Comments for Standards Review http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation Fri, 24 Oct 2014 21:44:06 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.3 Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Mike Marlin http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-138 Fri, 24 Oct 2014 21:44:06 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-138 Full disclosure: I am currently a visually impaired librarian working for a regional library in the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped network but once was a sighted librarian working in public and academic libraries. For decades those of us working with special populations have been continually surprised about the lack of knowledge concerning library services to people with disabilities among library practitioners. The concept of Universal Design” does not appear to catch more than lip service in LIS education, yet leveling the playing field is a concept bandied about throughout the Library Bill of Rights and all its interpretations. . With the stress on teaching and lauding emerging technology in libraries, and one of the huge accomplishments of our technological boom being access to information through assistive technology and adaptive hardware, I would really like to see a very strong recommendation for fundamental concepts of accessibility within Section 2 on Curriculum. In particular, I would amend 2.2.4 to read: [The Curriculum] Responds to the needs of a diverse and global society, including the needs of underserved and marginalized groups, and provides fundamental theory and practice for provision of library services to people with disabilities.

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Aline Soules http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-137 Mon, 20 Oct 2014 18:52:47 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-137 My concern is that the standards, while lofty, are still not connected to the daily life of a librarian. For example, II.2.1 says “Fosters development of library and information professionals who will assume a leadership role in providing services and collections appropriate for the communities that are served.” I think that’s a great goal; however, it must be tempered with a number of other factors, such as these: 1. most of us do our own staff work, secretarial work, etc. and less of our lives are spent on “leadership”; 2. providing services and collections often means mundane activities such as fixing printers, dealing with other technology issues, and not professional work; 3. most of us are in medium to large organizations where “leadership,” true “leadership” is not possible. We are bound by many strictures–the organization and organizational politics. This means we don’t make decisions the way we should; we wait for others to do so for us (unless we rebel, which has always been my challenge).

Further, the curriculum description is necessarily general. As someone who has dealt with library school students who are taking or have taken their degrees in a number of our accredited schools, I can assure you that they are not prepared. These guidelines will not change that.

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Gail http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-132 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:43:29 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-132 MLS Students that are seeking teaching certification to work as school librarians need to have direct experience with classroom management. This is especially important for those librarians who were not formerly teachers prior to their MLS program. Prospective teaching librarians in K-12 schools need a formal internship experience that demonstrates ability to manage the classroom as well as to be able to effectively co-teach with content area teachers.

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Angela http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-131 Sat, 23 Aug 2014 15:36:54 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-131 I agree with much of what others have said, particularly the need for more practical coursework and requirements for an internship or practicum. What is missing from the standards, and what is sorely needed in library school curriculum, is training in cultural competence and cross-cultural communication.

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Fred Stoss http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-129 Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:19:13 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-129 Required courses in teaching/pedagogy with increased attention given to library instruction/information literacy requirements and outcomes librarians today need formal instruction in how to be effective teachers/educators

Research–RIGOROUS–research in basic math and statistics for future use in quantifying budgets, collections, time(s), and other metrics (citation statistics, use stats, bibliometrics learn about Bradford’s Law, etc.; something more than “my educated guess.”

Presentation Skills: PowerPoint/Keynote–how to make effective slides and graphics; Posters–it is an art to make an effective poster, and that art does not mean using colored push-pins to plop enlarged sheets of your paper to poster board, it is that old axiom: K.I.S.S., Keep It Short, and Simple;

Writing: writing assignments should be progressively drawn toward the format, style and quality of the published, professional article_S_ for scholarly and trade journals, public relations pieces (write your PR piece for that in-class presentation you have to do), oral presentations for scholarly and non-scholarly communication (especially for addressing non-librarian bodies, such as funding agencies, legislative offices at all levels

Some level of interactions between adjunct faculty and other full- or part-time faculty, not necessarily of a strict supervisory role, but some level of mentoring; better training of adjuncts–who are EXTREMELY needed for teaching subject-related skills and growing needs in those information literacy/assessment/ outcome arenas.

In a lot and maybe a growing number of states, the subject-related Masters degree is required for permanent teaching certification, so the necessity of that MLS ALA-accredited degree is or may not be an option, however, in meeting the requirements for such a graduate level degree, graduate-level challenges must be demonstrated for testing and quantifying students’ abilities to meet rigorous academic standards.

It would be really, really, really nice to see some management-oriented class instruction for librarians seeking those position at some future point in time. What ever happened to those three or four Congresses on Professional Education that was ALA’s “Guiding Light” into the New Millennium? I remember attending #2 and #3 and then every GREAT idea was allowed to slip a way. Were there any final outcomes? I recall a lot of library school programs thought this would be a huge opportunity for them.

I’ll end here…

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by GPS http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-128 Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:39:43 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-128 At my inst of higher ed the need for Libraries and the need for Librarians with the Master’s degree is being called seriously into question. My institution is taking this view: Libraries as such have no accrediting body that oversees them, dictating “a certain number of librarians” should be maintained. Never mind the fact that Programs and fields of study have Library requirements, that are increasingly open to interpretation.

This is currently converted to mean, at my institution – no need for Librarians and Libraries. As compared to, for instance the CRLA (College Reading and Learning Assoc) which accredits tutoring operations on college campuses.

Some great comments here – I don’t know if ALA has the will or support to change, however.

]]>
Comment on 2. Standards Review Plan Tentative Timeline by LIBRES blog » Blog Archive » ALA Standards draft revision for comment http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=179&cpage=1#comment-120 Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:53:03 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=179#comment-120 […] The draft is the result of a five-year review effort, detailed at the Standards Review site at http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=179. The ALA Committee on Accreditation will review commentary at its fall 2014 meeting with the intent […]

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by LIBRES blog » Blog Archive » ALA Standards draft revision for comment http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-119 Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:52:46 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-119 […] Standards for Accreditation of Masterâ€™s Programs in Library and Information Studies available at http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326. Comments may be provided in a number of ways, including Â· Standards Review site at […]

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Jennifer http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-116 Wed, 04 Jun 2014 16:21:36 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-116 Posting again to agree with Mandi’s comment — I think research experiences are an important, and often lacking, part of a librarian’s education. This is true not just for the purpose of being able to produce publications, as Mandi notes, but also because it is preposterous that library schools are churning out librarians who may very well have no research skills of their own.

I’ve seen a fair amount written about students who make it through high school and college without ever being taught information literacy skills, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that this happens and that some of these students eventually show up at library schools — yet, my program never really addressed this except by assigning research papers (which don’t always teach the skills needed). We had students approaching graduation, preparing for comps, who hadn’t the faintest idea how to use a library database, how to evaluate sources properly, etc.

Some schools now look for certain levels of information literacy skills in their undergraduates. I would propose that library school graduates should be held to similar standards. Many of these students, despite their intended career paths, might very well end up having to instruct others in information literacy skills that they themselves lack. Unfortunately, it isn’t safe to assume that students have learned these skills beforehand, and while students need to take a certain amount of self-responsibility, this seems too crucial to too many LIS career paths to just let it go.

]]>
Comment on 1. Revised Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies by Jean http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326&cpage=2#comment-113 Wed, 28 May 2014 00:29:02 +0000 http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?page_id=326#comment-113 I would agree that some required coursework on pedagogy, instructional design principles, group facilitation and public speaking would be all useful.

I graduated from my MLS program in early 1980’s. I have worked as a special librarian and later as a manager for first 25 yrs. for various employers. Now am completely immersed in only in electronic world and information management that excludes libraries. My current job is over 65% on business process analysis and change management with highly diverse client groups within govn’t.

I don’t agree that graduates must have / preferably worked in a library anymore. That’s too stuck in the past library paradigm. Our core formal trained skills are much more than this narrow requirement. Instead, graduates with work experience or coursework on marketing/outreach program/event planning/training for multiple client and stakeholder groups in any industry; business process analysis for any industry, project management and change management, would be all great work experience in addition to web design, social media planning and engagement. Even call centre experience would be great.

The courses that have served me best after graduation have been: management (I took several –general, academic and special libraries), systems analysis, statistical methods (my current job includes performance metrics for technical drawings review and geospatial information services –nothing to do with searching for info. But everything to do with improving information systems design, capture, statistical analysis reporting and client engagement.

Like other professions, there is often a big gap between academic world and practicing professionals.

Keep the program at a master’s level. One of the strengths of experienced librarians is their capacity to think broadly in a multi-disciplinary way, yet plumb dive deeply and suddenly….to find critical information in ways the client never considered. Our jobs demand exposure to multiple subject areas and understand the language, cultures of various disciplines embedded in the content we handle.

]]>
http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?feed=comments-rss2
www.oa.ala.org
crawl=CC-MAIN-2017-13
29090
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:EWZJSRXZ7K4BSD5YSUJZHIOSCT5G6PAI
<urn:uuid:7b66435c-04a7-4f8b-95b7-ab49fe461577>
2017-03-24T02:06:06Z
216.80.72.149
sha1:EF2SAGSB7YGG54XHTC5QLWPPOM7Q5ZOM
<urn:uuid:dd7b0c1f-6a6b-4c1f-8f4e-71df5612f1a5>
http://www.oa.ala.org/accreditation/?feed=comments-rss2
length
response
<urn:uuid:9645e8db-d340-4673-9e4b-b1c5e3666216>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2017-13
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for March 2017
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf