Library and Information Services Pathway
Fall Term of Entry only.
Information professionals are the human interface that connect people, information, and technology. They play a leadership role in the identification, organization, preservation, and effective use of information and cultural artifacts. The work of information professionals is essential to the public good because it supports equitable access to information for all and helps to ensure and informed society and vibrant democracy. While information professionals traditionally have worked in cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, their skills are now needed in all sectors of society. Now more than ever, the world needs highly qualified specialists in libraries and information services.
Program of Study
Students interested in this Pathway will take the four required core courses in the MLIS degree.
- LIS 2000 Understanding Information (must be taken in the first term)
- LIS 2005 Organizing and Retrieving Information
- LIS 2600 Introduction to Information Technologies (must be taken in the first term)
- LIS 2700 Managing & Leading Information Services
Field Experience (LIS 2921)
The Field Experience is a 3-credit/150 hour program of supervised professional work. Although not required in the library and information services pathway, it is highly recommended. Students must have completed a minimum of twelve credit hours in good academic standing in order to register for the Field Experience.
Areas of Interest
This area of interest is designed to provide you with the theoretical knowledge, contextual understanding, and practical skills to work effectively as a librarian or information professional in a higher education sector that is continually evolving. Our teaching is informed and inspired by personal experience, current research and leading thinking in the field. The courses will equip you for the challenges and demands of planning, managing and delivering resources and services in academic libraries, through exploration of their historical contexts, current positions, and future directions.
Available to both the on-campus and online MLIS students, this area of interest will give you the practical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to succeed as an information professional in a wide variety of positions.
This area of interest will enable graduates to assess, organize, and manage the various electronic systems that support library services. Faculty will explore the theoretical underpinnings of such systems as well as provide a thorough understanding of their functions. The program will emphasize database design and implementation, information architecture, and information visualization.
Our teaching is informed and inspired by personal experience, current research and leading thinking in the field. The courses in the Public Libraries area of interest will equip you for the challenges and demands of planning, managing and delivering resources and services through exploration of their historical contexts, current positions, and future directions.
Resources & Services: Children and Youth
The iSchool acknowledges the changing landscape of children’s and young adult librarianship. Without forgetting our important roots in children’s literature, our school prepares information professionals who can reach out to the child of the 21st century.
The intent of this area of interest is to orient prospective health-information professionals to the theory, methodology, and practice of medical information management, including but not limited to medical librarianship. The iSchool curriculum is designed to support the concept that medical librarians and medical-information managers are team players in the integrated information environments characteristic of modern medicine. The curriculum also encourages study into the nature of health and medical information, and the traditional and the electronic means by which such information is organized, stored, and retrieved.
Resources & Services: Reference
The Reference area of interest at the iSchool will provide students with working knowledge of a wide array of reference sources and services in areas such as government documents, social sciences, science and technology, law, health, and humanities. This course of study will enable you to analyze users’ needs to determine what information is appropriate; to make useful judgments about the relevance, trustworthiness, and quality of sources; and to assess methods for delivering the desired information.
School Library Certification Program
The School Library Certification Program (SLCP) will allow you to earn both your MLIS degree and your Instructional I teaching certificate in Library Science, K-12, from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. You will gain the critical skills needed through competency-based learning experiences in collaboration with practitioners. You will be prepared to embark upon one of the most challenging and rewarding careers in the Library and Information Sciences field.
Faculty
The Library and Inforamtion Services Pathway is supported by a team of full-time regular faculty and adjunct faculty, all of whom are experienced practitioners in the field.
Leanne Bowler, Lead Faculty
Research interests:
Children and youth information interaction in relation to metacognitive practices and the critical creation and use of information and information technology; Health information behavior of children and youth; Non-formal, interest-driven learning in cultural institutions (libraries, archives, museums) and with new media; Methods of co-design/participatory design of technology for children and youth.
Experiental Learning
The Partners Program
The Partners Program provides students with real-world experience as they earn their master’s degree in Library and Information Science. In the past, students interested in academic libraries have gained experience at the libraries of Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University, Duquesne University, Point Park University, Robert Morris University, and a variety of locations within the University of Pittsburgh Library System.
For more information about this area of interest, please contact our Recruitment Team at lisinq@sis.pitt.edu or 412-624-5230.
