NJ Library Association Opposes Rutgers' Dropping "Library" from Name
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 02/18/2009
- Deletion of the name “Library” obfuscates
- Dismisses “Library” as brand
- Dean says school is growing
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In response to the decision by the faculty of Rutgers University’s School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) to change the name of the school to the School of Communication and Information, the Executive Board of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) yesterday approved a resolution asking for the name change to be reconsidered.
“[T]he name change at this particular time has implications far beyond the School,” the resolution states, arguing that the deletion of the name does not clarify—as Dean Jorge Reina Schement contends—but rather obfuscates the purpose of the school.
While the NJLA “acknowledges the right of SCILS to determine its own direction,” the resolution pointed out that “the name SCILS has come to be associated with excellence in educating and producing librarians, library administrators and library leaders for this noble profession.” Also, the resolution cited the importance of libraries as vital institutions, especially “during these difficult economic times.”
Library brand
The resolution made a distinction between “Library,” the profession’s “brand,” the term that “uniquely identifies what we do and is immediately understandable” and the broad term “information,” associated with programmers, which “belongs to the world of technical education.” (Some of those at “I-Schools” that turn out librarians may disagree.)
Student concern
Meanwhile, LISSA, Rutgers’s student branch of the American Library Association, held a forum last Friday to discuss the name change, which was live-blogged. The forum drew about 25 people. More than 200 members have joined a Facebook group devoted to keeping the word "Library" in the school's name, LISSA co-president Mary Fran Daley told LJ.
In one colloquy reported on the blog, an MLIS student reportedly suggested that the name “School of Information” would have been cleaner. In response, a student studying media at SCILS suggested that “we wouldn't want communication dropped, wouldn't want not to be counted.”
“That's exactly how we feel,” responded an MLIS student.
Students said they were concerned about the process, saying that they felt it was being forced down their throats.
Pat Tumuly, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association, expressed concern in a blog comment: “When someone asks a Rutgers grad where did they go to school- library won't even be in the name. The towns who fund libraries might wonder why you need librarians at all.”
Dan O’Connor, a member of the SCILS library program faculty, referred to current debate in the legislature about limiting library funding: “I don't think that an action that's going to occur here later this spring will affect a vote that's scheduled for the second week in March.”
School growing
O’Connor defended the name change, according to the blog: “I'm a real library guy and real proud of that, but in favor of the name change. The dean says he wants us to be the #1 program in the country.”
Schement said the school was “in the process of reimagining ourselves,” noting that, while other schools have hiring freezes, SCILS had hired at least five new faculty, “each of whom speak across the boundaries of the department.” His summary: “We're an intellectual community, a learning community grounded in communication and information.”
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