School of Library and Information Science

Full List of SLIS Courses of Study

Course of Study
Information Architecture
 

Information architects develop and apply classification systems and database schemas, business processes and workflows to manage complex data sets and information resources. Their work often involves researching, acquiring and integrating diverse datasets. They design and evaluate information environments that are as varied as shopping sites, web portals, databases, search engines and directories, online financial services, social media sites, online communities and mobile (PDA) applications.

An information architect's responsibilities can include:

• Collaborating with management, clients, end users, programmers and other IT personnel to balance the needs of the sponsoring organization and the needs of its audiences.
• Determining what content the resource will contain and functionality it will support.
• Specifying how users will find information in the resource by defining its organization, navigation, labeling, and searching systems.
• Evaluating the design and usability of information resources and environments.
• Researching and applying relevant standards.
• Defining strategies for how the resource will accommodate change and growth over time.
• Documenting information designs using site maps, wireframes, blueprints, controlled vocabularies, metadata schema, and other techniques.

(Adapted from Rosenfeld and Morville, 1998, 2002; and Morrogh, 2003)

Information architecture draws on many fields, including library science, computer science, social informatics, information design, visual design, and engineering psychology (Morrogh, 2003, p. 5). The IA course of study reflects this diversity. The CUA School of Library and Information Science offers a variety of courses that focus on information architecture. Each student will take the four required core courses, plus highly recommended specialized courses for IA. The student will consult with his/her advisor to plan a course of study that will best meet the student's personal and professional needs.

Required Core Courses (4 courses; 12 credits)

551: Organization of Information

553: Information Sources and Services

555: Information Systems in Libraries

557: Libraries and Information in Society

Recommended Courses (4 - 5 courses: 12 - 15 credits)

610: Internet searches and web design

715: Organization of Internet Resources

716: Indexing, Abstracting, and Thesaurus Construction

740: Database Management

742: Project Management

745: Research methods

877: User interface design and evaluation

Other Electives (3 - 4 courses: 9 - 12 credits)

712: Foundations of Digital Libraries

718: Programming for Web Applications

730: Use and users of libraries and information

741: Systems Analysis and Evaluation

776: Design & Production of Multimedia

906: Practicum

Relevant Journals or Online Resources

• Journal of Information Architecture (starting spring 2009) - http://journalofia.org/
• Boxes and Arrows - http://www.boxesandarrows.com/

· Information Architecture (an introduction) - http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~l38613dw/readings/InfoArchitecture.html

· Elements of interaction design - http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf

· Educating Information Architects - http://www.iainstitute.org/en/learn/education/chapter_21_educating_information_architects.php (excerpt from Morrogh, 2003)

· The Information Architecture Institute 2008 Salary Survey - http://www.iainstitute.org/documents/IA%20Institute%20-%20Salary%20Survey%202008.pdf

· Case studies of IA - These commercial firms provide examples of IA projects:

o http://www.adaptivepath.com/services/casestudies/

o http://www.macadamian-usability.com/clients/case_studies/

Related Organizations

· The American Society for Information Science and Technology - http://www.asis.org/. ASIST sponsors an annual IA conference, the IA Summit (http://iasummit.org/) and hosts the SIGIA mailing list (http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/sig-ialist.html).

· The Information Architecture Institute - http://www.iainstitute.org/

· Interaction Design Association (IxDA) - http://www.ixda.org/

Relationship of the Information Architecture Course of Study to SLIS Competencies
The Professional Competencies for Graduates of the Masters in Library Science Degree
Program can be found at:
slis.cua.edu/about/Accreditation/documents/SLISCompetenciesAdopted20080326.pdf

The table below shows how courses in the Information Architecture Course of Study are aligned to SLIS competency areas. Using this table, it is recommended that in addition to highly recommended courses, you could choose elective courses as appropriate.

Courses mapped to SLIS Competency Areas

NOTE: 906 Practicum not categorized

References

Morrogh, E. (2003). Information Architecture: An Emerging 21st Century Profession. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Rosenfeld, L. and Morville, P. (1998). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.

SLIS Courses of Study List