School Of Library And Information Sciences

Overview

THE SCHOOL

The School of Library and Information Sciences was founded in 1939. Its master’s program is one of 56 master’s programs in the United States and Canada that are accredited by the American Library Association [50 East Huron Street, Chicago, Ill. 60611, telephone (800) 545-2433. The school prepares graduates for dynamic roles in the information age. Its mission is to provide resources, research and service for education and leadership to the library and information community and to prepare information professionals of the highest quality to serve the state, region and global community. Its graduate and undergraduate programs prepare students to assume creative and innovative roles in providing services and products in the information age or to pursue study in the theoretical development of information science.

Graduates fill responsible professional positions in a variety of information agencies in government, education and industry. Many work in libraries, with the Internet, for software or database producers, or as digital information managers. The student body consists of more than 900 graduate students from 40 states and 14 foreign countries. The student’s educational experience is enhanced by student organization activities, interaction with local chapters of national professional associations, and pre-professional work with a growing community of libraries and corporations.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATE STUDIES

M.S. degrees

The school offers master of science degrees with majors in information science and library science. The program provides graduate preparation for the first professional degree in library and information science. The program rests on a broad conceptual framework covered in the core courses and elaborated on in courses that educate information professionals for a number of different client settings. The unique nature of this program is the approach to the study of information, its behavior and its use from the user’s point of view. The master’s degrees are offered both on campus and via the web. Graduates must complete a minimum of 36 hours, including a core curriculum of three courses (9 hours) and 27 semester hours of elective courses. The core courses are offered in a unique web-institute format, with students attending one nine day or two four-day institutes in Denton, Houston, Minnesota or Nevada to begin the program. After completing the institutes, students may pursue the remainder of their studies online or take a combination of web-based and face- to-face courses. Students may pursue a major in library science or information science and choose a program emphasis in a variety of areas:

• digital image management
• distributed learning librarianship
• general program of study
• health informatics specialist
• information organization
• information systems
• law librarian and legal informatics specialist
• school librarianship
• youth librarianship

Ph.D. degree

The school offers an interdisciplinary doctoral degree program in information science that responds to the varied and changing needs of the information age. The mission of the program is to provide a center of excellence in graduate education and research in three related areas:

• accessibility, communication, management and use of information resources
• human communication and information behavior and the systems and technologies that enhance communication and learning
• information and communication processes in managerial, organizational, social and technical environments and the accompanying analysis, design and evaluation of information systems

Graduates of the program will be prepared to contribute material to the advancement and evolution of the information society and will work in a variety of roles and application settings in information agencies as administrators, researchers and educators. An objective of the Ph.D. program is to provide students with a variety of approaches to solving information problems from a number of disciplines, including behavior analysis, communication studies, computer science and engineering, criminal justice, information technology and decision sciences, journalism, technology and cognition, and visual arts.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

M.S. degree

Students must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. For graduate school requirements and possible exceptions, access the graduate catalog online at www.unt.edu/catalog.

Additionally, the School of Library and Information Sciences requires a SLIS application, three letters of recommendation and a statement of purpose, indicating qualifications and interest in the information sciences profession. For forms and minimum admission requirements, visit the SLIS web site at www.unt.edu/slis/resources/e-forms/index.htm.

Ph.D. degree

Admission to the Ph.D. program in information science is highly competitive. To maintain a student-faculty ratio necessary for program excellence, not all qualified applicants can be accepted. Prospective applicants must obtain all application forms from the program offices located in the School of Library and Information Sciences. All required materials must be filed by Feb. 1 preceding the fall semester for which the student is applying and by Aug. 1 for spring admission. The program requirements are:

• a master’s degree from an accredited institution (preferred)
• a completed application form for admission to the program
• a personal statement giving the applicant’s career objectives, research interests and specific qualification to pursue doctoral work
• three letters of recommendation
• a superior academic record in prior study
• GRE scores

For international students, a minimum score of 550 on the TOEFL or evidence of successful completion of a non-credit intensive course in English from the North Texas Intensive English Language Institute is required.

All applicants may be required to interview with members of the program committee of the interdisciplinary doctoral program in information science.

SPECIAL CERTIFICATES

Certificate of Advanced Study

The post-master’s (sixth-year) program leading to a Certificate of Advanced Study is offered for those who seek further specialization in a particular aspect of library or information science tailored to the student’s needs and interests. The program enables professionals to satisfy continuing education goals or requirements or updates them in the field of library or information science.

School librarianship and the School Librarian Certificate

The school offers the School Librarian Certificate for students who have at least two years of classroom teaching experience. It qualifies students for an all-level certificate for positions in school libraries and learning resources centers. A student earns the certificate by completing the 22-hour program and a master’s degree (if the student does not already hold a master’s degree in another area) and by passing a state certification examination. This program must be planned under the advisement and approval of the School of Library and Information Sciences and the certification office of the College of Education.

RESEARCH RESOURCES

Students in the school have access to the rich resources of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, which has the third-highest concentration of colleges and universities in the nation. UNT is a member of the Alliance for Higher Education of North Texas, which provides research and educational programs, library cooperation, TeleVideo links with other universities and more than 20 high-tech industries within the region, and reciprocal library loan arrangements. The university libraries contain resources in all formats (including electronic media) and provide support for the curriculum of the school.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

The school’s laboratories and classrooms include Pentium microcomputer workstations, the latest portable storage technologies and a local area network that provides access to the university’s network and the Internet. Off-campus access is also available for students in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. A substantial software library within the school supports instruction, research and administrative activities.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

The school offers several financial aid awards to help students pay for graduate education, including loans, library or teaching assistantships, scholarships, internships or co-ops, and part-time employment. In cooperation with the university libraries, students may apply for graduate library assistantships in one of the university’s libraries after the completion of 9 semester hours of study. Students should contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for information on fellowships for doctoral study. All full-time students with superior academic records may qualify for financial assistance. Flexible scheduling permits students to work either part or full time while pursuing their degrees. Libraries, agencies and corporations in the Dallas-Fort Worth region offer part-time employment, internship or co-op experiences.