The department was established in 1975 as part of the Faculty of Arts; it was reviewed in 1993 and as a consequence was relocated to the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology as from the beginning of 1994. It teaches at all levels from the undergraduate to the doctoral, offering a Bachelor of Information Management degree, graduate diplomas, masters and PhD programs.
The department is committed to the view that the management of information in both paper or electronic forms by archivists, records managers, librarians or generalists is the key discipline for the information age of the twenty-first century. Moral as well as technical aspects of document supply and management are a central concern.
Teaching
The department has five principal objectives:
* to develop, from their foundations in the humanities and social sciences, professional courses in archives, records and librarianship which reach out to the new horizons offered by contemporary information technology;
* to develop and manage a broadly-based undergraduate program in information management which prepares individuals to take their place in contemporary organisations;
* to continue to be a benchmark inventor and provider of quality initial, continuing and advanced professional education for the professions of archives, records management and librarianship;
* to offer to all students of the university the opportunity to master the implications of information management and access for the twenty-first century;
* to develop a foundation for the understanding and application of broadly-based information management processes in the context of contemporary society.
Its bachelors degree in information management is designed to replace the BA as the general degree for entry to a wide range of career opportunities. Graduates of the department's courses will be multi-skilled, information literate, broadly-based practitioners.
Students are expected to arrive in the department with a declared willingness to acquire the skills of information management and an understanding of what these skills are.
In its professional courses, the department orients its teaching to an understanding of their practical and theoretical bases, with an emphasis on historical foundations; postgraduate students are expected to make an active contribution to research in the professional disciplines. Courses targeted to a professional qualification are routinely submitted to the accreditation processes of the appropriate professional body.
The department offers the following courses:
* Bachelor of Information Management;
* Graduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management;
* Diploma in Librarianship;
* Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies;
* masters degrees by coursework or research (MA or MLib for practising librarians already holding a first professional qualification);
* PhD programs by research.
Awards
A number of prizes are awarded to students completing archives and records courses.
Students enrolled in the Master of Arts (Librarianship) are eligible to compete for selection to carry out fieldwork at Blackwell's in Oxford, England. Two students are selected each year to work at Blackwell's on library-related projects.
Objectives - Major in information management
The major in information management is offered by the department, in conjunction with other departments of the faculty, as a sequence of subjects within the Bachelor of Information Management. The subjects are also available to students in a range of other courses, including those of other faculties.
The aim of the major is to provide students with knowledge and understanding of the way society, its organisations and individuals apply information technologies and adapt them to a variety of contexts.
Students completing this major will have knowledge of:
* information transfer activities;
* the principles of the relational database model;
* the global information net;
* tools and techniques for information delivery in a wide variety of contexts;
* methods for capturing information as record;
* ancillary properties (legal, moral and philosophical) of information access and delivery;
* the social and organisational dimensions of information.
They will have an understanding of:
* business organisations and their operation;
* business systems and related computer-based information systems;
* theoretical aspects and techniques of processing information;
* the importance of content and structure in documentation processes;
* application, operation, security and management of database systems;
* the ethical and legal issues associated with information retrieval.
They will be able to:
* diagnose information need, provide access to, deploy and package information in the interests of clients;
* use techniques for managing the information resources of an organisation;
* identify and document user requirements;
* assist in defining organisational recordkeeping regimes;
* use database management systems query languages to satisfy the information retrieval inquiries;
* use software systems to generate interfaces for information retrieval;
* communicate effectively with users, clients and with other computing professionals;
* think logically, and to develop, analyse and communicate alternative solutions to problems;
* cooperate with others to work effectively in a team environment, and be able to take initiative and work independently where appropriate;
* undertake basic research, and be able to locate and retrieve information in the technical literature from a range of sources, including on-line sources.
They will have developed the following attitudes:
* enthusiasm for the field of study;
* concern for accuracy, security and privacy in the management of information;
* professionalism in their roles as information management personnel.