SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS IN
INFORMATION SCIENCE/SYSTEMS
Information science is the study of cognitive, social, technological and organizational roles of information in all its forms. It rests on three foundational pillars:
- Content: the substance of the information being created, communicated, stored, and/or transformed
- People who interact with the content; they may be creators of information, recipients of information, or intermediaries in the communication process
- Technology used to support the creation, communication, storage, or transformation of the content
The School of Information and Library Science offers a Bachelor of Science degree in information science (beginning in spring 2003) and a minor in information systems. The major in information science will prepare its graduates for a variety of careers in the information industry, including information architecture, database design and implementation, web design and implementation, networking support, and information consulting. The minor provides students with an understanding of computing, networking, multimedia, electronic information resources, and the Internet that complements the student's major field of study.
Admission
Undergraduate students who have completed at least the first semester of their sophomore year may apply for admission to either program. Participation is limited, and admission is competitive. Criteria for admission include the candidate's academic record, work and extracurricular experience, and substantive thinking about the role of information in society (and, for applicants to the minor, in his or her major field). Candidates from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds are sought for the minor, and level of prior computer experience is not a criterion for admission.
Pre-Admission Preparation for the Major
First-year students and sophomores in the General College who plan to apply for the BSIS should complete certain courses as part of their required basic skills and perspectives requirements. These include:
General College basic skills requirements:
Mathematical sciences:
MATH 22, Calculus for Business and Social Sciences, or
MATH 31, Calculus of Functions of One Variable, or
STAT 11, Basic Concepts of Statistics and Data Analysis I
Perspectives requirements:
Natural sciences:
PSYC 10, General Psychology
Social sciences:
INLS 40, Retrieving and Analyzing Information
Historical:
One course in Non-Western/Comparative History
The Information Science Major Curriculum
The information science major consists of nine courses (27 credits), plus a prerequisite course, INLS 40. The courses required for completion of the BSIS are as follows.
-INLS 40, Retrieving and Analyzing Information (prerequisite to enrollment in the major; generally taken in the sophomore year)
-INLS 50, Tools for Information Literacy
-INLS 55, Information Use for Organizational Effectiveness
-INLS 56, Database Concepts and Applications
-INLS 60, Information Systems Analysis and Design
-INLS 92, Emerging Topics in Information Science (taken in the senior year)
In addition, each student shall devise a thematic concentration and have it approved by the chair of the SILS Undergraduate Committee. Each student will take a minimum of four courses in the selected concentration area.
BSIS students are not allowed to complete more than 40 credits of their program (i.e., 40 of the 120 credits needed for graduation from UNC) in SILS courses. They may take a few additional electives in SILS, but are encouraged to acquire a broad education in the liberal arts and sciences.
The Minor in Information Systems
The undergraduate minor in information systems requires that students earn 15 credits of approved courses, receiving C grades or higher. Students enrolled in the minor prior to Fall 2002 must take INLS 50, 60, 70 and 80. Students enrolled in the minor Fall 2002 or later must take INLS 40, 50, 56 and 60. In addition, the student will take the remaining three credits as an elective. The elective may be INLS 90, an INLS 100-level course or a course of use/interest to the student that is relevant to the minor. The elective must be approved by SILS.
Course Electives
Both the major in information science and the minor in information systems require students to select elective courses. It should be noted that registration in some of these courses requires completion of prerequisite coursework. Electives eligible for the SILS undergraduate programs include (but are not limited to):
INLS 62, Human-Machine Interaction
INLS 64, Information Architecture
INLS 90, Independent Study in Information Systems
INLS 115, Natural Language Processing
INLS 124, Children and Technology
INLS 131, Management of Information Agencies
INLS 150, Organization of Information
INLS 161, Non-numeric Programming for Information Systems Applications
INLS 165, Records Management
INLS 172, Information Retrieval (COMP 172)
INLS 180, Human Information Interactions (with preferential registration for grad students)
INLS 181, Internet Applications
INLS 182, Introduction to Local Area Networks
INLS 183, Distributed Systems and Administration
INLS 184, Protocols and Network Management
INLS 186, TCP/IP Networking and Network Programming (COMP 143)
INLS 187, Information Security
INLS 191, Advanced Internet Applications
COMP 14, Introduction to Programming
COMP 114, Foundation of Programming
COMP 117, Introduction to WWW Programming
COMP 118, Advanced WWW Programming
COMP 121, Data Structures
COMP 130, Files and Databases
COMP 145, Software Engineering Laboratory
1April 2002