Online LIS Education—or Not | Office Hours My new column is up at LJ! I may have a bit of a bias, but I would much rather my students make the short trip to their desks and computers instead of commuting across town or farther. Time saved on travel could roll over into time spent on coursework or finding balance among school, work, and life. Money saved on gas and travel could transform into paying for classes or student loans. Other students may be drawn to the classroom, to in-person interaction with a professor and other classmates. I would argue, […]
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Do not miss this post at In the Library with a Lead Pipe: http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2011/is-the-united-states-training-too-many-librarians-or-too-few-part-1/ Is the United States Training Too Many Librarians or Too Few? (Part 1) Some questions from the essay: Should library schools admit fewer students? Is the admissions process sufficiently selective? Are library school curricula and graduation requirements too similar or too distinct? Are they providing their students with the skills they need in order to get hired and do useful work? Should there be licensing exams for librarians? What data would we need to collect in order to come up with useful answers to these questions? […]
A cliche but one that rings true as I write: summer is flying by. We arrived in northern Michigan in late May and it felt as though I had unlimited weeks leading up to the beginning of my new position at SLIS at San Jose State University. Now I’m in California for a week to start the semester with orientation and my first faculty retreat. This summer I’ve made time for work on research, updating my participatory service and emerging technologies course, and have taken a bit of a breather – ending each night by a campfire. I’ve spent some […]
Graham Lavender points to a post by Mr. Library Dude concerning the realities of libraries school and the job market. Mr. Library Dude offers a few points to be considered: I don’t really care what library school course grades/GPA you have. Just get your degree and focus on getting some experience. Get a mentor! Someone who is a working librarian. Not a library school professor who hasn’t worked in libraries for 20 years. Geographic flexibility: I understand that not everyone can (or wants) to move across country for a job. Just be aware that you may be severely limiting your […]
An “Office Hours” reader writes: Just finished reading your article Transparent Library School, where you spoke about my fears of signing up and having old information is my concern. The only local (less than 2 hrs) school closed up its local branch so I’m looking into the various online schools, and have not found a good comparison. Do you know of such a site? The information on ALA on various programs I have found to be out of date. I have an obvious bias – but has anyone encountered a good comparison site of the online LIS programs? Update: Don’t miss: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/hack-your-program/
How cool is this recent ad for the position of Program Officer, Digital Media & Learning at the MacArthur Foundation?: (bolding is mine) Knowledge, Skills, and Experience: The Program Officer role requires graduate training and experience as a researcher or designer, with a strong grasp of research and theoretical literature relating to learning, adolescent development and new media, and practical, “on-the-ground” experience with youth, in libraries and museums or schools. He or she must be familiar with significant thought leaders and national organizations in relevant fields, and to be a respectful, collaborative colleague who can build bridges and actively engage […]
I’m honored to have written a combined Office Hours column with User Experience author Aaron Schmidt in the new issue of Library Journal: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/ljinprint/currentissue/891081-403/putting_the_ux_in_education.html.csp UX thinking doesn’t have to be limited to specific courses, however. Core parts of the LIS curriculum can and should change as we review and update classes to reflect the focus on our patrons’ experiences. Reference and resource-based study can easily morph when taught through a UX lens. Take collection development, for instance—wouldn’t classes about collection development be richer and more productive when combined with thinking about building design and library programming? When LIS classes encourage […]
My “Office Hours” column is out in the new LJ and online. This time I report from The Future of the Academic Library Symposium: The age-old confusion about what a librarian does still exists. In fact, when Ridley asked the panel “What defines a professional librarian,” their comments weren’t surprising. One “had no idea” what a librarian was until it was explained to her in the car on the way to the symposium. Another stated what many students, and public library patrons, think as well: “it means everyone in the library to me….” Ridley followed with, “Do you care if […]
Hi Michael, I just read your recent LJ article, “The Transparent Library School”. It really resonated with me. I don’t know if I told you about my undergraduate experience at the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, University of Redlands or not. Your article reminded me of the student-faculty collaborative practice at Johnston. For example, I co-created several classes there, designed my own major, and was a Community Assistant (Johnston’s version of a “RA”) on the living-learning complex. One of the things we did on a weekly basis was have community meetings. We (students and faculty) talked about everything in those […]
Daniel Stuhlman, Reference Librarian at Wright College, Chicago presents part one of an interview with the newly appointed dean of the University’s School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS). Daniel notes, however, that “note this is just for your information and amusement. Any connection to a real university or dean is strictly coincidental.” The ideas ring true. http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-dean-interview-part-1.html Q> You talked about teaching management skills as important for librarians. Would you elaborate? What is your philosophy of management? A> One of the most common reasons for people to be dissatisfied with their jobs is they feel they are not supported […]