LIBR 575: Academic Libraries

PREREQUISITES:

MLIS and Dual MAS/MLIS: completion of MLIS core; recommended co-requisite: 504

MAS: completion of MAS core and permission of the iSchool Graduate Advisor

GOAL: In accordance with the UBC mission statement, the overall goal of this course is to enable students to contribute to the economic, social, and cultural progress of the community by preparing them for positions of responsibility and leadership in academic libraries. More specifically student will be able to describe general missions and values of academic libraries, the environmental changes affecting those missions, and how those changes effect the current and future management of academic libraries. This course will build on, and complement knowledge obtained in LIBR 500 and LIBR 501.

OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the course students will be able to:

  • Clearly delineate between community college libraries, college libraries, university/college libraries and university libraries;
  • Clearly articulate the place and role of the library in the parent, academic institution
  • Outline both the threats and opportunities that developing electronic technologies pose for academic libraries;
  • Be able to report current trends in academic library buildings;
  • Be able to articulate the functions and services involved in collections and access management in academic libraries, academic public services, technical services and library systems and services.
  • Be able to articulate the management principles and practices employed in academic libraries;
  • Be cognizant of professional issues in academic libraries such as faculty status, collaborative lesson planning, unionization,etc.
  • Be able to employ several performance evaluation techniques to assess the effectiveness of academic library programs.
  • Be able to locate pertinent monographs, articles, and research reports in the field in general and on various sub-topics in the literature of the field.

CONTENT:

  • Types of academic libraries
  • The role of the library in the academic community
  • The history of academic libraries
  • Impacts & opportunities of electronic technologies
  • The academic library building
  • Collections and access management
  • Public services in academic libraries
  • Interlibrary lending and borrowing
  • Technical services in academic libraries
  • Academic library systems and services
  • Management and professional issues
  • Performance evaluation of academic libraries
On this page