University Times

The committee on accreditation of the American Library Association (ALA) announced recently that Pitt’s Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at the School of Information Sciences received continued accreditation which will be in effect until 2013.

The ALA, which has been accrediting intuitions of higher education since 1924, accredits 61 programs at 56 institutions in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Following an appraisal of the submitted materials, an external review committee makes a site visit and prepares an evaluation of the program, assessing its ability to meet the 1992 “Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies.”

According to ALA, “accreditation indicates that a program demonstrates a commitment to quality and that the program seeks to continue that commitment.”

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“This continued accreditation recognizes the academic excellence – and reinforces the national reputation – of our MLIS degree program,” said Ronald L. Larsen, dean of the School of Information Sciences. “This process is instrumental in providing a quality educational experience for students. It requires us to critically examine our own program to ensure that we’re meeting our missions and goals. It also provides us with an objective external review of program policies and particulars. So, in addition to our own evaluation processes which are undertaken on a regular basis, we now have an opportunity to measure the successes of the MLIS degree program on a national level.”