Libraries, Archives, and Knowledge Environments in Society (LAKES)

The LAKES (Libraries, Archives, and Knowledge Environments in Society) mastery course allows students to develop and demonstrate critical knowledge and skills in librarianship, archival practice, digital curation and preservation and/or other collections-focused work. This pathway is structured around the concept of “knowledge environments” to respond to the radical transition toward digitally-enabled scholarship made possible through digitization, collection building, data aggregation and emerging digital knowledge infrastructures.

UMSI courses in this pathway orient students toward applying critical perspectives and skills in digital data, information and technology to sustain community services, collection building and maintenance, information organization and metadata, preservation and networking. Students learn to leverage information and collections in institutions and communities to advance equity and social justice, strengthen civic engagement, represent knowledge, history and social memory, and create accountable institutions.

Potential career paths/job titles may include (but are not limited to) librarian, archivist, informationist, digital curator, taxonomist, outreach librarian/archivist, special collections librarian, instruction librarian/archivist, digital archivist, collection development specialist, electronic resources manager, metadata librarian/specialist, records manager, information governance specialist, information resources officer.