Envisioning an iSchool Curriculum

Abstract

The questions we were asked to discuss for this 6th International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science were whether there should be a unique iSchool curriculum and, if so, what would it look like? We have used a methodology in writing this paper that draws heavily on anthropological traditions of observation and analysis. If a unique iSchool curriculum ought to exist, then an iSchool ought to be more than a library school with a name that implies modern times. Some of the differences between iSchools and the more traditional library schools are apparent in their course descriptions. Our proposed curriculum is an abstract designed around a set of ideas, not around what is implementable in the classroom. At present our interactions with computers tend to be highly verbal. Nonetheless the real communication takes place with words. For those who like this ideal curriculum and want to try it should at a minimum retain three key principles: 1) all information services now revolve around human-computer interaction; 2) teach students to think like anthropologists and look at the problems and issues from multiple viewpoints, multiple cultures, and multiple ecologies; and 3) students need to remember that language both enables and limits our ability to communicate with contemporary information systems - without a strong awareness of linguistic issues, we cannot provide information.