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Course Description
Course Description
LIS 5033-995 Info & Knowledge Society
The nature of knowledge and information; national and global organizational information infrastructure; the role of information and knowledge professionals in the knowledge society; information policy; economics of information; information industries; legal and ethical considerations in information and knowledge systems.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives
The goal of the course is to provide an introductory conceptual foundation for your career in library and information studies. Classic and contemporary readings will provide threshold concepts for thinking like an information professional in today’s globally connected world.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
• Describe basic concepts of information and knowledge.
• Discuss the role of information in a variety of environments.
• Discuss a variety of definitions of the terms “information society” and “knowledge society.”
• Understand the changing roles and functions of various information institutions such as libraries and cultural heritage institutions such as museums
• Understand the importance of current information policies and their implications, on local, national, and international levels.
• Identify and assess professional aspects and issues related to the practice of information and knowledge professionals.
Skill Objectives:
In addition to achieving these primary substantive objectives, the course is designed to assist students in developing the following skills necessary for library and information professionals:
• The ability to discover and utilize useful information relevant to a variety of topics or issues.
• The discernment to separate significant from insignificant information items.
• The confidence to discuss/defend ideas with peers.
• The ability to critically analyze issues and prepare responses supported by references to relevant professional and scholarly writing and to present the responses in formally documented papers.
At this point in the program, I was still unaware of the direction I wanted to go. Knowledge and Information Society gave me a general overview of the world of libraries and information services, and I found the language of libraries--the vocabulary used by the professionals around me--getting easier as the course went on. Touching briefly on different aspects of the library world, this class contributed to my first goal of understanding the history of GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) institutions, the trends and challenges presented by an increasingly online world, and the philosophies behind the profession (goal 1A). Mini-assignments prepared us for other core classes, in particular the organization of information and technology, contributing to goal 1B. Readings and conversations around bias within librarianship, in particular the racial biases faced by librarians of color, began to provide me with tools to identify and address inequity in the profession (1C).*
* This will be the beginning of a theme throughout my time in the MLIS program: I noticed over time that each course included at least one module dedicated to issues of equity and inclusion, and multiple other opportunities throughout. When I asked Sarah Connelly for the exact policy the school was operating under, she informed me that professors were independently choosing to include these topics.
Dr. Ellen Rubenstein
My final project for Knowledge and Information Society was an exploration of domain analysis in librarianship. While I was still exploring my direction in librarianship, I drew on my background in Fine Arts and my role as staff in the Fine Arts Library. My experience in a branch library allowed me to use my undergraduate education to help users find information they need. The paper illuminated the different ways the nature of a domain can influence how its information is organized.
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