LIBR 287-02 & 287-11
Seminar in Information Science
Topic: New and Alternative Careers For Librarians and Information Professionals

Spring 2005

Instructor: Amelia Kassel
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Greensheet

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GREENSHEET

| Required Texts | Course Requirements | Grading | Other Comments |

The Instructor reserves the right to revise the Greensheet prior to or during the semester.

Course Description

This course provides students an opportunity to explore new and alternative careers for information professionals. The focus is on independent information businesses and options for careers that may include any the following topics or career paths or others you identify of particular interest to you.

Research

  1. Information Brokers
  2. Online Researchers
  3. Monitoring, Tracking Alerting
  4. Telephone Research
  5. Manual Research
  6. Legal Research
  7. Public Records Research - Online/Onsite
  8. Market Research - Secondary/Primary
  9. Competitive Intelligence
  10. Company Research
  11. Industry Research
  12. Patent Research
  13. Medical Information Retrieval
  14. Prospect Research
  15. Due Diligence Research
  16. Document Retrieval
  17. Working for information industry vendors, aggregators, or other types of companies that provide services to libraries.

Consulting

  1. Web Development and Optimization
  2. Teaching and Training
  3. Resource Development
  4. Intranet Development
  5. Library Setup and Maintenance
  6. Library Consulting
  7. Library Support
  8. Database Development
  9. Information Audit
  10. Expert Witness
  11. Publishers and Database Producers
  12. E-Commerce / Information Consulting

Value-Added Services

  1. Writing
  2. Synthesis
  3. Analysis

Course Objectives

Students will:

  • Be introduced to a wide variety of businesses and careers that they can pursue with a degree in Library and Information Science.
  • Learn about additional educational requirements, background, experiences, and personal traits required for developing alternative careers.
  • Have an opportunity to develop a business plan for an independent information business or library service.

This course supports the following SLIS objectives:

  • Information transfer
  • Information management
  • The principles and practices of management as specifically applied to information environments

Required Texts

  1. Bates, Mary Ellen. Building and Running a Successful Research Business: A Guide for the Independent Information Professional, 2003, http://books.infotoday.com/books/BuildingRunning.shtml
  2. Sabroski, Suzanne. Super Searchers Make It On Their Own: Top Independent Information Professionals Share Their Secrets for Starting and Running a Research Business, 2003 http://www.supersearchers.com
  3. Select one title of interest to you in addition to the Sabroski title from the Super Searcher Series http://www.supersearchers.com, or one of the following: The Accidental Library Manager, The Accidental Systems Librarian, or The Accidental Webmaster http://books.infotoday.com/books/index.shtml

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Course Requirements

  1. Read assigned books and articles posted to BlackBoard as the semester evolves.
  2. Based on readings and discussion, contribute thoughtful, substantive comments, analysis, and questions to Blackboard Discussion Boards on a weekly basis minimally.
  3. Submit a book review of 500 – 800 words in length and similar in style and content to reviews published in professional journals or newsletters, due March 14th by midnight.
  4. Prepare a business plan or final essay on a career of interest, due May 17th the last day of class by midnight.
  5. Present your business plan or final essay via a Blackboard discussion board due between April 25th and May 10th. This can be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation or a posting with a summary and outline describing your business plan or a summary describing the career discussed in the final essay.

Blackboard
This class is completely online and conducted via BlackBoard. Consult BlackBoard sections including the following regularly:

Announcements
Course Information
Course Documents
Assignments
Discussion Boards

You must self-enroll on Blackboard between January 24 and January 28, 2005 to participate in this course.

Successful course participants will:

  • Post a brief bio and statement of purpose to the BlackBoard Discussion Board during the first week of class.
  • Read required books cited above and other reading assignments posted to BlackBoard.
  • Initiate and contribute to discussion on BlackBoard weekly with substantive and thoughtful comments.
  • Prepare a business plan or final essay about a career option of interest to you.
  • Prepare a presentation describing your business plan or the career you write about in your final essay and post it to Blackboard.
  • Integrate knowledge from required readings and class discussion into assignments.

Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
Students who need accommodation due to a disability must register with SJSU's Disability Resource Center (DRC) during the first three weeks of the semester. 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 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/

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Grading

Grading incorporates consideration of creativity, thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and originality.

Weekly Class Discussion and Initiative

20%

Book Review

10%

Business Plan or Final Paper

40%

Presentation of Business Plan or Final Paper on BlackBoard

30%

Grading Scale

97-100%

A

94-96%

A-

91-93%

B+

88-90%

B

85-87%

B-

82-84%

C+

80-81%

C

76-79

C-

A Statement on Plagiarism
All assignments submitted must be your own work. Sources must be properly cited in papers as specified in class. The San Jose State University regulations governing plagiarism will be enforced. Those regulations may be found at:

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Other Comments

  • Workload, personal, and computer problems are each student’s responsibility.
  • No incompletes will be awarded – no exceptions.

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