

4. Research Paper. During the second half of the semester devoted to the history of American libraries, each student will write a social history of a California library of his or her choice. This will be a twenty-page paper, excluding notes and bibliography, based on archival research and in-depth reading in library history. A handout describing the theory and method to be used in this research paper will be distributed and discussed in class. This paper will be due on the 9th of May.

Grading:

Due Dates:

In addition there will be weekly activities covering the history of books section of the class and weekly discussions during the American library history section of the class.

Required Texts:

There will be 3 required texts covering the various components of this course.

1. For the history of books part of the class readings will be drawn from:

Katz, B. (1995). Dahl's history of the book. 3 rd edition. Rowman & Littlefield

Can be ordered from the publisher Rowman & Littlefield ( ISBN: 0-8108-2852-9) or online book companies such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble or Buy.com

2. For the history of libraries readings will be drawn from:

Harris, M. (1995). History of libraries in the western world. Lanham , Md. : Scarecrow Press.

3. For the history of American libraries and librarianship, read:

Passet, J. (1994). Cultural crusaders: Women librarians and the American West, 1900-1917. Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press.

Note: While this book is out of print, it can readily be found in libraries and through used book dealers.

Highly Recommended Texts:

Avrin, L. (1991). Scribes, script, and books. Chicago: ALA.

Crowley , D. & Heyer, P. (2003). Communication in history: Technology, culture, society. 4th edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Casper , S. E. et al. (2002). Perspectives on American book history. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Pawley, C. (2001). Reading on the middle border: The culture of print in late-nineteenth century. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Van Slyck, A. (1995). Free to all: Carnegie libraries & American culture, 1890-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Please read the following carefully

All work will be of graduate standard. This means: a) no assignments submitted after the due date and time; b) all work will be typed and double-spaced; c) all pages will be consecutively numbered in each assignment; d) spelling, grammatical, and syntactical errors will not be allowed; and e) all work cited should be in full in accordance with APA format.

Late assignments will not be accepted. If you have an illness (medical certificate supplied) or a family tragedy please contact the instructor (L. Main for the first half of the class; D. Hansen for the second half of the class).

Students who need accommodation due to a disability must register with SJSU's Disability Resource Center (DRC). The Center will work with the students to determine the disability, document it, and determine the services and accommodations necessary for student success. Then, the DRC will contact the faculty member to determine the types of consideration necessary. Students must register with the Center during the first three weeks of the semester.

Students attending the Fullerton campus should first contact the Disability Resource Center in San Jose since they are SJSU students. The DRC will then direct the students to supporting resources on the Fullerton campus.

The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/

 
University policy on plagiarism: For the official statements of policy on this matter as passed by the Academic Senate, see:

• The SJSU Academic Integrity Policy
  http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S04-12.pdf

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