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Brief History of Information Studies

The College of Information at The Florida State University is one of the top-ranked programs in the nation and has held this ranking for many years. The program maintains a respect for tradition, while it continues to explore new ways to educate information professionals.

In 1947, the College was established as the School of Library Training and Service, a professional school offering a Master's degree [now Specialist degree]. The School was authorized in 1968 to offer the doctor of philosophy degree and in January 1969 to offer the advanced master's degree. The College's present master's degree is titled library and information studies; students major in either information studies or library studies. An undergraduate major in information studies began in fall 1996.  This degree was replaced by an undergraduate major in Information Technology starting in the Fall of 2005.

The College of Information is proud that in its more than 50-year history, it has produced graduates who occupy positions of significant leadership and responsibility. In addition, the faculty includes past-presidents of the American Library Association, the Association of Library and Information Science Education, Beta Phi Mu (the honorary society for library science), the Division for Educational Media Management (DEMM) of the Association for Educational Communicationa and Technology (AECT), the American Association of School Librarians, the Association for Library Services to Children, the Florida Library Association, and the Florida Association for Media in Education. Awards won among the honors faculty members are the President's Teaching Award, the Blackwell/North American Scholarship Award, the Beta Phi Mu Award and the Lippincott Award. The College also has endowments for the Lazerow and Srygley Lectures.