Practice Exam 3

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island
Comprehensive Examination, July 8th, 2006.

Instructions:

Please do not write your name on any booklets. Instead, write the number assigned by your proctor on each blue booklet. You must answer ONE question from each section (I, II, and III) for a total of THREE questions. Please put the section number (I, II, or III) and the question number (1 or 2) for the question you answered on the outside of each blue booklet. You have four hours in which to complete the examination. You may leave whenever you complete the exam and you must give the booklets to the proctor before leaving the room.

PHILOSOPHY OR THEORY

1. "The third place" is a phrase coined by Oldenburg to identify the place between work and home, where people can just hang out. Dom Nozzi, an urban designer, summarizes the importance of "the third place" as well as some of the elements of a welcoming third place as:

   "They are distinctive informal gathering places, they make the citizen feel at home, they nourish relationships and a diversity of human contact, they help create a sense of place and community, they invoke a sense of civic pride, they provide numerous opportunities for serendipity, they promote companionship, they allow people to relax and unwind after a long day at work, they are socially binding, they encourage sociability instead of isolation, they make life more colorful, and they enrich public life and democracy."

   Some insightful librarians have defined libraries as "the third place" where cultural, informational, and recreational needs of the community are met. In a thoughtful essay discuss the philosophy of a library of your choice as "the third place."
   
2. When you buy something with your credit card or use your ID card at the grocery store, businesses add the data to a database about your buying habits. When you use your speed pass to pass through a tollgate on a highway, the government can track your travels. Also, whatever you access in a library can be traced via RFID or online tracks. When you visit commercial or government sites on the Internet, your travels on the Internet may be tracked and stored. These are just a few examples of how information about you is gathered and stored by corporations and government. Does the individual gain more from this system or lose more than is gained? Are the predictions that George Orwell made in "1984" coming true today or do these vast databases provide information that improves our lives? How does it impact libraries and information services? Take a side and justify your stand.

APPLICATIONS

1. In response to a need for preparing librarians to deliver information literacy instruction, URI-GSLIS has just launched a new certificate program in Information Literacy Instruction. Although the library profession recognizes the need to teach information literacy standards K-20 in schools and academic libraries, the task to create information literate adults who are life-long learners is daunting. For a library of your choice identify how you will meet the information literacy needs of your diverse library users. What programs will you offer and how will you deliver and assess them?
   
2. In order to take advantage of economies of scale and convergence of common interests to enhance existing programs, universities are combining units into focus areas such as "Schools of Communication" by incorporating library and information schools, communication studies, informational technology, and media studies into "Schools of Communication." The goal of universities in forming these new schools is not only to enhance the visibility of programs but also to raise funds and market these new "Schools". Develop a mini strategic plan that includes a mission statement, two goals, two objectives for each goal, and action plans for each objective to create a collaborative leading edge "School of Communication" that will enhance the academic importance of the library and information school by creating opportunities for graduates in the emerging markets.

CURRENT ISSUES

1. Homeless advocates in Dallas question the fairness of an updated behavior policy that bans patrons from the public library when "emitting odors" (including bodily odors or perfumes) which interfere with use of services by other users or the work staff." This policy, which also applies to city recreation centers, has been approved by a city council subcommittee; it is reportedly consistent with policies in other cities and with "a 1992 Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that designated public libraries as a limited public forum" ( American Libraries , February 2006). In law, the phrase "public forum" applies to places like streets and town meeting rooms, where First Amendment rights are protected against government action; a "limited public forum" is created when public property "has been specifically opened by the state for expressive activity by the general public" (http://www.ncac.org/artlaw/top-pubforum.html), and rules governing the "limited public forum" are meant to ensure freedom of expression. In a thoughtful essay, please discuss the implications of a "limited public forum" for intellectual freedom in a library of your choice. What (if any) other public interests need to be considered, in addition to intellectual freedom when implementing a limited public forum as well as an "odor" policy? Which interests are most important, and why? How should your library frame its policy on use of a library of your choice as "a limited public forum" and how would you as library spokesperson explain your policies to your library community?
   
2. Librarians are often urged to be "more entrepreneurial" and "think outside the box," but rules on the stewardship of government property can make that difficult. Adam Romanik, a Pennsylvania high school librarian, was fired two years ago because he sold the school's discarded issues of National Geographic on eBay for $325, added $300 of his own money, and (also on eBay) bought the school six computers (still in use). He was charged with "library theft and misapplication of entrusted property." His record has recently been cleared (in spite of the DA's argument that "future school districts would not know what they were getting into" if they hired him), but hasn't been able to find another library job. Imagine that you are on a library association committee, charged with explaining the association's position in a newspaper editorial and/or a TV interview. How would you evaluate the ethics of Mr. Romanik's action, and the ethical justification for the legal regulations invoked against him? What actions would you propose that the library association should take as a result of this incident?