The Chronicle: Colloquy: The question

THE QUESTION

Library schools are undergoing a transformation -- changing their curricula, their faculties, and in many cases their names to reflect changes in information technology. Not only are students being prepared to use technology in new ways, but more programs focus on training students for jobs as information specialists, rather than as librarians. The educators leading these changes say that they represent a necessary shift and that the graduates are finding good jobs in growing fields. Some traditional librarians and the professors who train them, however, fear that library schools are selling out -- abandoning the programs that train librarians who work with schoolchildren, college students, researchers, and the public. Are library schools making appropriate adjustments or abandoning their traditional missions as they shift their curricula to embrace information technology? What kind of changes in library schools have been positive? What changes have been unfortunate? How can training of librarians and information experts be improved?

For further information, see this background article:

In Revamped Library Schools, Information Trumps Books (4/7/2000)

: 58 RESPONSES (New 4/25)

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