Information Studies School To Develop New Degree Programs

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- New degree programs related to issues and research on the human aspects of information transfer are being developed by the School of Information Studies (SIS) at The University at Buffalo. The school was formed July 1 when the School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) changed its name and merged with the Department of Communication.

Thomas Jacobson, Ph.D., acting dean of the new school and former chair of the communication department, says SIS will not design new technologies, but will address two areas: public need in the area of information and library studies, and the application of new technologies and their effect on system users at the personal, organizational and societal levels.

New programs under development include a master's degree in information and communication (MIC), a five-year bachelor's/master's-degree program that is expected to be highly attractive to undergraduates. The MIC program also will operate as a stand-alone master's degree.

"The MIC should appeal to students from other schools who want to continue their education and to adults who want to retool for career advancement," Jacobson says.

He adds that the program will not focus on training in library skills per se nor on social-science theory, but rather concentrate on the use of computer and network applications as they are employed in a wide range of organizations and the jobs performed within them. Content areas will address information storage and retrieval, Web applications, trends in information technology, and policy and organizational communication.

Jacobson says the school also will offer a new doctorate in library and information science. The program, already approved by the state Department of Education, will be revised and refined to take advantage of the new resources and programmatic aims of SIS.

The new doctoral program will incorporate communication courses for basic theory and research skills, as well as an undetermined number of electives chosen to incorporate a cognate area in communication.

Although organized as a free-standing school, SIS reports to Kerry Grant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), for purposes of programming.

It is composed of a Department of Communication, headed by Frank Tutzauer, associate professor and acting chair, and a Department of Library and Information Studies, headed by Neil A. Yerkey, professor and acting chair. A national search for a permanent dean is under way and the position is expected to be filled before the end of next summer, says Jacobson.

The original proposal for the new school was developed over a two-year period of discussion, assessment and planning by members of the faculties involved.

Initially, concern was expressed by some faculty members in SILS about dropping the word "library" from the name of the new school, particularly given SILS' national reputation in its field. SILS consistently had ranked among the top 25 library schools in the nation, even though it was one of the few schools without a doctoral program.

Jacobson says there is a national trend toward merging university-based, information-studies programs and dropping the word "library" from the name of the resulting entity.

"This has caused some concern in the library community," Jacobson says, "but the accrediting association for programs in library studies recently reaccredited the MLS (Master of Library Science) program, in spite of the name change.

Besides the MLS, the school offers a bachelor of arts degree and a doctorate in communication. It also offers a master's-degree program in applied communication, which Jacobson says will be enhanced to take advantage of access to courses and faculty from the former SILS, or folded into the new MIC program.

He points out that faculty members in the merged units share a broad range of research and teaching interests, including international communication and librarianship; telecommunications networking; interpersonal, organizational or mass communications; information seeking, sources and organization; content analysis; math modeling and quantitative methods, and history and social issues.

He notes that research in library and information studies often has looked to the field of communication for its theoretical foundations.

The Center for Applied Research in Library and Information Science (CARLIS), formerly based in the library school, will remain unchanged for now, Jacobson says, "but may broaden its mission over time.

"It will enjoy some improvement in its research capabilities as a result of the merger," he says. "Its projects will benefit from the newly available pool of graduate students trained in theory and research methods. This should reduce costs for some projects and make CARLIS able to pursue others not possible previously."