Graduate Programs

Courses

Information and Library Science

You can find more information about current course offerings on the Courses page of our website.
  • ILS-Z  501 Reference (3 cr.) This course introduces students to the basic information sources and services among different types of libraries and information centers, including academic, public, special, and school media.
  • ILS-Z  502 Collection Development and Management (3 cr.) Theoretical and pragmatic aspects of the selection, evaluation, and management of collections in all types of libraries. Acquisitions, publishers, and publishing, policy making, and intellectual freedom and censorship are also covered.
  • ILS-Z  503 Representation and Organization (3 cr.)

    Introduces students to common themes in disciplinary approaches to understanding, organizing, representing, and using knowledge and information. Criteria are identified for evaluating and improving ways to organize and represent information for future retrieval using library and information center systems as examples. Emphasis is on concepts and ideas, terminology, and technology.

  • ILS-Z  504 Cataloging (3 cr.) Historical development and principles essential to the understanding of the conceptual foundations of providing bibliographic access and control of materials and information. Discussion and examples in the application of AACR2r will be presented to illustrate and reflect current practice. Emphasis is on monographic publications.
  • ILS-Z  505 Evaluation of Resources and Services (3 cr.) Examines applied evaluation of library resources and services: collections, document delivery, technical and reference services, and overall library performance. Emphasis on developing data collection and analysis skills broadly applicable in ILS contexts, including interviewing, observational and ethnographic techniques, textual analysis, collections evaluation, user experience methods, and methodological and ethical issues.
  • ILS-Z  506 Introduction to Research (3 cr.)

    9 credit hours for the MLS program must be completed. The research process, including concepts, design, conduct, and evaluation. Principles and characteristics of approaches and methodologies relevant to research in the field.

    Examples of data sources and introduction to methods of statistical description and analysis; ethical issues.

  • ILS-Z  510 Introduction to Information Studies (3 cr.)

    This course surveys the dynamic and shifting information professions, and emerging careers in the information field. Students learn about information architecture, human-computer interaction, information retrieval, data science, and information technology leadership. Issues in information management, user-oriented systems design, socio-technical concepts, and usability are major themes discussed in the course.

  • ILS-Z  511 Database Design (3 cr.) This course provides students with a deep understanding of various database models, including relational and non-relational databases. Students will learn essential skills such as database modeling, design, implementation, and querying. The final project serves as a capstone, allowing students to apply their knowledge in designing and manipulating a real-world databases.
  • ILS-Z  512 Information Systems Design (3 cr.) Students identify, design, and implement a significant information design project, such as the redesign of a complex Web site for a local business, library, or nonprofit.  Principles and practices of project management are discussed in the context of team-based web site redesign.
  • ILS-Z 513 Organizational Informatics (3 cr.) Introduces information, technology, and social behavior in the organizational context. Concepts of organization theory, organization behavior, knowledge and information management, and organizational intelligence provide a critical foundation for managing information, people, and information and communication technologies in rapidly changing and dynamic environments.
  • ILS-Z 514 Social Aspects of Information Technology (3 cr.) This course helps students think critically and constructively about information and communication technology (ICT) and its relationship to work, leisure, and society. It covers concepts and analytical devices as well as empirical case studies related to social consequences of ICT when shaped and used by individuals, public agencies, and businesses.
  • ILS-Z 515 Information Architecture (3 cr.) Effective information system design integrates knowledge of formal structures with understanding of social, technological, and cognitive environments. Drawing from a range of disciplines, this course investigates how people represent, organize, retrieve, and use information to inform the construction of information architectures that facilitate user understanding and navigation in conceptual space.
  • ILS-Z 516 Human-Computer Interaction (3 cr.) Examines human factors associated with information technology provides students with knowledge of the variables likely to influence the perceived usability, and hence the acceptability, of any information technology. In so doing it will enable students to progress further towards specialist’s work in the important field of human-computer interaction.
  • ILS-Z 517 Web Programming (3 cr.) The main focus of this course is to instruct students to develop and implement dynamic and interactive web applications. In order to do so, students will learn the basics of an open source programming language both through lectures and hands-on exercises in the lab.
  • ILS-Z  518 Communication in Electronic Environments (3 cr.) Examines conceptual perspectives on information in organizations, covering topics such as types of information, information activities, organizational culture and information technology, communication as information flow, obtaining and using information from the environment, managing information in specialized extended communities, and ethical and quality issues. Focus varies by type of community studied.
  • ILS-Z  519 Evaluation of Information Systems (3 cr.) Theoretical and practical exploration of the issues surrounding contemporary information systems. A specific focus will be on evaluating information systems from the user perspective. This evaluation approach will cut across disciplinary frameworks: behavioral, cognitive, and social sciences. The approach will also touch on multiple research methods: online surveys, sense-making, critical incident, and network analysis.
  • ILS-Z  520 Information Seeking and Use (3 cr.) This course introduces students to the concepts of information analysis from a human perspective, focusing particularly on the theoretical models and practical techniques that underpin the field. Sociological and psychological perspectives will be examined in order to develop an approach to the assessment of users’ information needs.
  • ILS-Z 521 Humanities Information (3 cr.) P: S501, or consent of instructor. Introduction to information sources and services in the disciplines of performing arts, music, fine arts, literature, language, philosophy, and religion. In addition, the course addresses information needs and behavior patterns of users seeking these types of information.
  • ILS-Z  522 Social Science Information (3 cr.) P: S401, S501, or consent of instructor. Study of the core information tools in the fields of anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology. Includes key bibliographic databases and electronic network tools. Evaluation of research dealing with information channels in these fields.
  • ILS-Z  524 Adult Readers Advisory (3 cr.) A review and discussion of trends reflected in subject content and use of book and nonbook materials for patrons in secondary school and public libraries in relation to changing young adult and adult needs, and the role of libraries in meeting such needs.
  • ILS-Z  525 Government Information (3 cr.) Explore the world of U.S. federal government information, its production, dissemination, and use. Review legal/policy frameworks; learn about organization strategies, metadata standards and digital preservation; evaluate user-centered access services. Develop practical skills and insights for effectively managing, researching, and promoting access to government information through hands-on exercises and interactive tutorials.
  • ILS-Z  526 Business Information (3 cr.) Introduction to basic business materials. Includes resources, research methods, current developments, automated systems, and databases.
  • ILS-Z  531 Subject Access Systems (3 cr.) Principles, development, characteristics, and internal structures of subject access systems. Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the major classification schemes and current subject heading systems.
  • ILS-Z  532 Information Architecture for the Web (3 cr.) The course introduces beginning web developers to a series of foundational front-end and back-end web technologies, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript/jQuery, Bootstrap, PHP, and MySQL (subject to change over time). Deliverables include personal and group web development projects.
  • ILS-Z 533 Online Searching (3 cr.) Principles, methods, and techniques of advanced online information retrieval (IR). Characteristics of, and search strategies for, the use of bibliographic, referral, citation, fact, numeric, and full text databases and search systems. Considers standards, use of communications software, front-ends and micro-based IR systems, and creation of in- house databases.
  • ILS-Z  534 Search (3 cr.)

    This course covers fundamental theories of modern information retrieval (IR) and text mining, focusing on search engines. It introduces IR, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and key mathematical concepts as they relate to the search problem. It then explores classical retrieval models, search engine workings, and advanced text mining topics.

  • ILS-Z  541 Information Policy (3 cr.) Data creation, publication, dissemination, and use occur in complex social contexts. This course explores U.S. and international legal and regulatory structures intended to control these processes in the information industries. Covers topics such as copyright of electronic information or transborder data flow. May be repeated for credit when topic varies. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.
  • ILS-Z 542 International Information Issues (3 cr.) Comparison of information policies, information standards, and library systems as they affect commercial, scholarly, scientific, and political information contexts.
  • ILS-Z  543 Computer-Mediated Communication (3 cr.) Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is human-to-human interaction via computer networks such as the Internet. This course examines potentials and constraints of several types of CMC, and considers how content and dynamics are influenced by the systems’ technical properties and the cultures that have grown up around their use.
  • ILS-Z  544 Gender and Computerization (3 cr.) This course explores the relationship between information communication technologies (ICTs) and the gender of the people who design, use, administer, and make policy concerning computer systems and computer networks such as the Internet.
  • ILS-Z 550 Information Institutions and their Management (3 cr.) Information institutions preserve, conserve, and disseminate information objects. In this course students will learn about libraries, archives, museums, and related organizations, examining their commonalities and differences. Students will study relevant management issues including planning, leading and organizing. They will explore information policies, workflows, ethics, intellectual freedom, laws, and social norms.
  • ILS-Z 552 Academic Library Management (3 cr.) Background and current trends in the management of academic libraries.
  • ILS-Z 553 Public Library Management (3 cr.) Background and current trends in the management of public libraries.
  • ILS-Z 554 Library Systems (3 cr.) Principles for the design, selection, implementation, and management of automated systems in libraries, including technical services processing, reference and user services, and management. Focus is on present and future applications of technology and their implications for library services and management. When possible, practical experience with particular applications will be provided
  • ILS-Z  555 Strategic Intelligence (3 cr.) Introduces different concepts of strategic intelligence, and different contexts in which these are applied; the idea of intelligence is not restricted to national security, or corporate competition: it can apply at the level of the individual citizen, company, community, or country.
  • ILS-Z 556 Systems Analysis and Design (3 cr.) This course introduces the basic concepts underlying systems analysis and design, focusing on contextual inquiry/design and data modeling, as well as the application of those analysis techniques in the analysis and design of organizational information systems.
  • ILS-Z  561 User Interface Design for Information Systems (3 cr.) This course focuses on established principles and methods to design effective interfaces for information systems, emphasizing document retrieval, filtering, visualization, correlation, analysis, and research.
  • ILS-Z 571 Materials for Youth (3 cr.) Evaluation and use of books, magazines, recordings, films, radio and television broadcasts, and other sources of information and recreation.
  • ILS-Z  572 Youth Services (3 cr.) This course emphasizes the history, philosophy, current state, and future of children and young adult services in the public library focusing on the role of the youth services librarian from planning and evaluation to services and programs. Cooperation with appropriate services and programs such as school media centers is discussed.
  • ILS-Z  573 Education of Information Users (3 cr.) Reviews important educational theories for application to secondary school, college, and university settings which provide training and education programs to teach students skills leading to information literacy. Standards from AASL and ACRL are applied to instructional design and practice including lecture, collaboration with faculty, and evaluation of online tutorials.
  • ILS-Z  574 Information Inquiry for School Teachers (3 cr.) This course is intended to be an opportunity for teachers and future teachers (including school library media specialists as teachers) to practice methods in critically thinking about information/media, and to use that process as a means to teach their students to be critical reviewers and communicators as well.
  • ILS-Z 580 History of Libraries (3 cr.) Development of libraries and information services from earliest times to the present, with emphasis on the library in relation to social, economic, cultural, and political trends.
  • ILS-Z  581 Archives and Records Management (3 cr.) Introduces basic theories, methods, and significant problems in archives and records management. The course also discusses how archivists are responding to the challenge of managing and preserving electronic records.
  • ILS-Z  582 Preservation (3 cr.) Examines causes of library and archival materials deterioration. Develops conceptual framework and management perspective for preservation programs using technical standards, program development tools, scientific and administrative research reports, and advocacy literature. Explores the new information technologies and media as both preservation tools and challenges.
  • ILS-Z 583 Rare Book Librarianship (3 cr.)

    Introduction to the development, organization, and operation of rare book libraries and special collections. Includes an overview

    of the fundamentals of book collecting, both private and institutional, the antiquarian book trade and auction market, and the profession and practice of rare book librarianship.

  • ILS-Z 584 Manuscripts (3 cr.) Introduction to the nature, functions, and methodology of the organization and administration of archives and manuscript collections. The course will consist of lectures, discussions, field trips, and special projects.
  • ILS-Z 585 Records Management (3 cr.) Records management is the management of documentary information for the purposes of supporting the goals and strategy of an organization. This requires understanding of business processes as well as statutes, regulations, the litigation process, disaster recovery and business continuity, and storage architecture.
  • ILS-Z 587 Introduction to Moving Image Preservation (3 cr.)

    This class provides librarians and archivists skills, knowledge, and resources to properly handle moving image materials. It is also for those interested in preserving audiovisual media. Moving image archiving is in transition; the class addresses this transformation and how it affects practices, sites, and conceptions of film and video conservation.

  • ILS-Z 601 Directed Readings (1-6 cr.) Permission of instructor. Readings and study in any area of library or information science. Normally Z 601 is sponsored by a full-time faculty member. Readings shall not duplicate content of any course now in the ILS curriculum. Students may enroll in Z601 twice in the same semester under different instructors
  • ILS-Z  602 Directed Research (1-3 cr.) Permission of instructor. Individual research in a problem in the field of library and information science.
  • ILS-Z  603 Workshop in Library and Information Science (1-3 cr.) Permission of Instructor. Group study of specific problems in the library and information field. Generally includes a hands- on element. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
  • ILS-Z  604 Topics in Library and Information Science (1-4 cr.) Study of specific topics in librarianship and information science. May be repeated with different topics.
  • ILS-Z  605 Internship in Library and Information Science (2-6 cr.) Permission of instructor or faculty advisor. Internship in an information organization supervised by professionals. Students write journals and abstracts of publications, and give a final presentation. Each earned credit requires sixty on-site hours. Normally, 18 credits are required before enrollment. Guidelines and sites on the ILS Web site. Graded S/F.
  • ILS-Z 622 Resources and Services for People with Disabilities (3 cr.)

    Access to information is essential for sustained independence of people with disabilities. This course studies materials, services, and assistive technologies to support this access.

  • ILS-Z 623 Genealogy and Local History (3 cr.) Focuses on developing collections and providing reference services in genealogy and local history.
  • ILS-Z 629 Topics in Information Sources and Services (3 cr.) Provides the opportunity for in-depth study of information sources related to area studies, specific academic disciplines, and/or library patron audiences. Examples include Slavic materials, Latin American bibliography, and international legal bibliography. Depending on the demand and the expertise of available faculty, there is a wide range of possible topics.
  • ILS-Z 631 Advanced Cataloging (3 cr.) P: ILS-Z 504. Provides extensive background in description and access for electronic and non-book resources.
  • ILS-Z 632 Technical Services (3 cr.) P: ILS-Z 550. Principles of organization and function of library technical services, including acquisition, cataloging, serials, circulation. Special emphasis on research and development in library systems and technology. Includes file organization, documentation system development, analysis, and evaluation for manual, mechanical, and automated applications.
  • ILS-Z 633 Indexing (3 cr.)

    P: ILS-Z 504 or Z 515.Theoretical concepts of subject indexing and thesaurus construction for information retrieval. Examines alternative approaches to traditional indexing techniques. Evaluation and use of appropriate computer software.

  • ILS-Z 634 Metadata (3 cr.)

    P: ILS-Z 503 or Z 515. Metadata is essential in designing and developing effective knowledge systems; it facilitates resource discovery, database documentation, and recording digital documents’ textual and conceptual histories. This course introduces principles supporting the development and implementation of metadata schemes, focusing on issues of interoperability, internal and external standardization,

  • ILS-Z 635 Ontologies (3 cr.) P: S634 and authorization required. An ontology is a common semantic conceptualization of reality that is shared by members of a knowledge domain; it supports exchange of knowledge among participants. This course explores formal specifications for ontology construction among systems applications and software agents.
  • ILS-Z 636 Data Semantics (3 cr.) Explores the technologies of the Semantic Web by examining the application of technologies to WWW information delivery and the principles of formal logic and computation guiding their developments.
  • ILS-Z 637 Information Visualization (3 cr.) Introduces information visualization, highlighting processes which produce effective visualizations. Topics include perceptual basis of information visualization, data analysis to extract relationships, and interaction techniques.
  • ILS-Z 640 Seminar in Intellectual Freedom (3 cr.) Normally nine ILS graduate credit must be completed before enrollment. Taught as a seminar, the class covers intellectual freedom issues in libraries, information organizations, the internet, and society. Topics typically include information access, social justice, information inequality, intellectual property, censorship, copyright, free and hate speech, surveillance capitalism, and ethics.
  • ILS-Z 641 Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (3 cr.) Computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) adapts methods from linguistics, including corpus linguistics, pragmatics, conversation analysis, and sociolinguistics, to the analysis of computer-mediated communication. This course provides hands-on experience in applying empirical analytical methods.  
  • ILS-Z 643 The Information Industry (1-3 cr.) This course examines various aspects of the information industry: products, producers, suppliers, trends, and market opportunities. Focus varies with the topic; for example, structural market characteristics, or technical developments and their impact. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.
  • ILS-Z  645 The Social and Organizational Information of Big Data (3 cr.) This course surveys organizational, legal, political, and social issues surrounding the creation, dissemination and use of big data from the perspective of social and organizational informatics. It focuses on ways in which the integration of big data is changing structure, culture, and work practices in private and public sector organizations. 
  • ILS-Z  646 Seminar in Documents and Documentation (3 cr.) This seminar explores epistemological and genre assumptions of modern documentation and the different events and genre modes by which "information" in many various forms is produced through presentations of "fact." It involves an historical and social survey of the various types of collections of documents and their construction and use.
  • ILS-Z 650 Library Philanthropy (3 cr.) Introduces the role of private giving in support of libraries. Examines personal and corporate philanthropy and their applicability in libraries and information centers.
  • ILS-Z 651 Art Librarianship (3 cr.) Academic art library administration, collection development, reference services, technical services operations, facilities, and slide and photograph/picture collections will be emphasized.
  • ILS-Z 652 Digital Libraries (3 cr.) Examines the design and operation of digital libraries and related electronic publishing practices from a socio- technical perspective. Students develop understanding of major issues, concepts, and trends, enabling them to understand the socio- technical character of digital libraries that can and will be effectively supported and used by various groups.
  • ILS-Z 653 Health Sciences Librarianship (3 cr.) Health sciences library administration, materials organization, and information services. Emphasis on National Library of Medicine classification, subject headings, printed indexes, and online databases.
  • ILS-Z 654 Law Librarianship (3 cr.) An introduction to basic legal materials and law librarianship. Primary and secondary resources; indexes; digests and citators; specialized research methods; current developments in automated legal research. History of law libraries in the U.S., their organization and administration. The role of law librarians in law schools and law firms.
  • ILS-Z 655 Music Librarianship (3 cr.) P: MUS M539. Academic music library administration, collection development, technical services operations, record and performing ensemble collections, and reference services will be emphasized.
  • ILS-Z 656 Digital Publishing Standards and Systems (3 cr.)

    Design and publish documents for the web and common eBook platforms, including ePub (iBook, etc.), AZW (Amazon Kindle), and KF8/AZW3 (Amazon Kindle). Covers XML-based document formats (TEI, DocBook, Office Open XML) and eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), a special-purpose programming language for transforming XML documents into XML and non-XML formats. 

  • ILS-Z 672 Seminar on Literature for Youth (3 cr.) An advanced seminar, addressing such topics as: images of minority groups, societal problems (e.g., poverty and family patterns), or informational needs and materials including access and availability of print, nonprint, and computer resources.
  • ILS-Z 680 The Book to 1800 (3 cr.) P: Authorization required. P: Permission of instructor required. Covers the introduction and development of writing and the history of the manuscript and printed book, from their beginnings to approximately the year 1800. Although there will be some coverage of the non-Western book, the emphasis will be on the history of the book in the West.
  • ILS-Z 681 The Book 1800 to the Present (3 cr.) Survey of the book from 1800 to the present, with emphasis on the development of the book in the West. Focuses on physical aspects of the book and some roles of the book in society during this period and on current scholarly trends in the history of the book.
  • ILS-Z 683 Reference Sources for Rare Books (3 cr.) Introduces and evaluates reference sources that are useful in working with rare books in many fields.
  • ILS-Z 684 Descriptive Bibliography (3 cr.) The development of the practice of printing, typefounding, and papermaking; the principles and practice of the bibliographical description of printed books, with emphasis on the period to 1880.
  • ILS-Z 685 Building Trustworthy Digital Repositories: Theory and Practice (3 cr.) Addresses the major issues and challenges facing the archival/records management professions in their quest to manage electronic records. Students will study and evaluate the impact automation has had on archival theory and practice, analyzing various models and strategies archivists have developed to manage electronic records.
  • ILS-Z 690 Capstone in Information Architecture Capstone (3 cr.) Only open to ILS Masters students or permission of instructor. This course integrates theoretical and practical components of the specialization the student is completing. Working with the specialization director(s), the student will determine the scope and extent of the capstone project and publicly present and defend it upon completion.
  • ILS-Z 638 Big Data Analytics for Web and Text (3 cr.)

    Basic programming skills recommended. Introduces fundamentals of big data analysis, focusing on theoretical and methodological aspects, including numerical and textual processing, statistical analysis, machine learning, and data retrieval, representation, semantics, and data storage. Open-source data-operation frameworks and tools (R, Hadoop, NoSQL) are introduced and demonstrated with real-world data sets.

  • ILS-Z 639 Social Media Mining (3 cr.) Basic Unix skills recommended. This course provides a graduate-level introduction to social media mining. Students gain hands-on experience mining social data for social meaning extraction (focus on sentiment analysis) using automated methods and machine learning technologies. We read, discuss, and critique claims and findings from contemporary research related to SMM.
  • ILS-Z 642 Content Analysis for the Web (3 cr.) Application of Content Analysis methods to multimodal web documents, including images, video, text, tags, and links.
  • ILS-Z 657 Digital Humanities (3 cr.)

    This course explores established and emerging digital research tools to determine how digital humanities approaches can enhance how we conduct and share research. By applying multiple techniques to one topic or theme, students will learn how to assess, evaluate, and implement digital methods in ethical, innovative, and reflective ways.

  • ILS-Z  701 Introduction to Doctoral Research in Library and Information Science (3 cr.)

    Provides a seminar-style survey of conduct of research in information and library science from the research question to publication; critical analysis of present state of knowledge in major domains in the field; discussion of the grounds of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodologies, and becoming a professional academic

  • ILS-Z  702 Doctoral Research Practicum I (2 cr.) Student acquires practical hands-on experience with the research process through involvement in a SLIS faculty member’s research project.
  • ILS-Z 703 Doctoral Research Practicum II (2 cr.) P: ILS-Z 701 and Z 702. Students acquire practical, hands-on experience with the research process through involvement in an ILS faculty member’s research project. The Z 703 research project should differ substantially from the Z 702 project with which the student was previously involved.
  • ILS-Z  706 Introduction to Research (3 cr.) The research process, including concepts, design, conduct, and evaluation. Principles and characteristics of approaches and methodologies relevant to research in the field. Examples of data sources and introduction to methods of statistical description and analysis; ethical issues.
  • ILS-Z  710 Doctoral Research Practicum III (3 cr.)

    P: ILS-Z 701, Z 702 and Z 703. The student applies methods of research under the supervision of a ILS faculty member. The research project may originate with the student or may be one on which the faculty member seeks student assistance.

  • ILS-Z  763 Research Problems and Methods in Information Science (3 cr.) P: Consent of instructor. Study of current problems and methodological approaches in information science research.
  • ILS-Z  764 Seminar in Information Science (3 cr.) The course aims to provide students with the experience of preparing and submitting the results of their in-depth scholarly work for publication, before taking their qualifying exam. Students will submit a scholarly paper in information science to a peer-reviewed journal or a full research paper to conference with published proceedings.
  • ILS-Z  765 Doctoral Research in Information Science (1-6 cr.) Independent research or study. A student may enroll for this course more than once in one semester under different instructors.
  • ILS-Z  790 Dissertation Proposal in Information Science (3 cr.) Must have successfully completed the qualifying exam. Contact PhD Recorder for permission to register. Doctoral students develop their plans for theses subject to criticism by other doctoral students and faculty.
  • ILS-Z  799 Ph.D. Thesis (arr. cr.) P: Must have been admitted to candidacy. See advisor for more information.
  • ILS-G  901 Advanced Research (6 cr.)

    Must have 90 credit hours completed. Contact PhD Recorder for permission to register. Please see advisor for more information on Advanced Research. May be repeated a maximum of 6 times.

  • ILS-Z  621 Audio and Video Sources (3 cr.) User-focused approach to decision making in the digital audio and video information environment. Emphasizes collection development in support of user services, including access to remote collections and evaluation of multimedia materials and delivery mechanisms, and issues related to emerging technologies. Scope includes adult and young adult audiences.

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