The School of Information's master's curriculum offers any number of options for students to craft a concentration or specialization once they have completed their required courses. The following examples offer suggestions for how students might configure their program of study specialization.

Certificates

Two suggested certificate options for students wanting to document specialized coursework:

• Endorsement of Specialization
  Allows student-tailored specialization within master's required (40) semester credit hours
• Certificate of Advanced Study
  Requires additional (12) semester credit hours (minimum) beyond the master's degree

Coursework Suggestions

Academic Librarianship

A concentration to prepare students for a career as an information specialist in academic environments (post-12th grade) whether in community and junior colleges, four-year liberal arts colleges or technical institutes, colleges and universities with a few graduate programs, or large-scale public and private research universities. Students concentrating in this area usually take as many of the reference courses below as possible:

• INF 382D: Introduction to Information Resources and Services
• INF 382H: Legal Information Resources
• INF 382K: Information Resources in Health Sciences
• INF 382L.1: Information Resources in the Humanities
• INF 382L.2: Information Resources in the Social Sciences
• INF 382M: Government Information
• INF 382N: Information Resources in Business
• INF 382R: Information Resources in Science and Technology

Depending upon their interests, students might also select the following electives:

• INF 382S: Library Instruction and Information Literacy
• INF 384D: Collection Management
• INF 385E: Information Architecture I
• INF 385H: Digital Media Design
• INF 385P: Introduction to Usability
• INF 385S: Digital Library Principles and Development

Students wishing to extend their education in this area are encouraged to choose a Capstone experience that engages them in relevant project work.

Archives and Records Enterprise

Students pursuing a concentration in archival enterprise can select from a recommended group of courses from which they may construct their own specific views of the specialization. The courses include:

• INF 389R: Introduction to Archival Enterprise I
• INF 389S: Introduction to Archival Enterprise II
• INF 389N: Seminar in Archival Enterprise
• INF 389G: Introduction to Electronic and Digital Records
• INF 389J: Appraisal and Selection of Records
• INF 389E: Introduction to Records Management

Additionally, archives students are encouraged to take courses in history to support service to their largest constituency, especially historiography. Some archives students choose to take advantage of the presence of the Preservation and Conservation program at the iSchool by taking a selection of preservation administration and beginning conservation courses, such that they may nearly construct a sort of double major in archives and preservation administration.

Other students choose to specialize in digital archiving, which they can do by taking a sequence of courses developed for this purpose:

• INF 385D: Database Management: Principles and Applications
• INF 389G: Introduction to Electronic and Digital Records
• INF 392K: Problems in the Permanent Retention of Digital Records
• INF 389K: Life Cycle Metadata for Digital Objects

Students may also take INF 385S, Digital Library Principles and Development, or any of a sequence of digitization courses developed at the iSchool under an IMLS grant (described further below), which is also very helpful in presaging the skills they will need for future migration of digital objects.

Finally, students interested in records management may take, in addition to one or more digital records courses, courses offered at the iSchool in government records, government information, legal information, and information policy.

Students wishing to extend their education in this area are encouraged to choose a Capstone experience that engages them in relevant project work.

Digital Libraries

Students interested in a concentration in digital libraries are encouraged to begin with three digital libraries foundation courses:

• INF 385R: Survey of Digitization
• INF 385S: Digital Library Principles and Development
• INF 397.3: Digital Libraries Research

Once they have taken the foundation courses, students select at least one (most students choose more) of the following:

• INF 392L: Introduction to Audio Preservation and Reformatting
• INF 385T: Audio for the Internet
• INF 385T: Creating Sustainable Collections: Advanced Digital Imaging
• INF 385U: Creating and Using Digital Media Collections

Other courses useful for digital libraries studies can be selected from the following:

• INF 384E: Descriptive Cataloging and Metadata
• INF 384H: Concepts of Information Retrieval
• INF 385E: Information Architecture and Design I
• INF 385H: Digital Media Design I
• INF 385M: Database Management Principles and Applications
• INF 385Q: Knowledge Management Systems
• INF 389G: Introduction to Electronic and Digital Records
• INF 389K: Life Cycle Metadata for Digital Objects
• INF 392K: Problems in Permanent Retention of Electronic Records
• INF 392M: Advanced Audio Preservation and Reformatting

Students wishing to extend their education in this area are encouraged to choose a Capstone experience that engages them in relevant project work.

Information Architecture & Design

The following suite of courses prepares information professionals to work in the software and product development industries as usability specialists and information architects.

• INF 385C: User-System Interface Design
• INF 385E: Information Architecture and Design I
• INF 385F: Information Architecture and Design II
• INF 385P: Introduction to Usability
• INF 385G: Advanced Usability
• INF 385H: Digital Media Design I
• INF 385J: Digital Media Design II

Students wishing to extend their education for this area are encouraged to choose a Capstone experience that engages them in relevant project work. Several of these courses also provide hands-on experience in our Information Experience Lab (the IX Lab) so that students are prepared for work in real industrial laboratories upon graduation.

Legal Information Services

A concentration in legal information services builds on the following two courses:

• INF 382H: Legal Information Resources
• INF 382L: Introduction to Law Librarianship/Legal Informatics

A range of electives are also offered with more specific focii, from legal information services for corporate environments to legal services for government or academic environments. Students choose from the following courses according to their own interests.

• INF 382D: Introduction to Information Resources and Services
• INF 382M: Government Information
• INF 382N: Information Resources in Business
• INF 382P: Competitive Intelligence Resources and Strategies
• INF 385M: Database Management Principles and Applications
• INF 385Q: Knowledge Management Systems
• INF 387: Administration: Legal Issues for Libraries
• INF 387.2: Information Marketing
• INF 389E: Introduction to Records Management
• INF 389G: Introduction to Electronic and Digital Records
• INF 390N: Information Policy
• INF 390N.1: Federal Information Policy
• INF 390N.2: Copyright: Cultural and Legal Perspectives
• INF 390N.2: Advanced Problems in Copyright and Intellectual Property

Students wishing to extend their education for this area are encouraged to choose a Capstone experience that engages them in relevant project work.