The Future of LIS Education at ALISE and ALA Mid-Winter 2006

The ALISE conference in San Antonio this month was a distinct improvement over previous years on all levels. Not only did almost all the deans and directors from ALA accredited programs turn up for their session, but the level of enthusiasm about place was high. This is the hiring conference for LIS programs so interviewing was the order of the day for most schools and the informality of the event makes for great observation. If you want to make your ambitions public, this is the place.

I ended the trip with a session at the ALA Mid-Winter event listening to various views on what ails LIS education. The session was a little disorganized so it is not entirely fair to judge it by the 3 hours I spent in the room but it really was surprising to hear so many misinformed statements from professionals. Schools were accused of not teaching research, not offering practicum and internship opportunities, not teaching cataloging, etc. with the arguments bolstered by incorrect data and ‘evidence’ located by several speakers (and admitted without any hint of irony) from a quick search on Google! We were even told that we should make sure that our graduates could write! Next challenge for LIS schools? World hunger, surely……