As I head towards the end of my time at FIMS at an ever-quickening rate, I have lots of occasion to think back on the classes I've taken here. Although it may appear that I do a lot of criticism of various aspects of the program on this blog (this is true – at least partly – because it's easier to criticize than to compliment), this is also because I honestly care about this program. Why do I feel like this, especially since I'm only here for a year? I think it's because I've chosen to come here and so I want this program to be the best it can be, not only for myself, but for those who are here with me and those who come after me. (I think that's a good motto for life: “Try to leave any place you're at better when you leave it than when you arrived at it.”)
With all of this in mind, here's a list I've been contemplating for the last few days – what would be my “ideal” program based on instructors who I've found to be excellent, courses I've found to be useful and strategies for combining all of this to be the most effective. (One professor referred to it as your “constellation of courses” which I thought had a very poetic ring to it.)
I don't intend this to be a slight on anyone I don't mention or discuss, either professors I have had or those who I only know about. This is supposed to be an attempt to celebrate the best that this program has to offer – a compliment instead of a criticism you might say.
Required Courses
501 – Perspectives on Library and Information Science (Sam Trosow)
– Trained as both a lawyer and a librarian (and holding a joint appointment in both faculties), Professor Trosow is extremely intelligent and also extremely political – something I appreciated although not all of my classmates did. I really can't think of anybody who would be better at giving us an introduction to the underpinnings and important issues of the library world. Hell, he understands both copyright AND the WTO – how amazing is that? 
502 – Organization of Information – Elisabeth Davies
– perhaps the best professor I had at FIMS. And it was for “cataloging” to boot which probably isn't high on most people's lists of exciting courses. Strangely though, I've heard nothing but good things about most of the cataloging profs here – Grant Campbell is highly regarded as is Gloria Leckie.
503 – Information Sources and Services – Jennifer Noon
– I didn't have Professor Noon but have heard she is pretty amazing as a professor (although also a love her/hate her-type professor.) One former student's thoughts are very revealing: “I went to co-op interviews and they kept asking me all these hard questions and I kept coming up with answers that I didn't realise I knew. After the interview, I thought about it and it was all stuff I'd learned in Jennifer Noon's 503 class.”
504 – Research Methods and Statistics – Pam McKenzie
– another professor I didn't have but who has an excellent reputation as an instructor. (I was fortunate enough to have Elisabeth Davies for both 502 and 504 but didn't think it was fair to list her twice.)
505 – Information Systems and Technology – no one
– This course is a perennial problem for students because of the range of technology skills that people come in with and the fact that it simply doesn't seem to keep up with the pace of technological advance. I have recommended to more than one new student to get an exemption if you have any level of computer skills. Seriously. It was extremely basic in my opinion and at least half a dozen people in my class agreed with me. This strategy also serves the dual-purpose of allowing you take another upper-level course (although I think it has to be a technology one if you get a 505 exemption – but you'll still learn more.)
506 – Management – new person
– I really don't know the reputations of many of the management professors here at FIMS as the instructor we had was someone who came in as a one-time summer sessional from the States. But I was talking to a colleague who thought it might be interesting to hire a librarian currently working in the field to teach this course as they could share timely, real-life examples.
That's the six required courses you have to take. Now for your nine electives (apparently, the ratio used to be inverted – nine required courses and six electives. It's always a topic of debate whether something like collection development should be a required course and in that case, I personally think that it probably should be. I don't know what the other required ones were in the past though.)
For my nine “ideal” electives, I'm going to list excellent classes I took, classes I heard were excellent from other people and wish I took, or ones that I don't know a lot about but sound intriguing.
Electives
525 – Managing Internet Information – Gord Nickerson
– Gord does an amazing job at making technology accessible for those without a lot of computer background but also keeping it interesting for those with advanced skills. Lots of useful information in this course too. Plus he always brings it back to libraries which is important too – how can libraries use blogs? How can libraries use RSS?
566 – Children's Literature – Lynne McKechnie
– having Lynne come to our “Public Libraries in the Community” class today was part of what inspired me to do this post now. She is another one of the amazing instructors that FIMS has and I couldn't recommend this class highly enough to anyone and everyone. Seriously, even if you hate children or never want to go near a public library, there's probably a good chance that you were a reader as a child and this class will bring back so many memories and put you in touch with why you love books in the first place.
(The following are a sort of “Baseline Trilogy” of electives in my mind that allow you to cover the three main areas of librarianship. Initially, my plan was to take nothing but public library courses but scheduling and other factors led me to take one academic-focused and one special library-focused course. But in the end, both really helped give me a solid understanding of those types of libraries as well as a broader understanding of libraries in general.)
645 – Management of Special Libraries – Rob Craig
– I have to admit that I signed up for this course after hearing it was “everything 506 should be but better” since our 506 instructor wasn't that great. Rob, as with so many of my best professors in this program, has practical experience (he works in the special library of a local insurance company – hmm, I wonder which one it could be here in London?). The assignments are all very practical as you build towards a theoretical special library outlining a information needs assessment, a collections development strategy, staffing & budgeting issues and finally designing the actual physical layout of your library. (The only experience we'll really get with space planning unfortunately – a very easily disregarded/overlooked subject in library schools I think.)
613 – Public Libraries in the Community – Carmen Sprovieri
– Carmen is simply a dynamo. She had years of experience doing all kinds of work in the London Public Library system and is very able to bring that knowledge to the classroom. Probably the class that feels most like “home” to me if that makes sense.
766 – Collections Development in Academic Libraries – Denise Horoky
– although it focused on academic libraries, this was a very useful class for anybody interested in collections development in any type of library. (I've heard the instructor for plain-old “Collections Development” works in an academic library so you end up getting that slight bias there anyhow.) One thing the other class does that would have made this course just a bit better is to actually develop a theoretical collection – a very practical exercise. Denise, as I've mentioned on this blog before, was excellent at bringing her real-world knowledge into the classroom and also having a lot of guest speakers to provide a broad range of perspectives.
765 – Advocacy for Libraries – Wendy Newman
– like the student above who constantly referred to 503 in interviews, I think the Advocacy class I'm in this semester might fill a similar role for me in my own applications (at least the ones I've sent out so far.) Being a distance course makes it a bit more challenging than I think it would've been in person but this is balanced by the opportunity to get to know some of the FIS students at U of T who are taking the class jointly.
532 – Shaping of News and Information Through Technology – David Spencer
– it's really easy in a professional program like this one to get caught in a trap of only taking courses that have direct practical application or that will “help get you the job.” I think it's very important to take more theoretical-based courses that have, maybe a heavier, “deeper” reading load than some other classes but which will give you lots of great, thought-provoking discussion as well. I was going to try to not mention any professor twice but Political Economy of Information with Sam Trosow is a doctoral course that's also open to MLIS students and is one that I think Sabina cited as one of her absolute favourites from her time at FIMS – a pretty high recommendation indeed.
697 – Independent Study – Any Professor
– as tends to happen in my life sometimes, I just sort of fell into doing an independent study this summer with Lynne McKechnie and it turned out to be one of the best overall experiences of my time at FIMS. Although it can be intimidating for some people to have to be a self-starter and take the initiative to do all kinds of work and research yourself, the rewards are endless. Wendy Newman, who teaches Advocacy, advises that every one working in libraries should work to become a ranking-expert in a certain area related to librarianship. An independent study can go a long way to making this happen.
650 – Information Entrepreneurship – Larry MacKinnon
– this choice is probably surprising to anyone who knows me, knows my politics and knows my beliefs (which I'm not too shy about sharing.) But the reality is that our society is a capitalistic one and having more knowledge about how businesses start-up, how they're run, how to write a business plan and so on is a very useful thing to know, even if you have no plans of leaving the public or non-profit sector. (Plus I have this idea for a company where anybody can upload videos to a web site that I think might have some potential as a business…)
[Edit: 2007-03-20 – got some feedback in the comments that “Info Entrepreneurship” was a
horrible class. Part of me wants to say “Well, in FIMS, it's almost inevitable to have at least one class that you think will be good but that turns out not to be so I'll leave it.” But if I had to pick an alternate, to make a full fifteen that were all good, I would list “Instructional Strategies” with Jennifer Noon. I said I'd try not to list profs twice but this class consistently gets rave reviews from people I talk to and is the single class I've ended up regretting not taking during my time at FIMS. The skills you learn will serve you extremely well in librarianship and indeed, in any aspect of your life. My “50 Great Things About FIMS” post lists some of the top-rated profs so that's a good place to get ideas about the top classes/instructors as well.]
Again, this list isn't meant to slight anyone (er, especially any of my current professors who may be reading this!) There are probably enough interesting electives and excellent professors here that you could literally take the program twice and not exhaust all of the possibilities.
What I've tried to do with this list is present a list of courses that would provide an excellent balance of skills and exposure to some of the best professors at FIMS. Scheduling issues make this “ideal” program all but impossible but it's an interesting exercise to consider what it might look like if it were to happen.
(Holy crap, look how long this got. How can you tell it's research week?)
Oh, and if anybody reading this, current or former student (or anonymous professor! 
) wants to chime in with their thoughts in the comments, please do so.
Comments 6