The new School will pioneer the development and application of unifying principles that clarify the role of information at all levels in a community.

"This action is the result of a recognition that unprecedented change in the use of information is reshaping personal activities, community and organizational practices, and national and global institutions," says President James J. Duderstadt. "The School will educate professionals to lead in the information age."

The Board of Regents of the University approved the new School of Information at its March 15 meeting. The new School replaces the existing School of Information and Library Studies. It inherits a 70-year tradition of service, research, leadership, and access to information, and extends these values into the digital age. Both master's and doctoral degrees are offered.

"We will continue our commitment to educating graduates as librarians and provide them with the knowledge and skills required of emerging information technologies," says Dean Daniel E. Atkins. "By offering an expanded curriculum that includes Librarianship, Next Generation Systems Architecture, Human-computer Interaction, Organizational Information Systems, Archives and Records Management, and Digital Publishing, we are creating an academic program that brings together in a synergistic way these different specializations."

Students and faculty with a broad range of perspectives and interests will forge this new body of theory, principles, and practices. They will draw from the best of scholarship in library and information science, computer science, the humanities, and the social sciences.

The School's doctoral students will prepare for future roles as distinguished researchers and innovative teachers. They will be ready to assume roles as university faculty, administrators, technical innovators, and research scientists.

"The pace of change in both social organizations and information technology is such that the School must also provide life-long learning opportunities to established information professionals and prepare students to pioneer career paths that do not now exist," Dean Atkins adds. "Richly intertwined programs of instruction, research, and community engagement will expose students to innovative ideas, novel approaches, and the potential of new technologies."

As part of its mission, the School will stress the interaction between technical possibilities and the distinctive contexts in which information is actually used. It will also seek partnerships with other parts of the University and with external organizations. The research and instructional programs at the School will have a strong component of practical engagement with private enterprises, not-for-profit institutions, libraries, schools, and communities to address the pressing social and technological problems of information management, access, and use.

The School's aim is to integrate this larger community tightly into its instruction, via extensive use of supervised field experiences, and into its research, via partnerships in developing concepts and technologies. This approach will enrich both the practice and theory of the information professions.

To define the future curriculum of the new School, U-M faculty are consulting with alumni, students, professionals, and faculty members from the University and other institutions. The School's curriculum will be a model for other institutions that are reshaping their information and library studies programs.

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