Library Resources and Skills LSC 150

Fall 2005 Monday 11 am – 11:50 am

Location: CCSU, Burritt Library, 3^rd floor, Curriculum Lab Classroom

Instructor: Nick Tomaiuolo

phone 860-832-2068

e-mail tomaiuolon@mail.ccsu.edu

Course Outline and Syllabus

Objectives: Students successfully completing this course will be able to distinguish among various library and information resources and select the most appropriate for usage depending upon the information requirement. Students will also be able to recognize citation elements, search databases, use print indexes, locate books in a classified system, and will be knowledgeable and apply critical thinking when engaging information both in the library and on the World Wide Web.

Grading: Take note – this is a PASS / FAIL course. Each assignment must be completed to pass. Translation: Students may not complete 60% of assignments and expect to “pass.”

Required Reading: Any handouts, etc. provided by the instructor. (CCSU Stack 6 Q335 K88 1999)

Missed Classes: In the event that you miss a class, you must get the missed assignments/handouts by the following week. Don’t get too far behind.

Week by Week Syllabus

Date	Topic	Assignment	Handouts
8-30	Library tour; Course introduction; Information literacy; Sources of information; Burritt Library home page; library catalogs.	Information assessment (pretest)	Map(1), library catalog factsheet (2), Burritt Home page (2A), Reading #1; reading questions (2B)
9-6	LABOR DAY – NO CLASS	NO CLASS	NO CLASS
9-13	OPACs reviewed; reserves; Interlibrary Loan; PINs; Web book resources including online vendors; copyright, public domain & plagiarism.	Pre-class reading*: Reading #1 and questions In-class assignment #1: library catalogs.	Web Library pages handout (2C)
9-20	Searching aids and basics incl. thesauri, subject headings, keywords	In-class assignment #2: “Boolean” vs. Natural language in practice database	Searching glossary(3), truncation worksheet(4), sample LC heading (5).

9-27	Subject classification basics; call numbers; bibliographic citations	In-class exercise #3: identifying elements of bibliographic citations in practice database	LC Classific. (6); “order of books on the shelves” (7) Recog. Bib cits (7A)
10-4	Full text compared to Indexing/Abstracting services; frequently used subscription databases Linking to full text/using the print collection/interlibrary loan	In-class assignment #4 Finding/printing specific articles	Full text handout/doc. del. flowchart (8); Burritt database list (9)
10-11	Magazine or Journal? Alternate methods of retrieving magazine/journals: free indexes and articles. Web Library site.		Magazine/journal worksheet (11);
10-18	Open book/note midterm	Midterm	Midterm
10-25	News, blogs, RSS feeds, and newsdrops		Newsfeed RSS information (14) Reading #2 Toolbars
11-1	Open Web resources; toolbars	Pre-class reading*: Reading #2. Inclass assignment #5 Visit the Internet Archive	Search utility worksheet (15)
11-8	Web resource evaluation	Inclass assignment #6 Complete Website evaluation & citation elements for a web site	Website evaluation worksheet (16)
11-15	Images from Burritt databases and the Web; locating backfile information		Backfile strategy worksheet (18)
11-22	Reference materials (in-house) and on the Web		Reference handout (20)
11-29	Final Exam at regular class time	Final exam	Final exam

*Pre-class reading means read the chapter(s) before the class meeting.