Event Agenda: April 1, 1:00-4 pm
SCOPA Forum: Educating Librarians and Information Professionals for Academic and Research Libraries: Traditions, New Initiatives, Challenges, and Opportunities

1:00  1:15 pm Opening Remarks
Alice Prochaska, YU University Librarian

1:15-2:30 pm Session One  Library Schools Educating Academic Librarians & Academic Librarians Considering Library Schools
Members of this panel include library educators and academic librarians; the group is uniquely qualified to discuss a variety of topics relating to library school programs and the preparation of academic librarians for positions in research libraries.
Panelists: Michele Cloonan, Dean of Simmons Library School (Panel Chair); Nancy Godleski, YU Librarian for American History; Danuta Nitecki, YU Associate University Librarian / Library Educator; Mary Brown, Associate Professor, SCSU Library School; Todd Gilman, YU Librarian For Literature in English / Library Educator

1. Are library schools making efforts to identify and address the particular areas in which librarians need special training to support student and faculty research in the rapidly changing environment of the academic library? If so, how? As many library schools are reducing their course offerings in areas that are of particular importance to research libraries (archival practice, book history, rare book stewardship, etc.), how might library school curricula be modified and / or supplemented to incorporate the development of knowledge and skills in these areas?

2. In general, what are the benefits and dangers of trends in library education away from more traditional curricula and toward more technologically based course work? Does a push to replace formerly standard courses with introductory and low-level computer science courses benefit academic librarians and academic libraries? How are curricular changes, increasing interest in distance and digital learning programs, calls for accelerated degree programs and dual degree programs, and other changes facing library education likely to affect the training of academic librarians?

3. Are new initiatives in university libraries to recruit graduate students and recent PhDs to library professions and proposed alternative credentialing programs likely to undermine the value of the MLS degree? Do they represent a threat to library education programs? To the status of professional librarians? What responsibility does the current library education system have to create fast track degrees, low residency MLS programs, library and information science certificate programs and other credentialing alternatives? 

4. Are demands for alternatives to traditional library education programs for PhDs likely to lead to the creation of a new library credential?  What might be the components of an equivalent credential to the MLS designed specifically for PhDs? Is the development of a new credential a viable possibility? 

5. For those with PhDs who wish to enter the library professions, what is the added value of the MLS? What additional skills and knowledge are to be gained though the MLS for individuals who have acquired outstanding research skills through other means? Is this specialized degree still necessary for academic librarians? Are academic librarians who have BAs and MLS degrees but no additional advanced degrees at a significant disadvantage to PhDs? 

2:30  3:00 pm Coffee Break

3:00  4:15 pm Session Two  Alternatives: New Initiatives for Educating Academic Librarians & Addressing the Needs of Changing Academic Library Environments
Comprised of librarians, educators, and administrators, this panel will discuss new programs designed to build the profession of academic librarianship, and the challenges and opportunities these initiatives present to academic libraries.
Panelists: Frank Turner, Director, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and John Hay Whitney Professor of History, YU (Panel Chair); Alice Prochaska, YU University Librarian; Pamela Schirmeister, Associate Dean, YU Graduate School; Richard Detweiler, Interim President, Council on Library and Information Resources; Mary Dillon Johnson, Director Career Services, McDougal Center, YU Graduate School; Peter Salovey, Dean YU Graduate School.

1. The Council on Library and Information Resources Postdoctoral Fellowship in Scholarly Information Resources for Humanists is designed to establish a new kind of scholarly information professional; what are the characteristics of such a professional and how is he or she different from an academic librarian? Why are these new information professionals needed?

2. What strengths do individuals with PhDs who have no formal library education bring to professional library work in research libraries? What do they lack and how might gaps in their knowledge of library processes affect their potential to be successful as professional librarians? Will they be qualified only as subject specialists, or will they be equally effective as catalog librarians, reference librarians, preservation librarians, archivists?  In the case of specialized library collections, is highly developed subject knowledge necessarily more important than knowledge of library practices designed to build, protect, maintain, and utilize collections?

3. Do the CLIR postdoctoral program and others like it that are designed to draw PhDs into library professions have the potential to create a two-tiered status system among professionals in academic libraries? Might there be a potential effect on salaries? Are such programs motivated by a shortage of qualified librarians to fill academic library positions or a glut of PhDs and a scarcity of tenure-track faculty positions?

4. In addition to CLIRs Postdoctoral Fellowship program, what other initiatives and MLS alternatives are being considered to draw highly educated individuals into the library professions? How does the CLIR program differ from other fellowships that generally serve as transitional positions for scholars intending to go on to faculty positions? Are there plans to create an alternative credentialing program around the CLIR initiative? Will CLIR participants receive library school credit of some kind for their work as library postdoctoral fellows? Can participants in the CLIR initiative be sure that time spent in such a program will enable them to be seriously considered for employment as professional librarians?

5. For those with PhDs who wish to enter the library professions, what is the added value of the MLS? What additional skills and knowledge are to be gained though the MLS for individuals who have acquired outstanding research skills through other means? Is this specialized degree still necessary for academic librarians? Are academic librarians who have BAs and MLS degrees but no additional advanced degrees at a significant disadvantage to PhDs?  Currently, the majority of professional library positions require an MLS; is this likely to change in the near future? Do you foresee a time when the MLS is obsolete in academic librarianship?