Practice Exam 2

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island
Comprehensive Examination March 26th, 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. As librarians and information professionals we are called upon to provide the highest level of service and to draw upon the principles in the ALA Code of Ethics and the Library Bill of Rights for guidance. Discuss the process you would go through to solve a dilemma related to acquiring materials in one of the four following categories: religious, political, family values or ethnic/cultural. What principles from the Code of Ethics or Library Bill of Rights would you use to develop a strategy to communicate why the materials should be included for a library type of your choice (school, academic, public, or special)?
   
2. In Introductory Concepts in Information Science, Melanie Norton says with regards to information flow within the organizational hierarchy:

   "Typically, until the advent of modern information technology, this was a relatively inflexible hierarchical channel through which information flowed, or sometimes trickled, dependent upon one's position the channel. The role of the individual or group within the organization fairly well dictated the level, quality, and character of the information access available."

   How has the advent of digital technologies had an effect on the flow of information within the hierarchical organization of libraries and information services? Explain and provide an example to show why the flow of information within the organization is still the same or how it has changed.

APPLICATIONS

1. The GSLIS Vision Statement states that our graduates will be "able to foster the development of literacy and information literacy skills." Since the publication of the Final Report by the American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy (ALA, 1989), much has been written about information literacy in various libraries including school, academic and public libraries and incorporating a variety of literacies including visual, media, computer, digital and network literacies. For a library of your choice develop a plan for a literacy or information literacy program. Be sure to include the principles that would guide you as you design the program, the approach for delivery, and the assessment plan.
   
2. Libraries and information service centers are always introducing new services. When these new services are introduced, they may not be used by some for whom they were intended. Discuss a plan for how you might use diffusion of innovation theory to help market a new service of your library or information service center to the widest possible number of patrons.

CURRENT ISSUES

1. The RI Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report challenging Rhode Island Libraries access to Internet resources as more restrictive than the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires. In other words, RI Libraries were accused of using Internet filtering software that blocks "constitutionally protected material" and denying adults in RI access to these resources. Thus, RI CLAN Libraries revised their Internet use policy after the ACLU issued its report. The ACLU, however, remains concerned that some libraries in RI may still be over blocking access to websites. As a Rhode Island Library, what policies would you create to ensure both compliance with CIPA law and to ensure access to Internet sites that are "constitutionally protected" for adults in RI?
   
2. In the October 2005 issue of American Libraries , Michael Gorman, ALA President, wrote in his President's column his outrage with the attempted closing of libraries in Salinas, California and the reduction of public library staff and branch libraries, but most importantly, he argued that School Libraries and School Librarians are indispensable and essential if we are going to have an information literate and informed citizenry in our democratic society. Identify a type of library and write a well-defended essay on the need to maintain library services for a population of your choice and create a marketing plan to ensure that your type of library will remain viable in the future. How are you going to build grassroots support?