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 ==== 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] ===== 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]