About Us
College of Information
The Florida State University
101 Louis Shores Building
Tallahassee, FL 32306-2100
voice: 850/644-5775
fax: 850/644-9763
Accreditation Facilities History Mission Goals Vision Overview About the Seal Convocation/Awards
Accreditation
The master's degree program in information studies is accredited by the American Library Association (ALA). The College is also a member of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). The College was authorized in 1968 to offer the doctor of philosophy degree in library and information studies, and in January 1969 to offer the advanced master's degree.
Facilities
The College is one of the few North American Colleges of information studies to have a separate facility. A smoke-free facility, the Louis Shores Building houses all the classrooms, plus laboratories for cataloging, computers, conservation and preservation, audiovisual production, photography, and television production.
- The Harold Goldstein Library
- Mary Alice Hunt Learning Laboratories
- Personnel
- Two full-time personnel, the LAN manager and the computer support specialist are available to assist students, faculty and staff. In addition, six laboratory assistants are on duty in the evenings, weekends, and various hours during the day.
- Hours
- MONDAY - THURSDAY 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- FRIDAY 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- SATURDAY 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- SUNDAY 1:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- Computer Accounts
- Local Area Network (LAN) Accounts are provided to students, faculty and staff for access to software applications such as word processing, databases, spreadsheet programs, graphics, etc. To arrange for your LAN account, see the Lab Manager, David Miner or the lab assistant on duty.
Internet Accounts are arranged by FSU's Academic Computing and Network Services. Internet account allow for access to the World Wide Web from home computers.
Access to OCLC, DIALOG, LEXIS/NEXIS, STN, DOWJONES NEWS RETRIEVAL, NEWSNET, and other online services is provided to students enrolled in specific courses.
- Local Area Network (LAN) Accounts are provided to students, faculty and staff for access to software applications such as word processing, databases, spreadsheet programs, graphics, etc. To arrange for your LAN account, see the Lab Manager, David Miner or the lab assistant on duty.
- Equipment
- The College has a vast array of equipment purchased for student use. Students are encouraged to use such equipment for not only course work, but also for personal use. It is the faculty's and lab manager's hope that students will become familiar with, if not adept, at using the various types of equipment. Currently the lab will loan the student: VHS VCR (with monitor), BETAMAX, VCR, Camcorders, Epson Video Projectors, Sharp Video Projectors, Editing Suites, 16mm Movie Projectors, Overhead Projectors, Filmstrip Projectors, Kodak Slide Projectors, Projection Screens, Titler, 35mm still camera, Opaque Projectors, Filmloop Projectors, Cassette Tape Recorders, Recording Suites, PA systems, record players, microphones, InFocus LCD Panels, and Macintosh Dukane. Individuals using College equipment are financially liable for any damage to equipment.
An "Equipment Request Form" can be obtained from Lab personnel, or in the form box located in the computer Lab.
- The College has a vast array of equipment purchased for student use. Students are encouraged to use such equipment for not only course work, but also for personal use. It is the faculty's and lab manager's hope that students will become familiar with, if not adept, at using the various types of equipment. Currently the lab will loan the student: VHS VCR (with monitor), BETAMAX, VCR, Camcorders, Epson Video Projectors, Sharp Video Projectors, Editing Suites, 16mm Movie Projectors, Overhead Projectors, Filmstrip Projectors, Kodak Slide Projectors, Projection Screens, Titler, 35mm still camera, Opaque Projectors, Filmloop Projectors, Cassette Tape Recorders, Recording Suites, PA systems, record players, microphones, InFocus LCD Panels, and Macintosh Dukane. Individuals using College equipment are financially liable for any damage to equipment.
- Policies
- The laboratory facilities and equipment are intended for use by IS students enrolled in one or more IS classes only. Food and beverages are not permitted in the computer labs or near other computers or equipment. The Guidelines for Use of Campus Computer and Network Resources, the Florida State University's official regulations regarding the proper and improper use of computing resources, must be followed.
- Print Resources
- Manuals are located in the Lab, and are available for software applications, OCLC, DIALOG, and other online services, as well as for the Job File.
- Instructional Resources
- A series of "How to/Hands On" workshops are offered in the lab and is coordinated through the Lab Instructor's Office. Topics include the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN access, and various software applications. Workshops are announced on the College listserve.
- Security
- Classrooms and labs on the second floor of the Shores Building, all exterior doors to the library on the first floor, and room 010 on the ground floor are protected by an alarm system. This sytems automatically notifies FSU police if an attempt is made to break in. The alarm is turned off during normal lab and library hours, and activated when they are closed.
- Personnel
Brief History of Information Studies
The College of Information at The Florida State University is one of the top-ranked programs in the nation and has held this ranking for many years. The program maintains a respect for tradition, while it continues to explore new ways to educate information professionals.
In 1947, the College was established as the School of Library Training and Service, a professional school offering a Master's degree [now Specialist degree]. The School was authorized in 1968 to offer the doctor of philosophy degree and in January 1969 to offer the advanced master's degree. The College's present master's degree is titled library and information studies; students major in either information studies or library studies. An undergraduate major in information studies began in Fall 1996.
The College of Information is proud that in its more than 50-year history, it has produced graduates who occupy positions of significant leadership and responsibility. In addition, the faculty includes past-presidents of the American Library Association, the Association of Library and Information Science Education, Beta Phi Mu (the honorary society for library science), the American Association of School Librarians, the Florida Library Association, and the Florida Association for Media in Education. Among the honors that faculty members have received are the President's Teaching Award, the Blackwell/North American Scholarship Award, the Beta Phi Mu Award and the Lippincott Award.
FSU/IS Mission Statement
Access to and use of information technology, services, and products by people in all their diversity throughout their lives is of profound individual and societal importance. Students educated at Florida State University's College of Information work to ensure information access for all people.
Our instructional programs are concerned with recordable information and knowledge, and the services and technologies to facilitate their management and use encompassing Information Architecture; Information Management, Use and Policy; Information Resources and Services; Information Technology; and, Youth Services.
Through gifted teaching, significant research, and proactive outreach, the faculty, supported by a talented and dedicated staff and engaged alumni, sustain the College's commitment to empowering people through assuring access to relevant information.
As part of a comprehensive research university, the College has tripartite goals relating to instruction, research and public service.
FSU/IS Goals
The provision of high quality instruction in all of its degree programs is the foundational goal of the College; we seek to assure that this goal is met through recruitment, selection, retention, and evaluation of faculty, staff, and students.
The College fosters faculty, staff, and student research through the encouragement of collaboration, grant and contract seeking, and through support of its Information Use Management and Policy Institute.
Public service by faculty, staff, and students on behalf of local, regional, state, national, and international agencies and professional associations is encouraged and supported by the College.
These goals are reflected in the College's reward systems for faculty, staff, and students, and form the basis for its degree program objectives found in the descriptive material for each program.
Adopted by the Faculty: August 29, 2001
FSU/IS Vision Statement
People & Information: Making Vital Connections
Overview of Information Studies
The field represented by Information Studies contains some of the most diverse, fascinating, and expanding professional opportunities available today. Positions in this field range from those involved in the design, building, and use of on-line information bases in a wide variety of disciplines to those involved in academic, public, school, special libraries, and information centers. Essentially, information professionals are engaged in the business of helping other people locate and obtain the information they need for daily living and decision making; these needs are expanding rapidly in our society.
Information Studies offers the opportunity to blend basic concerns for human needs for information with involvement in up-to-date and cutting edge technology and systems for acquiring, storing, organizing, and delivering information. The tasks of fitting information systems to human needs rather than requiring human needs to fit an information system is the critical function of the information professional.
This field offers diversity, opportunity based on growth and expansion, important and fascinating work, and an opportunity to work with emerging technology from a humanistic perspective.