About Department of Information

The Department of Information at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences is part of the Faculty of Design, Media and Information. It is situated in a former women’s hospital which is protected as a historic monument. The intimate campus, not far from the centre of Hamburg, also hosts study programmes from other departments of the faculty like design, book illustration and game design. 

Students work in computer, video, sound, and usability labs and small project rooms.  A brand new library, cafeteria and sound lab are being built.   

The department offers three study programmes:

• Library and Information Science (Bachelor Programme)
• Media and Information (Bachelor Programme)
• Information Science and Services (Master Programme)

Staff have a research focus in Knowledge Access and Accessibility.

Graduates are qualified to identify and describe media and facts and to integrate them into user-oriented service concepts. Based on an in-depth knowledge of the media and information market, its mechanisms, rapid development and increasing media variety, they build media stock and digital collections for libraries and information services. They apply methods of market and user research as well as models of knowledge organization. They develop concepts for different target groups, to help improve information and media literacy as key qualifications of society. They design places for learning that meet the demands of culture, business and science in a learning world.

Graduates specialize in the acquisition, administration and procurement of all types of media - in particular of digital non-print materials. As experts for media and information they analyse information needs in all processes of media production and use. As experts for media documentation they analyse and catalogue media content. They develop and manage information systems for the administration of information resources in media businesses. As specialists for the management of rights and syndication they clarify usage rights and licence requirements and develop concepts for the multiple use of media and information products.

Graduates will  be responsible for information and media projects and processes. For this purpose students acquire in-depth knowledge about information technology and information architecture as well as the information and media business. They gain an in-depth insight into information marketing and public relations. The graduates’ qualifications will be an asset in library and information institutions, in media companies, consulting agencies, in media and market research, in advertising and PR agencies and in the marketing and public relations departments of middle-sized and large businesses.

Professors of the department cooperate  in a common research cluster. Special interests are

• Information Retrieval
• Natural Language Processing
• Web Usability
• Knowledge Organisation
• Information Behaviour