Fall, 2005 – Professor Owusu-Ansah

GSLIS 701 – Fundamentals of Library and Information Science.

“Overview of the curriculum, historical introduction to librarianship and information science as a profession; professional literature; role and structure of libraries and information centers in the conservation and dissemination of knowledge to various clientele; nature of research in library and information science.” (Course Catalog.)

Reflections:

This was my first academic class since 1981 and things had certainly changed. I learned APA and wrote my first annotated bibliography.
Our class focused on the history of library, and hit all the major points: Digital Rights Management, Copyright Law, the Patriot Act, Standards, Information Literacy, Computer Literacy, and Equal Access. The professor was very dynamic, and when he got on a roll was very inspiring. He kept returning to the point that librarians need to become teachers – more and more they are called upon to perform in that roll – yet pedagogical training is often overlooked in traditional MLIS programs.

I thought the textbook was very good. Rudin, Richard E. (2004). Foundations of library and information science. New York, N.Y.: Neal Schuman Publishers, Inc.

I wrote my final paper on e-books and issues of equal access, and later submitted it for publication. It was published in the Library Students Journal under the title Equality in e-book access: e-book reading devices in the public library.