School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta


The School of Library and Information Studies is situated at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and is part of the . The School offers a Master’s program in Library and Information Studies that is accredited by the American Library Association, as well as combined programs with a Master of Arts in Digital Humanities and a Master of Business Administration. SLIS offers an Individual Interdisciplinary PhD opportunity in conjunction with other University of Alberta departments that serve as home units for PhD programs. The School also offers the only fully online MLIS in Canada and is the only ALA accredited school on the Canadian prairies.

https://www.ualberta.ca/school-of-library-and-information-studies/about-us/slis-mission-statement Mission Statement

The School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta envisions a society which honours institutions that foster individual opportunity to engage with the world of imagination, information, and ideas for learning, citizenship, and connecting communities. Their mission is to develop reflective and inquiring library and information leaders through learner-centric teaching, scholarship, and community partnerships for the benefit of society. SLIS aims to honour values such as integrity, diversity, respect, fairness, curiosity, accountability, pride, and excellence in each of its endeavours.

History

After World War II, with the economy recovering, demand for both libraries and knowledgeable library professionals greatly increased and the need for more widely available library education began to increase within library associations across the prairies. In 1965 the University of Alberta Board of Governors at last decided to create a library school at its Edmonton Campus. The plan for the new School of Library Science was completed in 1966, and the first students began the Bachelor of Library Science program in 1968.
The first program that was offered by the School of Library Science was the BLS. This program began with an intense 4-week orientation, which included a road trip across the prairies to visit different libraries in Canada. This program was granted accreditation by the American Library Association in 1970. This Accreditation was also granted to the first graduating class, which graduated the year before. The Master of Library Science was added to the programs offered in 1971 as a one-year degree designed to be completed after the BLS. In 1974 this program was updated to become a 2-year MLS program in order to maintain the standards which had been set for library education across Canada. In 1975 the School changed its title to become the Faculty of Library Science. One year later, the BLS was removed in 1976. Twelve years later the Faculty of Library Science changed its name again to the Faculty of Library and Information Studies, offering the current Master of Library and Information Studies degree that we see today. In 1992 the Faculty of Library and Information Studies was placed within the Faculty of Education, and renamed as the School of Library and Information Studies. In 2003, the joint MA-MLIS Degree was introduced. More recently, the School introduced the first Canadian completely online MLIS offering in 2013 and the combined MBA-MLIS in 2014. In 2015, SLIS welcomed the inaugural Indigenous Internship Program sponsored by the University of Alberta Libraries. The School celebrated its 50th Anniversary and 5th year of its fully online teaching and learning stream in 2018. The School has maintained its ALA Accreditation since 1970 and continuing through to today.

Programs

MLIS

The School has both online and on campus course-based MLIS offerings. Effective July 1, 2019 the MLIS consists of 39 credits. The School also has an on campus thesis-based MLIS offering. MLIS).

Combined Programs

The School has an individual interdisciplinary Ph.D. opportunity for which another department on campus serves as the home department.

Experiential Learning

SLIS offers LIS 590 Practicum each Fall and Spring. Students are able to pursue placements locally, nationally and internationally.
Partners’ Week is a volunteer program that connects students with LIS professionals in Edmonton, to discover more about work environments, different types of employment and issues facing librarians in the workplace.
The U of A also offers numerous networking events throughout the year including the annual student-run Forum for Information Professionals conference, career talks, and research colloquiums.
SLIS has a with a complete overview of student professional development activities at the school.

Research

Research conducted by professors and students at SLIS is highly valued and encouraged. The school fosters an interest in diverse topics in library and information studies and encourages their students and faculty to explore any area of interest. Current areas of research that faculty are engaged with include: critical approaches in LIS; digital libraries; expressive freedom; human computer interaction; human information interaction; information ethics, retrieval, and sharing; interactive information retrieval; knowledge management; learning and data analytics; online communities; open education practices and resources; open source software; platforms, publishing, media, and LIS; rural broadband; social informatics; telecommunications policy; and web archiving. The annual is another event where students are able to showcase their research projects and share them with other information professionals in this student-run one-day conference.

Student Groups

The represents all alumni of the SLIS program, alongside graduates of the previous Bachelor of Library Science degree.