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THE INFORMATION SCHOOL
THE INFORMATION SCHOOL
LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

Detailed course offerings (Time Schedule) are available for

LIS 501 History and Foundations of Libraries and Librarianship (3)
Introduces the history of libraries, major issues in contemporary library and information work, and types of libraries. Examines the role of libraries in society, the development of professional librarianship, and the role of librarians.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 501

LIS 505 Archival and Manuscript Services (3)
Overview of and fundamental training in historical and evolving principles, conceptual foundations, major professional institutions, key practices, and contemporary issues and concerns of archival studies and the American archival profession, as well as other fields interested in archives, records, and memory. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 505

LIS 506 Introduction to Digital Preservation (4)
Focuses on fundamental concepts and techniques for archiving born digital content. Practical activities include design and implementation of a digital preservation plan, auditing existing preservation services, and learning preservation standards such as file formats, metadata schemas, and certifications for trustworthy digital repositories.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 506

LIS 508 History of Recorded Information (4)
Exploration of the history and ongoing transformation of recorded information within three broad spheres of human life: public communication, administrative and commercial operation, and personal communication.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 508

LIS 509 Information and Contemplation (4)
Explores how contemplative practices and perspectives can offer insights into today's information-intensive culture and how they can provide guidelines and design principles for the development of new information practices and technologies. Students explore a variety of contemplative/attentional practices and use these to investigate information trends, practices, and concerns.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 509

LIS 510 Information Behavior (3)
Introduction to the user-centered approach to information behavior. Theoretical foundations of need, creation, seeking, sharing, assessment, management, and use. Synthesis of information behavior studies, performance of information behavior field research, and application of the results of information behavior studies to design information systems, services, and policy.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 510

LIS 511 Introduction to Programming for Information and Data Science (4)
Introduces fundamentals of computer programming as used for data science. Covers foundational skills necessary for writing stand-alone computer scripts, including programming syntax, data structuring, and procedural definition (functions). Includes programming environments (command-line) and version control. Emphasizes skills in algorithmic thinking, abstraction, debugging, and code reuse. Assumes no previous programming background.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 511

LIS 512 Community Analysis (4)
Explores key concepts of community in its broadest sense, methodological approaches for analyzing information needs and available resources, how to design information services in response to identified needs, and service evaluation. Facilitating the information behavior of all groups within a community and identifying how their needs interconnect. Offered: jointly with INSC 512.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 512

LIS 513 Information and Migration (3)
Graduate reading seminar about the intersection between human migration and information practices and behaviors. What are the particular needs, behaviors and practices of immigrants, in the US or abroad? How is immigration changing social movements? How do refugees, undocumented migrants and DREAMers in the US change the discourse about immigration?
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 513

LIS 516 Youth Development and Information Behavior in a Digital Age (3)
Introduction to major theories of human development from birth through age eighteen and application of these theories to examine youth's information behavior and digital media use at various developmental stages. Explores new research on the impact of digital media tools and practices on youth development.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 516

LIS 519 Information Science Study Abroad (1-8, max. 18)
International seminar, led by Information School faculty or researchers. Each addresses a specialized area of information studies. Topics vary. Some seminars may require language proficiency. See the UW Study Abroad website for information on specific offerings in any given year.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 519

LIS 520 Concepts, Services, and Issues for Information Professionals (4)
Explores role of information professionals in mediating between individuals and resources in an ever changing information environment; including information production, distribution, selection, organization, and services to facilitate access to diverse users.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 520

LIS 521 Principles of Information Services (4)
Helps students develop the skills and knowledge base to practice reference work. Students learn how to work with users to determine their information needs, while building their professional knowledge of strategies and resources that effectively meet user inquiries. Prerequisite: LIS 520.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 521

LIS 522 Collection Development (3)
Methods of developing and managing diverse and equitable library collections in academic, public, and school libraries. Acquisition methods, budgeting, collection development policies, selection tools and criteria, selector responsibilities, collection evaluation, challenges to materials, trends, and ongoing inclusion issues in publishing, licensing, and accessing library materials in all formats.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 522

LIS 524 Adult Reader Services in the Public Library (3)
Focuses on developing and performing readers' advisory services for contemporary adult fiction and non-fiction. Includes interpersonal and marketing skills necessary to promote reading including reading advocacy, readers' advisory interviewing, writing advisory annotations, presenting book talks, and conducting book discussion groups.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 524

LIS 525 Genres for Adult Readers (3)
Reviews characteristics of the most popular genres of fiction, including speculative fiction, mystery/thriller/suspense, romance, westerns, and graphic fiction/memoir. Helps to develop practice in book talking, preparing annotated booklists, and making reading suggestions to library users.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 525

LIS 526 Government Information: Production and Access (3)
Introduction to United States federal government information, its organization, preservation, uses, and users. Other topics include the public's right to know, the Federal Depository Library Program, government influence in our daily lives, and future directions in government information. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 526

LIS 527 Business Information Resources (3)
Survey of the extent and nature of business information and its sources, and of business information producers and consumers. Study and use of both print and on-line sources.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 527

LIS 528 Health Sciences Information Needs, Resources, and Environment (3)
Characteristics of users of health sciences information; health professionals, researchers, consumers and patients; environments (academic health sciences centers, hospitals, clinics, and public libraries); evaluation of information resources in health care; types and uses of health information management systems; policy issues, professional standards, education, and certification. Offered: jointly with BIME 570; Sp.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 528

LIS 529 Digital Humanities Librarianship (3)
Investigates the intersections between content and technology in humanities librarianship with a focus on information problems and resources in the fields of philosophy, religion, the arts, language, and literature.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 529

LIS 530 Organization of Information and Resources (4)
Introduction to issues in organization of information and documents including: analysis of intellectual and physical characteristics of documents; principles and practice in surrogate creation, including standards and selection of metadata elements; theory of classification, including semantic relationships and facet analysis; creation of controlled vocabularies; and display and arrangement.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 530

LIS 531 Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification (4)
Introduction to library cataloging and classification. Develops understanding of how cataloging ethics and systems inform information retrieval and affect diverse user experiences. Students learn to create effective user access and understand information discovery challenges. Includes practice in descriptive and subject cataloging and classification. Considers ethical issues in Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC) and in serving diverse groups. Prerequisite: LIS 530.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 531

LIS 534 Indigenous Systems of Knowledge (3)
Conceptual foundations and comparative analysis of indigenous knowledge organization systems. Feasibility and use of contemporary knowledge organization mechanisms including thesauri and ontologies in expressing the cultures and artifacts of indigenous peoples.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 534

LIS 536 Metadata for Interactive Media (3)
Explore new ideas and approaches for organizing and providing access to interactive media, particularly from a user-centered perspective. Design and conduct formative and evaluative user studies employing various qualitative and quantitative methods to determine information needs and seeking behaviors of various stakeholders in one or more interactive media domains.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 536

LIS 537 Construction of Indexing Languages (4)
Exploration of the design, construction, evaluation, and maintenance of controlled indexing languages, including studies of how users are integrated into the design process. Through completion of thesaurus construction project, prepares students to design index languages, plan and implement a design project, and evaluate indexing languages. Prerequisite: either LIS 530 or IMT 530. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 537

LIS 539 Metadata Design (3)
Covers application of and design principles around metadata schemas for collections of resources, incorporating issues of syntactic and semantic interoperability. Includes user needs assessment, selection and design workflows, and controlled vocabulary usage. Course framing includes coverage of ethical issues, project planning, decision-making, and future impact. Prerequisite: LIS 530 or permission of instructor.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 539

LIS 542 Information Structures Using XML (4)
Introduces the concepts and methods used to analyze, store, manage, and present information and navigation. Equal weight given to understanding structures and implementing them. Topics include information analysis and organizational methods as well as XML and metadata concepts and application.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 542

LIS 543 Relational Database Management Systems (4)
Introduces relational database design, implementation, and management, with a focus on using relational database management systems (DBMS) to manage data in an organization. Topics include: data modeling tools and techniques, conceptual and logical database design, physical implementation, SQL, data management, and database administration.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 543

LIS 544 Information Retrieval Systems (3)
Introduction to theory and models in information retrieval and the systems for storage and retrieval of unstructured information. Examines information retrieval architectures, processes, retrieval models, query languages, and methods of system evaluation, methods and tools for document analysis, interfaces, and usability.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 544

LIS 545 Data Curation I: Fundamentals (4)
Examines principles, practices, and trends in the curation of digital research data. Provides a foundation in data management and data services for professional in institutions involved with data intensive research, scholarship, and innovation. Emphasizes data sharing, preservation, open access, metadata, and policy for development of reusable and accessible data resources.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 545

LIS 546 Data Curation II: Advanced Topics (4)
Examines a broad range of issues in the field of data curation. Focus on recent advances and challenging problems in the curation of research data across disciplines and new trends in open data resources and services for the general public. Draws on practical research findings, case studies, and current public and private sector data initiatives to examine key challenges in the field, as well as practical solutions applied by data professionals. Prerequisite: either LIS 545 or permission of instructor.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 546

LIS 547 Design Methods for Librarianship (4)
Focused on the human fabric of libraries - stakeholders, values, information technology, and policy - students develop theoretical knowledge and practical skills for design. Methods include futures workshops, scenarios, paper-prototyping, usability methods, among others. To conceptualize and steer design processes, the course includes an introduction to design methodologies and theory.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 547

LIS 549 Beginning Web Development (4)
Teaches students how to build custom websites/applications from scratch, manage files in a version control system, and deploy them to publicly-accessible web servers. Focus is on client-side technologies, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Existing basic programming knowledge is beneficial but not required.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 549

LIS 551 Intellectual Freedom in Libraries (3)
Analysis of issues related to intellectual freedom, particularly to implications for libraries and librarians. Consideration of current legal climate, conformity versus freedom in modern world, librarian as censor, social responsibility and individual freedom, intellectual freedom of children, prospects for future.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 551

LIS 552 Critical and Existential Perspectives on the Information Society (3)
Explores different conceptions of what it means to live in an "Information Society." Drawing upon readings in information science, history, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology, students will learn to unpack, problematize, and critique current conceptions of the role of information in society.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 552

LIS 553 Information and Social Justice (3)
Information technologies have the potential to help improve the quality of life of marginalized, underserved and impoverished communities around the world, and to promote social justice and inclusion. This course critically explores the intersection between information technologies, social change, and social justice.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 553

LIS 555 Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: Sovereign Rights, Protections, and Protocols (3)
Who owns, protects, and disseminates the knowledge systems and data among tribal communities? Explores how tribal nations in the US have established internal mechanisms and protocols to protect traditional knowledge from appropriation, exploitation, and misuse. Students engage multidisciplinary literature to examine the complexities tribes face when protecting their communities, and the efforts of tribal citizens to revitalize their knowledge.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 555

LIS 556 Information Ownership and Control: Copyright (3)
Covers concepts, laws, and issues related to the larger social context within which information is owned and controlled through copyright protections. Topics include the basics of international and U.S. copyright law, fair use exceptions, protections for educators and information professionals, licensing, copyright reform, and current issues in copyright.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 556

LIS 560 Instructional and Training Strategies for Information Professionals (3)
Develops knowledge and skills in instruction while applying theories of information literacy, teaching, and learning to instruction in an information environment. Teaches students how to design, develop, and evaluate instructional programs for specific users.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 560

LIS 561 Storytelling in a Digital Age (3)
Instruction in the art and technique of oral and digital storytelling for all ages. Addresses both traditional and contemporary modes of storytelling, including transmedia. Sources include personal and family stories, folktales, and literary stories. Also explores non-library storytelling: therapeutic storytelling, organizational storytelling, and storytelling for qualitative research.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 561

LIS 563 Cultural History of Children's and Young Adult Literature (3)
Historical overview of illustrations and social values of children's and young adult literature written in English. Examines the influence of movements such as Romanticism, Rationalism, and postmodernism, as well as changing trends over time; also considers texts from a variety of cultural perspectives.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 563

LIS 564 Multicultural Resources for Youth (3)
Facilitates development of cross-cultural competence through authentic resources for children, tweens, and teens produced by or about ethnic minorities in the United States. "Issues" focus, providing knowledge in critical examination of various genres of multicultural resources as well as in strategies to use them.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 564

LIS 565 Resources for Digital Age Children (3)
Introduces selection and evaluation of physical and digital resources used by public and school libraries for children, birth to age twelve. Applies theories from human development to the identification of developmentally and culturally appropriate collection acquisitions and provision of readers'/users' advisory and core library services.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 565

LIS 566 Resources for Digital Age Teens (3)
Introduces selection and evaluation of traditional, digital, and transmedia resources used by public and school libraries for teens. Applies theories form human development, information behavior, and digital media research to the identification of developmentally appropriate selections and provision of readers'/users/ advisory for teens.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 566

LIS 567 Libraries as Learning Labs in a Digital Age (3)
Application of theories and research on youth development to inform practice about programming and resources for youth. Create programs based on current research, including programming such as story times, book talks, and maker spaces. Recommended: LIS 516.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 567

LIS 568 Information Literacy in a Digital Age (3)
Explores theories, process, and practical applications of information literacy. Examines the development of information literacy programs for libraries, community agencies, business, education, and other information settings. Explores the integral relationship between technology ad information literacy, and assessment and evaluation of programs.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 568

LIS 569 Capstone I: Project Preparation (1)
Preparation for implementing a capstone project. Topics include choosing a project, team formation, professional communication with a project sponsor, identifying the scope of the project, assessing feasibility, developing a project charter and sponsor agreement. Prerequisite: completion of 30 credit hours. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 569

LIS 570 Research, Assessment, and Design (4)
Students recognize research and design opportunities, translate them into researchable frameworks, and conduct research in libraries and other information agencies. Covers problem definition, data collection and analysis, design and validation of alternative solutions, and reporting of results.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 570

LIS 571 Grant Writing (1)
Covers all aspects of library and museum grant work, including determining community needs and planning, developing grant projects, researching the best funding sources and grant opportunities, and writing winning grant proposals. Students apply the concepts learned to discover grant opportunities and create a grant proposal. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 571

LIS 572 Introduction to Data Science (4)
Introduces a broad, non-technical overview of key concepts, skills, and technologies used in "data science". Provides a high-level introduction to common data science pipelines, such as experimental design, data collection and storage, basic analytics, machine learning, and data visualization, focusing on analyzing in real-world datasets using industry standard statistical packages.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 572

LIS 574 Portfolio Retreat: Discovery (1)
Covers self-evaluation; reflection; professional communication; professional values, goals, and gaps; relationship building and mentorship. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 574

LIS 575 Portfolio Retreat: Development (1)
Covers self-evaluation of professional achievements; professional communication; professional values; career development; relationship building, and mentorship. Prerequisite: LIS 574. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 575

LIS 577 Participatory Design in Libraries (4)
Explores participatory design, a method focusing on engaging users in a democratic and collaborative process between users and designers to create new technologies and learning activities. Explores how to interact with stakeholders, the role of design techniques, and the different phases in co-design. Well suited for librarians, educators, and HCI researchers interested in understanding in design processes.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 577

LIS 578 Research Seminar (1-4, max. 10)
Students work in teams under the supervision of individual faculty members to engage in research or design activities and learn through hands-on participation and study. Learning activities include data collection, data analysis, building prototypes, testing or evaluation, or dissemination activities.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 578

LIS 579 Instructional Strategies for Legal Information (3)
Develops knowledge and skills in instruction suited for working in a legal environment. Includes how to design a legal research course, use various types of instructional technology to engage different audiences, and effectively present and communicate legal information.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 579

LIS 580 Management of Information Organizations (4)
Introduction to internal and external management issues and practices in information organizations, including critical assessment of institutional structures. Internal issues include organizational behavior, organizational theory, talent management, budgeting, service and operational planning, decision making and evaluation. External issues include organizational environments, advocacy, strategic planning, communication, and funding sources.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 580

LIS 581 Marketing and Planning for Libraries (3)
Approaches to planning and marketing library products/services. Examines partnerships that can be forged between elements of marketing and appropriate futures strategies for libraries. Discusses marketing and planning as integrated processes with attention to short- and long-term goals and objectives. No particular library institutional setting is assumed.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 581

LIS 582 Community Engagement Strategies in Information Science (3)
Introduces students to strategies for building and sustaining relationships with community partners and other organizations to provide innovative services possible inside and outside of libraries. Students examine case studies, consider partner resources and needs, evaluate outcomes, and develop partner-based services in order to achieve community impact.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 582

LIS 583 Cross Cultural Approaches to Leadership (3)
Explores alternative leadership models as reflected in the literatures of multiple cultures. Examines ethical dimensions of leadership in the context of complex relationships among the peoples and agencies that comprise the global environment. Uses imagination in the application of cross cultural forms of leadership.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 583

LIS 584 Knowledge Management (3)
Introduction to contemporary topics in management of knowledge creation and use in organizations. Discussion topics include knowledge generation, knowledge taxonomy, knowledge transfer, organizational knowledge management practice, and knowledge management systems.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 584

LIS 585 Future of Libraries (3)
Covers competencies needed to create, reimagine, and sustain future libraries that effectively respond to community needs. Through strategic foresight, students learn to think like a futurist and practice creative thinking, scenario planning, and organizational leadership. Prerequisite: LIS 520.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 585

LIS 586 Public Libraries and Advocacy (3)
Examines the purpose and role of public libraries in an information society. Includes governance, services, and planning with special emphasis on advocacy for the library and community.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 586

LIS 587 Systems Librarianship (4)
Focuses on understanding the broad range of work in systems librarianship across multiple types of libraries. Includes (but is not limited to) project management, vendor relations, digital and e-resources integrations, and open-source solutions. Explores the intersections of library technologies with privacy, equity, accessibility, and social justice issues.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 587

LIS 588 Special Librarianship (3)
Focuses on application and practice of special librarianship in corporate, non-profit, and government agencies. Emphasis on information management in these settings, understanding user needs and developing service approaches responsive to key clients and audiences, and effectively advocating for information services within an organization.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 588

LIS 589 Academic Librarianship (3)
Academic librarianship is a complex combination of tradition and innovation. Academic libraries are redefining themselves, with changes in physical space, job titles, and the format of collections. This course examines the forces at work in academic libraries, from politics to technology, using the lens of social justice and equity.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 589

LIS 590 Directed Fieldwork (1-5, max. 10)
Minimum of 50 hours, maximum 250 hours of professional, supervised fieldwork in a library or professional information setting. Fieldwork is a one quarter experience, however, may be repeated in a different setting with a different set of learning objectives for a subsequent quarter. Prerequisite: LIS 510 or LIS 547, LIS 520, LIS 530, and LIS 570 Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 590

LIS 592 Legal Research Methods (3/4)
Legal tools that answer more complex legal research problems, such as federal legislative histories, sources of administrative law, specialized subject research. Federal emphasis. Builds on skills and techniques taught in LIS 591/LAW A 598. Extensive work with online resources. Offered: jointly with LAW A 599.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 592

LIS 593 Law Teaching Practicum I (2)
Under the supervision of a faculty member, students in the Master of Library and Information Science Law Librarianship Specialization, who already hold a JD, take primary responsibility for team teaching an online section of Legal Research Methods (for non-JD MLIS students) with other MLIS Law students. Prerequisite: LIS 579 and LIS 592/LAW A 599. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 593

LIS 594 Management Skills in Law Libraries (3)
Management topics in in law libraries, including organizational structure, personnel, communication skills, project management, supervision and training. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 594

LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship ([1-5]-, max. 5)
Students select a topic in law librarianship in collaboration with the faculty member, research it fully, write a major paper, and present their paper. Topics may include historical trends, citation reform, digital media, user studies, etc. Prerequisite: law librarianship program students, or permission of instructor. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 595

LIS 596 Capstone II - Project Planning (2)
Analysis and preliminary design of an approved individual or group research or implementation project demonstrating professional-level knowledge and skills. Cannot be taken for credit if credit received for IMT 596. Prerequisite: LIS 569. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 596

LIS 597 Capstone III - Project Implementation (2)
Implementation of a project demonstrating professional-level knowledge and skills based on a project plan developed in LIS 596. Completion of project deliverables and presentation of project results. Cannot be taken for credit if credit received for IMT 597. Prerequisite: LIS 596. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 597

LIS 598 Special Topics in Information and Library Science (1-6, max. 18)
Seminar dealing with various topics in information and library science. Offered by visitors or resident faculty. Topics are changed from quarter to quarter. May not be offered every quarter. Prerequisite: determined by specific course.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 598

LIS 599 Portfolio (3)
Culminating experience for the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree. Topics include: (1) creation of a professional website that reflects goals, values, and mastery of professional skills; (2) preparation and delivery of a professional presentation; (3) engagement in reflections on learning and future plans; and (4) participation in a peer review process. Prerequisite: LIS 574; LIS 575; and completion of 30 credit hours. Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 599

LIS 600 Independent Study or Research (*-)
Credit/no-credit only.
View course details in MyPlan: LIS 600