Grading is Based on Four Criteria, For a Total of 130 Points

1. Six Graded Assignments (10 points each, for 60 points total)
   
   
   1. Everything is Miscellaneous DUE September 25
   2. Derived and Assigned Indexing DUE October 2
   3. Designing A Vocabulary: DUE October 9
   4. XML Markup DUE October 30
   5. SQL Statements and Databases DUE November 6
   6. Social / Distributed Description DUE November 20
      
      
2. Analysis (20 points) :
   
   Students will be divided into 10 groups, each group will be responsible for leading discussion for a set of readings. This is not a straight presentation of the readings, although each group should provide a very brief synopsis of each reading, so the class will be able to follow along with the discussion. The goal of this task to to get the class to critically discuss the readings, and not to make a presentation. Analysis Rubric
   
   
3. Class Participation (2 points per week, 10 weeks of class meetings, for a total of 20 points) ::
   
   Participation is a very important part of this class. The class will only be as interesting as you, the students, make it. Please also see the art of participation for a more complete view of my expectations. The upshot of the participation grade is that it is only possible to have a successful / interesting class if everyone takes part. Two points to remember: 1) you can not get a participation grade if you do not show up for class; and 2) if you do not participate during your classmates' analysis section, they will have no impetus to participate during yours.
   
   
4. Organizing Information & Your Dream Job (20 points for paper) + (10 points for presentation) = 30 Points
   
   I want class participants to think about their goals within the school of information, and how their goals are furthered by the themes and issues covered in this class. In the first class, I will ask you to tell me your "dream job," that is - the job you would, in your fondest dreams, wish to have upon graduation (or 5 years after graduation, if you're thinking strategically). This will be an easier assignment the more specific you are in your definition: "Archivist," versus "Archivist for local history center;" "Academic Librarian," vs. "Government Documents Librarian in Academic Library," or "Director of Art Library at Research I University," "Rare Books Librarian" versus: "Rare Books Technical Services Librarian," or "Curator of Rare Books." "Digial Archivist," versus "Digital Art Archivist," or "Work at Pixar in their archives." This is your dream job so be ambitious!
   
   A. For this dream job assignment, I will ask for a 2000 - 3000 word essay that contains four sections:
   
   
   1. Definition of the Job: find 3 - 5 job ads that define necessary education and skillsets; discuss these in narrative form and the classes offered (or not offered) in the iSchool that support these needs, and how you expect to meet the requirements for this kind of job upon graduation
   2. Major Issues and Concerns: What are some of the major issues facing this field? Have there been user studies? Collection & collecting concerns?
   3. Organizational Methods: How do practitioners in this field organize information? This can range from the cataloging methods used, common controlled vocabularies, standardized methods for providing information (in content management systems, or online catalogs - who are the major vendors, who are the leaders in the field)
   4. Use of New Technology: Are there some institutions in this field that are doing really cutting edge work? What are they doing that is so new? Any new technologies on the horizon? Are any institutions using folksonomies in a new or exciting way? Social networking?

B. I will also divide the class into (at most) 5 thematically similar groups (1. Archivists, 2. Public Librarians, 3. Academic Librarians, 4. School Librarians, and 5. "Something Else That I Can't Imagine Before I See The Dream Jobs") = each group will prepare a final presentaiton that will report the findings from the paper: I will assume that within these thematically similar groups, the job definitions and organizational methods will be similar if not exactly the same; and issues and use of new technology will be discussion points for the presentation. Each group will have 20 minutes for the presentation, with 5 - 10 minutes discussion.

Grading Scale

A = 130 - 117 points

B = 116 - 104 points

C = 103 - 91 points

D = 90 - 78 points

F = below 77 points