Comments on: How do I choose?

By: What I Learned Today… » Blog Archive » Choosing Classes

What I Learned Today… » Blog Archive » Choosing Classes — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:11:11 +0000

[...] What do you think? I took a lot of advice from comments here and emails I received. Unfortunately several people told me to avoid a certain instructor and I had no choice - I had to take one class taught by him/her - let’s hope it’s not too bad. [...]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 22:06:21 +0000

Hi Nicole,

I’m graduating from Drexel’s MLIS program in two days (yay!), and would actually recommend that you take three foundation courses to begin with: 503, 510, and 640. That is what many of the advisors suggest, and I’m really glad that I did it. It got them out of the way, which was nice because as you move on in the program, you hear more from classmates about which courses are good and you figure out where your interests lie so you can select classes based on that instead of just the course descriptions.

Also, I highly recommend Content Representation–it is by far the most demanding class, but you will learn a lot! Maybe save it for a quarter when you are taking only two classes, if possible. It’s a tough one:z

Good luck!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 13:38:25 +0000

Thanks for the advice - I didn’t see anything that mentioned reading and reviewing books - but I did not get to read through all 26 pages of classes yet either.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:19:12 +0000

I second the suggestion that you take Cataloging- however, I’d move it up to your second term. It’s a foundation class- most information organization systems are built upon the basic principles that cataloging “beats into your brain”. I’ve been a cataloger, system administrator, reference librarian, library manager / director. I am amused to learn repeatedly, that when I have complex decisions to make, I rely on the skills I learned in Cataloging. Take fun classes too! Take a humanities bib class, a reading interests of adults or young adults class; where you read and review books. Welcome to the profession- we’re glad you’re joining us!

By: Iris

Iris — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:57:26 +0000

Cataloging will be one of the most useful courses you take (I’m not a cataloger; I’m a reference librarian). I mean, imagine trying to query a database without knowing what information was in there or how it was entered! Cataloging really helps you move beyond keywords searching.

That said, I’d suggest waiting until you’ve had some of your other courses before taking cataloging. I took it my second-to-last semester in library school, and that seemed to work out perfectly. (I finished school last spring after 4 semesters of work.) I’d had 6 classes to get me used to the vocabulary and theory that my cataloging class used and relied on by didn’t explain. But don’t take it your final term because it’s a LOT of work and you don’t want to have that much on your plate when you’re preparing for your comprehensive exams.

Best of luck!