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Crying Wolf: An examination and reconsideration of the perception of crisis in LIS

Dillon, Andrew and Norris, April (2005) Crying Wolf: An examination and reconsideration of the perception of crisis in LIS. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 46(4):pp. 280-298.

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Abstract

Recent discussions of education for library professionals have strongly criticized the state of most Library and Information Science (LIS) schools, which are portrayed as techno-centric, male-dominated, and out of touch with the needs of practitioners. In the present essay we examine the major claims for a new crisis in LIS education and conclude that the data do not support most of the popular criticisms made of this field. Instead, the notion of crisis is best understood as indicative of a moment of change and an opportunity to significantly affect the long-term future of the field.

EPrint Type:Journal Article (Paginated)
Keywords:education, gender, curriculum, crisis, library science
Subjects:Library and Information Science Education
ID Code:1057
Deposited On:03 February 2006
Alternative Locations:http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~adillon/Journals/JELIS.pdf
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1. Michael Gorman, “Whither Library Education?” New Library World 105 (2004): 376-380; John. Berry, “Don’t Dis the LIS ‘Crisis’: Gorman is Right to Focus His ALA Term on Library Education,” Library Journal 129 (October 1, 2004): 10. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA456234 (accessed March 23, 2005).

2. Larry J. Ostler, Therrin Dahlin, and J.D. Willardson, The Closing of American Library Schools (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995).

3. Marion Paris, Library School Closings: Four Case Studies (Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press 1988).

4. Gorman, “Whither Library Education?”

5. Ibid., p.377.

6. American Library Association, Attitudes Toward Public Libraries Survey (American Library Association, 2002), http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleasesbucket/2002_Attitues_Towards_Public_Libraries.pdf; American Library Association, Public Library Use and Economic Hard Times (American Library Association, 2002), http://www.ala.org/ala/ors/reports/Economichardtimestechnicalreport.pdf (both accessed April 24, 2005).

7. National Endowment for the Arts, Reading At Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America (NEA, June 2004), http://www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf (accessed April 12, 2005).

8. Lloyd Houser, “A Conceptual Analysis of Information Science,” Library and Information Science Research 10 (January 1988): 3–34.

9. Jakob Nielsen, Designing Web Usability (Indianapolis IN: New Riders, 2000).

10. For an extended account of the arguments, see Christine Borgman, From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002).

11. For an overview of the history of this division, see Margaret F. Stieg, Change and Challenge in Library and Information Science Education (Chicago: American Library Association, 1992).

12. Francis Miksa, “Library and Information Science: Two Paradigms?” in Conceptions of Library and Information Science: Historical, Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives, eds. Pertti Vakkari and Blaise Cronin, 229-52 (London: Taylor and Graham, 1991).

13. Gorman, “Whither Library Education?,” p. 377.

14. Ibid.

15. F. W. Lancaster, ed., “Editorial Policy,” Library Trends (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press), http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/puboff/catalog/trends/#manuscript John Carlo Bertot and Wayne Wiegand, eds., “Journal Description,” Library Quarterly (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/LQ/brief.html (both accessed May 9, 2005).

16. Thomas E. Nisonger and Charles H. Davis, “The Perception of Library and Information Science Journals by LIS Education Deans and ARL Library Directors: A Replication of the Kohl-Davis Study,” College & Research Libraries 66 (July 2005): 1–37.

17. John N. Gathegi, “The Public Library as a Public Forum: The (De)Evolution of a Legal Doctrine,” The Library Quarterly 75 (January 2005): 1–19; Allison Druin, “What Children Can Teach Us: Developing Digital Libraries for Children with Children,” The Library Quarterly 75 (January 2005): 20–41;William Edgar, “Corporate Library Impact, Part I: A Theoretical Approach,” The Library Quarterly 74, (April 2004): 122–51; Paul T. Jeager, Charles R. McClure, John Carlo Bertot, and John T. Snead, “The USA PATRIOT Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and Information Policy Research in Libraries: Issues, Impacts, and Questions for Libraries and Researchers,” The Library Quarterly 74, (April 2004): 99–121; and Mary H. Munroe and Jennie E. Ver Steeg, “The Decision-Making Process in Conspectus Evaluation of Collections: The Quest for Certainty,” The Library Quarterly 74 (April 2004): 181–205.

18. Juris Divelko and Keren Dali, “Improving Collection Development and Reference Services for Interdisciplinary Fields through Analysis of Citation Patterns: An Example Using Tourism Studies,” College and Research Libraries 65 (May 2004); Thomas E. Nisonger, “Citation Autobiography: An Investigation of ISI Database Coverage in Determining Author Citedness,” College and Research Libraries 65 (March 2004): 152–163; Marta Mestrovic Deyrup, “Is the Revolution Over? Gender, Economic, and Professional Parity in Academic Library Leadership Positions,” College and Research Libraries 65 (May 2004): 242–250; Ruth V. Small, Nasriah Zakaria, and Houria El-Figuigui, “Motivational Aspects of Information Literacy Skills Instruction in Community College Libraries,” College and Research Libraries 65 (March 2004): 96–121.

19. Joan C. Durrance and Karen E. Fisher, “Determining How Libraries and Librarians Help,” in Research Questions for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Mary Jo Lynch, Library Trends 51 (Spring 2003): 541–570; Delia Neuman, “Research in School Library Media for the Next Decade: Polishing the Diamond,” in Research Questions for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Mary Jo Lynch, Library Trends 51 (Spring 2003): 503–524; Carol Tenopir, “Electronic Publishing: Research Issues for Academic Librarians and Users,” in Research Questions for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Mary Jo Lynch, Library Trends 51 (Spring 2003): 614–635; Bryce Allen, “Public Opinion and the Funding of Public Libraries,” in Economics of Libraries, eds. Lewis G. Liu and Bryce Allen, Library Trends 51 (Winter 2003): 414–423.

20. Association for Library and Information Science Education, The Eugene Garfield—ALISE Doctoral Dissertation Award, http://www.alise.org/awards/garfield.html.

21. For current criticism of research conducted in business schools as too theoretical for managers in organizations to apply, see Warren Bennis and James O’Toole, “How Business Schools Lost Their Way,” Harvard Business Review 83 (2005): 96–105.

22. For a historical overview of women’s contributions to and changing roles in library education, see Mary Niles Maack, “Women in Library Education: Down the Up Staircase in History of Library and Information Science Education,” eds. Donald G. Davis, Jr. and Phyllis Dain, Library Trends 34 (1986): 401–432.

23. Suzanne Hildenbrand, “The Information Age Versus Gender Equity?” Library Trends 47 (1999): 669–85.

24. Gorman, “Whither Library Education?,” p.377.

25. Association for Library and Information Science Education, Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report, http://ils.unc.edu/ALISE/.

26. National Science Foundation. ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers, National Science Foundation, (2005). [Program Solicitation]. http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05584 (accessed April 29, 2005).

27. Hildenbrand, “The Information Age,” Appendix A; Gorman, “Whither Library Education?”

28. Gorman, “Whither Library Education?”

29. Steig, Change and Challenge.

30. Lloyd J. Houser and Alvin M. Schrader. The Search for a Scientific Profession: Library Science Education in the U.S. and Canada (Metuchen, NJ, Scarecrow, 1978).

31. Sarah K. Vann, The Williamson Reports: A Study (Metuchen, NJ, Scarecrow, 1971).

32. Karen M. Drabenstott and Daniel E. Atkins, “The Kellogg CRISTAL-ED Project: Creating a Model Program to Support Libraries in the Digital Age,” in Advances in Librarianship 20, ed. Irene P. Godden, (San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1996), pp. 47–68; the quotation is on p. 51.

33. Karen E. Pettigrew and Joan C. Durrance, in “KALIPER Study Identifies Trends in Library and Information Science Education,” The Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac, 45th ed., eds.Dave Bogart and Julia C. Blixrud (New Providence, NJ: Bowker, 2000), pp. 208–218; the quotation is on p. 211.

34. Karen Markey, “Current Educational Trends in the Information and Library Science Curriculum,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 45 (2004): 317–339; the quotation is on p. 334.

35. Ragnar Audunson, Ragnar Nordlie, and Inger Cathrine Spangen, “The Complete Librarian—an Outdated Species? LIS Between Profession and Discipline,” New Library World 104 (2003): 195–202.

36. Pettigrew and Durrance, “KALIPER Study,” p. 211.

37. Gorman, “Whither Library Education?,” p. 377.

38. Denice Adkins and Linda Esser, “Literature and Technology Skills for Entry-Level Children’s Librarians: What Employers Want,” Children and Libraries 2 (2004): 14–21.

39. Stuart Sutton, “Trends, Trend Projections, and Crystal Ball Gazing,” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 42 (2001): 241–247; the quotation is on p. 243.

40. Michael Buckland, “The Academic Heritage of Library and Information Science: Resources and Opportunities,” opening plenary, Association for Library and Information Science Education 85th Anniversary Celebration, San Antonio, TX, January 11–14, 2000. http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~buckland/alise00.html (June 28, 2005).

41. Paris, Library School Closings.

42. John L. King, “Stepping Up: Shaping the Future of the Field,” plenary address, Association for Library and Information Science Education Conference, Boston, MA, January 11–14, 2005.

43. Todd Gilman, “A Matter of Degrees,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 20 2005, C3.

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