The master of library and information science degree program
prepares students who seek careers in the information professions,
including service in libraries, businesses, and research settings. The
program's curriculum emphasizes understanding the needs of information
seekers, identifying and organizing information resources, and creating
systematic connections between users and tools. Students are prepared
to offer expert help; to evaluate the quality of available information;
to use the range of appropriate technologies and formats to resolve
problems of information need; and to pursue careers in areas such as
information retrieval, general and specialized reference services,
library management and policy, information services to children and
youth, school media services, and the technologies of information
management, control, and dissemination. The graduate program changes as
the nature and future of information change, but it is firmly committed
to transmitting essential knowledge, long-lasting cognitive skills, and
an attitude of welcome responsibility for information in social and
private life.
In collaboration with other departments in the
school, the department also contributes to the master of communication
and information studies degree program, preparing students to
understand and manage the information and communication systems of
complex organizations. The M.C.I.S. program develops competence in the
analysis, evaluation, design, and implementation of information and
communication systems, and their impacts on individuals and society.
Such systems encompass all types of information and communication: both
oral and written, informal and formal, proprietary and published. The
program emphasizes the contributions of emerging technologies to the
integration of information and communication both inside and outside
complex organizations. In view of our common ideals, students in the
two master's degree programs occasionally share classes.
In a
similar way, the department contributes to the doctor of philosophy
program in communication, information, and library studies, leading to
a degree granted by the Graduate School-New Brunswick. This challenging
program emphasizes theory and research about the nature of information
and its exchange in psychological, social, and economic contexts, among
individuals, groups, organizations, and society. All of the scholarly
and research interests of the Department of Library and Information
Science are represented in the Ph.D. program as well. Faculty
contributions to doctoral studies include such areas as information
media and technology, information services and education, library
management and policy, information retrieval, organization and
dissemination of information, and school and youth services. The Ph.D.
program maintains its long-standing national reputation for leadership
in the profession by selecting students of the greatest promise from a
national group of distinguished beginning and midcareer scholars and
professionals, some of whom have earned their master's degrees from our
own program.