MLIS Specialization Informatics

Informatics Specialization

The field of informatics is premised on the observation that successful integration of information services into society requires a sophisticated understanding of the ways in which information technologies function as vehicles of power and social action. Students who complete this specialization will be uniquely well-equipped to design modern information services, including digital libraries, data repositories, metadata services, and search engines, in a wide variety of institutional contexts, such as community archives, cultural heritage, e-commerce, electronic publishing, and government. Courses explore theories of information-seeking behavior and information use, user-centered approaches to information system design, human-computer interaction, database design and management, and information policy, including intellectual property, informational privacy, and internet governance.