What in the world is info sciences?

People often ask Kelly Shaffer, “What is information sciences?”

As director of external… People often ask Kelly Shaffer, “What is information sciences?”

As director of external affairs for the School of Information Sciences, her job is to give them an answer.

According to a pamphlet provided by SIS, information science is “the study of information and how it is obtained and used by computer systems and people.”

Shaffer added, “Our programs are centered on the idea that people, information and technology are all interconnected.”

Just like the nature of the material with which it is concerned, SIS has evolved into the school it is today.

The passage of time and technological developments throughout the years have transformed the school so much that it would probably be unrecognizable to its original founder, Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie founded the school in 1901, according to Mary Biagini, associate dean for student affairs in SIS. Originally, the school served as a training school for children’s librarians at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Carnegie felt that the school was a necessity because of all the immigrant children who did not know English in the Pittsburgh area. The city needed librarians for such simple tasks as reading to the children.

Since its founding, the school has changed locations multiple times, at one point it was at what is now Carnegie Mellon University. The school did not make its final move to Pitt until the 1960s.

Affiliation is not the only thing that has changed about the school. According to Biagini, the school went through a multitude of names before adopting School of Information Sciences in 1995.

Probably the biggest change that has occurred within SIS throughout the years was the integration of a program dealing with electronic systems. Biagini said that this transformation began in the 1970s, when the University hired Allen Kent, a pioneer in the field, to start a program dealing with technological issues.

The school is currently divided into two main departments: information science and telecommunications, and library and information science.

The departments were founded on the same basic principle.

“We have just moved from the management of print material to the management of electronic material,” said Martin Weiss, associate dean of research and academic affairs for SIS.

Both departments try to address what people need and what applications are needed to serve these people.

“Really, we are about solving problems,” Weiss said. “We’re about helping people.”

Biagini said that there are many career opportunities available for students who are interested in either department of SIS.

“Technology is always developing,” Biagini said. “And there is a great societal good that comes from these jobs because people need accurate information.”

Shaffer believes that what sets SIS’s programs apart from those offered in the computer science department is that those within SIS look at the bigger picture.

Students in SIS look at what the end users are looking for as well as what the users are looking to do with the information that they attain, she said.

Students look at the context in which information will be used, not just the technology needed to find the information.

“Our students get a bigger picture,” Shaffer said. “Some degrees focus on programming issues, but our program focuses on societal issues.”

Weiss believes that every major societal problem, ranging from how to get a man to Mars to stem cell research, will be solved through information services.

“All of our graduates end up being at the heart of whatever they end up in,” Weiss said. “Information is at the heart of every enterprise.”

While the school has branched out from its roots as a school for children’s librarians, it still boasts the third best graduate program in library science, according to a recent U.S. News ‘ World Report ranking.

SIS has four library science specialization programs that are also ranked among the top in the nation, including a No. 1-ranked health librarianship program.

Weiss said that SIS is currently experiencing huge enrollment rates for students interested in the library sciences because an entire generation of librarians is retiring.

“The stereotype of the librarian is totally unfounded,” Weiss said. “You know, the one where she wears glasses and tells everyone to shush.”