Current Courses

Information Services and Resources

This is the core 'Intro to Reference' course for graduate-level LIS programs which covers concepts of reference service in both real and virtual environments. The course introduces the selection and evaluation of resources in all formats, the development of searching techniques, strategies for user-centered service, matching user needs to resources and the provision of information services in changing technological environments.

For this course, students participate in a learning management system based on Moodle technology.

• Taught at Pratt Institute School of Library and Information Science since Fall 2009.

Web 2.0 for Information Professionals
With the advent of Web 2.0, an explosion of new social software tools has emerged enabling users to create, organize, share, and collaborate in an online space. Today's Web users are organizing their favorite bookmarks, collaborating on shared documents, cataloging their personal collections, and sharing their information with others. This hands-on course explores the features and functionality of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, RSS, social bookmarking, media sharing, tagging and folksonomies and more. We look at how libraries are implementing these various tools as well as their potential uses.

For this course, students participate in a custom-developed social networking community created using Drupal technology. Each student has their own detailed user profile and blog, can upload videos, photos, tag items, bookmark items, chat in chat rooms, sign up for events on the course calendar, send private messages, add buddies, and subscribe via RSS feeds. A series of 6 3-minute webcasts teach students how to utilize the website. Online-only courses are taught using screencasts and video lectures such as the one below.

Intro from Ellyssa Kroski on Vimeo.

• Taught at Pratt Institute SILS in NYC since Summer 2008.
• Taught at San Jose State University SLIS online since Summer 2008.
• Taught at Long Island University's Palmer School of Library Science in NYC since Fall 2007.

The Open Movement and Libraries

"Openness" which has become a hallmark of the new Web has long been a mission in libraries. The philosophy of free and open access to information and technology has become a critical subject for information and technology leaders and practitioners. This course explores the role and participation of library science and librarians in this movement. This course gives an overview of open-source technologies (such as content management systems and ILS programs) which are being used by libraries today, as well as exploring the open access movement which advocates free online access to scholarly research and journal articles. During the course we also discuss open Education, open conferences, and open licenses (like GPL and Creative Commons). This practical knowledge is taught with an eye towards students understanding the implications of open access and what it means for libraries and librarians. Students create and publish in a peer-reviewed open-access journal issue by the end of the course.

For this course, students participate in a custom-developed social networking community created using Drupal - an open source content management system. Each student has their own detailed user profile and blog, can upload videos, photos, tag items, bookmark items, chat in chat rooms, sign up for events on the course calendar, send private messages, add buddies, and subscribe via RSS feeds. A series of 6 3-minute webcasts teach students how to utilize the website.

I have made the course plan and all materials from this course openly available under a Creative Commons license, including audio interviews with "Open" experts such as Jimmy Wales, Peter Suber and others:

• Abbreviated version scheduled at Simmons College for February 2009.
• Taught at San Jose State University SLIS online since Fall 2008.
• Abbreviated version taught at METRO, November 2008.