Library and Information Science MSI

Major: Library and Information Science
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Information (MSI)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 25.0101
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 25-4021

About the Program

The Library and Information Science (LIS) graduate major integrates information technology, professional knowledge, and interdisciplinary, experiential learning to prepare our graduates to lead and innovate in libraries, archives, museums, and information organizations. The LIS graduate major in the MSI program is accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) since 1924 and is one of the one of the oldest continuously operating LIS graduate programs in North America.

Admission Requirements

The Master of Science in Information accepts applicants who hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited university. Please visit the College of Computing & Informatics website for more information on admission requirements.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, visit the College of Computing & Informatics MS in Information Library and Information Science webpage.

Tuition discounts up to 25% may be available (students must apply for discounts before the academic term begins). Other funding might also be available. For more information about funding options for the MSI library and information science program, visit the Scholarships for MSI library and information science students webpage.

Degree Requirements

Sample Plan of Study

Part-time

Note: Third Year Winter is less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Full-time

Facilities

3675 Market Street

The College of Computing & Informatics is located at 3675 Market. Occupying three floors in the modern uCity Square building, CCI's home offers state-of-the-art technology in our classrooms, research labs, offices, meeting areas and collaboration spaces. 3675 Market offers Class A laboratory, office, coworking, and convening spaces. Located at the intersection of Market Street and 37th Street, 3675 Market acts as a physical nexus, bridging academic campuses and medical centers to the east and south, the commercial corridors along Market Street and Chestnut Street, and the residential communities to the north and west.

The uCity Square building offers:

• Speculative lab/office space
• World-class facilities operated by CIC
• Café/restaurant on-site
• Quorum, a two-story, 15K SF convening space and conference center
• Adjacent to future public square
• Access to Science Center’s nationally renowned business acceleration and technology commercialization programs

Drexel University Libraries

The Drexel University Libraries is a one-stop resource for all members of the Drexel community, providing access to millions of print and online books, journals, databases and other media, as well as hundreds of online course and research guides, workshops, and tutorials. Expert librarians offer a variety of consultation services virtually or in person, including help with course-related projects, strategies for finding and evaluating authoritative information, and approaches to utilizing, organizing, and presenting scholarship.

Students in the College of Computing & Informatics also have access to the W. W. Hagerty Library where they can take advantage of the Libraries’ various learning environments, including group study rooms, collaborative and silent study areas, and 24/7 study space in the Dragons’ Learning Den. The Libraries also offers a wellness room, printing and scanning services, and laptops, portable power chargers, and other equipment you can borrow for use in the Library.

CCI Commons

Located on the 10th floor of 3675 Market Street, the CCI Commons is an open lab and collaborative work environment for students. It features desktop computers, a wireless/laptop area, free black and white printing, and more collaborative space for its students. Students have access to 3675 Market's fully equipped conference room with 42” displays and videoconferencing capabilities. The CCI Commons provides technical support to students, faculty, and professional staff. In addition, the staff provides audio-visual support for all presentation classrooms within 3675 Market. Use of the CCI Commons is reserved for all students taking CCI courses.

The computers for general use are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX machines with appropriate applications which include the Microsoft Office suite, various database management systems, modeling tools, and statistical analysis software. Library-related resources may be accessed at the CCI Commons and through the W.W. Hagerty Library. The College is a member of the "Azure Dev Tools for Teaching” platform that allows students free access to a wide array of Microsoft software titles and operating systems.

The CCI Commons, student labs, and classrooms have access to networked databases, print and file resources within the College, and the Internet via the University’s network. Email accounts, Internet and BannerWeb access are available through the Office of Information Resources and Technology.

Computer Support for Teaching

The CCI server room houses a multitude of servers to support faculty research, staff operations, and student learning. Services provided include a Linux compute cluster which is open to all faculty, staff, and students, multiple virtualization environments to meet different needs of faculty, staff, and students, and other single-purpose servers to support various operations throughout the college. The compute cluster provides a common environment for students to develop software, which makes testing easier for the TAs and faculty. Our virtualization environments allow college members the flexibility of a cloud environment with local support and direct cost recovery options. For those who need dedicated hardware, we also support dedicated research systems.

Classrooms are outfitted with laser projectors, 4K displays, class capture hardware, and the Wolfvision Cynap. The Cynap controls the AV distribution throughout the room and can display up to 4 streams simultaneously. These include the local PC, a laptop connected directly to the podium, or up to 4 streaming devices. Windows, macOS, iOS and Android devices can all connect wirelessly to the presentation system, allowing collaboration and freedom to roam the classroom for better interactivity. Wireless networking and outlets are also available for students throughout the classrooms. Laptops are available for checkout from the CCI Commons desk.

Additionally, CCI is hosting and supporting multiple Virtual Computing Lab environments for students to use that mimics the physical computer labs in CCI. This technology allows both online and face to face students to have the same experience when using computing facilities.

CCI Virtual Environments

CCI hosts a variety of virtual environments, which support all levels of research, academics, and administration at CCI. These include OpenStack, Proxmox VE, VMWare, and Xen architectures, backed by storage in CEPH. Multiple environments allow CCI IT to provide researchers with the level of control appropriate for the project at hand and make efficient use of project funding. External cloud vendors such as AWS and Google Cloud Platform are also used when appropriate.

CCI continues to invest in these virtual environments, and explores emerging environments, to continue to best support CCI research and teaching. CPU cores, storage, and memory are added at every opportunity to these flexible, scalable environments. The current capacity of the system includes:

• 1760 CPU Cores
• 6 TB of Memory
• Over 556 TB of HDD-backed storage
• 122 TB of high-performance SSD-backed storage
• 12 GPUs with room for expansion through funded research for high-performance computing needs

CCI Learning Center

The CCI Learning Center (CLC), located in 3675 Market Street's CCI Commons student computer lab, provides consulting and other learning resources for students taking courses offered by the Computer Science Department. The CLC is staffed by graduate and undergraduate computer science students from the College of Computing & Informatics.

The CLC and CCI Commons serve as a central hub for small group work, student meetings, and TA assistance. 

Research Laboratories

The College houses multiple research labs, led by CCI faculty, in 3675 Market Street including: the Metadata Research Center (MRC), Interactive Systems for Healthcare (IS4H) Research, Economics and Computation (EconCS), The TeX-Base Lab, SPiking And Recurrent SoftwarE (SPARSE) Coding, Human-System Evaluation and Analysis Lab (H-SEAL), Applied Symbolic Computation Laboratory (ASYM), Security and Privacy Analytics Lab (SePAL), Software Engineering and Analytics Research (SOAR), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Social Computing Research Group, Vision and Cognition Laboratory (VisCog). For more information on these laboratories, please visit the College’s research web page.

Evaluations

The College of Computing & Informatics works continually to improve its degree programs. As part of this effort, the Library and Information Science graduate major is evaluated relative to the following learning objectives:

Graduates of the LIS graduate major in the Master of Science in Information (MSI) degree program are prepared to assume leadership positions in designing, executing, and evaluating information services and products and in managing organizations that facilitate access to recorded knowledge. Their preparation enables them to gain the knowledge and abilities required to:

• Explain the foundational principles, professional ethics and values, and social and technological contexts within which various information professionals work
• Identify and analyze the information needs of various communities (e.g., academic institutions, local neighborhoods, workplaces, schools) and design and implement library/information programs and services to meet those needs
• Analyze and apply information policies and information-related laws (including the standards and guidelines of pertinent professional organizations) that advance the creative and ethical applications of information technologies and the delivery of information resources throughout society
• Foster the core values of the profession (e.g., access, equity, intellectual freedom, privacy, social justice) in all programs and services offered in these communities
• Encourage the development of information literacy in support of all areas of individuals’ and communities’ needs (e.g., in formal and informal education, career development, healthcare and financial planning, research innovation, political and social engagement, etc.)
• Lead and manage information agencies, projects, and people through creative and effective approaches to planning, budgeting, policy making, fundraising, communication, and advocacy
• Use research and data in sophisticated ways to demonstrate the value of the library and to help individuals and communities address community challenges (e.g., poverty and hunger, population shifts, economic development, preservation of cultural heritage, etc.)
• Help individuals and communities to understand, appraise, organize, manage, and preserve digital assets available through a variety of formal and informal sources and to create and manage their own digital identities and materials effectively

Program Level Outcomes

The College of Computing & Informatics works continually to improve its degree programs. As part of this effort, the Library and Information Science graduate major is evaluated relative to the following learning objectives:

Graduates of the LIS graduate major in the Master of Science in Information (MSI) degree program are prepared to assume leadership positions in designing, executing, and evaluating information services and products and in managing organizations that facilitate access to recorded knowledge. Their preparation enables them to gain the knowledge and abilities required to:

• Explain the foundational principles, professional ethics and values, and social and technological contexts within which various information professionals work
• Identify and analyze the information needs of various communities (e.g., academic institutions, local neighborhoods, workplaces, schools) and design and implement library/information programs and services to meet those needs
• Analyze and apply information policies and information-related laws (including the standards and guidelines of pertinent professional organizations) that advance the creative and ethical applications of information technologies and the delivery of information resources throughout society
• Foster the core values of the profession (e.g., access, equity, intellectual freedom, privacy, social justice) in all programs and services offered in these communities
• Encourage the development of information literacy in support of all areas of individuals’ and communities’ needs (e.g., in formal and informal education, career development, healthcare and financial planning, research innovation, political and social engagement, etc.)
• Lead and manage information agencies, projects, and people through creative and effective approaches to planning, budgeting, policy making, fundraising, communication, and advocacy
• Use research and data in sophisticated ways to demonstrate the value of the library and to help individuals and communities address community challenges (e.g., poverty and hunger, population shifts, economic development, preservation of cultural heritage, etc.)
• Help individuals and communities to understand, appraise, organize, manage, and preserve digital assets available through a variety of formal and informal sources and to create and manage their own digital identities and materials effectively