Category: Education of Info Professionals

Sheffield University seems to have formally renamed its Information Studies Dept as the “Information School”, which adds one more to the growing number of LIS programs that have changed names over the last few years. In their case they are labeling themselves the first ischool in the UK, though given the rather inclusive nature of the iSchool label, some might argue with that claim. The University of South Florida also changed its name from SLIS to School of Information this Spring also. Once upon a time such changes were accompanied by much complaining and doomsaying from some quarters but with other matters pressing down on higher education and libraries these days, a little more perspective on name changing seems to have resulted. That, or nobody notices anymore. A quick look at the ALA’s listing of accredited programs shows nearly 40% of them are in departments or schools that don’t have the L word in their title any longer. At this rate, in another 10 years, one imagines this will be so for the majority of accredited programs, though one hopes this is by program choice rather than closure.

Had a great trip to UBC a couple of weeks back to speak at the SLAIS inaugural Johnson Memorial Lecture, a new series funded through the generosity of Stephen Johnson to honor his parents. As I noted in my talk, funding for such a series is a tremendous gift to the field and I was delighted to accept the invitation and to engage in broader dialog across the school and university with interested people, as arranged by the hosts. If there’s a more attractive campus than UBC, with its gardens, walking spaces and proximity to the ocean, then I’ve not seen it yet. The school itself has a pretty fine new space in the new Barber Learning Center, a pleasing architectural mix of the old with the contemporary that makes dramatic use of glass.

I was greatly impressed with the students and the level of interest there in advancing both the archives and librarianship aspects of information within one program, but I don’t think they liked my idea of changing their name to the School of Information just to make it easier. The best schools are wrestling with identity and coverage but this is not a bad thing, if the debate is constructive and concerned with advancing shared vision rather than defending territory (and I don’t say this just because I came back to face a deadline for a report on our progress since accreditation, but I admit, I seem to spend so much time explaining to outside agencies what we are doing that it’s getting hard to find the time to do what they want me to explain).

ASIST and CLIR have organized a meeting this week to discuss possible new accreditation processes for graduate education in information. So, you might ask who, among the programs, would really want another accreditation process? Correct, nobody. But, there can be value in examining the process if it allows us to engage constructively and widely with those who seem to want to change the existing COA/ALA standards. Yes, an ex-president of ALA has taken charge of committee to do just that and, naturally, ignored all representation from the iSchools, to the point, as I’ve noted before, of ignoring the inputs of a more recent ALA president who happens to be a senior faculty member in such a school and might be thought to have valuable perspective here. There’s nothing quite like digging a hole in the ground and sticking your head in it for creating the impression that you care. No doubt there will be much feather-ruffling, name-calling and L-word/I-word barracking on a few lists and editorial pages in the months ahead. Pretty much business as usual then.

Just back from a pleasant, if damp, visit to Ireland which coincided with the Olympics (great) and the annual college placement frenzy for Irish 18 yr olds as results from the Leaving Certificate are released. Ireland is facing up to a post-Tiger economy (the cab driver told me the tiger had ‘lost its voice long ago’) and house prices are slipping, bars are emptier but prices keep rising. Several generations of politicians from all major parties have taken the credit over the last 20 years for the upturn, built off, we were told, carefully planned strategic investments in two areas: pharmaceuticals and information technology. Many companies invested in the country as it was blessed with a highly educated, young workforce eager to find a job at home. That the country did not have much by way of indigenous IT and pharma-companies was deemed irrelevant, these would be imported and would sink deep roots that effectively made them part of the scenery. Oddly, now, it seems this is not working (duh!). The tax-breaks that lured them are being beaten by competitor economies outside Europe. Educated kids from Eastern Europe, Poland in particular, flocked to Ireland to take positions that the locals no longer wanted. And now, insult to injury, it seems 18 year olds want to go to college to be lawyers and doctors, not software engineers. Universities are dropping the requirements for admission to engineering and computer science in order to attract more students but its having little effect and the feisty Irish media, one of the best in the world, is starting to ask questions about just how embedded in the culture is the ambition to be a leading knowledge economy. The government, every one of them since the boon began, seems to have actually done very little to encourage greater emphasis in the schools on relevant subjects and it would seem that Ireland’s image as a hotbed of hi-tech workers is fading. Business leaders are pressing the Minister of Education to address the issue. Amazingly, for political parties that all had the foresight (really!) to create the booming economy single-handedly out of their brilliant insights and policies, no body thought of the supply of talent at the schools level. Makes you wonder…..