SILS in
snow School of Information and Library Science

INTERNATIONAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES

SYLLABUS
Spring 2001

Blackboard

INLS 204 - 9:30 - 12:00 Mondays - Room 304, Manning Hall


Description

Schedule

Assignments
Resources
Course Notes
Objectives ... Textbook and Useful Journals ... Conduct of Course ... Graded Activities

Objectives of the Course



To develop an understanding of the forces shaping information institutions in a given culture

To demonstrate a comparative understanding of global information flows and major global issues

To become knowledgeable about major international agencies and sources of information about countries and cultures of the world

To analyze one country or region from a global or comparative perspective

To demonstrate good collaborative skills in working with classmates and instructor in this course to make it an effective and efficient learning environment.


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Textbook and Useful Journals

One required textbook is:
Dan Smith. The State of the World Atlas. 6th ed. London: Penguin Reference, 1999. Trade paperback. ISBN: 0140514465

I will also ask you to purchase or refer to a recent almanac, such as: The World Almanac and Book of Facts. (annual) or Information Please Almanac (since 1999 The Time Almanac (annual).

You will want to be (or become) familiar with some of the major international agencies, for example:

  • UN (United Nations), of course, with a number of its specialized agencies, like the:
    • IMF (International Monetary Fund),
    • UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiation),
    • UNDP (UN Development Program),
    • WHO (World Health Org.),
    • UNICEF (UN International Child Develop Centre),
    • WIPO (World Intellectual Property Org.)
    • and others.
  • OECD (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development),
  • IDRC (the International Development Research Centre (Canada)),
  • EU (European Union),
  • US-AID (US Agency for International Development),
plus those agencies with a particular concern for libraries and information work, such as"
  • IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations),
  • FID (Federation of International Development),
  • WLP (World Library Partnership).

Many of these agencies issue a yearbook or other annual report. A good reference publication on reserve for you this semester is International Information; Documents, Publications, and Electronic Information of International Governmental Organizations. 2d ed. Peter I. Hajnal, ed. (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1997) (SILS JX 4850 .I58 1997). Most of these agencies and a few others are listed in the resources section above under web pages.

Some journals you may want to investigate throughout the semester include:

  • FID News Bulletin (SILS)
  • IFLA Journal (SILS)
  • International Information and Library Review (SILS)
  • International Journal on Digital Libraries (SILS)
  • Libri (SILS)

A list of web sites, books and journal articles is being prepared for the class. As you find new and interesting material on the web, please post the URL on the discussion board and I will add it to the page.

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Conduct of the Class

I will post some "Getting Ready" guidelines linked to the schedule for each class session. The class will be a combination of lecture and discussion, I will ask you to adopt an issue (e.g., copyright, language, human rights, women, information infrastructure, library development, health, children, cross-cultural communication, bibliographic control or a topic of your choice) and to adopt a country or a region of the world. In your areas of developing expertise (issue and country) I will expect you to contribute your knowledge to our dicussions as well as your ideas and observations on other topics. Participation in class is important but it can be accomplished in several ways in addition to speaking out in class, e.g., entering comments on the discussion board, participating in small group work, making suggestions for class conduct directly to me.

Class policies that you should be aware of:

  • All assignment deadlines will be posted in advance. In the event a deadline adjustment is announced in class, you are responsible for knowing about it.

  • Assistance to one another is encouraged in the class. If you work as a team, all members of the team will receive the same grade unless there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

  • We observe the University Honor Code, of course, but because the work in the course is collaborative, you are encouraged to help each other on your assignments even when it is not specified as a group effort. Appropriate help would include suggesting where information might be found, explaining concepts, reading drafts of one another's work and offering suggestions.

  • Attendance at every class is expected. If you have an unavoidable absence, please let me know ahead of time and propose a substitute (usually a write-up of relevant articles but it's negotiable).

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Graded Activities

Unless we decide to follow a different procedure (based on preferences you are invited to provide at the beginning of the class), the weights for assignments are as follows:

  • Issue Paper and Poster or Web Presentation - 25%
  • Critique of Colleague's Paper - 10%
  • Country/Region Paper and Poster or Web Presentation - 25%
  • Reflections on Outside Readings - 20%
  • Class Participation - 20%

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Revised 1/18/2001
Evelyn Daniel, Instructor