1. If a library is focused on giving people books, they should go the way of lawyers who never heard about civil rights law or doctors who never heard of antibiotics or engineers who never heard of plastic. There are many librarians who let their skills atrophy and are not quite comfortable in a world in which most resources are electronic. In the past many librarians were humanities majors in need of job skills, and they are generally not able to transition to a world in which librarians are IT people specializing accessing information in a subject discipline.
2. Columbia and Chicago were the only elite institutions in the United States with library schools, and their demise was a serious blow. None of the remaining library schools are at “ivy league” class universities. Aaron Kuperman, LC Law Cataloging Section. This is not an official communication from my employer From: Hasafran [mailto:hasafran-bounces+akup=loc....@lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Nancy Poole Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2016 1:55 PM To: <hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu> Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] FW: In Age of Google, Librarians Get Shelved First, I agree with the point that Mr. Barker is making about salaries and so-called library assistants. However, the library school portion of Mr. Barker's argument is misleading. I collected data (part of a research project ) on the on the schools that dropped the MLS programs or closed. This was actually between 1978 - and up to the early 90s, not later, aside from one or two closing due to ongoing problems with accreditation. I don't have the exact number that closed in front of me - maybe 20 - 25% of the total operating schools at the time. About half were private schools. Yes - the two he mentions were flagships and it scared everyone. Some were state schools that would not qualify among the "best" programs at the time, some were verging on losing accreditation for other reasons. [Check the ALISE annuals for the accurate tale. Not all of them closed for financial reasons, either. See Marion Paris for a couple of books and articles on early closures which began in 1978 with Oregon]. The author does not mention that several new programs were added since then - even within those years, [UNCG's program started up in the early 80's, and a few programs that closed were reopened. Many of the largest and best programs are still around (UIUC, UNC-CH, U IN, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Simmons College, and so on.) USC did, indeed, end its program but reopened two or three years ago under a very well known LIS professor/former librarian. . Yes - library schools merged (not all, but most) with other departments so that they wouldn't be shut down - or remain politically weak on campus, they were often the smallest stand-alone school (and most happened between 1980 and 1992). Many of the merged, and some (still) independent schools became iSchools - to re-identify themselves - and joined with computer science or communication programs to increase their voice on campus [Check the iSchools website]. Most iSchools retained their MLS degree program, while some never had them. The iSchool degree often changed to IS or MIS, however, both labels are now approved as the "same" as MLS (by ALA), as long as the students are required to take library core classes. MLS/library-oriented degrees in the merged schools are still "cash cows" - so schools don't want to get rid of their programs entirely. The problem is two-fold - decreasing state and local government funding for public libraries - (which drives down salaries) and increasing numbers of degreed librarians, who wind up taking less to get a foot in the door. This is nothing new, either. [Read "The Annoyed Librarian" blog online]. Shalom to all and GO TO THE CONFERENCE! Nancy
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