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Kharazmi University

Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies

The Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies is currently part of the Faculty of Psychology and Education at the Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran. The University has two campuses in Tehran and Karaj; and the Department executes programs in both campuses (Bachelor and Master Degrees in Karaj and PhD courses in Tehran). Its history dates back to two decades ago (1994); when it was established as a division in the Department of Educational Technology. After the Iran-Iraq war, and following the socio-economic development plans of the government, there was an opportunity for the development of Library and Information Science education across the country. Therefore, two lecturers (Mr. Esfandiari and Mrs. Ettehadi, both retired in 2007) started an Associate Degree in Library and Information Science; and then, another lecturer was hired. The new lecturer went to the India and successfully completed her PhD in Library and Information Science at the University of Delhi in 2001. She (Dr. Riahinia) returned and became Head of the Department. Then, she started to promote everything. Two talented graduates with a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science got scholarship to pursue their studies toward PhD in England. The first scholar (Dr. Mansourian) obtained his PhD in Information Science from the University of Sheffield in 2006. The second was Dr. Jamali, who returned with a PhD in Information Science from the University College London in 2008. During the time Dr. Mansourian and Dr. Jamali were conducting their doctoral dissertations in England, Dr. Riahinia continued her plan; and in 2008 hired another lecturer (Mr. Alimohammadi who was later graduated with a PhD in Information Management from the University of Tehran in 2015). Enrolling students for the Bachelor’s Degree was started in 2006; and the Associate Degree was stopped. Lecturers finally seceded from the Educational Technology Department; and formed the Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies in 2008. The Department also paid bursaries to three PhD Students of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Dr. Zerehsaz and Dr. Akhshik started their career in 2015; and Dr. Azimi joined the Department in 2017. In 2010, the Department started enrolling graduate students. Three years later, in 2013, doctoral students started their PhD courses. The Department is currently has a laboratory and executing Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral programs. There is a four-year undergraduate program in Information Science, a two-year Master’s program in Information Management, and a four-year Doctoral program in Information Retrieval; all in coursework and dissertation mode. Faculty members of the Department include:
 * Dr. Nosrat Riahinia (Professor, conducting research on Library Management, Information and Communication Technologies, and Digital Libraries)
 * Dr. Hamid Jamali (Associate Professor, currently on leave as the Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Studies at the Charles Sturt University, and conducting research on Information Science, Human-Information Interaction, and Information Behavior)
 * Dr. Yazdan Mansourian (Associate Professor, currently on leave as the Lecturer in the School of Information Studies at the Charles Sturt University, and conducting research on Qualitative Research, Human-Information Interaction, and Information Behavior)
 * Dr. Dariush Alimohammadi (Assistant Professor, conducting research on Music Information Retrieval and Information Education)
 * Dr. Somayyeh Akhshik (Assistant Professor, conducting research on Library Management, Knowledge Management, and Research Methodology)
 * Dr. Mohammad Zerehsaz (Assistant Professor, conducting research on Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Information Interaction, and Information Behavior)
 * Dr. Ali Azimi (Assistant Professor, conducting research on Knowledge Translation and Health Informatics)

Reference

Alimohammadi, Dariush, (2017). 'Kharazmi University: Department of Information Science and Knowledge Studies'