Re-envisioning the MLS

Perspectives on the Future of Library and Information Science Education

Johnna Percell|Lindsay C. Sarin|Paul T. Jaeger|John Carlo Bertot

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9781787548817

13 April 2018

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13 April 2018

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About

At the heart of any discussion about the future of libraries is the future of librarians—and how well our instructional programs, especially the Master of Library Science (MLS) degree, prepare them for their careers. Building on the Re-envisioning the MLS initiative from the University of Maryland’s iSchool and the Information Policy & Access Center (iPAC), this book continues the critical conversations around preparing future librarians.

Library and information science (LIS) programs are the foundation of librarianship, and their design requires input from everyone in the field—from academics designing programs and courses, to practitioners reflecting on how prepared (or unprepared) they are to serve their communities, to hiring authorities considering qualifications of candidates.

The second installment of this two-part volume explores many of the challenges and opportunities inherent in the future of the MLS degree, including

the changing nature of the communities that libraries serve and how LIS education should address these changes,
how archival training must accommodate big data,
the specialized skill sets librarians need on the job, and
how best to prepare librarians for their role as educators.

These conversations will never be fully resolved, as LIS education must continue to evolve to ensure the efficacy of libraries and the librarians at the heart of the work.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Re-envisioning the MLS; Johnna Percell, Lindsay C. Sarin, Paul T. Jaeger, and John Carlo Bertot Chapter 2. Imposter Phenomenon and the MLIS; Caitlin McClurg and Rhiannon Jones Chapter 3. A Contract You Have to Take: Debt, Sacrifice, and the Library Degree; Jennie Rose Halperin Chapter 4. The Relevance of ALA Accreditation: An Insider’s View of the ALA Committee on Accreditation; Bradford Lee Eden Chapter 5. Workforce Data and Re-envisioning the MLS; Kathleen De Long and Marianne Sorensen Chapter 6. Transforming Library and Information Science Education by Design; Eileen G. Abels, Lynne C. Howarth, and Linda C. Smith Chapter 7. Exploring Culminating Experiences: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice in LIS Education; Mandi Goodsett Chapter 8. On Teaching Political Literacy; John Chrastka Chapter 9. Student Engagement for Student Learning: Preparing Inclusive and Impactful Change Agents Through High-Impact Student Engagement in Systematic Program Planning; Elizabeth Lieutenant Chapter 10. Swiss Army Degree: Library and Information Science; Dustin Fife and Mary Naylor Stephens Chapter 11. Inside the New Academic Library; Katherine Simpson Chapter 12. Letting go, Holding on, or Re-envisioning? Challenges and Opportunities for LIS Education in Australia; Mary Anne Kennan, Mary Carroll, and Kim M. Thompson Chapter 13. Undergraduate Library Degrees: Five Ways Library and Information Science Bachelor Programs Can Revitalize the MLS; Lynn C. Warner Chapter 14. Transitioning from the MLS to the MLD: Integrating Design Thinking and Philosophy into Library and Information Science Education; Rachel Ivy Clarke and Steven Bell

In this first volume of a two volume-set, library professionals, administrators, researchers, and educators from North America and Australia provide 14 chapters on innovative approaches to library and information science education, focusing on issues of degree accreditation, outcomes assessment and measurement of programs, preparing and supporting new professionals, and new approaches to the incorporation of theory, advocacy, and political engagement into the library and information science curriculum. They discuss the relevance of American Library Association accreditation in library and information science degrees, impostor syndrome in new professionals, experiential learning and the changing role of theory in curriculum, measuring degree outcomes, student engagement, recent graduates' perceptions of their programs, what library workers wish they had learned during graduate school, changing talent practices in academic libraries, libraries and library and information science education in Australia, undergraduate library degrees, the needs of academic and other libraries, and the necessity of including political literacy and advocacy in the curriculum, as well as the need for design thinking and inventive approaches to designing degrees, curricula, and jobs in the field.
- Annotation ©2018

Johnna Percell: Children's Librarian for the DC Public Library's Department of Outreach & Inclusion. Prior to joining DCPL, she was the Communication Coordinator for the University of Maryland's iSchool where she earned her MLS with a focus in Information and Diverse Populations. As a student she had the opportunity to work with Dr. John Bertot and Lindsay Sarin on the Re-Envisioning the MLS Initiative. Johnna is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Information, Diversity, and Inclusion, and she was a founding member of The Political Librarian, EveryLibrary’s open access journal, and is currently in charge of the editing, design, and layout. She has a background in community corrections and served as the 2015 Google Policy Fellow at the American Library Association's Washington Office.

Lindsay C. Sarin: Director of Academic Programs at the College of Information Studies University of Maryland, College Park. She was formerly the MLS Program Manager in the same program. She helped lead the Re-Envisioning the MLS Initiative along with Dr. John Bertot and Johnna Percell. She continues to participate in the project with current program staff and faculty. Lindsay has published on the topic of LIS education and on advocacy and funding of libraries, including the book Public Libraries, Public Policies, and Political Processes (2014). As part of her focus on advocacy and funding in libraries she serves as an advisor to EveryLibrary and was the founding editor of The Political Librarian, an open-access journal dedicated to expanding the discussion of, promoting research on, and helping to re-envision locally focused advocacy, policy, and funding issues for libraries. Lindsay earned her BS in history and English from Eastern Michigan University and her MLS at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Paul T. Jaeger: Professor, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, and Director of the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program of the College of Information Studies and Co-Director of the Information Policy and Access Center (iPAC) at the University of Maryland. His teaching and research focus on the ways in which law and public policy shape information behavior, with a specific focus on issues of human rights and social justice. He is the author of more than 170 journal articles and book chapters, as well as more than a dozen books. His research has been funded by the Institute of Museum & Library Services, the National Science Foundation, the American Library Association, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. Dr. Jaeger is Editor of Library Quarterly, Editor of Advances in Librarianship, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion. He is founder and chair of the Conference on Inclusion and Diversity in Library and Information Science (CIDLIS), and co-founder and co-chair of the UMD Disability Summit. In 2014, he received the Library Journal/ALISE Excellence in Education Award, the international educator of the year award for the field of library and information science.

John Carlo Bertot: Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor in the iSchool at the University of Maryland. Prior to becoming Associate Provost, Bertot served as Director of the Master of Library Science (now Master of Library and Information Science) degree program in the iSchool when the Re-Envisioning the MLS initiative was launched to rethink librarian education in general, and Maryland’s program in particular. Bertot’s research focuses on information access and dissemination issues—the policies that govern access and dissemination, the media through which access and dissemination are provided, the ability of information users to engage with information content to meet their needs, and the ability of organizations (particularly public libraries and government institutions) to understand access and dissemination issues from both a management and user perspective—all within a public service innovation and evaluative framework.