Courses

INST 341 Introduction to Digital Curation
This course explores various dimensions and contexts for digital curation. For the purpose of this class, digital curation encompasses all activities involving the management, representation, and preservation of both born-digital and digitized information. Focus will be on current efforts that respond to the opportunities, challenges, and demands of ever increasing digital data and networked information infrastructure. The course explores the infrastructure necessary for handling digital collections as well as the knowledge and skills necessary for effective management of digital curation systems and programs.

INST 441 Information Ethics and Policy
Students will explore via case studies the legal, ethical, and technological challenges in developing and implementing policies for managing digital assets and information. Emphasis will be on access questions pertinent to managing sensitive information, and the roles and responsibilities of information professionals.

INST 442 Digital Curation Across Disciplines
Examines how to apply digital curation principles, tools, and strategies in managing diverse data collections and digital information in different disciplinary settings. Explores differences among data curation principles and practices across diverse settings, ranging from scientific organizations (such as business and academic research laboratories and computational science settings), to humanities-based institutions (such as cultural heritage organizations) to social science-based institutions (such as data-intensive professional environments).

INST 443 Tools and Methods for Digital Curation
The purpose of this course is to develop knowledge and skills in the application of digital curation tools and methods in diverse organizational settings, academic disciplines, and economic sectors. Using the digital curation lifecycle as the foundational concept, students will use digital collections to explore tools, workflows, and standards required to successfully access, preserve, and reformat data contained in digital collections. Students will learn how to develop and implement data management plans, and how to design and use workflows and tools for creating, acquiring, or ingesting content.

INST 448 Digital Curation Research in Cultural Big Data Collections
This course focuses on introducing students to principles, methods, and technologies involved in the digital curation of large cultural data collections. Students will learn these concepts in class lectures, discussions, and participating on project teams.

INST 604 Introduction to Archives & Digital Curation
Overview of the principles, practices, and applications in the archival and digital curation fields.

INST 610 Information Ethics
Investigation of the diverse range of ethical challenges facing society in the information age. Ethical theories, including non-Western and feminist theories. Application of theories to information ethics issues.

LBSC 611 The History of the Book
Introduction to the history and development of the book from pre-printing and incunabula to the post-modern book. Book illustration; publishing; collecting.

INST 612 Information Policy
Nature, structure, development and application of information policy. Interactions of social objectives, stakeholders, technology and other forces that shape policy decisions.

INST 613 Information and Human Rights
An examination of information as a human right, including topics: social, cultural, economic, legal, and political forces shaping information rights; the impact of information rights on information professions, standards, and cultural institutions; and information rights and disadvantaged populations.

INST 622 Information and Universal Usability
Information services and technologies to provide equal experiences and outcomes to all users. Laws, standards, approaches, component concepts, access needs, and technologies in relation to physical and online information environments.

INST 641 Policy and Ethics in Digital Curation
Discussion of strategies to address intellectual property, privacy, security and other policy and ethics concerns raised by the curation of digital records and data.

INST 643 Curation in Cultural Institutions
An overview of the principles, practices, and current debates in the management, care and representation of digital artifacts in libraries, archives, and museums.

INST 644 Introduction to Digital Humanities
A survey of the history, methods, and principal topics of the Digital Humanities, examined from theoretical and applied perspectives.

INST 646 Principles of Records and Information Management
Principles and practices of managing records in the context of information management programs in government, corporate and other institutional settings. Includes access; legal requirements; digital technologies; and creation, administration, appraisal, and retention and disposition of records.

LBSC 644 Collection Development
Activities through which library collections are systematically developed and managed are explored, especially the formulation and implementation of written collection development policies. Other specific topics include identification of user needs; collection evaluation; fund allocation among competing departments, subjects, and/or media; selection methods; intellectual freedom; storage alternatives; and cooperative collection development.

LBSC 702 User Instruction
Critical analysis of the rationale, content, and processes of user instruction in library and information settings.

LBSC 731 Special Collections
Management of special collections, whose holdings may include manuscripts (particularly personal papers), non-textual materials, graphical materials, and rare books, with analysis of the custodial and management functions associated with special collections.

INST 742 Implementing Digital Curation
Management of and technology for application of digital curation principles in specific settings. Characteristics, representation, conversion, and preservation of digital objects. Application of standards for digitization, description, and preservation. Planning for sustainability, risk mitigation and disaster recovery.

LBSC 770 Metadata and Tools for Information Professionals
Principles, standards, and practices of information representation to facilitate accessing needed information in digital bibliographic environments. Includes exposure to Metadata, XML, RDA/AACR2R, DTDs, MARC, Dublin Core, MODS, ISBN and ISSN, FRBR, FRAD, Classification systems, and Controlled Vocabularies such as LCSH, SEARS, NLM, Getty and ERIC Thesauri, and others.

INST 782 Arrangement, Description, and Access for Archives 
Introduction to the key concepts and practices involved with arrangement and description of archives, and the techniques appropriate to enable users to access archival information in traditional and nontraditional archival contexts.

INST 785 Documentation, Collection, and Appraisal Records *INST604
Development of documentation strategies and plans; collecting policies to guide programs in acquiring records; theories and techniques for appraising records to identify those with continuing value.

LBSC 786 Library and Archives Preservation
An introduction to library and archives materials and media, the risks that affect their preservation and strategies used to enhance preservation of library and archives collections. The course reviews preservation knowledge and skills that archival and library staff uses when providing access, managing, processing and working with collections.