Mary E. Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chairperson
Information Science
Brown@SouthernCT.edu
Resources for Students:
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W e l c o m e . t o
ILS 565: Library Management
Management is increasingly becoming an expected job skill for all information professionals, whether you are an information science specialist, an instructional technology specialist, or a library science specialist.
The purpose of this course is to give you 1) basic knowledge and skills in management and 2) an opportunity to simulate management activities based on the knowledge and skills you gain during this course.
You will be learning by doing (responding to mini-cases) as well as by studying (reading books and articles of your choice as well as in the assigned text). There will be times when the learning-by-doing will be ahead of the learning-by-studying. You should try to use your mentor and/or classmates to fill in these gaps on an as-needed basis.
This course is divided into six sections. During Section I (weeks 1-2) you will set personal learning goals for this course, be gaining basic background knowledge in management through reading, and working with your mentor to create three-five mini-case studies (1-page maximum each) based on issues a manager has encountered. You will also look for 2-5 references that might give insight into ways to deal with the issue(s). You will turn in each mini-case study with its bibliographic references (in APA style) and a keyword(s) that best describes the type of situation(s) or problem(s) the case exemplifies.
During Section II (weeks 3-4), you will select 5-10 mini-cases (which you did not create) and write a response to each (500-750 words), indicating how you would characterize the issue(s) it contains, and the key questions to consider. You should work independently (without your mentor) on each response. During Section III (week 5-7) you will work first with your mentor and then with classmates in groups of 2-3 to critique responses to 5-10 mini-cases. During Section IV (weeks 8-11) you will work in small groups of 3-5 to write a proposal to fund a solution to one mini-case. The proposal will follow IMLS Guidelines. Mentors may be used as resources for background information and to critique the final draft before it is submitted to the instructor; however, mentors may not participate in the actual planning or writing of the proposal.
During Sections I-IV, you will also be reading your text and chapters in other books of your choice and sharing insights and new knowledge with classmates through annotations. Each annotation should begin with the bibliographic reference to the portion annotated (i.e. chapter), written in APA style and include a keyword that best describes the knowledge gained. During Section V (week 12) you will develop, with your mentor, a continuing learning plan and compile a personal classified and annotated bibliography to support your plan, using, if appropriate, items submitted by classmates. During the final Section (week 13) you will view a video as a case study and write, for the final exam, a response, indicating how you would characterize the management issue(s) the movie contains, and the key questions to consider.
For those times when frustration should take over, stop and ask yourself these questions: What exactly am I feeling right now? Why am I feeling this way? What do I need to appease this feeling? Once you get to the third answer, devise an action plan and carry it out.
I hope you enjoy this course. It is not an easy one. It requires you to read extensively in the literature and to synthesis what you have read, translate it for the pre-manager, and apply it to issues (mini-cases) in your profession. It requires problem-solving and, at times a bit of imagination. You will need to manage your time and resources closely. And you will need to plan on spending hours revising and revising again draft after draft until your final paper (proposal) emerges, to use the metaphor, like a butterfly from its cocoon.
I have tried to do two major things in the course: 1) to introduce you to management, and 2) to make this a collaborative learning experience, an experience that may result in new skills and knowledge, and an experience that may add to your attractability as a prospective employee and future manager.
Happy managing!
Lets get started.
On this class site, every effort has been made to acknowledge the work of others. Any omission is unintentional. If anyone finds an oversight, please contact me at brown@southernct.edu immediately so that any error can be corrected.
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