Writing the Book on Educational Innovation
Times change and so does information, as well as how we catalog, organize and preserve that information.
At the Morgridge College of Education, the Master of Library and Information Sciences program is keeping pace with these changes, offering classes such as Metadata Architectures, Competitive Intelligence and Introduction to Knowledge Technologies.
"A lot of our applications start with, 'I love books,'" says Deb Grealy, director of the MLIS program. Many students' interests expand, however, when they learn what the program offers, she explains. "Libraries are bigger than books now."
While new media like CDs, DVDs, podcasts and Web pages need to be preserved, today's librarians are also expected to collect and organize more abstract material, such as oral histories, blogs, or even information stored in the mind of a long-term employee.
In light of this, some MLIS graduates are skipping the stacks of the local library and heading straight to the corporate world, working for company libraries or hospitals. "I've been amazed at the number of opportunities available to students," says MLIS student Beth Strickland of Morrison, Colo. "Not only can students at DU gain the practical skills needed to help them move ahead in the field, they get the chance to learn how to be a leader in the field."
Make no mistake: The MLIS program still teaches fundamental courses including Archives and Records Management, School Libraries, and Reference and User Services. But today's students also learn the technology they'll need as part of the next generation of librarians.
Technology is "a necessary ally in helping to couple information users with resources," says Michael Andrew Doherty, an MLIS student from Denver, "whether that is at the library reference desk, in technical services processing materials or in a corporate environment helping to build an intranet."
For more information, visit the Master of Library Science program Web site