This paper presents a novel approach to designing an online, open-source course in systems librarianship, an area of librarianship that may be perceived as complex and intimidating because of the technologies involved. The course design focuses on making systems librarianship more approachable for library and information science students who may…

This article presents an overview of the popular rankings (US News and World Report, QS World Rankings) of U.S.-based library and information science (LIS) education programs and the shortcomings of each ranking. It calls for a new, more objective ranking of LIS programs that will more accurately assess quality and sustainability of these programs…

This review offers a critical analysis of the library and information science (LIS) literature on first-generation students (FGS) from the last 40 years. This literature demonstrates an interest in understanding the needs of FGS to serve them better, but it is often grounded in a deficit model of education that focuses on what first-generation…

This research explores faculty management of the tensions between academia and practice. Using a mixed methods design, it consists of three separate studies with a focus on Library and Information Science (LIS) faculty. Using an exploratory sequential design, the studies are intended to identify the ways faculty connect with practitioners, to…

The intellectual origins of information organization (IO) as a field of study are examined by tracing the use of the terms, "information organization", "knowledge organization", "bibliographic control", and their variants, and by surveying the educational texts dealing with the various component activities of IO,…

Health literacy supports individuals', families', and communities' health-care decisions. As mediators between health information seekers and medical literature, librarians are essential purveyors of health literacy. Users' trust in libraries as sources of reliable and current health information presupposes the appropriate training of librarians;…

Storytelling, as a practice and process, is a longstanding tool and non-textual pedagogy in the field of library and information science. Storytelling is also the topic of a graduate course taught for the past eleven years by the author as a tool for all forms of professional communication. This article explores the non-textual (and selected…

Very few formal studies have documented the errors committed in online searching performances, and none have focused exclusively on students in library and information science programs. To fill this gap, the authors conducted a content analysis of online searching errors of MLIS students based upon a coding scheme derived from previous error…

As makerspaces and hackerspaces pop up in libraries and museums, one little lab sits in the middle of an Information School, but it is not a maker-space, a gallery, or a museum. The MuseLab, at the Kent State School of Information, is something else, something new--or perhaps something familiar, but situated in a different context, making it less…

Increasingly, Library and Information Science (LIS) programs are offering study-abroad opportunities for students to have broader global classroom experiences to gain knowledge and exposure and to think beyond the confines of geographic boundaries. While study-abroad courses have long been a part of undergraduate and graduate education in North…

Using the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2018 statistical reports, this study reports the current diversity status of LIS students. The findings are as follows: (1) overall LIS graduates' diversity has improved from 6.79% to 17.47% over the past 30 years, and particularly, the increase in the number of Hispanic…

This article draws on the author's previous experiences of developing library strategies at three case study libraries between 2011 and 2016 across a range of different academic institution types: research-intensive, teaching-intensive, and scientific research. Adopting a reflection on practice methodology based on Gibbs' reflective cycle, the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of recognition of prior learning (RPL) as an alternative tool for access into learning programmes in South African Library and Information Science (LIS) schools. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted quantitative methods, and utilised questionnaires and document analysis to…

This demographic study contributes to scholarship on the recruitment of Blacks into the US LIS workforce by situating Black librarianship within broader population trends. The research combines historical LIS reports, Africana studies scholarship, and federal data to describe how long-term transitions in the overall US Black population influence…

Introduction. This study examines the research methods and techniques used in Spanish journals of library and information science, the topics addressed by papers in these journals and their authorship affiliation. Method. The researchers selected 580 papers published in the top seven Spanish LIS journals indexed in Web of Science and Scopus and…