2002 Final Exams Questions
April 5, 2002
ANSWER 3 OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS, EACH IN A SEPARATE EXAM BOOKLET. PLACE
THE QUESTION NUMBER ON THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE EXAM BOOKLET. DO NOT PUT
YOUR NAME ON THE EXAM BOOKLET ITSELF.
1. Recently at least one state government has dropped a prohibition
against the charging of fees for public libraries. Should libraries
charge fees for “premium” services? Do all need to be free, or just ones
that are relatively inexpensive to provide. In your answer provide arguments
on all sides of this issue.
2. What is the potential effect of filtering software (or other blocking
technologies) on the “haves” versus the “have-nots” in our society? Does
filtering widen the Digital Divide in the U.S.? Discuss these questions
in light of our professional commitment to intellectual freedom and equity
of access.
3. How would you define a “digital library”? Is the Internet itself
an effective digital library? What would you identify as the primary challenges
for the organization of, and access to, digital information?
4. What does the information professional need to know? From the perspective
of a type of information agency and job function (e.g., academic library
reference, public library children’s services, a corporate information
architect), describe specific, essential elements of an information professionals
knowledge base at the start of the 21STcentury.
5. In many parts of the U.S., the population is becoming more diverse.
For example, in Kentucky the Hispanic and Asian American populations have
increased 200% or more during the last decade. With such rapid increases
in diversity, libraries have experienced a change in their communities
of users. As a manager of a library, discuss the following:
A. Two major strategies you would employ for working with users of different
racial, cultural and language backgrounds, and
B. What factors you would consider in developing those strategies,
including any potential barriers that you or your libraries might face.
July 12, 2002
1. The USA PATRIOT Act, quickly passed soon after 9/11, broadly expands
law enforcement's surveillance and investigative powers. Libraries have
increasingly become involved in requests for what has traditionally been
treated as confidential information about patron library use, including
circulation records, Internet sign up sheets, and computer logs that track
all Internet activities of a user. What are the ethical implications of
this act for libraries? What specific elements of the ALA code of ethics
would be applicable? What local policy implications might this legislation
have? As a new professional, how would you personally respond to a visit
from a federal agent seeking such records?
2. In the March issue of Library Journal, Roy Tennant of the California
Digital Library decried the shortage of what he calls "digital librarians".
He maintains that an understanding of underlying computer and information
technologies is crucial to good public service at all levels in libraries.
What specific skills and knowledge do you think are needed for today's
digital librarian? Identify and discuss three current or emerging technologies
or technology standards that you would identify as likely to be increasing
importance to libraries in the next decade and explain how they will impact
delivery of information and services to the public.
3. Staffing is generally considered one of the primary functions of
library management. What kinds of activities are typically a part of the
staffing function? From the perspective of a type of library of your choice
(academic, school, public. special, etc.) discuss how development of the
last twenty years (both inside and outside libraries) have impacted the
staffing function in library management.
4. Traditional reference service has historically been one of the primary
information services offered by libraries. What is tradition reference
serve? The profession is currently engaged in a debate regarding the future
of this service in libraries. Some professionals, typically administrators
and those involved in the development of digital reference serve, believe
that traditional reference service will become increasingly less important
over the next decade. Others, typically professionals who are currently
involved in the delivery of traditional reference serve, believe that the
service is important now and will be important in the future. What arguments
are offered by each of the groups to support their belief regarding the
future of traditional reference service?
5. In their book entitled ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE, Rowley and Farrow state:
“The need for some kind of bibliographic control over networked resources
has become acute with the burgeoning of the WWW. There are a number of
metadata formats in existence, and the current situation is volatile.”
(p.49) Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not? Select one of
the available metadata schemes and discuss: 1) the purpose of the scheme
(WHY); 2) the user community (WHO); 3) the major elements in the scheme
(WHAT); and 4) the application of the scheme (HOW). In addition, compare
the selected metadata scheme with the traditional bibliographic control
tool Anglo-American Cataloging Rules/MARC21 in terms of their purpose or
intended use and their main elements.
November 22, 2002
1. Team-based management has become a major trend in many organizations
today. Describe what team-based management means and discuss some important
benefits that team-based management has brought to historically hierarchical,
bureaucratic libraries.
2. What are user-based information services? From the perspective
of a type of library or information center of your choice (e.g. public
academic, school, special, etc.) discuss what we have learned from existing
studies and models that explain the information needs and information seeking
behaviors of a user group that the library serves, and that would assist
you in providing user-centered information services.
3. Most information retrieval systems rely on probabilistic models
of full text retrieval. Describe in general how such systems operate (e.g.,
to determine relevance, rank output, etc.). Discuss some of the problems
of language that such systems present to users and how these problems can
be overcome.
4. A primary role of libraries in our society has been to provide
their clients with physical access to information recourses that they use
to satisfy information needs. Historically, this role has been accomplished
almost exclusively by libraries through the development of on-site, print
collections of information resources. Describe how this basic library strategy
of providing physical access to information resources has changed over
the last 30 years and discuss low libraries are likely to fulfill this
role in the future.
5. Identify a particular type of library or information agency
setting and discuss two ethical issues that exist in this setting and which
the ALA Code of Ethics addresses. Describe the setting you have chosen,
explain the ethical dimensions of the identified issues, and discuss how
you would address these issues in that institutional setting.
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