LIS Master’s Degrees Awarded in U.S.

 

* The U.S. Department of Education collects information on degrees awarded annually from institutions of higher education. The number of master’s degrees in “library science” is shown below in column 1. The figures are from Table 225 on page 296 of Digest of Education Statistics 2000.

* The Association for Library & Information Science Education collects detailed information annually from members schools, offering degree programs accredited by ALA and publishes them in Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report. Because this report is complex and includes Canadian schools, ALA’s Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) compiles a one page listing of “Degrees and Certificates Awarded by U.S. Library and Information Studies Education Programs,” that shows graduates from U.S. schools by racial/ethnic catagories. Annual data on master’s degrees from that report are listed in column 2.

* The difference between column 1 and column 2 is shown in column 3. Column 4 shows the percentage of all degrees that come from ALA accredited programs. The ALA’s Office for Research & Statistics has compiled a list of all other schools that we could discover.

 

Year			USDE			ALISE/HRDR			Difference			% of master’s degrees from ALA accredited programs
			All master’s degrees			(Degrees from programs accredited by ALA)
1980-81			4,859			3,776			1,083			78%
1985-86			3,564			2,832			732			79%
1986-87			3,783			3,276			507			87%
1987-88			3,674			3,160			514			86%
1988-89			3,906			3,522			384			90%
1989-90			4,341			3,686			655			85%
1990-91			4,763			4,032			731			85%
1991-92			4,893			4,295			598			88%
1992-93			4,871			4,307			564			88%
1993-94			5,116			4,162			954			81%
1994-95			5,057			4,249			808			84%
1995-96			5,099			4,604			495			90%
1996-97			4,982			4,421			561			89%
1997-98			4,871			4,450			421			91%
1998-99			4,752			4,472			280			94%
1999-00			4,577			4,201			376			92%