The University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science requires students to create a portfolio of work, based on established student competencies and learning outcomes. This page provides selected course work for the master’s program in information resources and library science.

Internship

The Child Drama Collection is part of special collections at ASU Libraries. This internship was designed to provide me with practical experience in a special collections library and with processing a new archival collection. The Child Drama Collection is the largest American repository of manuscript materials and books documenting the history of theatre for youth throughout the world. While working with the curator, I completed two accessions, the fully-processed F. Scott Regan Papers, and the Barry Kornhauser Papers, which were processed using minimal processing standards.

Presentations

Barrett, Susan. “Repatriation of Cultural Property,” invited paper for the Knowledge River Research with Respect: Ethical Approaches to Native American Cultural Research and Archival Practices seminar, School of Information Resources and Library Science, Nov. 2010.

Course Work

674 Digital Preservation: course work addressed planning and implementation of major digital preservation projects and how digital technology supports the ways people build knowledge and assign meaning to information. The course covered institutional challenges on managing data, technological formats, short- medium- and long-term administrative and technological challenges, how metadata and XML standards impact the digital environment, and the future of digital preservation. The semester project, DSpace, Fedora and DuraCloud, was an in-depth evaluation of a major digital preservation project. My paper reported on two open-source repositories, Dspace and Fedora Commons, and a collaboration of the two repository systems offering a cloud computing service, called DuraCloud.

651 Information Policy and Cultural Perspectives: indigenous knowledge and the development of culturally responsive moving image archives were the topics for two research papers I completed for this course. In the paper, Indigenous Knowledge and the Long Now, I explored the challenges in selecting, acquiring, preserving and providing access to indigenous knowledge for long-term preservation. The preservation of indigenous knowledge is related to the technologically driven Long Now project, which proposes a distinctly White or Anglo-American view. The second research paper, Moving Image Archives and Cultural Responsibility, addressed the depiction of Native Americans in film and cinema, and how information professionals must strive for balance and inclusion within our collections while exploring their own cultural preconceptions. Paper:

640 Advanced Archives: addressed the implications of appraisal theory on the mission of U.S. and international archives. My final paper, Appraisal in Moving Image Archives, addressed the appraisal of cultural records in moving image archives, how selection is affected by personal bias, and how appraisal and selection impacts attempts to collect a representative collection.

671 Introduction to Digital Collections: course work explored the practical and theoretical principles of knowledge organization, and how collaboration between interdisciplinary teams is working to ensure long-term preservation and access to these repositories. The final paper, Codex Sinaiticus Project, was the analysis of a case example of a new or emerging digital collection. I selected a digital project which virtually reunited the world’s oldest surviving, handwritten Christian bible, the Codex Sinaiticus. The project involved the cooperation and collaboration of four different institutions which currently own four parts of this exceptionally rare and unique artifact. The final paper evaluated the project as a best-practices model of strategic planning for a valuable, culturally sensitive digital repository. The paper explored the state of the existing codex manuscript, and how the project was designed to meet user needs while taking advantage of existing, widely accepted technology.

560 Collection Management: covered collection development and management in all types of libraries and information-based settings. Learn to identify, select, acquire, and evaluate a collection of library resources (e.g., print materials, audiovisual materials, electronic resources) for a community of users. First assignment was an essay, eBook rEvolution, on a trend or issue in collection development. The final assignment was developed in two parts, the first, Evaluation of a Film Library Information Environment, addressed an annotated bibliography of a chosen library type and environment; the second part, Women in American Cinema Opening Day Collection, established an opening day collection for a new library.

540 Introduction to Archives: course materials explored information resource management, services and professional organizations within the archival profession. The practical lessons on appraisal, acquisition, arrangement, description, preservation, and exhibition were applied to diverse perspectives and outreach. The final assignment, Repatriation and Special Collections Archives, addresses the issue of repatriation of cultural artifacts in special collection archives.

520 Ethics for Library and Information Professionals: lessons and discussion topics explored the mission of library and information professionals, cultural relativism, ethical theories, personal rights, censorship and intellectual freedom, access to information, privacy and intellectual property. Diversity and cultural responsiveness is an area of particular interest to me. For the final project, I created a Code of Ethics concerning the repatriation of cultural properties. Preparation of a code of ethics assists in developing policies and procedures to address the sensitive nature of moral claims for cultural property, and the legal and fiduciary responsibility of a special collections archive.