Continuous Accreditation: 1971 to 2009

Faculty, staff, students, and the SLIS Advisory Panel combined their efforts last year to prepare a stellar accreditation report for the ALA. Their dedication was well rewarded by the news that the School received a full seven year re-accreditation. We are delighted with this outcome, which allows the School to maintain its continuous 33-year accreditation status, and heartily thank those—students, faculty, the Advisory Panel, the Graduate College, and the Provost, who have helped us to achieve this distinction. We appreciate your support and participation, which maintains a strong program and demonstrates stability over a long history.

Portfolio vs. Comprehensive Examination: A New Approach

Spring 2003 marked the beginning of a new approach to the exit examination. After much deliberation and research, and with the approval of the Graduate College, SLIS faculty voted to offer students an alternative to the traditional Comprehensive Examination required for graduation. The new Portfolio option is intended to be a capstone experience, one that will help students achieve the polish they need as they seek professional positions. This capstone experience mandates that students reflect upon the value of their coursework and experiences in graduate school, identify significant accomplishments made while at SLIS, and present the results as a written and oral Portfolio. The goal is to help students achieve a ‘coherent professional identity.’ Further details about the portfolio option are available at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~libsci/SLIS_Portfolio.pdf

Thirteen of the twenty-two students graduating this spring chose to complete a Portfolio instead of taking the Comprehensive Exam. By fall, this had increased to seventeen of twenty-one. Positive results indicate the likelihood that the School’s traditional “comps” will be phased out in the near future. Recent graduate Deborah Lazar said of her experience: “Pulling the work together is an affirmation of the work that you’ve done throughout the program, because you are seeing your work as a whole…I think it’s great, it’s not just bits and pieces and you realize oh my gosh I did something!”

Applicant Numbers Increase at SLIS

The SLIS Admissions Committee found itself examining the credentials of a significant
pool of extremely well-qualified applicants for the Fall 2003 semester. Most applicants had a grade point average well above 3.5, and an impressive percentage submitted cumulative GRE scores above 2000; others demonstrated great potential and a commitment to library and information science. We are delighted to have such a strong group of students, and hope that the influx of high-caliber applicants will continue.

More News

The School of Library and Information Science Newsletter is published annually by the School of Library and Information Science. If you have comments or suggestions, please email the editor at jane-bradbury@uiowa.edu

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