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Posted October 15, 2012 by Sarah Barton

As promised, whether you like it or not, here is a retrospective account of my courses from last semester:
Mondays, 9am-noon – LIS 415; Reference and Information Services
A core class, one that everyone must take. The idea behind the class is that nearly every job that requires an LIS degree involves working with information, so this class teaches how and where to find it. We learned about hundreds (literally, hundreds) of information sources and their function. Homework assignments involved finding the answers to obscure questions without using Google, Wikipedia, or anything else on the free web. (Daunting, but useful.) We also learned the basics of reference and customer service etiquette. This and LIS 415 are probably the most library-ish core courses that you will take.
Tuesdays, 9am-noon – LIS 488; Technology for Information Professionals
A core class, one that everyone must take. The idea behind the class is that technology has permeated just about every aspect of LIS and, for that matter, the free world. As information professionals, librarians are expected to have a functional working knowledge of technology. We learned the fundamentals of creating and editing webpages, managing databases, and scripting languages…basically the basics about the stuff that goes on behind the (computer) screens. If you don’t consider yourself to be particularly tech-savvy, never fear, it’s not that bad. And if you are totally techy, this is just a taste of the many tech courses that GSLIS has to offer.
Thursdays, 1-4pm – LIS 444; Archiving and Preserving Digital Media
I’ll be honest: I signed up for this course because I thought it sounded cool. I have no aspirations to do anything involving archives, so I was glad to find that the class was not heavily laden in archival principles. Basically, it amounted to learning how to keep digital files accessible as technology and storage media continue to change. That love note that you wrote in third grade and stealthily saved on one of those massive floppy disks? If you found that disk today, you’d have a hard time accessing that note. This class makes you think about how to prevent those (and other, potentially more serious) types of losses in the future.
Tuesday, May 29 – Saturday, June 2, 9:30am-5:30pm – LIS 414; Corporate Libraries
Instead of reinventing a post, I’ll point you to one of my older entries.
The hilarious thing about having done these last two posts is that four days ago, GSLIS announced that the curriculum will change for students entering the program in Fall 2013. Hopefully no one got super excited about the 404 or 488 courses…