Hidden Value in Boring Courses

Posted January 31, 2014 by Emily Boyd

 I’m about to say something that may shock you. Not all classes in library school are riveting. One in particular is considered by many to be the most boring class they could possibly imagine. This course has only recently been removed from the list of core courses and I’m here to suggest that when you come to GSLIS, you take that boring course. This infamously boring course is LIS 403 Evaluation of Information Services. Perhaps the name is a giveaway for why it might be considered a bit of a snooze. In truth, no it wasn’t my favorite class to sit through, for three hours, in the evenings, on Mondays, but I am now applying so much of what I learned to my current library job.

Professor Mary Wilkins Jordan did her best to keep classes lively and interesting, and considering that the subject matter is dry, I’d say she succeeded most of the time. The real value of the class was the semester long assignment to create a research proposal for a theoretical evaluation. Some students worked on hypothetical situations they would like to research in a future place of employment, basically just doing the assignment to get it done. While I’m sure there is value to that, I found designing an evaluation based on my current place of employment to be much more interesting and useful. In fact, we are in the process of actually doing the evaluation I wrote for class! It’s been a challenge to edit the initial survey I created from an assignment to something that we will actually be putting out to the community, but I’m so excited to be working on this project.

LIS 403 gave me the tools and the background knowledge to get this survey going. When the project is completed, my library will have done a thorough evaluation for the first time in more years than anyone can remember. Moving into a future where libraries serve a different role and budgets keep getting cut, it will be extremely valuable to have taken the time to ask our community what resources they value most at the library.

What this all really gets back to is the theme of applying the GSLIS education to real world scenarios. Even though LIS 403 Evaluation of Information Services is no longer a required class, I would advise everyone to at least consider it. Like many classes, the real value comes from being able to see how it will help you in the work place. This semester as I take LIS 458 Database Management and LIS 415 Information Organization, I am again reminded that what I’m learning in school is only as valuable as how I’m able to translate it into the real world. Prepping students to enter the workforce is something that Simmons, in my opinion, does incredibly well.