Click here for the 501 coursepack.

Required of all students during a fall or spring term late in their program of study. Students must attend at least three offerings. No credit given.

A series of lectures with discussions, featuring guest speakers, that highlight current and recurring issues and introduce students to leaders in the field.

A capstone course where students reflect upon and assess their previously documented learning experiences and coursework through the completion of a student ePortfolio showcasing their academic accomplishments. Students will also build a professional ePortfolio focusing on career goals and objectives.

The global information society requires new approaches to work, citizenship, education, and the problems of daily living. The rapidly changing information environment calls for restructuring information services and professions in major ways. This course examines theoretical and practical frameworks for a user centered approach to information service that respond to a community of practice. Emphasis is on designing services and systems that support the active process of learning from information for adding value to an enterprise.

Introduction to the options and methods for creating indexes that provide access to the content of a collection of documents, whether print or electronic, linguistic, audio, visual or graphical.  Comparison of different kinds of indexes, including traditional and emerging approaches, with respect to characteristics such as classification, methods for identifying index terms, techniques for vocabulary control and search interface. Rationale for evaluation of organizational schemas in context. Students apply theory by designing an index for a collection of their choice.

This course will emphasize the fundamental theory and practice of manuscript and archival administration, and its relationship to information management. The course will focus on accepted methodology and current issues relating to the collection, organization, preservation and use of historical materials.

This course focuses on the full range of information resources studied and used in applied contexts, placing emphasis on access to information through reference tools and the use of information by learners. Important considerations are an analysis of strategies for searching and evaluating these works and comparisons between printed and electronic media. Emphasis placed on research tools, communication, information services, policy development, and evaluation.

This course introduces students to key concepts in Web Technologies (xHTML, CSS), Web Programming (JavaScript, PHP, Python) and Data Management (XML, MySQL). Students
will also learn how to use and evaluate Web Services, Social Software and Open Source Software tools. The knowledge and skills conveyed in this course will assist
students in applying information, web and data technologies in various information services and in further related MLIS courses.

Covers the evaluation, selection, application, integration and management of information systems supporting library and information services. Includes systems and software for content management, circulation, acquisition, cataloging and access, and digital library networks.

View the 552 Syllabus

A laboratory course in the design and production of multimedia resources for libraries, media centers, and information systems and other informational applications. Examines and critiques current uses of new media and provides skills in user-centered multimedia design.

View the 555 Syllabus

An introduction to the current state of management theory, ethics and practice focusing on leadership and the management of organizational change. Organizational culture explored as an underpinning for the principle roles and functions of managers, including developing information policy; and managing new information technologies, information and decision support systems, finances, human resources conducive to the creation of a multicultural workforce for a multicultural society.

View the 570 Syllabus

This course examines the historical and legal background of intellectual freedom in libraries as well as current trends and topics. The course discusses the many challenges to the concept and practice of intellectual freedom from technological to political to legal. Students learn how to articulate, promote, and defend intellectual freedom policies as a key component of professional practice in all types of library and information services.

View the 584 Syllabus

The course will examine the production and circulation of knowledge in light of changing technologies, institutions and textual forms. An overview and comparison of textual transmission in oral, manuscript, print and electronic communication environments will include regulatory frameworks and the history of “intellectual property” (from attribution, authorship, to participatory ownership of creation). It will examine the current scholarship relevant for understanding books, documents and record manifestations comparatively. The focus on the book trades, web spheres, and socio-technical systems such as digital libraries will prompt questions about the nature of texts (print, non-print, and digital), their reception, associated literacy practices, communities and institutional contexts. The course will present a critique of the technological revolution perspective.

What makes social media – such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and MySpace – work? The goal of this project-based course is to merge social science, information science, computer science and engineering approaches to explore the social and technological forces driving social media services (including, for example, technological adoption, interaction design, social networks, computational and information aspects of social media, communication and motivation theories).

This seminar-format course will guide students in conducting a research project in a topic of interest that involves social media. “Social media” refers to an emerging set of platforms (including, but not limited to Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter) in which users display content in a public or semi-public manner. Increasingly, these platforms significantly impact individuals, organizations – and our society at large. In this course, students will produce a paper of publishable quality while gaining a deep understanding of interdisciplinary research in the field of social media.

Prior to registering, students write a proposal for the study, specifying rationale and outcome, and seek the approval of a faculty member who will supervise the investigation. Usually pursued near the end of a student's program of study.

Requires a minimum of 150 hours of supervised professional work in a library or other information organization, attendance at meetings with the faculty adviser and other students, keeping a journal, and a brief summary paper. Placement is based on the student's background and career objectives.

Requires a minimum of 150 hours of supervised professional work in a school library. This course is required for state certification for school library media specialists and must be taken concurrently with 17:610:575 - Management of School Library Programs. Students maintain a journal and their assignments in 575 relate to the Field Experience.

New courses developed in response to emerging areas of interest, and courses in traditional areas given occasionally as student demand dictates.  (Click course name above to see special topics listed for specific semesters.)