I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that the Graduate School of
Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign has openings in their Digital Library Certificate of
Advanced Study program for Fall 2006, and they have fellowship money
too.  

Students may enroll in the CAS program either on campus at
Urbana-Champaign or at a distance via an online education option.  The
application deadline is March 17, 2006.  Please see below for full
details.

David

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS OFFERS ADVANCED DEGREE AND FELLOWSHIPS IN DIGITAL
LIBRARIANSHIP

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, IL - The Graduate School of Library and Information
Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is now
accepting applicants for its Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in
Digital Libraries program. Five one-year, non-renewable fellowships will
be available to CAS and MS degree students wishing to focus on digital
libraries in the 2006-2007 academic year. The program aims to give
students a thorough and technically focused background in digital
libraries that will enable them to serve as designers, decision-makers,
and creators of digital collections.

Students may choose to enroll in the CAS program either on campus at
Urbana-Champaign or at a distance via GSLIS's LEEP online education
option. The core courses for the program will be offered via LEEP, while
elective courses may be completed via LEEP or on campus, as offered. By
making use of the LEEP option, GSLIS will be able to offer classes
taught by distinguished practitioners from other institutions in the
field of digital librarianship.

The CAS degree is a program of advanced course work intended for those
who hold a master's degree in library and information science or a
related field. Librarians, information scientists, and others in
information management can enroll in the program to refresh and update
their skills and gain greater specialization in digital librarianship
and related issues. To earn the degree, students will be required to
complete 40 hours of course work, including 8 hours focusing on an
individual project related to digital libraries.

Students may focus their studies in one of many directions, including
theory and implementation, information organization and access tools,
learning environments, community information exchange, and more.
Students will gain advanced-level knowledge of digital asset management,
information and collection modeling, design of human-centered, digitally
mediated information services, and metadata schema. The program assumes
existing MS-level knowledge of Library and Information Science,
including basic information organization, indexing and cataloging,
information needs and uses, reference and user services, and the role of
libraries in society.  It also assumes knowledge of basic programming
and information retrieval theory (students may complete coursework in
programming and information retrieval at GSLIS to achieve basic
competency in these areas if they have not been exposed to them
previously).

With support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS),
GSLIS will be recruiting and placing a total of five fellows to pursue
digital librarianship studies in the 2006-2007 academic year. To apply
for the fellowships, students must apply for either the CAS degree
program in Digital Libraries, or the MS degree program in Library and
Information Science. While applications for the MS degree program have
closed for the year, the deadline for applications to the CAS degree
program has been extended to March 17, 2006.  After being accepted to
the program, students will be encouraged to write an essay explaining
their interest and goals in the study of digital librarianship. Students
who are offered and accept the fellowship positions will be required to
fulfill their fellowship requirements at the Urbana-Champaign campus.

GSLIS, the number-one ranked LIS degree program by U.S. News and World
Report, is the first in the nation to offer an advanced degree targeted
at professionals in the growing field of digital librarianship. The
program will be conducted in close partnership with the University's
world-renowned libraries, including Grainger Engineering Library
Information Center, which is home to groundbreaking research in digital
libraries and metadata harvesting.

Additional information about applying to the program can be found at  
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/programs/cas-dl.html; information about digital
projects of the University Library can be found at
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/digproj/digprojt.html.

Contact for questions regarding the degree programs and fellowships:
Jerome McDonough, Asst. Professor, [log in to unmask]

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Jerome McDonough, Asst. Professor
Graduate School of Library & Information Science
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
501 E. Daniel Street, Room 202
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 244-5916
[log in to unmask]