ALA Warns Buffalo on LIS Program

-- Library Journal, 8/23/2006

The dissolution of the University at Buffalo's (UB) School of Informatics, which means that the Department of Library and Information Studies (DLIS) will become part of the Graduate School of Education beginning this fall, has drawn attention of the American Library Association (ALA). In an August 1 letter to Satish Tripathi, UB's provost and executive VP for academic affairs, ALA president Leslie Burger wrote to express ALA's "concern about the future of the Department of Library and Information Studies as a result of the recent realignment to the University's Graduate School of Education." She noted that ALA's Committee on Accreditation recently evaluated UB's program and issued a conditional accreditation. "It is our hope that the move to the Graduate School of Education will result in a strengthening of the program to ensure that graduates can compete in our increasingly sophisticated information environment," she wrote.

"We certainly hope that the decision to dissolve the School of Informatics was based on careful study and the expectation that the Departments of Communication and Library and Information Studies will secure the organizational support they require within the Graduate School of Education," Burger wrote. "However, we would be remiss if we didn't point out that librarianship is a cross-disciplinary field that spans beyond the traditional boundaries of the educational field. MLS graduates need to be skilled communicators, information technology experts, good managers, and meticulous organizers and disseminators of information to provide leadership in our information-based economy. We hope that the MLIS program students will be encouraged to expand their horizons beyond the education sphere to ensure that they graduate with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the workplace."