Combined B.A./M.L.S. or B.S./M.L.S. Program
The combined B.A./M.L.S. or B.S./M.L.S.
program in information science and policy
provides a unique opportunity for capable,
highly motivated students to pursue any
undergraduate liberal arts major while at the
same time beginning their professional
preparation for a career in the rapidly
expanding information management fields. The
emphasis of the program is on the planning,
provision and administration of information
systems and services in libraries and
information centers. A distinctive feature of
the curriculum is the stress placed upon user
and human as well as technological factors.
Students will be able to combine academic
study with work experience in a locally based
major corporation's information handling
facility such as IBM, GE, or a college and
university, public, hospital, newspaper,
school, bank or law library in the tri-city
area (Albany, Troy, Schenectady).
Graduates will be prepared for employment in
a wide variety of public and private sector
settings within business, industry, law,
humanities, health and human services, and
education where they will function as
librarians, information systems specialists,
information analysts or information officers
and managers.
The school is especially strong in five
areas: (1) information and public policy, (2)
reference resources and processes, (3)
archives/records administration, (4) indexing
and abstracting, and (5) data storage
technologies.
Students may be admitted to the combined
program at the beginning of their junior year
or after successful completion of 56 credits,
but no later than the accumulation of 100
credits. A carefully designed program can
enable the student to earn the B.A. or B.S.
and M.L.S. within 10 semesters. A cumulative
grade point average of 3.20 or higher and
three supportive letters of recommendation
are required. The Graduate Record Exam is not
required for admission. In qualifying for the
baccalaureate, students will meet all
University and school requirements, including
existing major and minor requirements,
general education requirements, minimum
liberal arts and sciences requirements, and
residency requirements.
Additionally, students will complete a minor
in information science and policy including,
as a minimum, the following courses: A Csi
201, R Isp 601, R Isp 603, R Isp 605, R Isp
611, and an elective R Isp course.
In qualifying for the master's degree,
students will meet all University and school
requirements, including completing a minimum
of 36 graduate credits, and any conditions
such as a research seminar, thesis,
comprehensive examination, or other
professional experience, and residency
requirements. The combined program allows
students to complete 12 graduate credits as
an undergraduate that are applied to both the
undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Students will be considered as undergraduates
until completion of 120 graduation credits
and satisfactory completion of all B.A. or
B.S. requirements. Upon meeting the
baccalaureate requirements, students will
automatically be considered as graduate
students.
Courses
R Isp 101 Technology Tools for Information Management (3)
Introduction to information organization and
management software tools. Class includes
introduction to word processing,
spreadsheets, databases, and presentation
software for use in information organization
and management.
R Isp 102 Networking Tools for Information Management (3)
Introduction to networking technology skills
for information management. Classes include
networked computing, electronic mail, file
transfers, web browsers, and web development
software for use in information organization
and management.
R Isp 201 Introduction to Information Science (3)
History, philosophical bases, concepts,
theories and methodologies of information
science. Definition and properties of
information, formal and informal information
systems, information origination, transfer,
classification, formatting and use.
Convergent technologies and information
policy issues.
R Isp 261 Internet and Information Access (3)
Introduction to the Internet and World Wide
Web. Using, accessing, and producing
information on the Internet. Topics include:
E-mail, history of the Internet, browsers,
search engines, web pages, service providers,
public policy and economics of the Internet.
R Isp 433 Information Storage and Retrieval (3)
Methods of analyzing, storing, retrieving
information and their relationship to
perceived costs and benefits in information
service. May not be offered during 1999-2000.
R Isp 452 State and Local Government Sources of Information (3)
Examination of the basic sources that provide
a structure for accessing state and local
government information. Consideration of
state government resources nationwide and an
analysis of local government entities
nationwide will be followed by a focus on New
York State information sources. Students will
gain hands-on familiarity with online sources
through an assignment involving researching
state cases and state statutes on WESTLAW and
LEXIS-NEXIS, the two largest legal databases
in the United States.
R Isp 457 Introduction to Legal Research (3)
Examination and analysis of the basic and
specialized information sources that provide
a structure for legal research. Topics
include court reports, digests, annotations,
constitutions, Shepard's citations, loose-
leaf reporters, legal encyclopedias and
periodicals. Assignments in WESTLAW and
LEXIS-NEXIS online databases will provide
hands-on familiarity with computer-assisted
legal research (CALR).
R Isp 466/566 Autobiographies of Writers for Young People: 1844-to the Present (3)
A survey of the lives of selected writers for
young people over the last 150 years, as told
through their writings about themselves in
the genres of autobiography, memoirs of life
experiences, and fictionalized autobiography.
Writers are selected to represent different
historical periods, as well as diversity of
race, cultural background, and socioeconomic
status; the key consideration is the quality
of their autobiographical writing, its
success in mirroring the era in which they
lived and wrote, and the insights it can
provide into the nature of creativity. R Isp
466Z is the writing intensive version of
R Isp 466/566; only one may be taken for
credit. May not be offered during 1999-2000.
R Isp 466Z Autobiographies of Writers for Young People: 1844-to the present (3)
General Education: WI
R Isp 466Z is the writing intensive version
of R Isp 466/566; only one may be taken for
credit. May not be offered during 1999-2000.
R Isp 468 Internship in Information Science (3-6)
Supervised field placement in a public or
private organizational environment where
information exchange takes place. Requires
preparation of biweekly reports and a major
project. Internships are open only to
qualified juniors and seniors who have an
overall grade point average of 2.50 or
higher. Concurrent registration in R Isp499
is required. S/U graded.
R Isp 469 Independent Study & Policy (1-3)
Student-initiated research policy under
faculty guidance. May be repeated for credit
up to a total of 6 credits with permission of
school. R Isp 469Z is the writing intensive
version of R Isp 469. Prerequisite(s):
Permission of instructor. S/U graded.
R Isp 469Z Independent Study & Policy (1-3)
General Education: WI
Student-initiated research policy under
faculty guidance. May be repeated for credit
up to a total of 6 credits with permission of
school. R Isp 469Z is the writing intensive
version of R Isp 469. Prerequisite(s):
Permission of instructor. S/U graded.
R Isp 473Z The History of Children's Literature (3)
General Education: WI
Selected literature for children in English
from the beginnings to the early 20th
century. Texts are selected to represent
different historical periods and diversity of
authorial perspectives; the key
considerations are the quality of the
literature and its historical significance.
Attention is given to changing attitudes
toward children as reflected in the books
provided for them. Writing assignments will
range from historical/critical analyses to
reader-response essays.
R Isp 495 Internet Practicum (3)
The course provides students the opportunity
to work as a teaching aide and lab assistant
to faculty teaching R Isp 261, Internet and
Information Access. Students will hold weekly
lab assistant hours, monitor and respond to
student questions on the class listserv, and
provide feedback to the course instructor.
Prerequisite(s): a grade of B or higher in
R Isp 261 and permission of instructor. S/U
graded.
R Isp 499 Senior Seminar in Information Science (3)
Intensive reading and preparation of position
papers on current issues in information
science. Discussions of papers with faculty
and information specialists. S/U graded.
Graduate Courses
Please note that the graduate course
described below are available only to
students who meet certain criteria. Please
consult the academic rules and regulations
portion of this bulletin for the rules
governing when an undergraduate may enroll in
a graduate course.
R Isp 501 History of Books and Printing (3)
History of the development of books and
libraries from ancient times to the present
in relation to the society of which they were
a part. May not be offered during 1999-2000.
R Isp 523 Fundamentals of Information Technology (1-6)
This course consists of three five-week
modules teaching basic skills in information
management. Topics include: introduction to
programming, data structures, and overview of
data base applications. In addition, students
may elect up to three additional modules
chosen from topics such as UNIX and
networking, UNIX software development tools
(for students who already have significant
prior programming), introduction to
programming in C, and new direction in
information science.
R Isp 546 Fundamentals of Record Management (3)
Basic concepts and practices of records
management in governmental, institutional,
and corporate agencies, including those areas
of communication, administration and computer
technology that relate to the efficient and
effective flow of information from its
generation to its final disposition. Includes
records inventory, active and inactive
records control, manual and automated
systems, vital records protection, the
records center, micrographics technology and
applications, and legal and ethical aspects
of records management.
R Isp 554 Contemporary Publishing (3)
Structure and problems of the publishing
industry (including print and nonprint
materials); production and distribution
systems and their implications for libraries
and other information agencies; legal and
economic aspects and technological
developments.
R Isp 560 Information and Public Policy (3)
Analysis and evaluation of public policies
affecting the production, dissemination, and
access to information generated by or for the
federal government. Topics and issues include
concepts of intellectual freedom, the
public's right to be informed, freedom of
information and privacy legislation, policies
on dissemination of information in nonprint
formats, national security classification,
privatizing of government information, issues
of equity, and related policy matters.
R Isp 562 Economics of Information Management (3)
Principles and theory of economics of
managing libraries, archives and other
information services. Provides students with
the tools of cost benefit, regression and
applied microeconomic analysis necessary for
management of information systems and
information services. The library user fee
debate, the economics of journal subscription
prices and costs and benefits of on-line
searching are examined.
R Isp 571 Literature for Children (3)
Introductory survey of literature for
children with emphasis on twentieth-century
authors and illustrators. Problems and trends
in writing and publishing. Class discussion
and written critical evaluations based on
extensive readings.
R Isp 578 Literature for Young Adults (3)
Introductory survey of literature for young
adults (ages thirteen through eighteen) with
emphasis on authors from the latter half of
the twentieth-century. Includes
characteristics, needs, and reading interests
of teenagers, critical study of the
literature, an overview of basic selection
tools, and practice in booktalking.
R Isp 601 The Information Environment (3)
The evolving social, political and
institutional environments within which
information services are and can be
organized.
R Isp 603 Information Processing (3)
The nature of documents, their bibliographic
description, indexing and classification.
Controlled and natural vocabularies for
document access. Major taxonomies.
Information retrieval theory.
R Isp 605 Information Sources and Services (3)
Consideration of reference/information
services, the types of knowledge, the kinds
of formats in which knowledge is recorded,
and the ways in which it is pursued and
retrieved.
R Isp 611 Information Systems and Technology Applications (3)
Introduction to information systems and
dominant supportive technologies. Emphasis on
reprography (printing, replication,
micrographic processes,) computing and
communications. Applications to library/
information systems administration, technical
services, reference services, document
delivery systems.
R Isp 633 Information Storage and Retrieval (3)
Methods of analyzing, storing, and retrieving
information and their relationship to
perceived costs and benefits in information
service. Prerequisite: R Isp 603.
Recommended: R Isp 607. May not be offered
during 1999-2000.
R Isp 640 Abstracting and Indexing (3)
Characteristics and applications of abstracts
and indexes and techniques for their
creation. Impact and implications of recent
technology. Recommended: R Isp 603.
R Isp 658 Microcomputer Database Development (3)
Database principles for microcomputers, with
emphasis on relational database management
systems (DBMS) for applications development
in the library and information fields.
Database design, creation, and maintenance:
the user interface; programming concepts.
Creation of the working database system.
