University of Montreal, School of Library and Information Science
The university takes responsibility in training professionals and researchers to properly manage recorded information as well as knowledge, in order to maximize their use in society. The university also works to contribute to the growth of knowledge and application in information management through research activities—national and international.
The School of Library and Information Science is directly descended with the School of Librarians, which was founded in 1937. The school is ALA accredited, and has been ever since 1969. This quality recognition and obtained accreditation allows graduates to explore a vast labor market that is linked to the varying disciplinary fields through the information sciences niche not only in Canada, but in the United States as well.
The School of Information Sciences has roots in traditional document professions, archival science, and librarianship. Information plays an increasingly vital role in all things cultural, social, political, scientific, economic, and administration. The relationship that individuals have with information changes as time goes on, with and without our control and it is central and instrumental in the advancements of society. As an economically recognized resource, information lends to the growth of networks that facilitate and democratize access for any citizen. Those working in archival and libraries know the importance of documents and managing them—identifying, acquiring, analyzing, conserving, exploiting, and storing them. Thought this process has remained the same fundamentally, the context of it has grown rapidly as information has exploded onto the scene. The School of Library and Information Sciences works to produce professionals whose passion lives here.
Master of Library and Information Science Information Architecture Track IA Summer School
Those in the Informational Professions must be designers and managers of various information systems. The widely accepted definition of information architecture is that it is the “structural layout of shared information environments” or is the “combination of organizing, search, labeling, and navigation systems within intranets and websites”, also can be called the “art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability”. The Summer School track offers various courses that are based on technology and the web while discussing what information architecture is as well as what the user experience is, how to design user friendly information systems, and much more. It is comprised of online work and 8 days of face to face meetings, translating to 135 hours of work for each student and 45 hours of classroom time.
60% of the course is made up of working in design teams to create a solution for a client in need. On the last day of class, the students will present this project in front of their peers. 20% of the class grade is made up of a report that outlines the problems of usability of a chosen artifact, to be published as a blog post. 20% of the program is graded on a personal reflection of an issue of the student's choosing from a given list. To be considered for this program, a student must be enrolled in the MSC program of the EBSI, or has a basic background in the management of information.
