INLS 501: Information Resources and Services
From Pomerantz
"The answer is inconsequential. It's how we go about finding the answer." -- Allen Smith
Contents |
Course description
This course will address sources, services, and systems for providing reference and information service in libraries and information centers. We will examine, create, and evaluate reference sources in a variety of formats. You will gain experience with using, providing, and evaluating reference services in a variety of media.
The course is divided roughly into the following areas:
- Overview of the reference function and the role of libraries;
- The history and future of reference service;
- Major categories of information tools;
- Structure, access, and evaluation of information tools;
- Reference collection development;
- Question negotiation;
- Search skills and search strategy; and
- Evaluation of reference services.
INLS 501 is an introduction to reference sources and services, broadly construed. If you are interested in reference work in specific environments, SILS offers a variety of courses: INLS 703, 704, & 705, 708, 709, and others.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, students will:
- Be able to identify appropriate information sources and search tools for various types of information needs, and
- Use these sources and tools effectively,
- Evaluate information sources and search tools for quality,
- Evaluate information sources and search tools for relevance to their own information needs,
- Understand the steps of the reference transaction, including question negotiation and search strategy development,
- Be able to create documents for indirect reference.
Instructor
Jeffrey Pomerantz Associate Professor School of Information and Library Science Office: 306 Manning Hall Office hours: Tu/Th 11-12:30 Email: pomerantz@unc.edu Phone: 962-8064 Website: http://ils.unc.edu/~jpom Blog: http://www.ibiblio.org/pomerantz/blog/ Twitter: @jpom
Textbook & reading
There is one required text for this course:
Bopp, Richard E. and Linda C. Smith. (2001). Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, 3rd ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Available in the bookstore and on reserve in the SILS library.
Additional reading
Reference is a central function of libraries, and as a result a lot gets written about it. Bopp & Smith is the textbook that we use in this course, but another good text is the two-volume work by Katz:
Katz, William A. (2002). Introduction to Reference Work, Volume I: Basic Information Sources. 8th Ed. New York: McGraw‑Hill.
Katz, William A. (2002). Introduction to Reference Work, Volume II: Reference Services and Reference Processes. 8th Ed. New York: McGraw‑Hill.
And there are several journals dedicated to reference, including:
- Reference & User Services Quarterly (RUSA's journal, formerly titled RQ (Reference Quarterly))
- Reference Services Review
- The Reference Librarian
Assignments
Question Answering and Source Evaluation
Internet Public Library
Social Q&A
Liaison Librarianship
Grading rubric & other policies
See my course grading rubric.
See my course policies.
Schedule

