Students preparing for careers in the library and information
professions have many possibilities before them; these vary widely
across settings, communities, and forms of professional service. Some
professionals address information at its most fundamental levels,
acting to design, organize, produce, and retrieve information in
systems. The exponential growth of knowledge at the edge of the 21st
century means that this role has become increasingly critical to our
society and economy, and vital to the personal lives of citizens. The
basic organizing function principally occurs in the information
industry, including the production of indexes and abstracts, the design
and construction of databases, the publication of print and electronic
resources, and the development of libraries as organized information
systems. Information users are most diverse in public
libraries, where specialists assist in meeting the recreational,
economic, occupational, and educational information needs of entire
communities. Those who prepare for public library service may choose to
center on the information needs of individuals across the life span or
on the needs of specific groups by age (such as children, youth,
adults), circumstances (such as illiteracy, special needs), or subject
interest (such as business, local history, and government information).
School and academic libraries offer situations where
information services support and enhance diverse curricula and
scholarly research. Educational media specialists in elementary and
secondary schools create collections, provide information on
literacy education, and collaborate with teachers to provide a wide
range of learning opportunities for students. Librarians and
information specialists in academic and research libraries focus on the
curricular and research information needs of students and faculty at
the college and university level. Instruction in the use of
bibliographic and electronic tools has become a critical part of
academic librarianship at all levels.
Every information
organization requires skilled managers and contemporary applications of
information technologies. Students who specialize in management pay
particular attention to the theory and practice of administration;
issues relating to human resource management; legal, political,
professional, social, and community contexts of information
organizations; the applications and evaluation of technology; and
the components of responsible financial management. The SCILS faculty
believes that each student holds the potential for professional
leadership; experience suggests that administrative responsibilities
are typically an important part of every professional career.
Students engaged in the study of technical and automated services are
prepared to provide essential support for information users in the
forms of catalogs and indexes; to master an array of electronic data
retrieval systems; to maintain automated acquisitions and ordering
processes; to capture information in multiple formats; and to explore
the expanding presence of information through the Internet and its
worldwide extensions. In the contemporary world, these aspects of
library and information science are expanding both technically and
conceptually, with significant implications for information users in
libraries, homes, and workplaces.
Information science also
offers opportunities for careers outside traditional institutions.
Information brokers, entrepreneurs, library planning and technology
consultants, researchers, and evaluators are all well served by
programs in this discipline. Such professionals use their skills in
service to libraries and other institutions, organizations and
corporations, government, and specialized nonprofit entities. These
situations require information skills in areas such as business
information, marketing, finance, and administration. They also require
services such as information retrieval and analysis, database
development, the analysis of archival collections, and advice on
information and documentation formats.
In all applied areas of
library and information science, it is essential to emphasize the
central importance of information technology in all of its forms. The
contemporary student of information should anticipate early and
continuous engagements with information in new formats and must be
prepared to understand and evaluate forms of information that have not
yet appeared. The value of these technologies varies with academic
disciplines and the situations of users, but the use of electronic
tools and services is relevant to all users of information. The world
of the Department of Library and Information Science remains a
stimulating and exciting world of books and journals, to be sure; with
equal assurance it is also a promising and engaging world of computers,
electronic information retrieval, telecommunications, digital images,
multimedia, the Internet, the World Wide Web, and whatever expansive
technology may be emerging in the future.
By anticipating a
career and making appropriate choices, students experience and
interpret library and information studies in different ways. Whatever
their concentrations or aims may be, their professional lives will
demand careful inquiry and critical thinking about information and the
changing lives and needs of information users. In all of its
variations, this is the core that informs the master of library and
information science degree. We welcome students to discover their own
futures and the future of library and information science in the
Department of Library and Information Science.
