Since the 1970s, most disciplines and schools of professional studies have developed their areas of curriculum, research, and theory construction by including race and ethnic studies. At the same time, library and information studies has lagged in providing a broader understanding of race and librarianship. Although attempts have been made to fill the racial-understanding gap, most of the work is characterized as exceptional/pioneer biography, with little attention given to broader social constructs of race and racism. This article explores how library and information science education falls short in contributing to the literature on race and racism. The current multicultural movement in library science is to be addressed.

This survey addressed the experience of receiving tenure through the personal narratives of Directors of Library and Information Science Schools in the USA. Fifty-five respondents were asked to rank the emphasis of the variables operating in tenure based on their experience. Participants agreed that the granting of autonomy via tenure was an opportunity to exercise academic freedom. With tenure came the responsibility to contribute as a citizen of both the institutional and disciplinary communities of the profession. The most prominent factor in determining tenure and promotion decisions for LIS faculty is demonstration of research productivity through peer reviewed publications: articles, books and conference proceedings. Teaching and service are also important components of academic life. It was found that collaboration underpinned collegiality and created an environment conducive to research. In turn, the stability and collegiality of a tenured position made the institution work as a teaching and learning environment.

This study ascertains the attitudes of library school alumni regarding the value of including various competencies in an M.L.S. program in order to facilitate curriculum planning. A total of 736 alumni rated a list of fifty-five competencies. Twenty-five percent of alumni had been out of library school less than three years; 60 percent had been out less than ten years. The largest category of respondents is represented by public librarians (39 percent), followed by academic librarians (20 percent), school librarians (19 percent), special librarians (10 percent), and those in nonlibrary settings (12 percent). There was a significant relationship between the type of library course taken during library school and the type of library in which the respondent found employment. Childrenâ s and young adult literature was the most poplar â type of literatureâ course taken. The five competencies ranked most frequently as essential include: knowledge of sources, collection management skills, conducting a reference interview, communicating effectively in writing, and the ability to apply critical thinking skills to library problems. Rating of competencies was also analyzed by beginning librarians. Competencies valued also differed as a function of setting. Findings were compared to those of an earlier study conducted by the authors in 1987.

This discussion focuses on the institutional cultures in which library and information science education finds itself. It concentrates on the general idea of the library and its relation to LIS education. It proposes looking at the library in society as an era-specific phenomenon and discusses the library that people know. The article also looks at three principal aspects of modern library that are being challenged by present circumstances. It dwells on factors that LIS education must consider in order to accommodate the new impression of the library. It reveals the change of modern libraries in three different aspects: its view that its chief cultural legacy lies in the social organization it created, its adoption of heterogeneous normative target populations as a basis for its work, and its dependence on government funding.

This article summarizes the differences between teaching adults and teaching children. It evaluates the concept of andragogy â a term that describes the teaching of children â in order to conclude the major characteristics of adult learning. It also makes some suggestions for the development of curricula of graduate programs.

The author began working by asking a question: how well are library schools preparing students for future participation in the library profession? She thought that one year is not long enough for students to gain what they need to become a library and information science professional. She suggested library schools to undertake a major restructuring of their programs and recommended a two-year M.L.S. program.

Although survey data disclose that traditional content and delivery continue to be stressed, educators still ponder the fact that the new combinations of knowledge, attitudes, and skills in the workplace may require something more of library and information science (LIS) educators. A de-emphasis on traditional content has resulted. Professional education and practice call for multiplicity, academic self-sufficiency, and adjustment to local needs and aspirations. The problem surfaces when students are so exceedingly diverse as to resist common boundary. There is a need for these types of problems to be discussed in light of curriculum changes and for a common boundary in instruction to be defined. Analytical studies to articulate the unarticulated part of the information paradigm may help to conceptualize the information science substance more clearly.

The authors respond to the issues presented in the article "Crying Wolf: An examination and reconsideration of the perception of crisis in LIS education," published in the same issue of the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science.

Distance learning using telecommunications technologies holds new and challenging promises for library and information science (LIS) education. Pedagogical, technological, cultural/sociopolitical issues and their impact upon the constituents involved--faculty, accrediting bodies, students, employers and educational administration--need to be systematically studied. Findings of a research project that examined one of the human agencies involved in distance learning, full-time faculty at library schools who have taught LIS courses for graduate credit to distance learners using a telecommunications technology, are reported. The primary research questions were exploratory ones that sought answers about the impact of the distance-learning educational model upon faculty. The methodology used was a mix of written survey, telephone, and direct interview techniques. Faculty perceived that their role changed in the distance-learning model from what it was in the traditional classroom-based model. "Teaching is no longer a private act; it is a public performance." Other findings are that more time is required for class preparation; patterns of interaction and communication between students and faculty are different; technical and managerial skills are needed; sociopolitical issues (such as copyright) need to be addressed; and specific knowledge about learning behaviors within this model is needed. Teaching, in this model, is a complex performance that may conflict with the prevailing organizational culture of both the institution and the academic profession. However, the "critical mass" of a library school teaching faculty (conspicuous for its small size) requires several changes if distance learning is to be pursued successfully, and these are discussed briefly. Salient, early historical points about the Board of Education for Librarianship (BEL, American Library Association), American Association of Library Schools (AALS), forerunner to the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), and the Gaylord Brothers (New York) financed American Correspondence School of Librarianship (ACSL) are included.

This article presents the background of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, its history, and its major study areas. It goes into some detail about the School of Liberal Arts before concentrating on the Information Science Programs offered by that school. The objectives, qualifications of applicants, and the details of the different Information Science Programs are presented at length. The article then goes on to give a detailed outline of the distance-teaching system as used by STOU. It concludes with a statement as to the unique value of the Information Science Programs offered by STOU.