In an April 9 posting to the JESSE online discussion list for library educators, SIRLS Dean Brooke Sheldon said that the school had “prepared a comprehensive business plan that describes the means for SIRLS to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency.” She said that plan, along with “sustained and vocal support from alumni, employers, students, colleagues, and organizations around the country,” led Likins and Provost George Davis to conclude that “SIRLS should not be eliminated, and that it should retain its academic home in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.”
In their statement, Likins and Davis noted that the program is the only accredited LIS program in Arizona and in 11 other mountain states. They also pointed to its long history of educating Hispanic and Native-American librarians, observing that “the 18% minority enrollments at SIRLS far exceed average U of A graduate department minority enrollments.” The statement also cited “the intellectual synergies with information science and technology overall.”
Posted April 14, 2003.