Published: February 24, 2016 by Anna Maloney

Dr. Pat Franks and MARA Student Assistant Anna Maloney recently distributed a survey to MARA Students regarding their INFO elective choices. Every MARA student is required to take three INFO electives from a pre-approved list, ranging from text and data mining to oral history. The survey asked students to reveal which INFO electives they had already taken or were planning to take, with an option to share their experiences with INFO electives. For the two weeks the survey was completed by 46 current and former MARA students. 

Results

• INFO 240 – Information Technology Tools and Applications (10 have taken)
• INFO 202 – Information Retrieval (8 have taken)
• INFO 259 – Preservation Management (7 have taken)
• INFO 220 – Digital Humanities (6 have taken)

The most desired INFO electives, as indicated by participants selecting will take, are:

• INFO 259 – Preservation Management (7 will take)
• INFO 284 – Digitization and Digital Preservation (6 will take)
• INFO 282 – Project Management (6 will take)
• INFO 242 – Database Design and Management (5 will take)

It is important to note that the data about the courses students will take is less reliable because it describes indefinite future events. Students are not bound to take the courses they indicated interest in in this survey.

Fifteen INFO electives have not been taken by any of the students who participated in the survey, including but not limited to:

• INFO 284 – EAD
• INFO 284 – Managing Photographic Collections
• INFO 284 – Characteristics and Curation of New Digital Media
• INFO 280 – History of the Book

Six courses received zero responses for have taken and will take:

• INFO 281 – Information Secrecy
• INFO 282 – Managing Information Technology in the 21st Century
• INFO 284 – Medieval Manuscripts: Codicology
• INFO 284 – Medieval Manuscripts: Paleography
• INFO 287 – Virtual Worlds
• INFO 287 – Virtual Environments: Immersive Learning for Libraries and Archives

Some of the comments left by students include:

1. These have been some of the most fascinating subjects of my program
2. INFO (LIBR) 259 (with Dr. Skinner) was a very important class for me. I feel that I would have had a difficult time with some of my later MARA classes if I had not taken it first.
3. So many electives possible – so many I’m interested in! I may have to try to complete some coursework post-grad.