Library Education

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As current chair of the ALA Committee on Education (COE) and in helping to fulfill COE’s role of providing a networking platform for dialogues between LIS educators and practitioners, the Committee has offered Beth Paskoff, Director of the Louisiana State University Library and Information Science Program, and Linda Smith, Associate Dean of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, an open forum for discussion at the Education Assembly during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. I am happy to announce that both have accepted the invitation. This will enable Dr. Paskoff and Dr. Smith to have a national platform to discuss the issues concerning their programs and to garner the support of practitioners and others in the library community. This also will help COE define our role in looking into this matter on behalf of Council and in supporting the programs during these challenges.

Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010

Time: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Location: Washington Convention Center, room 149A/B

Sincerely,

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
OCLC Research
connawal@oclc.org
Cell: 303-246-3623
Fax: 614-718-7378
http://www.oclc.org/research/people/connaway.htm

The comment below is posted on behalf of an educator attending the Forum:

“Scott Walter hit an important point--it is important to graduate knowing what you do not know and to graduate with the drive to continue learning. We can not possibly cover and teach everything.

Teaching to the competencies can certainly limit innovation and creativity, they should be guidelines not measured outcomes.

If COA is to make sure that there is a quality course/education for the student then we should be careful of standards and competencies driven by professionals already practicing.

Service learning answers a lot of the questions.”

2010 Forum on Library Education

The American Library Association (ALA) Committee on Education and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) will present a forum on Library Education. The forum will be hosted by ALISE and held during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston, (MA) at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15, 2010.
This year's theme will be: "Learning Outcomes: Methodologies for Connecting Communities"

Representatives from Library & Information Studies (LIS) education and ALA divisions will discuss the following issues of learning outcomes in LIS education and how the professional community views LIS graduates:
What is a Learning Outcome? How might the new competences impact LIS education? What relationship do the new competences have to established division competences? Is there a chasm between LIS education and professional practice?
The forums on library education are annual events and are venues for an open exchange of ideas and ongoing dialogue between LIS educators and library practitioners on current topics related to library education matters.
Speakers: Rachel A. Applegate, Indiana University - Indianapolis; Lynn S. Connaway, OCLC; Sara Kelly Johns, Lake Placid Middle/High School (NY); Dan O'Connor, Rutgers University and Scott Walter, University of Illinois - Urbana.

For updates and additional information about the Forum, please visit the
website:

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/hrdr/abouthrdr/hrdrliaisoncomm/committeeoned/libraryeducationforum.cfm