Registration Open for New Librarianship MOOC

The School of Information Studies (iSchool) has opened registration for its second massive open online course (MOOC), the “New Librarianship Master Class.”

“The vision for a new librarianship must go beyond finding library-related uses for information technology and the Internet,” explains Professor R. David Lankes, course architect and instructor. “It must provide a durable foundation for the field.”

The MOOC will examine librarianship and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created through conversation. “New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation,” says Lankes. “Through this course, they will learn how to better capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities.”

Lankes’ book “The Atlas of New Librarianship” will serve as the text for the course, which will feature Lankes and three other iSchool faculty members (Jill Hurst-Wahl, Megan Oakleaf and Jian Qin) as instructors and moderators. MIT Press will provide participants in the course with a 20-percent discount on the book.

The course is available for free online, and begins on July 8. Participation in the course can also lead to continuing education units (CEUs) for an additional fee, or graduate academic credit with additional work and tuition.

To register for the MOOC, visit the New Librarian Master Class web page.

The iSchool’s first MOOC, “A Brief Introduction to Data Science with R,” ran from February to April, and included more than 800 participants.

For information about the credit-bearing options of the “New Librarian Master Class,” including CEUs and graduate credit, contact Vicky Williams, graduate recruiting and marketing manager, at igrad@syr.edu.