Reflecting the sweeping changes in librarianship, the theme of this year’s conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education—“Reconsidering Library and Information Science Education”—focused on ways library schools must adapt to better meet the needs of the profession. The meeting, held in Washington, D.C., January 9–12, drew some 365 registrants.
Conference chair Joseph Mika noted that many schools are undergoing curricula reviews or considering the addition of undergraduate programs. In addition, the increasing prominence of distance education was highlighted in many of the conference’s 20 concurrent sessions, 14 juried papers, and other programs.
The opening session featured a pair of keynote speakers: Management consultant Donald Norris voiced predictions on the future of postbaccalaureate education, in which technology-savvy “learning enterprises” will become “the epicenter of learning for adults” and Georgia Institute of Technology President G. Wayne Clough detailed the challenges that online learning presents for both universities and libraries—“both traditional institutions that have been changing slowly over the past 2,000 years.”
A report on the ALISE conference will appear in the March American Libraries.
Posted January 22, 2001.