Comps Notes Spring 2009

• Logistics of exam:
o Exam is put together by an exam committee, made up of 3 faculty members;
 Soliciting suggestions for questions from entire faculty then structures exam. Sometimes, editing what faculty submits for comprehensibility and does not assume knowledge you would not have unless you took an elective.
 The committee is the official committee that the graduate school appoints to oversee the exam
 However, the exam is evaluate by entire committee, double blind read: two people are assigned to read the responses of each of the 5 questions
• 6 people will read your exam
• The 2nd reader does not know what the assessment was of the first reader; no marks, no grades. Two independent judgments for each of the 3 questions you would answer.
• The graduate school sets parameters for what you would do and how you would do it. The school allows you to repeat the exam once if you fail, but no third options.
 The exam’s purpose is for you to integrate everything you know and have experienced in the program. We take an issues oriented format, for example, a current issue or problem and use that as a launching pad to talk about other issues related to it.
• We often allow you to approach the exam from the perspective of a particular emphasis, i.e. public library vs. academic library.
• Generally, the questions do not have a single answer. Instead, they call for your informed opinion or to argue a side.
• To prepare:
o You know more than you think you do.
o You can review class notes
o Good way to study is to review the past exams; if I got this question, how would I approach it
• The most common errors people make when they do not pass it:
o The exam does not assume that all you have taken are the core classes.
o Exam is not pro forma
o Respondent did not answer question; wrote on the subject
 Pay attention to the verbs and do what the question asks you to do
o Length and Depth; not enough there
 How long should an answer be? About an hour per question
• Do not have to be highly detailed but be specific
• Typically, you do not have to cite anyone
o Exception: ALA documents
o Dr. Sineath: I can count on one hand the number of people in 30 years who have failed twice
 You do not have to be registered as a student to take exam over
 You receive feedback from the director, face to face, why you failed the exam
 If any of the 6 readers says any question is not passable, then the 3 member exam committee reviews the entire exam and gives final say
• They can overturn a single reader’s fail mark
• Best approach to taking exam:
o Take a past question and outline it; map it
o During exam, you will be provided scratch paper
o Be precise and clear; no long eloquent writing
 i.e. no story intro; tell 3 or 4 main points you are going to address
 Transitions are key; several paragraphs over one block of text
 If there are 3 distinct questions (in one answer) use subject headers within your response.
 Content is what matters!
o Do not sit down and starting write; take time to think
 Gives you a more coherent response and improves the way you use your time during the exam
• Not attached to exam or considered in grading essay
 The exam is self managed; starts at 9am and ends at 1pm
 Blue book are an option for taking; word processing not mandatory
• Essays saved to desktop, then printed out
• Everyone is given a tracking number for anonymity; only chair committee has that list.
• During process of writing, make sure to save often. No way to recover and there are no backup procedures.
o Word Processor: MS Word 2007
• Results in 2 weeks, though department has yet to take the full two weeks. We may be pressed this time because this is the largest group to sit.
o You will receive a letter from DGS with results
 Will Buntin has them that day in his office; email will follow
 Not allowed to give results over email







SUBJECT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
• You can refer to laws or names to identify, but you do not have to document in the style of a footnote. But don’t assume your reader knows that person’s contribution – do state/explain that process.
• If you approach from a specific setting, do not go as specific as to an instiution.
o What is ok: school library, public library, urban public library, rural public library, academic library, small academic library, large academic library
• Management and issues; do you take one broad issues and apply to all functions or one issue per function?
o One issue per function; cannot put one issue over all of them.
• What specific theories, other than Zipf's Principle of Least Effort, would be helpful in studying the search behavior of users?
o Kulthau’s Information Seeking Process, Dervin’s Sense Making
• As I studied the old comp questions from the Comps WIKI site I noticed a principle mentioned when creating privacy policies called the "Fair Information Practice Principle". Could you describe/explain it...would it be a good principle to draw upon?
o Confusing two things; professors do not what this is referring to.
• My final question has to do with a previous question from 2007. It asks:
Library collections, commercial databases, and the Internet are among the basic avenues for information retrieval. Describe the typical scope and contents of these information sources and compare methods for retrieving information from them. To what extent do they overlap? With examples, illustrate when (under what circumstances) and how (with what particular search strategies) each of the avenues can best be used.
I would be very appreciate of an article or resource journal suggestion to help answer the many questions that should be addressed.
o Scope:
 What does the library have?
 What is that database about?
 The internet – everything!
o Retrieval:
 Subject Headings (Library)
 Thesauri and Controlled Vocabulary (Database)
 Natural Language or Limited Metadata Searching (Internet)
• Issues with attempts to catalog the internet
o Overlap:
 Keyword searching
 Boolean searching
o Examples:
 OPAC
• Public library has mediators (librarians!) to help…
 Commercial databases
 Internet Search Engines
o Questions is asking you to compare and contrast
o Article or Journal Suggestion: 601 and 602 notes
• A public library board in a Georgia community where one in 6 residents are Hispanic recently decided to stop purchasing Spanish language material. If you were a library director, how would you handle this directive? What professional What ALA guidelines would you use…
o First sentence: you do not have to know anything about this case. It is simply providing a vehicle to trigger an idea about something broader.
o 4 questions need to be answered:
 What would you do as library director?
• Speak to public, garner public support in changing perspective of illegal immigrants
 What professional ethics and issues does this raise?
 How would you address them?
 What ALA guidelines would you bring into this discussion?