UB Library School, Communication Department to Merge, Form School of Information Studies

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) at the University at Buffalo and the university's Department of Communication, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, will merge on July 1, creating a unit that will enable UB to conduct more productive educational programs in information and communication technology.

The new School of Information Studies (SIS) will consist of a Department of Communication and a Department of Information and Library Studies.

UB Provost David Triggle said the new school is vital to the university's mission.

"In that TV series, 'The Prisoner,' now of cult status, Number 2 is always stating to Patrick McGoohan, Number 6, that he 'wants information,'" he noted. "That is still an appropriate quotation for today -- information and its use are hot commodities. The scientific and social aspects of information gathering, transmission, reception and analysis are of increasing importance in this knowledge-based world.

"The volume of information doubles at ever-increasing rate and our ability to communicate effectively in the future will depend even more on our effective use of information," Triggle added. "The 'information technologies' will increasingly dominate the education, research and service missions of the university. The formation of the School of Information Studies is an important first step for us in executing these missions."

SILS Dean George Bobinski and Thomas Jacobson, chair of the Department of Communication, said the merger is beneficial for both units since their work focuses essentially on the users of information and the human aspects of the impact of information technology.

"We share common values, domains of interest and research methodologies that provide opportunities for productive collaboration, a fact reflected in the mission statements of both SILS and the Department of Communication," Bobinski said, adding that both units are concerned with the information system and the delivery system, and with interpersonal networks, social networks and mass networks.

"We are also both concerned with the effects of faithful, correct information circulation and of incomplete, incorrect and misleading information," he said, noting that "the two areas are becoming more intertwined in our increasingly networked society with concerns that are in some cases parallel and in others, complementary."

Bobinski will retire in July after 29 years as dean of the School of Information and Library Studies. His successful three-year effort to expand the school's degree offerings and programs will be among the last projects of his tenure.

Jacobson also applauded the merger plans, noting that his department faculty has worked at length with the SILS faculty on this plan for some time. "We're all looking forward to the merger," he said. "It provides a framework within which the challenges that derive from the evolution of information technology can be addressed."

A national search is under way for a dean to head the new school, which will continue to offer degrees now available through SILS and the Department of Communication, including bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in communication; a master's degree in library and information science, and a post-master's degree certificate and a cooperative doctoral program with the Graduate School of Education in higher education/academic librarianship.

In addition, the school plans to offer two new degree programs: a doctorate in library and information science and an interdisciplinary master's degree in information and communication that will focus on the use of computer and network applications as employed in a wide range of organizations and jobs.

The possibility of merging library studies and communications has been under consideration for several years. Former UB Provost Thomas Headrick addressed the issue in his academic planning document, recognizing the SILS program for its low cost and efficiency of operation and calling it a "successful graduate professional program" with a "respectable reputation."

Bobinski pointed out that Headrick saw SILS as a major partner in a very important proposed initiative in information and communication technology, proposing that the school link with cognate disciplines in information science and technology and broaden its program.

"This," said Bobinski, "was a decision that concurred with the findings of the 1995-97 SILS Task Force on Program Expansion."

The work of the task force involved extensive discussion with faculty members from numerous departments at the university, in addition to Communication, including Media Study and Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Management Science and Systems in the School of Management, as well as the cognitive sciences. The result was an increasingly close relationship between SILS and the Department of Communication.

In 1997, a joint committee was appointed by Bobinski and Jacobson to study a possible merger. In the spring of 1998, the committee issued a report recommending a merger, which was approved by both faculties with no opposition and only one abstention.

Jacobson and Bobinski pointed to several advantages of the merger for both academic areas. In addition to offering the new fifth-year interdisciplinary master's degree program and the previously approved doctoral program in library and information studies, it will enable the combined faculties to:

• Seek and obtain funding from sources whose missions concern public policy on information organization, retrieval and delivery.