Summer Course: Intricacies & Ethics of Scholarly Information

A new course is being offered this summer and may appeal to anyone interested in the complexities of seeking, evaluating, publishing, and otherwise interacting with scholarly information in all its forms.

Developed by Graduate Center librarians and taught by Jill Cirasella, Associate Professor and Associate Librarian for Scholarly Communication, the course is being offered through MALS but is open to students in all GC degree programs. The course will prepare students, regardless of program, to engage more critically with the literature of their respective fields.

Special Topics in Public Scholarship
Intricacies and Ethics of Scholarly Information
MALS 74900 (crosslisted as WSCP 81000), 3 credits
Mondays/Wednesdays, 6:00-8:10 PM (starts May 31, ends July 19)

Mode of Instruction: Hybrid ​Synchronous
In-person dates: 5/31, 6/7, 6/14, 6/21, 6/28, 7/12, 7/19 (all Wednesdays except 7/5)

Course description: This course is an opportunity to step back and consider the scholarly information landscape that you inhabit as a graduate student and researcher. We will explore traditional and emerging forms of scholarship, how works enter the scholarly record, and how they’re discovered, accessed, and evaluated. Throughout, we will also ask whose perspectives are excluded, whose contributions are undervalued, and how the systems at play reproduce biases and compound inequities. We will also turn the lens on ourselves, examining both the ethical implications of our participation in this ecosystem and the ways in which we can contribute to a more equitable future.

Course materials: This is a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) course. All assigned readings will either be publicly accessible or available via the GC library. 

Questions about the course content, structure, goals, etc.? Contact Professor Jill Cirasella at jcirasella@gc.cuny.edu. Summer registration begins May 4!

About the Author

Jill Cirasella is the Scholarly Communication Librarian and University Liaison at the CUNY Graduate Center.