Rutgers Faculty Agrees To Drop “Library” from SCILS Name

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 2/10/2009

• NJLA incorrectly said to support move
• Library students 27% of school
• Subtraction of "Library" adds to competitiveness?

Another graduate school serving the library field is about to lose the “L” name. The faculty of Rutgers University’s School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) voted 30-10 to change the name of the school to the School of Communication and Information. The university’s board of governors could approve the change at a meeting in April.

While Dean Jorge Reina Schement offered extensive arguments for the name change, including an increase in the school’s competitiveness and the statistic that alumni in journalism and public relations will soon outnumber those in the library field, he immediately lost ground among local librarians by circulating a letter that claimed, incorrectly, that he had consulted the president and executive director of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA).

He quickly apologized to NJLA president Heidi Cramer for what he termed a “typo” and reissued the letter. Cramer told LJ, “For a communication school, there was very poor communication.”

“Clearly this is touching a nerve with a lot of librarians,” she said, noting that NJLA officials next Tuesday will meet and likely issue a formal response. “I think one reason so many NJLA people are speaking up is this implied endorsement in the original communication,” she said.

Rationale for change
Out of some 2100 students in SCILS, 560, or 27%, are earning a Masters in Library and Information Science degree. Schement told LJ that a name change had been under discussion for some 15 years. The change offers “a cohesive identity to the diverse faculty and student groups who make up our community,” he wrote. “By changing the name of the School, we do not—nor will we—eliminate any focus areas; but, rather, strengthen those areas we engage in our research and teaching agendas.” He said the 40 voters included about 15 library faculty members.

Isn’t cohesiveness achieved in part by subtraction, LJ asked? “It’s a subtraction of words, but I’d argue it’s a broadening of the concepts that tie us all together,” Schement responded.

Cramer, who noted that NJLA faces more pressing issues, such as a legislative attempt to halve library funding, said that “a lot of librarians are very passionate about deleting the name ‘library.’ It’s not that they’re changing the name. They’re keeping part of the name, and removing the part about libraries.” She said she personally opposed the change.

Changing center of gravity
Schement noted that few know that SCILS has six degree programs and graduates about 1360 undergraduate majors who make up almost 9% of Rutgers’ total undergraduate majors. The largest number of SCILS majors are in programs that concentrate on corporate, organizational, and health communication. Most SCILS supporters come from the fields of journalism, public relations, and advertising.

The school has three undergraduate majors: Communication, Information Technology and Informatics, and Journalism and Media Studies. It delivers three graduate majors: MCIS: a Master of Communication and Information Studies; MLIS: a Master of Library and Information Science; and Ph.D.: a Doctorate in Communication, Information and Library Studies.

Schement said many of those inside and outside SCILS regularly get the name of the library degree wrong, substituting “studies” for “science.” In his letter, he stated, “We are a unique school with a unique story to tell, but the SCILS name has not been effective in helping us tell it. We serve professions ranging from librarianship to public relations, to advertising, to journalism, and scholarly communities and are at the forefront of their foci—a spectrum that embraces the practical and the theoretical.”

He told LJ, “We are strongly committed to library studies and I think the evidence is in the productivity of the faculty we hire and the care we take with students. But we also are committed to other folks.” He noted that the transition would be accomplished with frugality; for example, new business cards wouldn’t be issued until current copies are exhausted.

Consultation issues
[Corrected]
"Prior to the vote, I consulted with a number of library leaders, including the MLIS Program Associates, past ALA presidents, and others," he wrote in the reissued letter. "We don’t all agree, but I believe that most understand that success in the 21st century requires us to reposition ourselves within the university and across the country."

[LJ on February 11 quoted from the earlier version of Schement's letter:  “Prior to the vote, I consulted with a number of library leaders, including the MLIS Program Associates, past ALA presidents, and others. I believe I have their support, because they understand that success in the 21st century requires us to reposition ourselves within the university and across the country.”]

Which former ALA presidents? Schement cited Betty Turock, a former SCILS faculty member; Nancy Kranich, a current SCILS lecturer (and his wife); and Leslie Burger, director of the Princeton Public Library. 

[Update: Burger and Turock told LJ February 11 that they had discussed the issue generally with Schement and believed that it deserved careful dialogue involving stakeholders, but had not announced their support--and, indeed, Schement's reissued letter doesn't claim that support.]

In a set of talking points, Schement noted that the name change would raise the school’s profile among peer institutions and prospective students, and bring the school “more in line with nomenclature at other AAU peer institutions, thereby making us more competitive.” The increase in visibility should “enhance our interactions with corporate and individual donors.”

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