The School offers a number of other degree and non-degree programs. A comment about the relationship and perceived impact on the two Master's programs follows a brief description of each program.
The Doctoral Program
Purpose of the Program
The Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Library Science is a research degree. Its purpose is "to educate scholars who are capable of addressing problems of scholarly consequence in the field of information and library science" (Catalog, p.23). The curriculum emphasizes the identification of research problems of scholarly consequence in the areas of communication and retrieval and the mastery of methods and theories that enable observation, analysis, and interpretation in relation to these problem areas.
Admission to the program
The School seeks outstanding students who possess the qualities to be successful independent investigators. In order to contribute to the quality of the doctoral experience for both students and faculty, given the limited resources of the School, admissions of new students are limited to a maximum of eight per academic year. Doctoral admissions are limited to the Fall semester.
Approval of admission to the Doctoral Program is based upon an assessment of the totality of the evidence in support of the application. Some of the factors examined include the applicant's previous academic record showing that he/she holds a master's degree in an academic or professional field emphasizing one or more of the following areas: information organization, information retrieval, communication and design, and evaluation of information systems; superior scores on the quantitative, verbal, and analytic sections of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE); supportive statements on reference letters from those able to evaluative potential for making a research contribution; a personal statement; a minimum TOEFL score of 550 for applicants whose native language is not English. Published works by the applicant will also be examined. An interview is required. In reviewing applicants for admission to the program, the school considers the match of the candidate's research interests with those of the school's faculty as well as past academic performance and scholarly potential.
On an overall basis the body of evidence outlined above should establish a correspondence between the student's research interests and those of the faculty. Further, endorsement by one or more faculty willing to assume the advisory role for the student should be another outcome of evaluation of this body of evidence. The School will not admit any doctoral student who does not have a faculty member who will serve as his/her initial sponsor/advisor.
Where a student's research interests are not established admission may be granted with the preadmissions understanding that continuation in the program is contingent upon the development of a research program that can be supported by the School's faculty.
Further exceptions to these admission policies may be allowed for students with the potential for outstanding research contributions through their special background or experience. Admission of such students will only be permitted after discussion in executive session of the faculty of any special support such a student might require, approval of a majority of the faculty, and concurrence of the Dean in the admission.
Academic Background and Knowledge Expected
A student is expected to have the following background and knowledge before entering the program or must acquire what is lacking early in the program. A requirement can be met by a record of formal course work or by successful completion of recommended academic work. If the requirement is met by a record of formal course work taken elsewhere, the student may be asked to submit evidence of course content and to discuss the courses and their content with his or her faculty advisor. If a requirement is met through course credit, this credit does not count toward the degree. Specifically, applicants must show:
At the time an applicant is accepted for admission to the doctoral program, the Committee recommends to the Dean (who, if in agreement, informs the applicant of) any requirements beyond the minimum.
- an academic background including six graduate-level hours in each of at least three of the following areas: information organization, information retrieval, communication, design and evaluation of information systems.
- a knowledge of research methods that includes: an understanding of distinctions between the phenomenological and positivistic research paradigms, a facility to develop research questions, and a familiarity with the major social science methods of data collection.
- a knowledge of computing equivalent to that required in the School's master's degree programs. The requirement can be met by a demonstration of competence gained through experience, as well as by a record of formal course work or the completion of recommended course work.
Academic Advisor
The faculty member or one of the faculty members who has endorsed the admission of the applicant shall serve as the student's academic advisor. In the case where the advisor is an assistant professor who has served less than four years of an initial appointment with the School, the Dean appoints a secondary advisor to assist the Academic Advisor. The student or the faculty member may terminate an advisor/advisee relationship upon approval of the Dean.
The academic advisor and the student may seek further advice from other students and faculty members in planning the program of course work for the following years. In certain cases, e. g., preparation for a particular dissertation topic, the Academic Advisor may recommend courses or experiences in addition to the remedial ones identified at time of admission.
The Curriculum
Degree requirements include a minimum of thirty-six hours of formal courses, reading courses, or directed research exclusive of the dissertation; required seminars in information retrieval (INLS 372) and communication (INLS 382) and at least six hours of statistics. In addition advanced seminars in information retrieval (INLS 379) and communication (INLS 389) and research in information and library science (INLS 399) are strongly recommended.
Academic performance in the program must conform to the Graduate School requirements for all graduate students. Research competence is demonstrated by outcomes of small-scale research efforts with student colleagues and/or faculty mentors and the presentation of outcomes in a seminar or course within the school. The presentation of research results at regional and national meetings is encouraged, and the submission of at least two papers for publication in the research literature of the field is required prior to taking the comprehensive exam.
Reviews, the Comprehensive, and Dissertation Requirements
The faculty annually reviews the progress of all doctoral students; continuation in the program depends upon a record of satisfactory progress. Upon completion of eighteen semester hours of credit a formal assessment of the student's ability for advanced study and original research is conducted by a committee of the faculty.
Full-time students are expected to pass the comprehensive exam and successfully defend their dissertation proposal no later than the third year of their program. The period devoted to dissertation research will vary depending on the problem addressed and the methods employed.
Reading knowledge in a foreign language is required, if it is needed to conduct research in the student's area of specialization. A comprehensive written and oral qualifying examination is required as a condition of admission to candidacy. The written exam covers four areas: the student's major area (communication or retrieval), the student's minor area (communication or retrieval), related research methods, and applicable theories or conceptual frameworks. The oral examination addresses the student's responses to the written questions and the motivation, research design, results, and/or implications of one research paper written by the student and submitted to the committee. All required coursework must be completed and the residence requirement met before this exam may be scheduled. Passing the comprehensive exams and receiving formal approval on a dissertation prospectus permits the student to apply for candidacy.
Successful completion of a doctoral dissertation approved by the student's dissertation committee is required. It represents an original contribution to knowledge involving identification and definition of a researchable topic, application of an appropriate research methodology, organization and analysis of data relevant to the topic under investigation, and a presentation and interpretation of the data that meets the standard of scholarly work.
An oral examination in defense of the dissertation, which is open to the University community, is also required and administered by the student's dissertation committee, which normally includes one or more scholars from outside the program.
Impact on the Master's Programs
Courses and seminars offered for doctoral students are open to advanced master's students and several use the opportunity to gain a more in-depth and theoretical study of a particular area. The resident doctoral students (typically about a dozen students at any one time) share lounge, library and lab facilities and occasionally audit or take a master's level course. To learn the skills of teaching, doctoral students frequently work with a faculty member in course design and implementation. The collaboration usually results in a richer course experience for Master's students. Although there is, of necessity, some competition for resources, the presence of the doctoral program attracts resources -- some of which are earmarked for doctoral students (research and teaching assistantships and some tuition awards, for example). Master's students enjoy other resources invested in the School because of the doctoral program -- for example, additional faculty and staff, enhanced library and laboratory material and equipment. On the whole, it would appear that benefits outweigh disadvantages.
Teaching by Doctoral Students
With the addition of undergraduate courses for the SILS undergraduate minor, a larger number of SILS Ph.D. students now teach courses. Occasionally, and under the close supervision of a faculty mentor, they may also teach introductory level courses open to master's students. During the 1997-1998 academic year (SSII 97-SSI 98) there were four courses taught by SILS teaching fellows, one of which was a master's level course; in 1998-1999 there were nine courses with Graduate Teaching Assistant instructors, four being master's level courses; and for 1999-2000 we anticipate eight courses will be taught by Ph.D students with five being introductory master's level courses.
Before SILS Ph.D. students can teach a course for SILS, they must first take either INLS 308: Seminar in Teaching and Academic Life or EDCI 265: Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom. When they are teaching a course, they should also be enrolled in INLS 309: Seminar in Teaching Practice, a monthly seminar that many faculty and other doctoral students join, and they are encouraged to take advantage of all the regular workshops that the Center for Teaching and Learning offers. Additionally, Ph.D. students may work with faculty on designing courses and running a limited number of sessions before they teach the courses on their own. Also, each teaching fellow is assigned a faculty mentor (based on subject and teaching expertise - generally the faculty member who has been teaching this course) who guides them when they are teaching an entire course. This faculty member is responsible for reviewing the course syllabus, observing classes, and providing the Ph.D. student with an evaluation of their teaching. Since the same courses are taught over and over again by different Ph.D. students, the same limited number of SILS faculty are burdened with this oversight responsibility each year.
Prospective teaching fellows have observed or worked on sections of their classes under the direction of a faculty member prior to teaching them in their entirety. This has been done on an informal basis to the mutual satisfaction of student and instructor in the past, but will be formalized as a requirement for the upcoming year. This will allow a more rational and systematic development of the doctoral student as instructor: first taking a course, then observing, working with a faculty member on a course, then teaching the course. The one road block to this strategy is that with so few sections of the undergraduate courses each semester (one to two sections of INLS 50 (usually taught by adjuncts or Ph.D. students), and one of two of the following: INLS 60, 70, 80, there may not be a class taught by a faculty member for the Ph.D. student to observe in a timely fashion (the previous semester). When this cannot be accommodated, the supervising faculty member will need to provide more supervision to the Teaching Fellow. Lack of financial aid to support instructional assistants and teaching associates is also a problem that may mean that students must take on these roles for credit rather than salary.
In addition to creating courses to prepare our students we have also included evaluation of teaching fellows in our broader peer observation document (see Appendix T) designed for all our faculty. Students also evaluate teaching fellows with SIR forms (ETS service) and narrative comments as is done for regular teaching faculty.
The Certificate of Advanced Studies Program
Purpose of the Program
The Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Information and Library Science is a post-master's degree that is designed for practitioners who seek an articulated and systematic continuing education program to enhance their professional career development in information and library science. The Certificate is intended to provide:
- a systematic updating and upgrading of a working professional's knowledge in information and library science;
- the development of a specialty in a subject discipline or in an information/library function;
- an individual's redirection of a career path or the enrichment and strengthening of demonstrated capabilities in a career path.
Program Content
The Certificate of Advanced Study program is tailored to an individual's previous education, experience, and career intentions. The program consists of 30 semester hours of course work selected from the school's curriculum and other departments and schools of the university on the basis of the individual's needs and objectives. The student selects courses in consultation with a faculty advisor. Competencies in research methods, management, and use of information technology are assumed to be a necessary part of each individual's program.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must possess a master's degree in either information or library science with a grade point average of 3.0 or better (on a 4.0 scale). For applicants whose native language is not English, a minimum TOEFL score of 550. Other requirements include a brief essay stating career goals, area of study interests, and reasons to enroll; letters of reference; and usually an interview. Admission is recommended by a faculty committee.
Interdisciplinary Program -- Medical Informatics
About the Program
Medical Informatics deals with the concepts and principles underlying acquisition, processing, and presentation of information in support of medical practice and education. The Medical Informatics track was created in 1990 as an interdisciplinary program by faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Education, and Information and Library Science plus the departments of Biomedical Engineering, Biostatistics, Computer Science, and Physics. A partnership with Duke established the Duke-UNC Medical Informatics Training Program in 1992. The program currently is part of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Medicine. One SILS faculty member, Barbara Wildemuth, holds a joint appointment in that Department and regularly offers a course in the Medical Informatics program.
Program Content
The emphases in the program are:
Four courses constitute the core: (BMME 170 - Introduction to Medical Informatics (joint course with Duke), BMME 171 - Medical Information Systems, BMME 270 - Research and Evaluation Methods and BMME 271 - Clinical Reasoning and Decision Making). The INLS 257 - User Interface Design is highly recommended; INLS 256 - Database Systems is also recommended.
- the development of clinical data and knowledge bases, and the presentation of information to support medical decision making;
- the application of advanced image processing techniques to diagnosis and treatment planning;
- the study of the reasoning processes of clinicians and the impact of information technology on patient care;
- the application of advanced information technology to education in the basic and clinical sciences.
Interdisciplinary Program -- Cooperative Archival Program
About the Program
Today's marketplace frequently demands that archivists, manuscript curators, and records managers have both historical knowledge and advanced information management skills. Neither a master's degree in history nor one in information and library science is ideal, by itself, to prepare the new archival workforce that must be able to appraise and describe historical records, create World Wide Web sites, and preserve electronic documents.
To meet the needs of the archival profession, the School of Information and Library Science, in conjunction with the Department of Public History of the North Carolina State University (NCSU), offers a cooperative archival program. Students who enroll in this program can earn either an M.S.L.S. or M.S.I.S. degree and an M.A. in Public History in 69 credit hours. If taken individually, these degrees would require 84 credit hours. Students must be admitted to both universities independently and comply with all requirements of each program. Selected elective courses can be shared across both degrees with advisor approval. Although students do not have to matriculate in both degree programs during the same semester, they must maintain concurrent registration at some time during their course work. Students must abide by all inter-institutional registration policies as well. Because of the potential duplication of course content, students are restricted as to which combinations of courses they may take from both programs.
Students earning the MA in Public History at NCSU must earn 18 credit hours in history courses as well as 18 credit hours(including six that can be transferred from SILS) in public history/archival management. NCSU has offered an MA in Public History since the early 1980s, training nearly 90 public historians who are now employed at museums, archives, and historical sites across the country. The NCSU MA Program in Public History website (http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/ph.htm) contains additional information about this opportunity.
Undergraduate Minor Program
Purpose of Program
The undergraduate minor in information systems provides students with an understanding of computing, networking, multimedia, electronic information resources, and of the Internet that can be used to solve problems in a variety of contexts. The minor complements the student's major field of study by offering knowledge, skills, and experience using these technologies. The minor is designed for undergraduate students who wish to develop knowledge and skills in the use and design of information systems.
Coursework Requirements
Students must take 15 credits of approved courses; nine of them must be from courses within SILS. Core course requirements include:
In addition, each student will take one elective. Elective courses relevant to information technology, information systems, or information use in the student's own discipline are highly recommended. The Undergraduate Minor Committee in the School of Information and Library Science approves the choice of elective.
- INLS 50: Introduction to Computing (if student can demonstrate the skills taught in this course, he/she may substitute an elective course)
- INLS 60: Information Systems Analysis and Design
- INLS 70: Organizing and Retrieving Information
- INLS 80: Data Communication Networks
Continuing Education and Professional Development programs
Summary of Activities
Continuing education for librarianship and allied information activities is an important instructional objective in this era of rapid technological advancement. The school hosts periodic workshops and colloquia that are available to both students and practitioners.
Three or four times per semester the school hosts all- or half-day Info to Go workshops, covering contemporary issues that attract participants from across the state (see http://ils.unc.edu/ils/continuing_ed/infotogo for further information). Titles of the seminars offered in Spring 1999 were "Mime Techniques You Can Use," "Who's the Boss? Getting Control of Web Search Engines," "Digital Libraries: From Theory to Practice" and "Consumer Health Information: A Prescription for Collection Development."
The School, in conjunction with Oxford's Bodleian Library and the Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University, offers each year a two-week, up-close look at the past of Oxford University's famous Bodleian Library and the future of information and technology. For more information, visit the SILS Oxford Web page (http://ils.unc.edu/ils/continuing_ed/oxford).
The School's formal program for providing continuing education to information and library professionals, the Certificate of Advanced Study program (CAS) is described above. Practitioners also may elect to take individual courses without being enrolled in the degree program.
Revised 10/25/99