IUPUI Campus Bulletin 2010-2012

Welcome to the IU School of Library and Information Science!

Indianapolis-A Superb Location for Advanced Library Science Education: www.slis.iupui.edu

The Indiana University School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) in Indianapolis is a growing graduate program with emphasis on management of library organizations and technologies. More than 300 graduate students attend courses in Indianapolis or at one of our distance education receiving sites.

IUPUI is a modern urban campus in a model urban setting. Cooperation among business, government, private philanthropy, and educational leaders and innovators has created a city ideal for education. SLIS is tied to this spirit of growth, service, and quality education for not only Indianapolis, but for the state and beyond.

Indiana's future librarians and information specialists, as well as business leaders, physicians, lawyers, nurses, chemists, engineers, teachers, accountants, journalists, and computer programmers will find quality academic options on this campus that combines the strengths of IU and Purdue. In addition to Indiana citizens, we welcome a growing number of students from all other states and nations.

The IUPUI campus is located just off I-70 and I-65 and is adjacent to recently constructed buildings that house government offices, museums, conventions, and entertainment and sporting events. Indianapolis's modern skyline also contains renovated architecture from the early 1800s, including the state's capitol building. The campus is adjacent to the White River and within walking distance of the NCAA Headquarters, the Indiana Historical Society, the Indiana State Library and Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American Art, the Indiana Convention Center, and the RCA Dome. Professional and amateur venues abound all year. From international jazz gatherings to Olympic swimming competition to professional tennis, football, basketball and baseball to the Indianapolis Symphony and Repertory Theatre-all are only a brief walk from the IUPUI campus.

The School of Library and Information Science has cooperative programs with the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. These efforts support public awareness of the need for quality library and information services to all populations-young and elderly, rural and urban. Our faculty members are also associated with state and national library education organizations and associations in the promotion of educational standards and guidelines.

Most of the SLIS courses in Indianapolis are conducted in the modern and technologically advanced classrooms and labs located in the University Library and adjacent Education Building. Within the University Library are over 300 computer-equipped work stations from which 700 miles of fiber optic cable lead to library databases, reference and research tools, a video archive, live cable news, and information television.

Faculty use teaching support and delivery systems that allow for online discussion groups and assignments. A growing number of instructors deliver instruction over interactive Web sites and interactive television. The faculty include full-time professors who have both established publication records as well as records of professional service to the field. They are experienced educators and information managers. Students are encouraged to read the research and teaching profiles of the current fulltime faculty as given on the school's Indianapolis Web site.

Students are encouraged to explore a wide spectrum of library professions through their course work and field experiences. The school's curriculum is based on a combination of theory and practice. Internships in application of theory are encouraged. The Indianapolis area as well as cities such as Bloomington, South Bend, Merrillville, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Gary, and Valparaiso offer quality locations for real-world practice experiences. Programs have been ranked in the top ten nationally, including information systems, school library media, and youth services education.

Over 70% of the public librarians in Indiana hold a degree from Indiana University. A growing number have completed all requirements for the Master of Library Science (M.L.S.) from the IUPUI campus. Many librarians across the state have completed courses from the Indianapolis curriculum over distance education. Hundreds in public libraries and school libraries in Indiana have completed the full requirements for certification through a combination of distance education and summer courses at Indianapolis. Over 200 school corporations in Indiana employ a school media specialist who has completed his or her certification through the IU program. Dozens of academic and special librarians hold the IU M.L.S. as a result of courses completed through IUPUI.

All courses for the Masters in Library Science, Specialization in Library Technology Management, dual-degree programs, and certification in public or school librarianship are available through the Indianapolis program. Credits completed at IU Bloomington (maximum of 6) or in another ALA-accredited program (maximum of 6) can be accepted toward the M.L.S. at Indianapolis. Students should consult with their advisor to determine any limitations on such transfers and the best path to follow in order to have a rewarding educational experience.

The school's Web site, www.slis.iupui.edu, will provide revisions and updates to this bulletin. Students are encouraged to visit the site frequently for information on career opportunities, schedules, and frequently asked questions. Notices on job leads, professional meetings, conferences, and operations of the school can be received through the le-mail list at: slis-indy [at] iupui [dot] edu.

School of Library and Information Science-The World of Information

For decades, scholars and futurists have predicted an information revolution. Those predictions have come to life dramatically in recent years. We live in an information age, an age in which the ability to generate and access new knowledge has become a key driver of social and economic growth.

The signs of a new age are everywhere: the World Wide Web and electronic commerce, personal computers in the classroom, interactive media in the home, virtual universities, electronic publishing, and digital libraries. The statistics are irresistible: the amount of information produced in the last decade alone is greater than all the information created in past millennia. The rhetoric of the Information Age has finally become reality, and that reality translates into unprecedented career opportunities for information professionals who know how to organize, manage, and exploit knowledge assets and who combine analytic and technical skills with a sense of the strategic value of information to organizations of all kinds.

Today's information professionals do not merely store and locate information; they also analyze and synthesize raw data to produce customized, value-added services and products for a diverse clientele. The field offers a kaleidoscope of career tracks from which to choose: Web design, information systems analysis, database design and marketing, information brokering, medical informatics, systems librarianship, competitor intelligence analysis, usability testing. In a sense, the opportunities are limited only by the imagination.

Librarians are active agents of social change and early adopters of new information and communication technologies. The range of materials and media they handle has diversified enormously in the last decade. Access to full-text databases, networked resources, and multimedia information systems has become the norm in a matter of years, fueled in no small measure by the prodigious growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The next few years promise even greater advances-global digital libraries, intelligent interfaces, interactive books, collaboratories, intelligent agents, and virtual reality. Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science is responding to the challenge with a flexible and forward-looking curriculum, which stresses those social, behavioral, and cultural aspects of information design and use.