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ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS |
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE |
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Students enrolled in courses offered by the Communication Department and specifically those majoring in this subject, hope to obtain jobs in advertising and promotional communication, training and human relations, management, sales, or video production. The four specializations offered by the department that support these career objectives are:
A certain portion of the titles selected for this discipline address the fundamentals of managing communication, and will address such subjects as communication research and communication theories, gender-specific aspects of communication, and cultural influences on communication. Other resources will discuss the practice of communication in the formal organizational setting, organizational processes within small groups, and the critically important segment of interpersonal communication, including the important role played by the development of effective listening and conflict-resolution skills. Titles selected in the area of organizational communication will explore such specific subjects as:
The second major category of titles selected for the discipline of communication will focus more specifically on the creative aspects of effective message construction, particularly as they may be applied to the advertising sector, the communication of product and marketing information, and the writing of persuasive copy. Books related to advertising, media planning and strategy, and marketing communications can be readily identified in the collection, a significant portion of which have been acquired by the librarian-selector for the School of Business or recommended by a member of the faculty in the School of Business. In addition, resources that examine high profile advertising campaigns, both past and present, are always sought for the collection as case studies, and work effectively to support the unique but related needs of both the Communication and Marketing Departments. The last category of resources selected to support the needs of the Communication Department, is focused on the creative category of video production, which necessitates the acquisition of resources for the collection that address elements of:
Due to the heavy technological emphasis found in this portion of the program, the Buley Library must work diligently to replace outdated resources with material that reflects the latest technological innovations in film making and production techniques. In addition to the acquisition of timely book material that addresses these subjects, students at Southern benefit significantly from the acquisition of a large number of film and television shows on DVD, housed in the Buley Library's Learning Resource Center. Members of the teaching faculty freqently utilize these resources in the classroom to demonstrate how production elements can be used to achieve a desired effect, as well as to explore how the elements of film and video production are used to create a message from the creator's viewpoint. Dr. Susan Clerc is the Buley librarian-liaison to the Communication Department, a role she has had since 2001. In this capacity, she works closely with Dr. Linda Sampson, the Communication Department's designated liaison to the Buley Library. Computer Science Department The Computer Science Department offers a curriculum that is based upon algorithms, data structures and the basic principles of programming languages and computer architecture; therefore, the library has developed a solid collection to support each of these subject categories and has made some excellent acquisitions in such topical areas as:
It is also critical for the Library to obtain revised editions in a timely manner, and to replace obsolescent resources with updated material that reflects the lastest technological innovations. Tim Klassen, who was the Librarian-Liaision to the Computer Science Department from 2004-2008, worked with Dr. John DuPonte, the department's designated liaison to the library, to ensure the timely acquisition of new resource material. In the fall of 2008, Este Pope, Systems Librarian for the Buley Library, became the librarian-selector for the Computer Science Department. General topics in computing are addressed by the CIS 101 course, entitled Introduction to Computers and Applications, which covers topics like the:
The library attempts to buy selectively in all of these subjects at a level that is appropriate to introductory study of these subjects, and plans to place additional emphasis on the subject of computer ethics, at all levels, due to the importance placed on this subject by the Computer Science Department. Targeted acquisitions on this subject also support the important initiatives of the Philosophy Department in its operation of the Research Center on Computing and Society at the university. Lastly, due to the necessity for all students, regardless of discipline, to be well-versed in Internet terminology and the mechanics of using the Internet, the Library has made numerous acquisitions that address Internet basics and topics like Internet security, competing in an "internetworked world,", and Web design. To support those courses in our undergraduate program that require the writing of web-based applications, a number of titles have also been purchased that focus on web publishing, addressing subjects like XML programming, multimedia, and Java as they apply to web page development. The Computer Science Collection at the Buley Library has been completed by the acquisition of a significant number of third-party published guidebooks and manuals, which are defined as those published by organizations other than the manufacturer or distributor of the software. Principal publishers of these manuals include O'Reilly, Peachpit Press and Que Publishing. Computer guidebooks and manuals are designed to help users resolve the challenges that inevitably arise during the process of learning new software packages, mastering the intricacies of a new Web programming language, or gaining increased proficiency with Web editors like Dreamweaver and Frontpage. To simplify the identification and borrowing of these resources, as well as to facilitate updating, the former Systems Librarian at the Buley Library, Tim Klassen, developed a focused collection of these resources, known as the Information Technology Collection. This collection can be found on the first floor of the Buley Library, to the right of the Reference Desk. Resources found here circulate for a period of one week, with one renewal. This small print IT collection for desktop applications is designed not to grow to more than about 250 titles. As new editions are published, older editions are quickly removed to retain the currency and utility of this collection. However, in the summer of 2008, the Buley Library began supplementing this small print collection by also offering access to the Safari Tech ebooks product. Safari gives the researcher 24/7 electronic access to titles in computer science, with a lesser number of titles in a variety of business fields, including business communications. Selections from the "Missing Manual Series" and the "In a Nutshell Series," will be familiar titles to users of desktop computing applications. Books in the Safari Tech eBooks collection are linked directly from the CONSULS Catalog, and the product is also directly accessible as a database choice from the Library's Home Page. Additional areas of study in the Computer Science Program include database design, computer graphics, and artificial intelligence, with timely book acquisitions made in each of these subject categories. Information and Library Science Department The foundations of librarianship at Southern Connecticut State University are addressed by the Information and Library Science Department program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; therefore, a significant number of titles can be identified in the collection that address various facets of information services, user services, and technical services as they are practiced in a variety of library settings. A segment of the library's resources are targeted to a discussion of library resources and services within a specific type of library: school media center, academic library, special library or public library; while other resources may be focused on specific segments of library users, including children, adolescents, adults, or special groups. A solid emphasis in the Information and Library Science Program continues to be placed on helping students to acquire a command of resources in a specific subject discipline. This has resulted in numerous acquisitions for the Bibliography section of the Buley Library. Resources in the Bibliography section provide an introduction to reference sources, periodical resources and special collections in the Humanities; Social Sciences; Business; Science and Technology; Medical; and Legal disciplines, as well as the Government Documents sector. Both print and digital resources are profiled. Significant resources have also been acquired that address the subjects of library automation, computer-mediated communication (CMC), and the unique challenges posed by the managment of electronic resources and services in libraries of all sizes and types. The unparalleled growth of digital libraries in the last decade is increasingly documented in the collection, as is the expanding role for distance learning in the contemporary school and academic library setting, and the role of the Internet and commercial search engines as legitimate reearch tools. As expected, no Library Science Collection could be complete without some portion of resources that address key aspects of the history of the book, the rise of publishing, and the fundamentals of materials preservation for archival purposes. Lastly, high quality titles that address the art of storytelling and the value of storytelling as an educational tool now constitute a significant and fascinating section of the Buley Library collections. These are important resources for those students studying to become teachers or school media specialists, who are interested in the art of storytelling and the use of stories in developing literacy in the primary grades, as well as the subject of interdisiplinary learning and the development of character education through storytelling. Storytelling resources in all formats have also been acquired for the Children's Literature or Juvenile Collections, including fairy tales, folklore, folk songs, parables, legends, fables and sagas. Both the Oral Tradition specialization and the combined MLS/Certification Program for School Media Specialists, continue to benefit from the Buley Library's extensive Children's Book Award Program. This program ensures receipt of approximately 600 award-winning titles each year in the children's and young adult categories. Any librarian on the staff of the Buley Library may recommend acquisitions in the area of Information and Library Science; however Carol Skalko is the official designated Buley librarian-liaison to the Department of Information and Library Science, and works collaboratively with the department's official library liaison, Nancy Disbrow. In addition to the custom selection of titles in library and information science, the Buley Library maintains standing order subscriptions to those book and journal publications bearing the imprint of the American Library Association (ALA), as well as many of its specialized divisions dealing with libraries of all types. Journalism Department The Journalism Department emphasizes information gathering and writing skills in its program, with a focus on the specialized areas of:
Underlying these specialized areas is a need to understand the basics of journalism and to conduct research on such specialized journalism topics as:
Nancy Bobrek, the Buley librarian-liaison for the Journalism program, collaborates with members of the Journalism teaching faculty and Frank Harris, the designated liaison to the library from the Journalism Department, to acquire resources on all of the above subjects. Currently, the collection shows strength in its coverage of reporters and reporting, including profiles of famous American and international journalists, books that offer guidelines for writing, and titles that discuss the critically important subject of media bias and message control. Newer areas of interest in the journalism area requiring additional acquisitions for the collection include: the challenges posed by the rise of online journalism and the preparation of news for the web, the role of news blogs and their relationship to more conventional journalism techniques, and increasing concerns over media ethics and the role of "media spin." |
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