University of California, Berkeley
School of Information Management & Systems
Mission: The mission of the School of Information
Management is to: "advance, through teaching and research, the
organization, management and use of information and information technology,
and enhance our understanding of the impact of information on individuals,
institutions, and society. This mission has both a technical component,
concerned with the design and use of information systems and services, and a
social sciences component, concerned with understanding how people seek,
obtain, evaluate, use, and categorize information." The mission is
defined in the Information Planning Group Report, 1993, which expands the
recommendations of the Wheeler report adopted in 1974. www.sims.berkeley.edu/about/history/proposal.html
Mandate: Education: Admit 40 Masters students a
year. 40 active PhD students. "Undergraduate courses ...of interest to
a significant number of students, ... enrich the Berkeley undergraduate
experience." Research. Service.
The Masters of Information Management & Systems
The MIMS degree is the successor degree to the Master of Library &
Information Systems. Four courses are required: 202 Information
Organization and Retrieval; 204 Information Users and Society;
206 Distributed Computing Applications and Infrastructure; and 208 Analysis
of Information Organizations and Systems. It is a two year program
culminating in a design-oriented group project. Accreditation by ALA COA has
not been requested. A student who has completed the library-related
electives: 245 Organization of Information in Collections; 285 Designing
Library Services and 290 Classification and Bibliographic
Representation will have as good a preparation for library work as can
be depended on from an ALA COA accredited program - and a strong grounding
in technology.
Major of admitted students: Humanities 32%; Social
Sciences 24%; Technical 22%; Business 11%; Bio Sciences 11%. Average age:
26. Retention,1997-2000: 95% (est.)
2001 graduates became: Electronic Outreach Librarian, UCB;
Information Management Engineer, HP; Library volunteer; Software Engineer,
Interwoven; PhD student; Senior Consultant (Knowledge Management), Kaiser;
Library, PG&E; Teacher; Application Engineer, Oracle; and four continue
as Research Assistants; 2000: Portal Developer, Epicentric; Web Producer;
Industry Standard; Software Engineer, Achex; Web Design, UCB; Knowledge
Author, Sageware; Chief Information Officer, MoneyToday; Consultant,
Microsoft; Information Engineer, Interwoven; Information Specialist, Matsco;
Site Architect, Cyberplex; Product Management, Commerce Route; Information
Architect, Sapient. 1999: IT Engineer/Project Manager, HP; Consultant,
Scient; Manager of Information Processes, AssetMark Investment; Law
Librarian, Columbia; Web Design, Jewish Community Federation; Law Librarian,
UCLA; Lead Interaction Designer, Yahoo; Library, College of Osteopathic
Medicine; Consultant, E&Y; Project Management Consulting; Professor;
Evaluation and Instruction Analyst, California Digital Library.
Average starting salary in 2000: $71,090; 2001 (to date):
$73,400.
The PhD program is for specialized research. 14
active. 7 female, 7 male. Average age 28.
Undergraduate classes: Freshman Seminar; Introduction
to Information Systems; Introduction to Networked Applications and
Computing; Introduction to Database Management; Access to
American Cultural Heritages; Print, Literacy, and Power in America to
1900.
Admissions 1997-2000:
