Course Catalog

Please see the University of Illinois Course Explorer for official class schedules, locations, dates & times, and assigned instructors for the current and upcoming semesters.

IS 400 Colloquium

Venue for presentation and discussion of research and professional activities by faculty, students, staff, and guest speakers. 0 or 1 undergraduate hours. 0 or 1 graduate hours. Approved for S/U grading only. May be repeated in separate semesters.

IS 401 Introduction to Network Information Systems

Hands-on introduction to technology systems for use in information environments. The course steps students through choosing, installing, and managing computer hardware and operating systems, as well as networking hardware and software. The course also explores alternatives for administering IT and how to assess emerging technologies and their applicability to library settings. While students are expected to have basic computer competencies per the School of Information Sciences admissions requirements, the goal of the course is to provide practical detailed knowledge of the technology for all levels of competency. The primary objective is to provide a conceptual understanding of the topics of the day through concrete hands-on examples of implementation. By learning the underlying concepts, students will be better prepared to help design networked systems that not only work well today, but also develop systems that can be easily adapted for the needs and technologies of tomorrow.

IS 403 Children's Materials

Evaluation, selection and use of books and other resources for children (ages 0-14) in public libraries and school media centers; explores standard selection criteria for print and non-print materials in all formats and develops the ability to evaluate and promote materials according to their various uses (personal and curricular) and according to children's various needs (intellectual, emotional, social and physical).

IS 406 Cognition in the Wild

Designed as a foundation for students who are interested in learning how to design human-centered information technologies. Students will learn basic principles in human cognition and behavior, and how these principles influence how we interact with information technologies. The course will prepare students to translate theories in human cognition and behavior to analyze, evaluate and rethink everyday design examples.

IS 407 Introduction to Data Science

This course introduces students to data science approaches that have emerged from recent advances in programming and computing technology. They will learn to collect and use data from a variety of sources, including the web, in a modern statistical inference and visualization paradigm. The course will be based in the programming language R, but will also use HTML, regular expressions, basic Unix tools, XML, and SQL. Supervised and unsupervised statistical learning techniques made possible by recent advances in computing power will also be covered.

IS 409 Web Technologies & Techniques

This course provides an introduction to the technologies behind the Web. Topics covered include: hypertext, hypermedia, the history of the Web, the role of Web standards and their impact on the development of Web resources. The course introduces principles of Web design and usability. Students will gain an understanding how the Web works and how to design, construct, evaluate, and maintain Web-based materials.

IS 410 Storytelling

Fundamental principles of the art of storytelling including techniques of adaptation and presentation; content and sources of materials; methods of learning; practice in storytelling; planning the story hour for school and public libraries and other public information settings; and audio, video, and digital media.

IS 413 Teen Materials

Evaluation, selection and use of books and other resources for young adults (ages 12-18) in public libraries and school media centers; explores standard selection criteria for print and nonprint materials in all formats and develops the ability to evaluate and promote materials according to their various uses (personal and curricular) and according to young adults' various needs (intellectual, emotional, social and physical).

IS 417 Data Science in the Humanities

Human culture provides an ideal testbed for students exploring data science, because the interpretive challenges that lurk beneath the surface in other domains become starkly visible here. For instance, cultural materials usually come to analysts as unstructured texts, images, or sound files, forcing explicit decisions about data modeling and feature extraction. Cultural questions also highlight the importance of interpreting statistical models in relation to a social context. Last but not least: songs, poems, and stories confront us with vivid problems that are inherently fun to explore. This course will start by reviewing descriptive and inferential statistics, and build up to applications of supervised and unsupervised machine learning. We will apply those methods to a range of cultural materials using them to model the pace of stylistic change in popular music, for instance, and the representation of gender in fiction.

IS 418 Community Engagement

Community engagement refers to the multiple ways that information professionals in libraries and other settings learn about, collaborate with, and provide service and outreach to community members. Provides an introduction to, and overview of, community engagement theory and practice. A significant portion of coursework will take the form of service learning or community-based research via approved projects that match students' interests.

IS 419 Entrepreneurial Information Technology Design

Introduces students to a range of rapid prototyping techniques and methods to analyze needs, opportunities and design spaces. Students will work in teams to develop ideas for novel computational devices or applications to meet identified needs. Covers the interlinked entrepreneurial skills of identifying an unmet need, exploiting technological opportunities, exploring a design space to refine an idea, and communicating a design vision through demonstrations with prototypes and proofs of concept. This enables developers to show how their envisaged working interactive technology will be used productively in a particular real-life context. Communicating the vision of computational devices is a challenge because dynamic use in context is hard for people other than the device's developers to imagine. The ability to produce convincing, clear, powerful demonstrations even at the early stages of a project is a highly valuable entrepreneurial skill, and also highly applicable within an organization. Directed and supervised investigation of selected topics in information studies that may include among others the social, political, and historical contexts of information creation and dissemination; computers and culture; information policy; community information systems; production, retrieval and evaluation of knowledge; computer-mediated communication.

IS 420 Community Informatics

A survey of key concepts in an emerging field that studies how local, historical communities are using information and communications technologies. Covers key principles for work in the non-profit/public sector as people harness new technologies and media as individuals, students, families, community organizations, and so on. Overarching ideas prepare both professionals and researchers to understand and master this environment, whatever their technology background. Especially useful for those interested in public or community libraries, youth services, social work, education, and anyone interested in working with or studying underserved communities.

IS 423 Early Literacy

Librarians fill a key role in the literacy development of young children with opportunities for interaction both in the library and through outreach programs. Key skills center on developing literacy-rich library environments, classroom instructional support, intentional embedding of essentials skills and practices within daily activities and lessons, resources about early literacy strategies to share with families and caregivers. Practitioners will understand the importance of integration of technology to meet the diverse developmental, cultural, social and linguistic needs of children to ensure they are able to create meaning from text.

IS 424 Social Computing

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to fundamental theories, methods, technologies and applications of social computing. Students learn about this emerging discipline from two perspectives: First, basic principles of collective information production and processing, and methods for studying these principles. Topics include prediction markets, games with a purpose, open source software development, social media, social networks, information visualization, and online games. Second, socio-technical aspects of the design and usage of respective technologies. This includes participation, privacy and security. Students learn how to solve problems in social computing in a systematic and rigorous fashion. At the end of the course, students will be able to design, manage and execute social computing projects for scholarly and commercial use, and to critically assess work in this area.

IS 426 Museum Informatics

The course examines various ways that information technologies are and might be used in museums and other cultural heritage settings. Museum websites, visitor apps, interactive exhibits, and uses of digitized and federated collections are explored. Students gain an introduction to Design Thinking by working on a final project that involves the development of a novel computational resource. Students are encouraged to approach class topics from their individual backgrounds in the humanities, sciences, or social sciences.

IS 429 Web Content Strategy and Management

This course focuses on the basics of web site design, content development, constructing web pages with standard HTML and CSS. We will also cover usability and accessibility, content management system options, multi-media and interactivity in the context of standard HTML and CSS, procedures and policies for organizations, with a concentration on public, academic and special libraries. Students will investigate, design, and draft a representative site. Students may work with non-profit and library clients in constructing and redesigning their web sites or design and construct their own personal professional pages. In this course we will learn how to design and deploy flexible websites that serve dynamically changing content, focusing in particular on the needs of public-service organizations such as libraries, associations, and other not-for-profit entities.

IS 430 Foundations of Information Processing

Covers common data, document processing, and programming constructs and concepts. Focuses on problem solving and abstraction with a programming language. By the end of the course students will be able to design, develop and test a moderately complex computer program to manage full text, bibliographic records or multimedia. The course prepares students for working with applications in data analytics, data science, digital libraries, text mining and knowledge management. No prior programming background is assumed.

IS 436 Playful Design Methods

In this immersive and experiential course, students consider "playfulness" as a key aspect of design methodologies and practices. Looking closely at the philosophical, social, and relational dynamics of play from multiple disciplinary angles, students will explore how playful approaches to design thinking and other design methodologies can encourage collaboration, engagement, and emergent, transformative solutions to a range of challenges that face us in our rapidly-changing, information-based culture.  The course aims to build student competency in design methods through a sequence of project experiences arising from a deep consideration of play.

IS 439 Web Development using Application Frameworks

Web Development Using Application Frameworks: A course in the use and evaluation of Web application frameworks for system architects, designers, and developers. 
Prerequisites:

  • Experience in creating static Web sites using HTML and CSS
  • Experience in Python programming (IS 430 or equivalent)
  • Experience in creating dynamic Web sites using tools like PHP is helpful but not required.
  • Experience in using relational databases is helpful but not required.

IS 440 Community Informatics Studio

Studio-based learning methods, which are common in art and architectural education, are used to help students address a real-world problem or 'case' within a social justice framework. Working in teams and mentored by the instructor and experts, students will learn how to 'be a professional' in an environment in which process is as important as project.

IS 445 Data Visualization

Data visualization is crucial to conveying information drawn from models, observations or investigations. This course will provide an overview of historical and modern techniques for visualizing data, drawing on quantitative, statistical, and network-focused datasets. Topics will include construction of communicative visualizations, the modern software ecosystem of visualization, and techniques for aggregation and interpretation of data through visualization.Particular attention will be paid to the Python ecosystem and multi-dimensional quantitative datasets.

IS 446 Systems Analysis and Design

This is an introductory course in systems analysis for computer-based information systems. Systems analysts are primarily responsible for eliciting user requirements, proposing a systems solution that meets those requirements, creating a model of the requirements and a proposed solution that can be understood by both system users and system developers. Systems analysts also get involved in project identification, planning, management, supervision of detailed system design and supervision of system construction. While this course will specifically emphasize systems analysis for LIS applications, the knowledge, tools and techniques that are covered in the course would be equally applicable to other disciplines. The audience for this course includes anyone who is interested in the analysis and preliminary design of computer-based information systems.

IS 451 Bibliography of Africa

Covers the available universe of African studies materials in all formats and how to find them. The class begins with evaluating general reference sources and continues with sources by discipline for the study of the continent of Africa. Covers research strategies for the humanities and social sciences.

IS 453 Information Books and Resources for Youth

Evaluation, selection and use of information books and other resources for young people (ages 0-18) in public libraries and school media centers; explores standard selection criteria for factual print and nonprint materials in all formats and develops the ability to evaluate and promote nonfiction books and resources according to their various uses (personal and curricular) and according to young people's various needs (intellectual, emotional, social and physical).

IS 455 Database Design and Prototyping

The course provides students with both theoretical and practical training in good database design. By the end of the course students will create a conceptual data model using entity-relationship diagrams, understand the importance of referential integrity and how to enforce data integrity constraints when creating a database. Students will be proficient in writing basic queries in the structured query language (SQL) and have a general understanding of relational database theory including normalization.

IS 456 Information Storage and Retrieval

Introduces problems of document representation, information need specification, and query processing. Describes the theories, models, and current research aimed at solving those problems. Primary focus is on bibliographic, text, and multimedia records.

IS 457 Data Storytelling

An introduction to understanding data as a source for storytelling and to telling stories based on data. This process will include understanding and analyzing data sets to find informative aspects, changes, or contrasts that will provide the basic information for developing stories. Course participants will learn storytelling concepts, narrative theories, and performance techniques and develop stories in a collaborative workshop style. Students will work with data visualization toolkits, which will involve variable levels of coding and skill. By using storytelling techniques with data, students can develop, and tell well-evidenced stories, organizations can make better data-driven decisions.

IS 461 Russian, East European, and Eurasian Bibliography & Research Methods

This course is intended to provide all necessary tools for the conduct of effective research in the field of Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies for both scholars and librarians. Relying on the rich bibliographic tradition of Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, the latest techniques, strategies, databases and full-text options will be explored and explained.Topics include national bibliography, archival materials, émigré publications, rare books, open-Web resources, citation management tools, and web archiving, with particular emphasis on the transliteration systems, abbreviations, bibliographic and cataloging conventions, and constant troubleshooting that are essential to efficient REEES research.Attention is also paid to information architecture in general and the ways that historical, political, intellectual and technological phenomena affect access to published and unpublished research materials.

IS 464 Information Assurance

The course provides an introduction to the concepts, technologies, practices and challenges of Information Assurance. It takes a broad view of Information Security and Privacy and covers the essential principles for the protection of information systems; the relevant technologies; organizational concerns; policies, human aspects; legal approaches; criminology; and ethical issues. Students will gain an appreciation for the difficulty of designing, developing, deploying and maintaining information systems, services and software products that are secure and comply with expectations of security and privacy.

IS 467 Ethics & Policy for Data Science

The course will address common ethical challenges related to data including privacy, bias, and data access. These challenges will be explored through real-world cases of corporate settings, non-profits, governments, academic research, and healthcare. The course emphasizes the complexity of ethical decision-making and that trade-offs between priorities are often necessary. The course also considers how the burdens of addressing ethical concerns should be distributed among stakeholders. Students will be introduced to a range of relevant policy responses at the organizational, institutional, governmental, and supranational levels.

IS 471 Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Information Professionals

Provides an introduction to learning theories and instructional methods used in a variety of information settings, including libraries, archives, museums, online, and educational environments. Includes an overview of theoretical and applied research and discusses relevant issues and concepts. Students will have an opportunity to design and present an instructional program.

IS 477 Data Management, Curation & Reproducibility

This course addresses issues in Data Management, Curation & Reproducibility from a Data Science perspective. We discuss definitions of data science, and then introduce and use the Data Science Life Cycle as an intellectual foundation. Topics include Research Artifact Identification and Management, Metadata, Repositories, Economics of Artifact Preservation and Sustainability, and Data Management Plans. We use the case study to ground our discussions in both data sets and in specific data science research. This course requires a final project that applies course knowledge to a data science experiment and creates a data management plan for that experiment. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: IS 205 or STAT 207 or equivalent programming experience.

IS 490 Topics in Information Foundations

Directed and supervised investigation of selected topics in information studies that may include among others the social, political, and historical contexts of information creation and dissemination; computers and culture; information policy; community information systems; production, retrieval and evaluation of knowledge; computer-mediated communication.

  • 490 LP - Libraries and the Politics of Memory
  • 490 PS - Professional Skills in Information Science
  • 490 SLP - Professional Skills in School Librarianship 
  • 490 SM - Social Media and Global Change

IS 491 Topics in Information Services

Variety of newly developed and current topics courses within the field of information services, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

3 undergraduate hours. 2 to 4 graduate hours. May be repeated if topics vary.

  • 491 AA - Asian American Youth Literature

IS 494 Topics in Management, Ethics & Policy

Variety of newly developed and current topics courses within the field of management ethics and policy, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 494 ABR - Applied Business Research
  • 494 MP - Making Information Policy

IS 496 Topics in Human-Centered Design & Systems

Variety of newly developed and current topics courses within the field of human-centered design and systems, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 496 CN - Computer Networks
  • 496 DE - Designing for Social Interactive Experience

IS 497 Topics in Data Analytics & Data Science

Variety of newly developed and topics courses within Data Analytics & Data Science, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 497 DA - Database Administration & Scaling
  • 497 DSA - Data Science and AI in Society
  • 497 IM - Interdisciplinary Methods in Research Computing
  • 497 MD - Market Analytics for Info Prof

IS 500 Introduction to the iSchool

Introduces graduate students to the School of Information Sciences (the iSchool). Students will learn best practices for success in their program. They will also learn about resources and support provided by the School and the University while building community among their peers, faculty, staff and alumni. Various sections address different graduate student audiences and needs.

IS 501 Reference and Information Services

Explores reference and information services in a variety of settings, introduces widely used print and online sources, and develops question negotiation skills and search strategies.

IS 503 History of Children's Literature

Interpretation of children's literature from the earliest times, including the impact of changing social and cultural patterns on books for children; attention to early printers and publishers of children's books and to magazines for children.

IS 504 Sociotechnical Information Systems

The character, success, and costs/benefits of information technologies are socio-technical matters. Because of this, best practice for IT design and integration relies on participants' ability to understand and create for the totality of those settings, including social and technical dimensions. This course provides students with analytic tools for examining socio-technical settings and experience in applying that knowledge in IT modeling, design and management.

IS 505 Information Organization and Access

Emphasizes information organization and access in settings and systems of different kinds. Traces the information transfer process from the generation of knowledge through its storage and use in both print and non-print formats. Consideration will be given to the creation of information systems: the principles and practice of selection and preservation, methods of organizing information for retrieval and display, the operation of organizations that provide information services, and the information service needs of various user communities.

IS 506 Human-Centered Information Systems

This course provides students the fundamental theory and skills necessary to design, develop, and evaluate human centered information systems. By the end of the course students will be able to gather user needs in light of existing sociotechnical systems, design effective human centered interfaces, implement interactive prototypes, and conduct unit testing and user studies of software.

IS 507 Data, Statistical Models, and Information

An introduction to statistical and probabilistic models as they pertain to quantifying information, assessing information quality, and principled application of information to decision making, with focus on model selection and gauging model quality. The course reviews relevant results from probability theory, parametric and non-parametric predictive models, as well as extensions of these models for unsupervised learning. Applications of statistical and probabilistic models to tasks in information management (e.g. prediction, ranking, and data reduction) are emphasized.

IS 509 History and Foundations of Information Science

Provides an introduction to the historical foundations of IS. Examinations of the interactions of socio-cultural, technological and professional factors underlying the emergence of IS provide a basis for exploring more recent developments in theory and practice. Required IS Ph.D. course.

IS 510 Libraries, Information, and Society

Explores major issues in the library and information science professions as they involve their communities of users and sponsors. Analyzes specific situations that reflect the professional agenda of these fields, including intellectual freedom, community service, professional ethics, social responsibilities, intellectual property, literacy, historical and international models, the socio-cultural role of libraries and information agencies and professionalism in general, focusing in particular on the interrelationships among these issues.

IS 511 Scholarly Communications

A basic level of scholarly communication literacy and sophistication is an increasing requirement of academic librarians, both to inform their work and to make those librarians effective partners in the scholarly enterprise. This course is designed to cultivate and develop that literacy. It will address topics such as: the established modes of scholarly communication and the emergence of alternatives influenced by the growth of social media and other forms of networked communication; the divide between formal and informal modes of scholarly communication and the current state of flux as that divide begins to collapse; the varying economies of scholarship (the reputation and prestige economy, the financial economy both in the market and in the mission-driven research academy, and the economic impact of scholarly communication decisions upon library budgets); modes of credentialing scholarship and their impact upon professional advancement, with special attention to peer review and its (current?) discontents; scholarship as intellectual property and the most effective ways to manage that property and achieve scholarly goals; and issues in access and preservation as they relate to ensuring the future of the scholarly conversation.

IS 514 Applied Business Research

As an experiential learning class, this course covers advanced techniques of business research with an emphasis on managing real-world client projects. Students will be assigned to teams and work with clients to identify research requirements and construct recommendations. Students will acquire critical skills in creating professional deliverables through client engagements. Students will build professional research portfolios at the conclusion of their projects.

IS 515 Information Modeling

Information modeling is critical to all information systems and analysis. This course introduces students to foundational frameworks (set theory and logics) and basic underlying objects (entities, attributes, and relations) of information modeling. A variety of modeling approaches (use case modeling, relational database design, first-order predicate logic, and semantic web technologies) are considered, and recent developments (non-relational databases and knowledge graphs) are reviewed. Modeling strategies are assessed by their expressiveness and reasoning capabilities.

IS 517 Methods of Data Science

A dramatic increase in computing power has enabled new areas of data science to develop in statistical modeling and analysis. These areas cover predictive and descriptive learning bridge ideas and theory in statistics, computer science and artificial intelligence. We will cover many of these new methods including predictive learning such as estimating models from data to predict future outcomes, notably regression and classification models. Regression topics include linear regression with recent advances to deal with large numbers of variables, smoothing techniques, additive models, and local regression. Classification topics include discriminant analysis, logistic regression, support vector machines, generalized additive models, naive Bayes, mixture models and nearest neighbor methods. Lastly we develop neural networks and deep learning techniques, bridging the theory introduced in the earlier parts of the class to purely empirical methods. We situate these methods in the "data science lifecycle" as part of the larger set of practices in the discovery and communication of scientific findings.

IS 519 Research Design in Information Science

Provides an introduction to the design of IS research, beginning with an in-depth consideration of the philosophical and logical underpinnings of research. A brief survey of different methods used in IS research is followed by an exploration of research design issues through comparative hands-on exercises. Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on research design choices, especially the connections between research questions and research methods.

IS 521 Digital Libraries

A comprehensive examination of the history and state-of-the-art in digital library research and practice. Focuses upon the theoretical, technological, human factors and evaluative components of digital library research and practice. Course includes an intensive reading of the literature, review of existing technologies and proof-of-concepts implementation projects.

 

IS 522 Library Buildings

Studies the library's physical plant in the light of changing concepts and patterns of library service; analyzes present-day library buildings (both new and remodeled), and their comparison with each other as well as with buildings of the past; examines the interrelationship of staff, collections, users, and physical plant; discussion supplemented by visits to new libraries and conference with their staffs. A two-day field trip is required.

IS 523 Preserving Information Resources

Covers the broad range of library preservation and conservation for book and nonbook materials relating these efforts to the total library environment; emphasizes how the preservation of collections affects collection management and development, technical services, access to materials and service to users.

IS 524 Data Governance

The course will address issues of data governance, including data ethics, and design and implementation of policy responses and best practices.

IS 525 Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

This course examines the construction of a data warehouse and business intelligence system. It will review the roles and requirements of building the system, including data modelling and business intelligence product design. This course will explore real-world case studies of data warehouse and business intelligence projects leading to a final project to design a solution for a business case.

IS 527 Network Analysis

Network Analysis has become a widely adopted method for studying the interactions between social agents, information and infrastructures. The strong demand for expertise in network analysis has been fueled by the widespread acknowledgement that everything is connected and the popularity of social networking services. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to fundamental theories, concepts, methods and applications of network analysis in a practical manner. Students learn and practice hands-on skills in collecting, analyzing and visualizing network data.

IS 529 Doctoral ProSeminar

A core course for all first year Information Science PhD students. The seminar serves as a venue for the development of a variety of skills and capacities to succeed as a scholar. Throughout the term, students will engage in a series of tasks designed as an initiation to the academic profession. The seminar offers a mix of sessions on progression through the Ph.D. degree program, the research process, guidance on the academic profession, and written and oral presentation of scholarly research. While students will receive feedback from the instructor, this is a seminar, meaning that active student participation and peer feedback is crucial.

IS 530 Collection Development

Examines issues affecting the development and management of collections for academic, public, special, and school libraries: collection development policies, collection assessment, the marketplace, publishing, legal issues, and budget allocation; document delivery; collaboration and cooperation.

IS 532 School Library Management

School Library Information Specialists serve children and young adults (ages 5-18) in K-12 school library media centers. Students will acquire specific knowledge, skills and competencies needed to design, develop, integrate and assess curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on the information needs of K-12 students. Readings and projects provide students with opportunities to apply the practical knowledge and skills they have learned about building reading literacy, teaching information literacy skills, collaborating with teachers and integrating resources into teaching and learning. 2

IS 533 Oral History Methods

Introduces the theory and practice of oral history to graduate students in history, communication, library and information science and related fields through reading, discussion and practice with field work and interviewing. Over the last fifty years, oral history has moved from a controversial (and sometimes despised) technique on the margins of the discipline history, to one of the most important forms of historical knowledge production and dissemination in the academic and non-academic worlds. Yet its goals and relations to the communities it touches are often less than clear. Examines oral historical works, some canonical, some experimental, produced by historians, anthropologists, folklorists, sociologists and political activists. Up for discussion are questions of orality and literacy, privileged versus marginal histories, the problem of memory, problems of listening and learning how to ask, and debates about audience and presentation. Readings will cross continents (the Americas, Europe, Africa, South America) and historical periods from the 18th through the 21st centuries.

IS 534 Information Consulting

This course is designed to provide fundamental knowledge in providing research services and also introduce the latest trends and innovative approaches in research services. Information professionals are increasingly being challenged to provide not just data but insights and recommendations that are critical for strategic decision making. Using methodologies widely adopted by professional firms and researchers, this course will cover basics of research consulting including framing research problems, developing deliverables, and presenting professionally.

IS 537 Theory and Practice of Data Cleaning

Data cleaning (also: cleansing) is the process of assessing and improving data quality for later analysis and use, and is a crucial part of data curation and analysis. This course identifies data quality issues throughout the data lifecycle, and reviews specific techniques and approaches for checking and improving data quality. Techniques are drawn primarily from the database community, using schema-level and instance-level information, and from different scientific communities, which are developing practical tools for data pre-processing and cleaning.

IS 540 Social Justice in the Information Professions

This course is intended to provide a historic and contemporary overview of social justice and advocacy work in librarianship. The course will be primarily focused on activities in the United States, though international movements and perspectives will be addressed. Topics include: desegregation of libraries and professional associations; recruitment and retention of library workers from traditionally underrepresented populations; library outreach; intellectual freedom; and emerging critical theories and issues in the field.

IS 541 Copyright for Information Professions

Copyright is a complicated legal concept that affects all information institutions, including corporations, libraries, archives, and museums whether they are online or off. This course will explore copyright from both a legal and information management perspective to demystify the concept and provide practical tools for working with copyrighted material. Topics discussed include the Constitutional underpinnings of copyright, copyright basics, copyright exceptions, fair use, the open access movement, licensing, data and copyright, and educational issues relating to copyright including issues related to K-12 teaching. This course is designed for students with a variety of backgrounds and interests.

IS 542 Research and Inquiry for Youth

This course is designed to prepare school librarians to serve as instructional leaders in their learning communities, positioned to transform teaching and learning in order to ensure students are college, career, and community ready. Participants will develop strategies and practices to support the school's curriculum through the roles of instructional partner, information specialist, and teacher. The school librarian has a leadership role in designing authentic learning activities in research and guided inquiry to prepare students in both the process and attitudes necessary to identify and meet their own lifelong information needs.

IS 543 Digital Preservation

Examines current problems with and approaches to digital preservation that are fundamental to the long-term accessibility of digital materials. Examines the range of current research problems, along with emerging methods and tools, and assesses a variety of organizational scenarios to plan and implement a preservation plan. Topics include basic information theory, preservation of complex digital objects; standards and specifications; sustainability and risk assessment; authenticity, integrity, quality control, and certification; and management of preservation activities.

IS 545 Advanced Data Visualization

In this seminar-style course we will discuss advanced topics in visualization techniques.  This will cover topics such as the history of visualization techniques, the perception and understanding of visual information, and new frontiers in displaying quantitative information.  We will explore the modern technical stack for creating and sharing visualizations, including topics in javascript, python, and reactive frameworks.  Prereqs: programming courses.  Students are expected to either be familiar with, or be prepared to familiarize themselves with, Python, Javascript, GitHub, and other computational tools.  Data Visualization (IS445) is optional, but encouraged.

IS 547 Foundations of Data Curation

Data curation is the active and on-going management of data through its lifecycle of interest and usefulness to scholarship, science, and education; curation activities and policies enable data discovery and retrieval, maintain data quality and add value, and provide for re-use over time. This course provides an overview of a broad range of theoretical and practical problems in the emerging field, examining issues related to appraisal and selection, long-lived data collections, research lifecycles, workflows, metadata, and legal and intellectual property issues.

IS 551 Youth Services Librarianship

Theory and techniques in planning, implementing and evaluating library programs/services for youth (age 0-18) in public and school libraries/media centers; the knowledge base, skills, and competencies needed by the library media professional in the development of all aspects of young people's reading/viewing/listening and information literacy skills.

IS 555 Naming and Power

An advanced topics seminar in subject description and access that focuses upon representation in race, gender, sexuality and other contested categories. Critical intersections of bias, exclusion, and marginalization will be explored through a variety of case studies. Implications for how we construct search and discovery systems (e.g databases, finding aids, taxonomies and catalogs), and other tools, are crucial considerations for those engaging in cultural heritage work.

IS 556 Internet of Things

Relying primarily on case studies, this course will help develop the students' understanding of how the IoT enables Business Data Analytics. Lectures and readings will be focused on the impact to a company's business model created by IoT data and analytics. Because of the disruptive nature of IoT sensors or data, IT Innovation will also be discussed. While the course will reflect a practitioner's view, the material will be presented on a solid academic under-pinning.

IS 557 Applied Machine Learning: Team Projects

In this course students will build upon their previously acquired skills in machine learning to undertake a variety of team-based project which apply appropriate machine learning techniques to one or more real-world datasets to gain useful actionable insights. Teams will also document their analyses and findings, explaining the strengths weaknesses and reliability of their approaches.

IS 560 Social Science Research in LIS

Introduces students to the fundamentals of doing social science research in LIS. Students will learn how to frame a research problem, choose an appropriate research method, apply it, and write up the research for presentation and publication.

IS 561 Use and Users of Information

Explores information needs and uses at a general level, addressing formal and informal information channels, barriers to information, issues of value, and impacts of technology. Examines information seeking practices of particular communities and within various environments, introducing recent approaches to user-centered system design and digital library development. Provides an overview of methods that can be used to study information needs, information seeking behavior, and related phenomena.

IS 562 Administration and Use of Archival Materials

Administration of archives and manuscript collections in various types of institutions. Theoretical principles and archival practices of appraisal, acquisition, accessioning, arrangement, description, preservation, and reference services. Topics will include: records management programs, collecting archives programs/special collections, legal and ethical issues, public programming and advocacy, and the impact of new information technologies for preservation and access.

IS 563 Advanced Topics in Literature, Media and Materials

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within Literature, Media and Materials, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 563 AAB - African American Intellectual History, Bibliography, and Librarianship
  • 563 AP - Adult Popular Literature
  • 563 CL - Reviewing Children's Literature
  • 563 CR - Comics: Advising Readers
  • 563 DH - History of Digital Humanities
  • 563 FL - Fantasy Literature and Media for Youth
  • 563 RYL - Religion in Youth Literature
  • 563 SJ - Social Justice in Youth Literature
  • 563 SS - Library Resources for Spanish Speakers

IS 565 Cataloging for School Libraries

This course will introduce the student to the principles, practices and standards for information representation and organization in school media centers. Course content will include an introduction to original cataloging of non-standard materials (such as realia and audiovisual materials), evaluation of bibliographic records, exposure to authority control and subject access systems with a special focus on the Dewey Decimal System and Sears Subject Headings. The course will also provide an overview and exploration of different library systems/OPACS.

IS 567 Text Mining

This course introduces students to the knowledge discovery process and methods used to mine patterns from a collection of text. We will critically review text mining methods developed in the knowledge discovery and databases, information science, and computational linguistics communities. Students will develop proficiency with modeling text through individual projects.

IS 569 Internship

Supervised field experience designed for learning professional-level duties in an approved information-related organization or institution.

IS 571 Advanced Topics in Use and Users of Information

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Use and Users of Information, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 571 AL - Accessibility in Library Resources
  • 571 CP - Children’s Programming 
  • 571 IS - Information Services for Diverse Users
  • 571 LR - Literacy, Reading, and Readers
  • 571 LG - Library Gaming Programs.
  • 571 TL - Teen Library Programs

IS 573 Advanced Topics in Collections

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Collections, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 573 AB - Introduction to Artists Books
  • 573 CA - Community Archives
  • 573 CH - Introduction to Cultural Heritage Collections
  • 573 DCA - Documentation, Collection, and Appraisal of Records
  • 573 ED - Exhibit Design and Installation
  • 573 ER - E-Resources Management
  • 573 PM - Preservation Museum Artifacts
  • 573 SC - Collection Development for Special Collections

IS 575 Metadata in Theory and Practice

Combines theoretical examination of the design of metadata schema with their practical application in a variety of settings. Hands-on experience in the creation of descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata, along with their application in systems such as OAI harvesting, OpenURL resolution systems, metasearch systems and digital repositories, will help students develop a thorough understanding of current metadata standards as well as such issues as crosswalking, metadata schema, metadata's use in information retrieval and data management applications, and the role of standards bodies in metadata schema development.

IS 577 Data Mining

Data mining refers to the process of exploring large datasets with the goal of uncovering interesting patterns. This process usually involves a number of tasks such as data collection, pre-processing, and characterization; model fitting, selection, and evaluation; classification, clustering, and prediction. Although data mining has its roots in database management, it has grown into a discipline that focuses on algorithm design (to ensure computational feasibility) and statistical modeling (to separate the signal from the noise). It draws heavily upon a variety of other disciplines including statistics, machine learning, operations research, and information retrieval. Will cover the major data mining concepts, principles, and techniques that every information scientist should know about. Lectures will introduce and discuss the major approaches to data mining; computer lab sessions coupled with assignments will provide hands-on experience with these approaches; term projects offer the opportunity to use data mining in a novel way. Mathematical detail will be left to the students who are so inclined.

IS 578 Seminar in Research Methods

This seminar course will offer an advanced graduate survey of research in areas related to research in research methods, across a wide range of topics. This course is designed to incorporate multiple guest lectures.

  • 578 CC - Critical Approach to Children's Literature
  • 578 DH - Intro to Digital Humanities
  • 578 QM - Qualitative Methods

IS 579 Guided Research Experience

Supervised participation in information science research. Students assist in and /or conduct research under faculty or staff supervision on an information science project. The topics and nature of the work will vary.

IS 580 Information History

Information history covers diverse institutions and practices, from libraries and postal systems to cartography and statistics, and connects these to overarching historical processes. This course examines the role of information in the transition to capitalism; in processes of state formation; in industrialization, and in other important historical movements and events.

IS 581 Advanced Topics in Youth Services

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Youth Services, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 581 DCE - Digital Citizenship and Ethics
  • 581 EY - Educational Technology and Youth
  • 581 IL - Inquiry-Based Learning
  • 581 ISM - Instructional Strategies for Media Literacy
  • 581 ML - Foundations of Media Literacy

IS 582 Advanced Topics in Librarianship

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Librarianship, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 582 AL - Academic Librarianship
  • 582 IL - International Librarianship
  • 582 LL - Law Librarianship
  • 582 LLM - Legal Issues for Library and Information Managers
  • 582 LSW - Library Social Work
  • 582 MD - Make-Design-Learn in Libraries
  • 582 PL - Prison Librarianship
  • 582 RB - Rare Books and Special Collections
  • 582 SCL - Social Crisis and Librarianship
  • 582 SSL - Social Science Librarianship
  • 582 TL - Theological Librarianship

IS 583 Advanced Topics in Book History

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Book History, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 583 BB - Bookbinding History, Principles, and Practices
  • 583 BL - BookLab: Print to Programming
  • 583 BP - The Book as Physical Object
  • 583 HB - History of the Book
  • 583 MM - Medieval Manuscripts
  • 583 PB - Print Culture & Material Book

IS 584 Advanced Topics in Ethics and Privacy

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of ethics and privacy, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 584 DE - Data Ethics
  • 584 IE - Information Ethics
  • 584 IF - Intellectual Freedom & Censorship
  • 584 PV - Privacy in the Internet Age

IS 585 Bibliographic Metadata

Introduction to basic principles and concepts of descriptive and subject cataloging in the context of information service needs for various user communities. Explores principles, structures, standards, technologies and practices relating to organizing and creating access to print and non-print media. Includes coverage of subject analysis and descriptive practices. Introduces controlled vocabularies.

IS 586 Usability Engineering

The course provides an introduction to: issues in Human Computer Interaction; analysis of interfaces and their use; the interface design process as an engineering activity; designing usable interfaces under constraints; and the rapid prototyping and evaluation cycle. The course covers interface design in multiple contexts including websites, web-based applications, smartphone apps, regular computer apps and new contexts of interacting with computers.

IS 589 Independent Study

Permits the intermediate or advanced student opportunity to undertake the study of a topic not otherwise offered in the curriculum or to pursue a topic beyond or in greater depth than is possible within the context of a regular course.

IS 590 Advanced Topics in Information Foundations

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of information foundations, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 590 CIS - Critical Info Studies Seminar
  • 590 IT - Introduction to LIS Technology
  • 590 LS - Logic and Semantics in Information Science
  • 590 MI - Memory and Information
  • 590 RGS - Race, Gender, Sexuality Information Professions
  • 590 YCE - Youth Services Community Engagement

IS 591 Advanced Topics in Information Services

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Information Services, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 591 ACT - Advanced Copyright Topics & Issues
  • 591 APS - Adult Public Services
  • 591 BI - Business Information
  • 591 BTO - Bibliotherapy
  • 591 CAP - Capabilities & Application in Practice
  • 591 CIP - Advanced Topics in Copyright for Information Professionals
  • 591 EL - E-Learning
  • 591 HIS - Health Science Information Services & Resources
  • 591 ILP - Informal Learning and Pedagogies
  • 591 ISS - Information Sources & Services in Humanities
  • 591 MA - Music Librarianship & Bibliography
  • 591 PIP - Publishing as an Information Profession
  • 591 PL - Public Library Partnerships

IS 592 Advanced Topics in Information Organizations

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Information Organization, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 592 GW - Grant Writing for Libraries
  • 592 PL - Public Librarianship
  • 592 SLC - State Libraries and Consortia

IS 593 Advanced Topics in Preservation & Tech Services

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Preservation & Tech Services, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 593 AA - Archival Arrangement and Description
  • 593 AV - AV Materials in Libraries and Archives
  • 593 MA - Museum Archives
  • 593 PCC - Preservation and Conservation for Collections Care
  • 593 TS - Technical Services Functions
     

IS 594 Advanced Topics in Management and Policy

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Management and Policy, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 594 BA - Business Analytics
  • 594 EI - Economics of Information
  • 594 EV - Evaluation and Assessment of Library Services
  • 594 FM - Financial Management
  • 594 GI - Government Information
  • 594 IP - Information Policy
  • 594 PJ - Project Management
  • 594 PM - Personnel Management
     

IS 595 Advanced Topics in Organization & Representation

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Organization & Representation, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 595 ABM - Advanced Bibliographic Metadata
  • 595 BB - Bibliography
  • 595 CC - Introduction to Cloud Computing
  • 595 CIK - Competitive Intelligence & Knowledge Management
  • 595 KSI - Knowledge Structures for Information Organizations
  • 595 LD - Linked Data Processing
  • 595 RO - Representing & Organizing Information Resources

IS 596 Advanced Topics in Human-Centered Design & Systems

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the field of Human-Centered Design & Systems, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 596 AI - Artificial Intelligence and Democracy
  • 596 DI - Designing Intelligent Systems to Augment Human Performance
  • 596 GH - Global Health Informatics
  • 596 ISR - Implementation of Information Storage and Retrieval Systems
  • 596 ML - Machine Learning and Social Computing
  • 596 SM - Social Media Analytics
  • 596 SS - Social Sensing

IS 597 Advanced Topics in Data Analytics & Data Science

Variety of newly developed and advanced topics courses within the fields of Data Analytics & Data Science, intended to augment the existing Information Sciences curricula.

  • 597 CL - Command Line Tools
  • 597 CS - Culture At Scale: A Seminar
  • 597 DM - Open Data Mashups
  • 597 DS - Data Structures & Algorithms
  • 597 HCD - Human Centered Data Science
  • 597 LLM - Large Language Models
  • 597 MLC - Machine Learning Cloud
  • 597 PD - Practical Health Data Analytics
  • 597 PR - Programming & Quality in Data Analytics
  • 597 PY - Python Standard Library
  • 597 RDA - Responsible Data Science & Artificial Intelligence
  • 597 RIB - Research Impact Bibliometrics
  • 597 TML - Trustworthy Machine Learning