WISE courses available for Spring 2007 Term:

1. WISE Libraries: Designing the Public Library of the Future
   Syracuse University
   Spring 2007 Bruce Kingma
   Students learn the principles of "managing as designing" or "design management" to plan the public library of the future. The course will introduce the concept of "management by design," an initiative that seeks to integrate the ideas of design into project management, organizational development, and general business practices. The theory seeks to discover how ideas from design can inform and improve management and how it complements analysis and decision-making as core managerial skills. Students will learn to develop a "design attitude" that allows them to construct the library of the future without regard to constraints, shows them how to work in an interdisciplinary team, and teaches them to construct many possible alternative designs until it is clear which provides the best solution. Designing WISE Libraries will foster new connections between WISE member schools and encourage the sharing of ideas by including a maximum of two or three students from each of the member schools. Students will explore the future of public libraries and librarianship through readings from a variety of disciplines, collaborative assignments, and hands-on design exercises, including an architectural rendering of their library. They will attempt to answer the questions: What will make up the information world of 2030? What does the future hold for the public library? What services can the public library of 2030 offer? What will the public library of 2030 look like? Students will investigate how internal workings, processes, technology, politics, and other considerations relate to the external and internal design of a library building. Course topics include human resources, developing a plan of service(s), technology, budgeting, external and internal building design, and more.
   
   
2. Writing a Life: Biographies and Personal Narratives
   Rutgers University
   Spring 2007 GraceAnne A. DeCandido
    Biographies, autobiographies, diaries, and personal narratives are all ways of telling the narrative of a life. In this course, we will examine how writers take a life lived and turn it into a story. We will read picture books, chapter books, collective biographies, autobiographies, and biographical narratives for young people of all ages. Most titles will be recent (within the past five years). The focus will be on reading widely, and on intense engagement with the texts.
   
   
3. Human Resources Management
   The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
   Spring 2007 Mary Wilkins-Jordan
    An in-depth look at the management of human resources in libraries and other information agencies. Includes topics such as recruitment, hiring, job analysis, performance appraisal, training, and compensation.
   
   
4. Leadership Issues in Management
   The University of Maryland
   Spring 2007 Ann Prentice
   This elective course will be of interest to all students; those who aspire to supervisory roles and those who participate in the activities of the organization under the leadership of another. Upon completion of the course, the student will: be aware of the demographics within the information professions that point toward major leadership changes in the field, be familiar with the components of leadership, understand and apply sound principles of leadership, understand that leadership/followership is a collaborative activity in which those who lead and those who follow work together to achieve goals, and understand the importance of mentoring future leaders. Using a combination of research, current events, and literature, the course will focus on elements of leadership and explore a number of topics basic to the study of leadership. The course will use short stories, novels, and drama as the “case studies” for discussion.\
   
   
5. Business Information
   The University of Illinois
   Spring 2007 Fernando Elichirigoity
   A study of the literature, information sources and reference aids in the area of business. Introduces the student to the U.S. business information environment. Examines the impact of the national economy and international trade on U.S. industries and companies and the nature of various business functions within a company in an attempt to understand what business information is needed and how it may be used by individuals within an organization. Provides a general mapping of the variety of external information sources.
   
   
6. Evaluating Program and Services
   The University of Illinois
   Spring 2007 Debra Johnson
   This course provides both a theoretical base and an application base for the design and conduct of evaluations. The course includes an introduction to evaluation by reviewing history. It also provides a review of several landmark events and theoretical foundations of evaluation. The remainder of the course is focused on designing evaluations that can be applied to real needs that exists in the LIS context. This course will view the LIS context very broadly to include libraries, museums, retrieval system, and other technology based processes. Students will be able to fit the content of this course to their own specialization or work context. Outcome evaluation will be emphasized in the course, but other forms of evaluation will be included.