Due: Jan. 24, 1998

This is a group project. Please talk with me if this presents a problem.

Select an Organization. Please agree on the selection of an organization similar to the kind of organization you and other members of your group might choose for your future work environment. It is preferable to choose a real organization that is known to at least one member of your group. The use of a specific organization grounds your project in reality. You will only be using the actual organization for your platform for this first assignment and will not need to be concerned with the real organization for subsequent assignments.

You may alternatively choose a department within a large organization as your focus if you wish -- the technical services department of a large academic library, for instance, or the information center of a non-profit charity organization.

Collect some Facts. We will discuss in class what kind of information you might collect for this project and where you might go to find it. Some obvious ways to describe an organization are:

• Type of Institution (public, academic, school, special library or government agency, corporation, small business, etc.)

• Environmental Setting (corporate, governmental, educational, etc.; whether rural, suburban, or urban)

• Size of Institution (by number of employees, number of clients, size of budget and/or other size parameters)

• Nature of Clientele (students (what kind?), professionals (what type?), general public (any special characteristics?), location of clients (nearby, distant, global))

• Services Offered (general reference, circulating collection, photocopying, specialized assistance (specify), .... etc.)

• Organization of Staff (departments? teams? hierarchy, number of professionals, paraprofessionals, clerical workers)

• Special Aspects (What is unique about this organization?)

NOTE: The name of the organization is usually an important descriptor but is unimportant for this assignment. It is useful, however, to give your organization an assumed if not the real name so that it can be easily referred to.

Write Description. Organize the facts you have collected and write a straightforward description of your chosen organization. It is possible to satisfy this assignment in 1 1/2 pages; in no case should your description be longer than 4 pages.

Format. Final copy should be a web document on WebCT, pleasingly formatted. Make sure to inclue a descriptive title, the names of all members of your group, and the date of your draft document.

©: Evelyn Daniel, 1998. All rights reserved.
Page revised 1/17/98.