The School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) was created in 1982 with the merger of the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (established in 1953 as the Graduate School of Library Service) and the School of Communication Studies with its departments of communication and of journalism and mass media. The school leads the university in responding to the information revolution and the fast-paced changes occurring in the fields of communication, journalism and media studies, and library and information science. Rapidly expanding communication and information technologies are drawing these distinct but allied fields closer together while, at the same time, extending beyond them and exerting a major influence on our society and its economic and cultural endeavors.

The focus of the school's programs is on the nature and functions of communication and information processes; the institutions and technologies central to the creation, transmission, storage, and retrieval of information; and the impact of information and communication on individual, social, organizational, national, and international affairs.

The generation, organization, and retrieval of information and its effective communication to appropriate users have become the driving force in our nation's social, cultural, and economic progress. The role of the information and communication specialist lies at the core of this information revolution. This specialist plays an increasingly central part as both public and private sectors expand their use of new information technologies. The school is committed to meeting the present educational needs of information and communication specialists, as well as preparing for future needs, by providing students with a strong base for fundamental and applied research in the field. The faculty strongly believes that tomorrow's leaders in these growing and rapidly changing professions need to acquire a solid technical knowledge together with an understanding of the impact of the new technology on people and their social, political, and economic institutions.

To provide leadership in theory and research, the school has greatly expanded the scope of the Ph.D. program, which offers concentrations in communication processes, library and information science, and media studies. It has upgraded the rigor and focus of its master's programs in library and information science, and in communication and information studies, and its undergraduate programs in communication, journalism and media studies, and information technology and informatics.