News / LIS Program Town Hall Meeting

On July 13, 2006, Library & Information Science (LIS) Program Chair Dr. Richard Cox held his first “Town Hall Meeting.” More than 65 students were in attendance as Dean Larsen, Associate Dean Biagini, and Dr. Cox provided an overview of the School of Information Sciences (SIS) new restructuring plan.

In the broadest sense, SIS hopes to implement a policy of integration between the four degree programs in Information Science, Telecommunications, and Library and Information Science. The result of this integration will allow for a freer and open exchange of dialogue and information. This will not only benefit the school’s students, but the faculty and staff as well, as academic and administrative responsibilities are addressed in a balanced and equally weighted manner. Thus, the overall strength of the department will be enhanced by the links built between programs. Dr. Larsen stressed the need for patience during this time of change, and noted “It will be five or ten years from now that this (the benefits of the restructuring) will be more apparent.”

After Dean Larsen’s comments Dr. Biagini spoke briefly about the LIS Program’s recent re-accreditation by the American Library Association’s Committee on Accreditation. Among the areas examined by the Committee were: the LIS program’s mission and goals; the curriculum offered; the quality of faculty and student research; program budget and administrative performance; and the quality of technology and physical resources available for faculty and student research.  

As the new program Chair, Dr. Cox will lead the curricular and research efforts of the LIS program. He hopes to (in addition to re-examining the existing LIS tracks) eventually add new specialization options for students.