The Department of Information Management was established in 1982 whose predecessor of the Department of Information Engineering and started the enrollment of undergraduates in the same year. The major of information science was initiated and developed in 1978 even before the establishment of the department. In 1986, it was authorized to grant master’s degree in information science and began to enroll undergraduate students in archival science, as one of the earliest institutions in China to establish department and start graduate students in this major. In 2000, it was authorized to grant doctoral degree in information science, as one of the three institutions eligible to independently enroll doctoral students in information science at that time. In 2002, information science was approved as a key discipline in Jilin province. In 2005, the department was authorized to grant doctor’s degree in library science. In 2010, it was authorized to grant doctor’s degree in a first-level discipline, master’s degree in a first-level discipline, and master’s degree in library and information science. In 2013, it was approved to set up the first-level discipline post-doctor mobile station and became one of the six universities in the country which have the right to grant doctor’s degree in library information and archives management.

Jilin University positions itself as a national key comprehensive research university and sticks to the principle of "mainstream, characteristic, frontier and sustainable development". The Department of Information Management has always prioritized the cultivation of high-qualification and high-quality innovative talent, and is committed to building a domestically leading and internationally renowned key discipline. At the same time, it honors its social responsibility, gives full play to the role of this discipline in national and regional economic and social development, and builds this discipline into an important base to carry out high-level scientific research and transform achievements, provide high-quality social services and guide advanced culture.

At present, the department has two majors of information management and archival science for the undergraduate education; three majors of information science, library science and archival science for the academic master education. For the professional degree education, there is master’s program of library and information science (MLIS). For the doctoral education, the enrolment is under the first-level discipline of library and information management consisting of four majors, information resource management, information science, library science and archival science. The high-level personnel training system has been integrated and completed. The development of the department is supported by institutions such as Information Science Magazine, Information Resources Research Center of Jilin University, Archives Laboratory, Information Bionics Laboratory, Doctor Research Base, etc.

The Department of Information Management currently has 18 teachers, including 11 professors, 11 doctoral tutors and 7 associate professors. At the same time, senior foreign scholars are employed as visiting professors. Stable and distinctive research directions have been formed in digital information resource management and utilization, theory and application of information ecology, knowledge management, and archives management. Our teachers undertake more than 30 important scientific research projects such as major and general projects of the national social science fund, natural science fund projects, projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, national soft science projects, projects of the Ministry of Education, and projects in cooperation with companies and institutions, making important contributions to the development of local information economy.