 On June 18th, the Committee on Accreditation
(COA) of the American Library Association (ALA) announced
that the University of Pittsburgh received continued
accreditation of its MLIS Program offered by the
School of Information Sciences. This continued
accreditation, issued without conditions, will be
in effect until 2013 when the program will undergo
another review by the COA.
“This continued accreditation recognizes the
academic excellence – and reinforces the national
reputation – of our MLIS degree program,” explains
Ronald L. Larsen, Dean of the School of Information
Sciences. “This type of review ensures
potential and current students that they will receive
a quality education and go on to be productive professionals
in the library field.”
Since 1924, the ALA has presented this process of
accrediting intuitions of higher education. Every
seven years, MLIS programs submit exhaustive reports
to the COA describing and evaluating the mission
and goals, curriculum, faculty, admission and recruitment
policies, facilities, administration, and financial
support of the degree program. Then, after
the COA has reviewed the submitted materials, an
External Review Committee makes a site visit and
prepares an evaluation of the program. The
intent is to assess the ability of the program to
meet the 1992 Standards for Accreditation of Master’s
Programs in Library and Information Studies. ALA
accredits 61 programs at 56 institutions in the United
States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
According to the ALA, accreditation is a voluntary,
nongovernmental, and collegial process of self-review
and peer review with two goals: 1) to ensure that
post-secondary educational institutions and programs
meet appropriate standards of quality and integrity;
and 2) to improve the quality of education that such
institutions offer. This process assures the
public that individuals who have graduated from accredited
schools or programs have received a quality education.
It also certifies that accredited programs meet the
standards of the profession. The ALA states
that “accreditation indicates that a program
demonstrates a commitment to quality and that the
program seeks to continue that commitment.”
“This process is instrumental in providing
a quality educational experience for students,” notes
Dean Larsen. “It requires us to critically
examine our own program to ensure that we’re
meeting our missions and goals. It also provides
us with an objective external review of program policies
and particulars. So, in addition to our own
evaluation processes which are undertaken on a regular
basis, we now have an opportunity to measure the
successes of the MLIS Degree Program on a national
level.”
For more information about the ALA accreditation
process, visit http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=accreditation. |
