Welcome to LIBY 1210

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You may not know it, but if you regularly use Google to find stuff on the web, MySpace to keep in touch with friends and family or have personalized your Yahoo homepage, you're already using the kinds of technologies we'll be exploring in this class.

This quarter, we'll use some emerging and (hopefully) fun new information tools that can improve the way you use information at school and in life. In addition to using the traditional "physical" library collection and learning about academic research strategies, we'll be playing around with tools like blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and other methods of accessing and organizing the information you need.

If you are reading this after class one, you know that the course centers around 23 Things (learning tasks), designed by Lori Townsend, another electronic collections librarian, and myself that will help you find, organize, cite and evaluate information.

Here are the "ground rules" for the class:

1. Research-specific topics will be covered extensively during our weekly class meetings, to be held in LIB 2064. However, not all tasks will be covered in class. For those topics that we don't cover in class, you will be given online resources and some basic directions, but I will expect you to figure things out for yourself. You are free to seek help from fellow classmates and individual help from me.

2. Because of the extensive online component, each (required) class session will only meet for the first hour. The second (optional) hour will be reserved for individual help. You may stay and work on your homework in the lab and I'm happy to help as I'll stick around for hour two. Or you may choose to leave. If you encounter any trouble understanding the assignments, I encourage you to stay for the second half of class. I will be available at other times for individual appointments, but I expect you to seek help during class first, if possible.

3. All assignments and announcements will be posted on the LIBY1210-04 blog. Please subscribe to the blog's RSS feed (Week 2, Thing 5).

You will turn in all of your assignments, with the exception of the health information sheet project, via your personal blog (which you will be setting up this week).

4. For some of you, the tasks will contain unfamiliar material and be challenging. I hope that you will regard this as an opportunity to explore and have a little bit of fun. Many of the tasks are designed to introduce you to emerging web trends - I don't expect you to become an expert (but maybe you will!). Just get your feet wet, play, and let me know how things go.

For details about the course schedule, grading, and other policies, please see the links above to Syllabus and Schedule.

-Korey