Master of Science in Information Sciences

The program leading to the Master of Science degree requires 42 semester hours of graduate courses, including 3 courses (9 hours) required of all students. Either a thesis or a non-thesis option is available, with 6 hours available for thesis credit. At least 33 hours must be taken within the School of Information Sciences curriculum, and up to 9 hours outside of the School, including a maximum of 6 hours outside the college. No more than 6 hours may be taken from another university. Complete information on the Masters of Science Program may be found in the Graduate Student Manual 2008-2010 (PDF).

Upon completion of the program, all students take a comprehensive examination. For students who elect the thesis option, the examination will be an oral defense of the thesis. Students who elect the non-thesis option will take a written comprehensive examination.

Required Courses

Three courses are required of all students:

• IS 510: Information Environment
• IS 520: Information Representation and Organization
• IS 530: Information Access and Retrieval

These three courses—IS 510, IS 520, and IS 530—are prerequisite to all elective courses for students enrolled in the M.S. degree program.

Highly Recommended Courses

The faculty regards these courses as vital to professional success:

• IS 540: Research Methods for Information Professionals
• IS 550: Management of Information Organizations
• IS 560: Development and Management of Collections

These courses address the creation and use of research, management, and leadership in information organizations, and the development and management of collections. IS 550 serves as a prerequisite to courses in academic, corporate, and public library management.

Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational Science

Masters students may pursue a 9-hour Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational Science. The minor requires coursework in three areas: Computer and Information Sciences, Applied Mathematics, and a selected discipline outside of information sciences.

SIS courses that support the minor include human-centered computing, knowledge discovery and data mining, and digital libraries, among other topics. Ph.D. students must take 15 hours to earn a minor. For more information about the IGMCS, contact Dr. Peiling Wang.

An Individualized Curriculum

Students develop an individualized program of study in consultation with their advisors. Students may want to align their course study with the following school strengths:

• Academic libraries
• Applied information technology
• Corporate information
• International issues and experiences
• Public librarianship, community informatics
• School media
• Science and technology communication

Courses taken outside of the program can also be incorporated into the individualized curriculum. For more information, see Transfer and Substitution of Credits.

Whatever courses are taken, all students who complete the program receive the Master of Science degree. The American Library Association (ALA) accredits the degree program. In conjunction with the Tennessee Department of Education, licensure as a school library information specialist is also offered.