The new mission of a new i‐school

Date13 March 2007
Pages5-9
Published date13 March 2007
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/07378830710735803
AuthorMichael Seadle
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
EDITORIAL
The new mission of a new i-school
Michael Seadle
Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – To discuss the mission statement for the Institute of Library and Information Sciences at
Humboldt University in Berlin.
Design/methodology/approach – The article examines other i-school mission statements to find
the key common elements.
Findings – Connections between people, technology, and information represent common themes of
i-school missions.
Originality/value – The Institute’s mission statement is still being discussed. This analysis offers
one viewpoint for the final conception.
Keywords Mission statements,Information science, Universities,Germany
Paper type Viewpoint
The i-school project includes the leading US “information schools” and represents their
commitment to the “relationship between technology, information, and people”. The
Charter goes on to say:
This is characterized by a commitment to learning and understanding of the role of
information in human endeavors. The I-Schools take it as given that expertise in all forms of
information is required for progress in science, business, education, and culture. This
expertise must include understanding of the uses and users of information, as well as
information technologies and their applications (iSchool Project, 2006).
The implicit balance in the language matters. i-schools are not lightweight computer
science programs. They are an explicit reformulation of the traditional library interest
in tools that help make information available and in the information consumption
habits and expectations of their users. One of the key technology tools of a century ago
was the card catalog. It helped libraries manage collections of a size and complexity
that outstripped human memory and the simple sequential entries in a book-style
catalog. Likewise the users of a century ago were a smaller group with more specific
disciplinary interests and expected only text-based works from a library collection.
Times change and missions must too.
An institute reborn
Since October 2006 I have had the delightful opportunity of serving as a profess or in
and the director of the Institute for Library and Information Science at Humboldt
University in Berlin (Institut fu
¨r Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft or IBI).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
The author would particularly like to thank Elke Greifeneder and Kathrin Grzeschik for their
helpful comments and suggestions.
Editorial
5
Received 16 December 2006
Revised 18 December 2006
Accepted 19 December 2006
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 25 No. 1, 2007
pp. 5-9
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830710735803

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