“Chronology of Significant Events in Education for
Librarianship, 1870s-2010s”
Prepared by Dr. John
V. Richardson Jr., Professor of Information Studies, UCLA
1870s
1879, May: Melvil Dewey suggests a "librarians' college" which would be attached to a normal school with a considerable library.
1880s
1883, August: Dewey proposes school of library economy at Columbia College.
1886, July: Dewey announces his school will open in October at Columbia College.
1887, 5 January: First class in library economy offered at Columbia College.
1888: Dewey argues for correspondence courses in special library and small library services (hence, first distance education program).
1889: First class graduates from Columbia College; school transferred to New York State Library in Albany on 1 April; August: Annie C. Moore argues for special training of children's librarians.
1890s
1890, June: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn offers its first class in cataloging followed by library economy courses.
1891: Drexel Institute started offering library economy courses.
1893, September: Armour Institute Library Class first term under direction of Katharine L. Sharp in Chicago.
1895: First separate course in government publications offered by F. Jackson at Armour Institute.
1897: Transfer of the Armour Institute to University of Illinois, Urbana.
1898, August: New York State Library's Library School offers specialized instruction for law, medical, education, and engineering librarians.
1900s
1901: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh establishes Training School for Children's Librarians; Western Reserve proposes library school.
1902, August: Four year library training class announced by Simmons College, Boston.
1903: New York Public Library establishes training class; Western Reserve receives endowment for library school from Andrew Carnegie; American Library Association’s Committee on Library Training recommends correspondence work offerings
1905: Melvil Dewey suggests that only three schools are needed: one at Albany, one in Midwest, and another at the University of California; University of Washington offers their first annual summer school for library training; Syracuse University establishes Library School; Andrew Carnegie tells library school class serve that "nowadays professionally trained people are needed.”
1906, June 16: First MLS (honoris causa) degree conferred at SLS, Albany.
1907: Library School faculty from various schools met for the first time at Asheville, North Carolina, ALA Convention.
1910s
1911: Roundtable of Library School Instructors formed in ALA.
1915: Association of American Library Schools founded.
1919: University of Texas establishes School of Library Science; September: Andrew Keogh (Yale) argues that academic librarians need advanced library training; Charles C. Williamson publishes ground-breaking Some Present-Day Aspects of Library Training.
1920s
1922: Charles C. Williamson transmits "Training for Library Work” to Carnegie Corporation.
1923: Williamson's Training for Library Service appears in print; ALA’s Executive Board appoints Temporary Library Training Board.
1924: ALA establishes Board of Education for Librarianship with Carnegie Corporation assistance.
1925: Tse-Chien Tai's "Professional Education for Librarianship,” PhD dissertation, University of Iowa.
1926: Carnegie Corporation funds the first Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago, which offers first summer institute for Library Science; the Albany Library School and NYPL Library School merge and transferred to Columbia University.
1927: GLS at Chicago appoints George Works first dean; ALA launches Curriculum Study under the direction of W.W. Charters.
1928, Fall: GLS at Chicago admits students working toward PhD degree.
1929, April 12: George Works resigns as Dean of Chicago GLS.
1930s
1930: First Ph.D. in library science: Eleanor Upton's “A Guide to 17th Century Materials in the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission of Great Britain to Date" at University of Chicago.
1932: Louis Round Wilson appointed dean of Chicago GLS.
1933: Publication of Pierce Butler's An Introduction to Library Science; ALA Board of Education for Librarianship establishes qualitative Minimum Requirements for library schools.
1936: Two major studies
appear: Ralph Munn's Conditions and
Trends in Education for Librarianship and Ernest J. Reece's The
Curriculum in Library Schools.
1940s
1942: Louis Round Wilson retires as Dean of Chicago GLS.
1943: Publication of
Metcalf, Osborn, and Russell's Program
of Instruction in Library
Schools.
1946: Publication of Joseph L. Wheeler's Progress and Problems in Education for Librarianship and J. Periam Danton's Education for Librarianship; ALA Council establishes Library Education Division.
1947: Harriet E. Howe moves the University of Denver program from a BLS to a one year MLS degree; Florida State University sends library science educators throughout the state in automobiles.
1948, 1 August: ALA's BEL suspends accreditation of library schools; University of Illinois and University of Michigan offer Ph.D. program in library science.
1949: Twenty-seven of the
thirty-two accredited schools adopt the new MLS degree (or in process of doing
so); publication of Bernard Berelson's Education for Librarianship.
1950s
195 1, July: ALA adopts new Standards of Accreditation making MLS entry level degree.
1952: Columbia University offers Doctor of Library Science.
1956: Western Reserve University offers Ph.D. degree.
1959: Robert M. Hayes at UCLA teaches first course ever on information storage and retrieval; University of California at Berkeley offers Ph.D. degree; ALA Council adopts Standards and Guidelines for Undergraduate Programs in Library Science
1960s
1960: Rutgers University offers Ph.D. degree.
1961: Journal of
Education for Librarianship established; publication of Sarah Vann's Education
for Librarianship Before 1923
1962: ALA appoints Commission on a National Plan for Library Education.
1965: U.S. Office of Education establishes position of Library Education Specialist; NDEA Institute funds made available for school librarianship; HEA, Title II Part B provides funds for institutes and fellowships.
1966: ALA establishes Office for Library Education; UCLA establishes two year MSIS degree program.
1968: ALA's COA establishes
subcommittees on undergraduate and graduate standards for accreditation.
1970s
1970: ALA Council adopts
Library Education and Manpower policy (so-called Asheim statement); Publication
of Hal Borko and Robert Hayes' Education for Information Science and C.
Edward Carroll's The Professionalization of Education for Librarianship.
1972: ALA's COA establishes revised Standards for Accreditation; Jesse Shera's Foundations of Education for Librarianship; UCLA establishes two-year MLS degree incorporating MSIS degree.
1974, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, established.
1975: Publication of Charles Churchwell's The Shaping of American Library Education.
1980s
1980: Publication of The Conant Report: A Study of the Education of Librarians.
1982: Publication of Richardson's The Spirit of Inquiry, the GLS at Chicago, 1921‑1951.
1983: AALS changes name to Association for Library and Information Science Education.
1986: ALISE and ALA celebrates one hundred years of education for librarianship in New York City.
1988: ALA executive Board endorses joining the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education as a specialty organization for the purpose of accrediting first professional degrees for school library media specialists.
1989: Library and Information Science Distance Education Consortium formed; Graduate Library School, University of Chicago, closes.
1990s
1990: ALA Executive Board appoints a Special Committee on Library Closings.
1992: Standards for Accreditation, 1992, adopted by the Council of the American Library Association; ALA president-elect, Marilyn Miller, announces Project Century 21, a major research and study project for the development of library and information science education.
1993: Columbia University, echoing its 1889 action, once again closes its School of Library Service.
1996, School of Information, University of Michigan, established.
2000s
2001, iSchool, University of Michigan, established.
2002, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, established.
2005, First conference of i-School Community at Pennsylvania State University.
2010s
11 April 2010, University of Illinois' Stewarding Excellence committee proposes merger of SLIS (see response at http://webdocs.lis.illinois.edu/comm/gslis.se.response.pdf)
27 May 2010, LSU School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) targeted for elimination "because of current and future budget constraints," according to the LSU Chancellor (see also, http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6729330.html).
SOURCES: Updating John V. Richardson Jr. et al., Chronology of Significant Events in Education for Librarianship, 1879-1986 (Chicago: American Library Association Standing Committee on Library Education, 1987); Richardson with Jane B. Robbins, reprint ed., In Education for the Library/Information Professions: Strategies for the Mid-1990s, edited by Patricia G. Reeling (Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, 1993), pp. 73-76.