Book Torrent: Information Studies in the 21st Century

REVISED

Fall 2011 and Winter 2012 quarters

Faculty

Julianne Unsel U.S. history

Fields of Study

history, literature and media studies

Preparatory for studies or careers in

education, history, library and information science, media studies

Description

What is the past and future of books in academic publishing and library collections today? How are human capacities altered by the use of books in comparison to other media and formats? What is the past and future of books as a medium for teaching and learning? How do print and electronic book formats compare in their utility and power for undergraduate scholarship and research?  How do they compare in their capacities for the formation, presentation, and preservation of knowledge?

This program will partner students with Evergreen library faculty and staff to engage these and related questions through organized academic coursework (theory) and through an in-program internship within the Evergreen library (practice). The academic component will include seminar classes and research options in the history of print media, electronic media, and the book form. Students and faculty will experiment with and test a range of state-of-the-art e-book formats and e-readers. All e-texts and e-readers will be provided for student use by the college.

Internship work will provide opportunities for students to contribute to a two-year project by library faculty and staff which will begin in Fall. The project is for the modernization and reinvention of the library and its policies, procedures, and collections in context of the capacity for scholarly work with and across various information and communication media. Students will choose and design specific work assignments within current and ongoing library operations, planning activities for the immediate and long-term future of the library, and intellectual discussion and exploration of possible futures for academic libraries and learning more generally.

The academic and in-program internship components of this program will maintain thematic emphasis on the place of the library in its direct support of the college curriculum, its role in shaping the interdisciplinary pedagogy of the college, and its own character as a coordinated studies teaching institution within the college.

Academic Website

http://blogs.evergreen.edu/booktorrent/

Academic Website

http://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2011-2012/booktorrent/web/main_page.html

Location

Olympia

Online Learning

Enhanced Online Learning

Books

Greener Store

Internship Required

Fall and winter: planning activities and work exchange in the college library

Research Possibilities

Fall and winter: academic libraries, digital humanities, electronic publishing and history of knowledge

Offered During

Day and Evening

Program Revisions