Library and Information Management

Information specialists’ expertise is equally in demand in academic and public libraries, cultural and educational institutions, research institutions, and companies in the information economy – for example, information centres, media companies, publishing houses, search engine operators and other information intermediaries.

The professional setting is characterised by multifaceted and dynamic fields of work which, in the public-use context, focus on the freedom of opinion, information and research. Overall, management- and service-oriented activity is key. To keep pace with societal and academic developments, libraries in particular work closely together – not just in Germany but around the world – exchanging ideas and knowledge and making data, information and knowledge jointly available.

Guided learning means that academic knowledge and practice are closely intertwined and the development of students’ subject-related, methodological, social and personal skills is promoted in three areas of activity:

• Individual: strengthening of personal skills and capacity
• Professional: development of subject-related skills for practical and academic activities in the professional realm
• Societal: reflection of social responsibility in understanding of the tasks and roles of information producers, mediators and consumers

In the first year of study, the orientation phase and the Media Pedagogy, Metadata and User Experience workshops enable students to acquire the subject-related and academic foundations and develop their personal and social skills.

In the second semester, students have the opportunity to pursue a specialisation in one of three areas:

• Participation in the Information Society
  This area focuses on methods and concepts that support lifelong learning and participation in a diverse society and guarantee an optimal supply of information and media in modern spheres of interaction and discourse. It produces experts qualified to deal critically with questions related to information ethics, society and culture, and to develop both programmes for cultural and educational work as well as library sciences concepts that support reading skills and information and media literacy.
   
• Digital and Open Academia
  This area focuses on digital transformation processes in research and teaching. The subject-related emphasis is on libraries’ publication and information services via the preparation, development, design and publication of information and research data. It produces experts qualified to plan, develop and manage information infrastructures and services, as well as to design open-science initiatives to actively promote the availability of information resources in the academic community and society.
   
• Search and User Experience
  This area focuses on the user-oriented design of search and information systems in libraries, information facilities, and companies in the information economy. It produces experts qualified to understand and evaluate the search and information processes of digital information systems and to optimise these for users based on valid academic findings.

The university-organised internship in the third semester provides the opportunity for intensive engagement with the professional world. In the fourth semester you will apply the skills learned during your studies in an independent project specific to your area of specialisation and will develop solutions to projects from professional practice. In the fifth and sixth semesters (digital and research semesters) you will focus more deeply on your specialisation-specific knowledge and skills. The degree course consists of the mandatory foundational courses and of required electives in the specialisations. It comprises six semesters and concludes with your Bachelor’s thesis.

Information and media specialists are interested in people and media. They need interpersonal competencies such as empathy, teamworking skills, the ability to handle and resolve conflict constructively, and a customer service mindset. They should also be motivated to think adaptively, critically and innovatively. You’ll do best in this degree if you have a good grasp of structure in data, content and text and are drawn to IT.

Interested – but not quite sure yet whether this is the right course for you? Our self-assessment test can help you make up your mind. Take it here: HAW Navigator