Pratt Institute

Below you will find the Special Topics courses for Spring 2013 at the School of Information and Library Science:

LIS 689: Special Collections Institute
Instructors: Kyle Triplett and Charles Carter
Monday, 3:30-5:50 pm

An overview to gain an understanding of issues related to reference,
cataloging, exhibitions, acquisitions and conservation in a special
collections library. Of particular interest will be the special
collections at NYPL including the Rare Book Division and the Pforzheimer
Collection. Planned visits include The Grolier Club and non-traditional
special collections such as ephemera and music libraries. When possible,
this course will include handling of cultural objects and viewing books.
It will serve as an integral part of the special collections concentration
and can be taken before or with Introduction to Archives and will serve as
prerequisite or companion to the Rare Books class.

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LIS 697-01 : Programming for Cultural Heritage
Instructor: Chris Weller
Thursdays, 6:30-8:50 pm
Prerequisites: LIS 653 & LIS 654

This course is about rolling up our sleeves and getting to work. We will
be innovators in an emerging field within the cultural heritage ecosystem.
In becoming so, you will learn to program in a real life computing
language--one used by professional programmers. You will learn to model
data, query it over the internet, parse it, clean it and synthesize it
linked data for reuse by other cultural institutions.

We will attempt to maintain a flat work curve to avoid the mid- and
end-of-semester crunch. When we have finished, you will have the skills to
hack your own digital library and publish it. You will have experience and
technical knowledge that most MLIS graduates do not and you will be more
than qualified to create, supervise or participate in a digital project at
any museum or library where you might find employment.

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LIS 697-02 : Serving Youth with Disabilities in the Library
Instructor: Carrie Banks
Wednesday, 6:30-8:50 pm

The course will provide an overview of service to children and teens with
disabilities in public, school and specialized libraries.  Students will
learn about the needs of youth with disabilities and the barriers they
experience in the library.  By the end of the semester they will be able
to evaluate, plan and implement barrier-free library services for children
and teens with all types of disabilities.  Topics to be addressed include
types of disabilities, legal issues, special education services,
assessment of existing library services, the theoretical framework and
practical guidelines for inclusion, community needs assessment, the
literature of disability, assistive technology, program planning, best
practices, community partnerships and the library as a family resource
center.

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LIS 697-03 : Medical & Health Informatics
Prof. Sarah Jewell
Tuesday, 6:30-8:50 pm

Computers, mobile devices and other technologies are essential for the
management of medical and health information in today’s networked world. A
variety of informatics tools will be covered, as well as methods for
understanding and keeping up to date with the medical literature.

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LIS 697-04: Digital Preservation and Curation
Prof. Jacob Nadal
Wednesday, 6:30-8:50 pm

This course provides a historical foundation and critical framework for
evaluating digital information. The class incorporates computer history,
digital preservation theory, and strategic planning methods to provide
students with tools and knowledge that are critical for running libraries,
archives, and museums.

Jacob Nadal was appointed Director Library and Archives for the Brooklyn
Historical Society in 2012. Prior to this, he served as the Preservation
Officer for the UCLA Library, Field Service Librarian and Acting Head of
Collections Care at The New York Public Library, and as Head of the E.
Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Nadal has worked on digitization, digital libraries, and related
preservation issues for over a decade and he co-chaired the Working Group
that wrote that wrote the ALA’s definitions of digital preservation. He
lectures and leads workshops on digital libraries and preservation for a
variety of audiences, including the IMLS Connecting to Collections
project, graduate programs in library and information science, numerous
divisions in the American Library Association, the California Preservation
Program, and numerous state and local cultural heritage groups. Nadal
received his Masters degree in Library Science from Indiana University,
Bloomington in 2001 and a Bachelors degree with departmental honors in
Music from the University of Puget Sound in 1998.

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LIS 697-05 : Visual Resources Management
Prof. Johanna Baumann
Monday, 6:30-8:50 pm

This course will cover all aspects of visual resources management,
description, access, and curatorship.  Keeping in mind how best to serve
the needs of users for discovery and access of visual materials,
particularly in digital formats, the course will be geared toward the
acquisition of practical knowledge and cover such topics as: managing
legacy collections and metadata in analog and digital formats; collection
development; metadata schemas, content standards and authorities for art
and non-art images; interface and database design considerations; digital
asset management and preservation workflows; and the history and future of
careers in visual resources.  Readings, lectures, and discussion will be
augmented with hands-on assignments using actual image resources and
cataloging tools, as well as a final project of a larger scope that can
either take a theoretical or practical approach to the material covered in
the course.

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LIS 697-06: Graphic Novels
Prof. Jesse Karp
Tuesday, 6:30-8:50 pm

This course will explore the production of a sequential art narrative from
conception to completion, the evolution of comic strip to comic book to
graphic novel, as well as the social and political trends that guided the
form and were the subject of its commentary over the years.  We will be
examining everything from collection development to readers advisory to
the difference between Japanese manga and the American comic book, with
special weight given to the concerns of public and school libraries.  This
course includes a guest lecture by a comic book writer/artist and a field
trip to a comic book store.  Readings will be capped off with weekly
discussions of historically notable and currently significant graphic
novels and webcomics.

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LIS 697-07: Current Topics for Law Information Professionals
Prof. David Hollander
Monday 3:30-5:50 pm

In this course we will explore and develop skills that are highly
sought-after in today’s library job market.  And while we will focus on
the legal context, many of these topics are useful for librarians working
in all disciplines, especially the social sciences, area studies,
international relations, and academic libraries generally.  We begin by
surveying the academic library literature to get a sense of the issues
engaging (and sometimes roiling) today’s working law librarians.  From
this survey, we will conduct a writing workshop, after which students will
develop a topic of their own about which to write a publishable academic
paper.  We next will learn how to research foreign and international law,
a very in-demand skill in law libraries, which is also important for
librarians supporting area studies and international relations.  We then
turn to the newly-emerging field of empirical legal studies.  Long
important for librarians in the social sciences, empirical or quantitative
reference is becoming increasingly important in other fields, including
law.  We wrap up by taking a look at series of specialized topics, such as
legal records management (relevant to librarians in law firms) and
copyright (relevant to all librarians).  This course will offer students
the opportunity to develop as writers while developing specialized and
marketable areas of knowledge relevant in today’s research environment.