USF SLIS: East Coast Connection

Basic Information Sources/Services (6603) is a core class. It's a pre-requisite for many, so it should be one of the first classes taken. Brenenson is actually an FIU librarian, rather than full-time USF faculty, so the classes took place at the Green Library on FIU's campus. This is one of those unfortunate classes that must be taken at least partially in person, because there is no online fully online alternative. I have to admit to being disappointed upon completing this class. I was hoping that it would be an important step on my way to becoming an information wizard, but I don't necessarily feel any more adapt at finding information. I felt that we spent a lot of time focusing on information finding techniques that any undergraduate should know like Boolean logic, and not enough time figuring out how to handle certain types of questions. For example, every week we had an assignment, and the basic premise of the assignment was good. She would give us some sample questions, and we had to look them up, and explain the process. The problem was that I would spend about 30 minutes finding the information, developing the skills I need to become a librarian, and about 6 hours trying to figure out how to explain how I found the information in a way that she would find acceptable, as well as trying to figure out what source she was using to criticize my APA format which was never good enough despite the fact that I was using the APA guide. I recognize the importance of citing my sources, but I think in terms of skills that librarians need, finding information outranks knowing all of the ins and outs of formatting styles. How much energy should I spend trying to figure out if the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedia or a multi-volume reference work, which are of course cited differently. I think the class is off balance, because it places importance on the wrong skills.

Not that any of this matters. In this program we pretty much need to take the classes when we can get them, and I wouldn't recommend avoiding this class anyway, because I don't know if there is a better alternative. It's just that I really want to learn to become an expert at finding information, and I feel as if this class only mildly improved my information finding skills.