Pratt Institute, School of Information
LIS 697 Artists’ Archives: Rome/New York
This special topics course, which includes a weeklong study abroad component, offers a unique opportunity for students to gain an international perspective on archiving methods and practices for materials that relate to artists, their artwork, and their network of associates. Through site visits to a diverse range of cultural heritage institutions in two vibrant cities – New York City and Rome – students will gain first-hand experience engaging with archival collections in museums, galleries, and artists’ foundations. As part of the course, students will delve into specific archival collections and have the chance to meet with archivists, curators, and other professionals working with those collections. The course materials, which are international in scope, provide a historical and technical context for the site visits and offer subject-specific knowledge on cultural heritage information management, design, conservation, and programming. This course provides an excellent foundation for students interested in pursuing further studies in the field of cultural heritage preservation and information management.
Elective for School of Information students.
Spring Semester
LIS 661 Art Documentation
This course explores current methodologies in the documentation, description, and management of artist records and their works of art in order to gain an understanding of current trends and experience applying best practices. Students will acquire the skills needed to generate and collect proper documentation for the artist work. The critical perspectives gained will enable students to assess and make informed decisions on the most appropriate approach to adopt in a range of fine art settings (museums, artist studios and foundations/estates).
Student Projects
Elective for Library and Information Science (MSLIS) and Museums and Digital Culture (MSMDC) degrees.
Fall Semester
LIS 653 Knowledge Organization
This is an introductory course to key concepts, systems, and tools to organize, provide access to and share information resources. The course covers basic principles and applications of descriptive cataloging, classification, and indexing for physical and electronic resources. Also covered are metadata, thesauri and emerging knowledge organization systems including folksonomies and linked data. The course provides the foundation for further studies in library, archive, and museum cataloging, reference, information retrieval, database management, and information architecture.
Student Projects
Required for Library and Information Science (MSLIS) degree.
Fall and Spring Semesters
University of Bologna, Department for Cultural Heritage
Summer School on Linked Open Data for Cultural Heritage (2016, 2017, 2018)
The course focuses on the principles and techniques of Linked Data as applied to cultural heritage institutions.
University of Bologna, Department of Cultural Heritage, Ravenna Campus, Italy.
Past Courses
LIS 670 Linked Open Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums (LODLAM)
Linked Open Data in libraries, archives and museums (LODLAM) is one of the fastest growing areas of interlinked data development, offering users new and exciting avenues of discovery, interaction, creation, and analysis of digital cultural heritage content.
This course introduces the fundamental principles, best practices, and latest technologies behind Linked Data and the Semantic Web. Over the course of the semester we will cover the lifecycle of linked data development — from data modeling to dissemination and consumption. Through a series of readings, guest speakers, and projects we will explore how memory institutions and cultural organizations create and share LOD.
Student Projects
Elective for Library and Information Science (MSLIS) and Museums and Digital Culture (MSMDC) degrees.
Spring Semester
LIS 670 Cultural Heritage: Description and Access
This course examines principles and practices for enhancing access to cultural heritage materials and making digital content easier to find and use. The course provides an opportunity to explore, analyze, and evaluate the state of the art and emerging trends in description and access of digital heritage collections in Libraries, Archives, and Museums (LAMs). Students will become familiar with the most current methods for the representation of cultural heritage material for dissemination and discovery. They will also survey key international and national digital heritage projects and initiatives and review innovative applications. The goals of the course are to introduce students to the range of theoretical and practical issues related to heritage data organization as well as to the major challenges that the LAM community faces, including data exchange, integration, and interoperability. This is a 3-credit course. Pre-requisite: LIS 653—Knowledge Organization.
LIS 608 Human Information Behavior
Human Information Behavior (HIB) focuses on the information needs of people, the strategies they use to find information, and what they do with it once they’ve found it. Understanding the user’s perspective is key to developing or enhancing information systems that improve access and increase information literacy. This course offers an introduction to foundational concepts, established theories, and emerging paradigms within the field of HIB. Students will be exposed to the models and research methods used to analyze how people seek, discover, share, and use information in different contexts. Students will have the opportunity to investigate issues of information behavior by conducting actual empirical studies.