Special Topics & New Courses: MLIS
View special topics and new courses being offered in other Information School programs:
Winter 2026
LIS 598 F: Search & Discovery
- 4 credits; Standard grading
- Online asynchronous
Search is at the heart of library and information science, dictating what information is made discoverable and how it is navigated. This course will investigate search & discovery and its many facets, from the technical challenges of searching petabytes of web archives to fundamental questions of who dictates what is made searchable and who has access. Accordingly, this course will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to search & discovery, drawing from fields including computer science, data science, critical information studies, science & technology studies, and cataloging. A particular emphasis will be placed on studying existing search & discovery systems for digital collections held by libraries, archives, and museums, as well as emerging trends within these institutions.
Students with coding experience are welcome to enroll in this course, but there are no coding prerequisites. For assignments and projects, students will have the option to build, evaluate, investigate, or imagine new search systems for digital collections using their preferred methodologies, whether coding, writing, designing, or implementing.
LIS 598 H: Black Information Futures
- 4 credits; Standard grading
- Online asynchronous
Using artist Alisha Wormsley’s contested billboard affirmation, “There are black people in the future" as its catalyst, this course will examine whether and how this declaration applies to the agency and authorship of Black people in the information future given the histories of inequitable access to information and information-meting institutions such as schools and libraries, and to the freedom to read and write, more generally. Using various historical periods, movements, theories, events, and phenomena as frames including antebellum slavery; the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts movements; Brown v. Board of Education; the McCarthy Era; the rise of mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline; Afrofuturism; Hurricane Katrina; the impact of climate change on Black geographies; the advent and ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence; and the current wave of censorship targeting queer and Black voices and lived experiences, this course seeks to uncover what we can learn about how information has been and might be used to create and compound bias, prejudice, racialization, racism, and redlining or conversely, to inform Black liberation and survival strategies.
This course is designed for those generally interested in futurist thinking, critical histories of libraries, Black studies, intellectual freedom, digital disparity, and the intersections of race and technology; and for those seeking to build specific practical and theoretical knowledge bases for Black and Ethnic Studies librarianship; cultural heritage and memory work; and information policy.
LIS 598 I: Foundations of Open Science
- 3 credits; Standard grading
- Online asynchronous
This course provides an introduction to the principles and practices of Open Science, with emphasis on their relevance to academic, medical, special, and other library contexts. Topics include open access publishing, research data sharing, open-source tools, licensing frameworks, repositories, and systems interoperability. Students will develop both a conceptual understanding of the Open Science movement and practical skills for supporting its implementation in professional settings.
LIS 598 J: Qualitative and Design Methods for Data Science
- 4 credits; Standard grading
- Offered jointly with IMT 598 A
- In-person
Data science students are introduced to qualitative and design methods to support human-centered perspectives, heighten awareness of discriminatory practices, and make connections between identity and data. Readings and hands-on activities provide students with novel tools for better understanding the ways in which people are defined and represented through data practices.
Autumn 2025
LIS 598 A: Archival Arrangement, Description, and Metadata
- 3 credits; standard grading
This course will look specifically at the research and standard practice of describing archival records for catalogues and finding aids. It will address the differences between archival description and descriptive work done in LIS, introduce students to descriptive standards and best practices, and the basic technological context of contemporary description.
Summer 2025
None offered.
Spring 2025
LIS 598 F: Black Information Futures
- 4 credits; Standard grading
Using artist Alisha Wormsley’s contested billboard affirmation, “There are black people in the future" as its catalyst, this course will examine whether and how this declaration applies to the agency and authorship of Black people in the information future given the histories of inequitable access to information and information-meting institutions such as schools and libraries, and to the freedom to read and write, more generally. Using various historical periods, movements, theories, events, and phenomena as frames including antebellum slavery; the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts movements; Brown v. Board of Education; the McCarthy Era; the rise of mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline; Afrofuturism; Hurricane Katrina; the impact of climate change on Black geographies; the advent and ubiquity of Artificial Intelligence; and the current wave of censorship targeting queer and Black voices and lived experiences, this course seeks to uncover what we can learn about how information has been and might be used to create and compound bias, prejudice, racialization, racism, and redlining or conversely, to inform Black liberation and survival strategies.
This course is designed for those generally interested in futurist thinking, critical histories of libraries, Black studies, intellectual freedom, digital disparity, and the intersections of race and technology; and for those seeking to build specific practical and theoretical knowledge bases for Black and Ethnic Studies librarianship; cultural heritage and memory work; and information policy.
LIS 598 H: Information Architecture
- 5 credits; Standard grading
This course Introduces concepts and methods of front- and back-end information architecture. Includes hands-on teamwork using the latest software tools for data and content modeling, taxonomy development, controlled vocabulary creation and SEO considerations. The course also covers traditional user experience design topics such as inclusive design processes, design patterns, navigation, workflow, labeling, diverse user research and user flow diagrams. Teams produce a series of project deliverables suitable for building a professional portfolio.
Winter 2025
LIS 598 A: Library Collaboration and Partnership
- 4-credits; standard grading
No library is an island. Libraries are embedded in multiple collaborative and partner networks to get their work done. Participation in, and management of, these network relations is a central part of a library's work. Several sets of relations are especially important.
1. Libraries work with other libraries in consortia - to negotiate, to share systems and collections, to learn and innovate, and to lobby and concentrate their influence.
2. Libraries collaborate with community partners to co-create or deliver services. This might include the Teaching and Learning Center or Office of Research for the academic library, or Departments of Arts and Culture or Education, or a local Community College, for the public library.
3. Libraries may work with groups of users to co-create services, to get feedback, to evolve.
It is important for libraries to recognize these relationships in their strategy, planning and management. To make decisions and allocate resources accordingly, and to decide when to collaborate and partner to get things done and when to do it themselves.
This course will include opportunities to learn from library leaders, consortium leaders and others. The focus will be on both public and academic libraries, but the principles and practices are broadly applicable. There will be a special focus on inter-library collaboration, but the other forms of collaboration will also be covered. Some experience of working in a library will be helpful, but not essential.
LIS 598 E: Search & Discovery
- 4 credits; Standard grading
- Online Asynchronous
Search is at the heart of library and information science, dictating what information is made discoverable and how it is navigated. This course will investigate search & discovery and its many facets, from the technical challenges of searching petabytes of web archives to fundamental questions of who dictates what is made searchable and who has access. Accordingly, this course will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to search & discovery, drawing from fields including computer science, data science, critical information studies, science & technology studies, and cataloging. A particular emphasis will be placed on studying existing search & discovery systems for digital collections held by libraries, archives, and museums, as well as emerging trends within these institutions.
Students with coding experience are welcome to enroll in this course, but there are no coding prerequisites. For assignments and projects, students will have the option to build, evaluate, investigate, or imagine new search systems for digital collections using their preferred methodologies, whether coding, writing, designing, or implementing.
LIS 598 H: Qualitative and Design Methods for Data Science
- 4 credits; standard grading
- Offered jointly with IMT 589 D
Data science students are introduced to qualitative and design methods to support human-centered perspectives, heighten awareness of discriminatory practices, and make connections between identity and data. Readings and hands-on activities provide students with novel tools for better understanding the ways in which people are defined and represented through data practices.