Plan for Self-Study - 1 of 7

Plan for the Self-Study

[School]

[Institution]

[Date]

Explanation of process

This Plan for the Self-Studyis the result of collaboration by all faculty members, the director, and the administrative staff.

An Accreditation Advisory Committee has been established to guide the development of the Self-Study. The Accreditation Advisory Committee is made up of the following members:

  • Faculty:Name (Director), Name, Name,Name, Name, Name, Name, (Chair of Mission, Goals, and Objectives Committee), [Name], and [Name]
  • Staff:Name, Name, Name, Name
  • Advisor employers: Director of Local Public Library,Name; Title, Name;
  • Dean of the University Libraries, Name
  • President of the Alumni Association: Name
  • President of the Library Student Organization: Name

A Working Committee will report to the Accreditation Advisory Committee. The Working Committee is made up of the director of the School, the ten other full-time faculty, the administrative staff of six, and a doctoral student dedicated 50% time to thetask. Each standard has been assigned to two or more full-time faculty, a staff member and a student for the development and editing of the relevant section of the final document. The chair is a tenured faculty member. The assignments are as follows:

Standard I: Systematic Planning

Name (Chair, Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Staff), Name (Student)

Standard II: Curriculum

Name (Chair, Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Staff), Name (Student)

Standard III: Faculty

Name (Director), Name (Chair, Faculty),Name (Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Student),

Standard IV: Students

Name (Chair, Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Faculty), Name (Staff), Name (Staff), Name (Staff), Name (Student)

Standard V: Administration, Finances, and Resources

Name (Director), Name (Staff),Name (Chair), Name (Student), Name (Student)

The director and staff will coordinate the gathering of documentation and will write the first draft of the document.

The School is an administrative unit in the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of X,[Name] is the Dean of the School and will be regularly briefed on the process.

Special areas of emphasis

While responsive change in curriculum, procedures, and facilities is a constant at the School, there have been several major developments since our last accreditation review. The first is the development of a Certificate program in [XYZ]that has a strong synergistic relationship with the master’s program. Student and community demand for courses in management studies initially lead to the addition of several new courses in the field and then to an advising document to help students develop a concentration in management.

Five of the eleven full-time faculty members have been appointed since the previous review. The advertising of each position was based on an assessment of the needs of the Master’s program, with a major in [ABC] program, and we were fortunate in our hiring. The present faculty complement is larger and more diverse in both background and expertise than it was in 2005. This substantial change in the faculty was the result of a strategic plan developed in cooperation with the university administration in 2006 to make the School more financially stable and to provide mechanisms for growth.

The directorship of the school has changed since the last review. [Name] stepped down as director in late 2008. [Name] served as acting director until [Name] took over in October 2009. Since [Name] joined the faculty as director, there has been a series of planning and review initiatives including a Self-study for an Academic Program Review that began in Fall 2010 and was completed in Spring of 2011. A faculty and staff retreat was held in February 2011. This meeting led to a review of the Mission, Goals and Objectives and the development of a draft revision in March 2011. This revision was used to help structure a Strategic Planning meeting on September 18, 2011. The planning session included library leaders from across the state, faculty, staff, alumni, current students, a dean of another LIS school, and commercial organizations that regularly hire students from ALA accredited LIS programs. [Name], who has substantial experience with ALA accreditation, served as an outside facilitator for the session. The results of this session are currently being used to review the School’s mission statement, goals and objectives, as is indicated in the following time-line.

Overall, the self-study will focus on significant changes that have occurred since the last accreditation review and on any anticipated changes that may be identified in the process of preparing for the upcoming review.

Timeline

Planning is an ongoing process and not limited to a flurry of activity prior to the ALA accreditation visit. Also, ALA is not the only organization to conduct an accreditation review of the school’s master’s program and other programs within the school. There is a yearly review by the University and an external review every five years for University accreditation, so we have included reference to the regional accrediting body, [Name]. The following timeline includes reference to these major planning and development activities but highlights those activities specifically aimed at generating documents for ALA.

  • The faculty and administrative staff had a day-long retreat on Sep 18, 2011. With the help of a facilitator, the group crafted a vision statement that will be the basis for a review of the School’s mission statement and goals and objectives at the spring retreat.
  • The Plan and the Self-Study have been on the agenda of the monthly faculty-staff meetings since September 2010.
  • A day-long faculty-staff retreat was help on February 2011 to consider strategic initiatives. The meeting included faculty, staff, student representatives, the head of the university library and staff from partner departments including law where we have a joint program. On April 22, 2011, the Working Committee will report to the School Council, of which the Accreditation Advisory Committee is essentially a sub-committee, at the Spring Council meeting.
  • In March and April 2011 a committee reviewed the mission, goals and objectives of the school and presented these to the faculty in May. We agreed to use this draft to guide discussion in the September 2011 Strategic planning retreat. Committee members included the director, the assistant director (staff), a faculty member and a student.
  • In the early October all faculty selected preferences for work on the ALA standards and were assigned as reported above along with staff and students.
  • The [XYZ] certificate program advisory board meets twice a year to plan curriculum, mentoring, skills requirements, and fund raising. Nearly all faculty and staff as well as several students participated in the last day-long meeting on October 14.ALA accreditation was a topic since many of the master’s students take these classes.
  • The national scholarship advisory board meets twice a year to advise on curriculum, mentoring, grant writing, fund raising and other efforts. The next meeting will be held on November 3-4, 2011.
  • On October 5, 2011 we held an ALA accreditation planning meeting with faculty, staff and students. There we agreed on logistics for writing including the development of a environment for document sharing, forums and other tools. This site was established a week later.

Through the fall 2010 and spring of 2011 all web sites were ported to a common framework. The port was completed in May 2011. A staff member and two students are working on web. The site will provide all of the accreditation documents as they are developed, other than those that must be confidential.

Future plans leading to the submission of the Self-Study:

  • The Working Committee will meet monthly; subcommittees will meet as needed; documentary evidence will be compiled throughout the process
  • Dec 15, 2011 – Draft of individual chapters due to Working Committee for review and feedback; second drafts written as needed
  • Apr 15, 2012 – Final draft of individual chapters for review by Advisory Board; final document sent to editor
  • May 15, 2012 - Editor submits final Draft Self-Study to Accreditation Advisory Committee
  • Jun 15, 2012 - Draft Self-Study due to ERP Chair and Office for Accreditation
  • Jul 1, 2012 - Director has conference call with ERP chair and Karen O'Brien to review draft Self-Study
  • Jul 8, 2012 - Conference call notes reviewed by Working Committee; feedback on individual standard chapters to appropriate subcommittees
  • Jul 22, 2012 - Final chapters reviewed by Working Committee, submitted to editor
  • Aug 12, 2012 - Editor sends final Self-Study to Working Committee and Accreditation Advisory Committee for approval
  • Aug 19, 2012 - final Self-Study sent to printer; organization and completeness of electronic documents verified
  • Sep 1, 2012 - Final Self-Study shipped to ERP members and the Office for Accreditation for receipt by Sep 6.

Layout of the Self-Study

The Self-Study will follow the [year]Standards. The document will be submitted in print format and will also be available in electronic format. The style of our previous accreditation document will be followed with the update to the new standards.

Documentation

All of the documents that will be used as evidence in the Self-Study will be available electronically. Most, with the exception of sample course materials and confidential materials, will be provided as appendices to the Self-Study. The non-confidential material of public interest will be available on the web site.

Much of the information needed for the Self-Study is readily available as a result of the ongoing reporting practices of the School. The narrative and statistical reports submitted to COA and the annual School reports submitted to the Dean are the primary source of evidence. The annual exit survey of students one year after graduation, which includes questions about the effectiveness of the curriculum and retrospective evaluation of the program, is also an important source of data. Reports from the School in the Newsletter record highlights of each year. Minutes of the Curriculum Committee, Policy Committee, Scholarship Committee and other committees, and of the School faculty retreats are evidence of ongoing review and decision making. Many of the sources of evidence listed in Section II.6.4 of Accreditation Process, Policies, and Procedures will be provided for each of the Standards. Other specific sources of evidence are listed under each of the standards below.

Sources of Evidence

I.1The program’s mission and goals…

  • Terms of reference and membership of the School Council, which is the body that must approve public statements of principles and policies, including the mission statement
  • Course objectives mapped to program goals and objectives
  • …

Elements of systemic planning include:

I.1.1 Continuous review…

  • Schedule of meetings
  • Report of the retreat in September 2011 that developed the vision statement
  • Report of the retreat in February 2012 to review the mission, goals, and objectives
  • The 2010 Strategic Plan of the School mapped to the College and Institution
  • The Academic Program Review conducted within the University in April 2011

I.1.2Assessment of attainment of program goals…

  • Syllabus management software provides linking to the education outcomes criteria and a separate section of the syllabus forms so that criteria can be expressed explicitly
  • …

Etc.

Vision, Mission,Goals, and Objectives

The program resides is an academic department and a professional school in the School of… at the University of X, the state of X’s only public land grant university. The Library and Information Science disciplines (LIS) and interdisciplinary perspectives relevant to knowledge and information resources comprise the intellectual foundations of the school.

The School’sVision Statement

Through research, education, and service, the School leads in the interdisciplinary understanding, interpretation, creation, and use of emerging knowledge and information.

Mission

  • To educate a diverse cadre of students who have the foundational knowledge and the competencies for developing throughout their careers, into leaders in libraries, archives, museums and other information environments.
  • To advance understanding and innovation through research and development on the creation, organization, management, access and use of knowledge and information resources.
  • To serve the community through active participation in projects to improve the contribution of information to society.

Goals

Goal 1: Master’s education for the library and information professions

To provide education for the library and information profession focusing on services and technologies for the creation, organization, management, access and use of knowledge and information resources in libraries and other information settings and environments.

Objective 1-1

The curriculum provides students with foundational, core and specialized knowledge related to services and technologies for the creation, organization, management, access and use of knowledge and information resources in the current and emerging information environment of the 21st Century.

Objective 1-2

By the end of theirprogram, students will demonstrate the following competencies/learning outcomes:

  1. an understanding of how diversity affects the library and information professions;
  2. the basic concepts, terminology, literature, and issues related to the creation, organization, management, access and use of knowledge and information;
  3. current information and communication technologies and related technological developments and their effects on resources and services in libraries, information centers, and other settings;
  4. theories of library and information science and an ability to apply them to practical problems;
  5. principles involved in organization and representation of information;
  6. the nature of research, research methods, and research findings and an appreciation of the significant role of research in library and information science;
  7. the values and service orientation of the library and information professions;
  8. types of information professions and information provision settings and roles of library and information professionals;
  9. ethical issues in library and information professions and settings;
  10. selection and evaluation of information resources;
  11. the planning, management, and evaluation of information services; and
  12. partnerships and alliances and their role in information provision.

Objective 1-3

Graduates will show accomplishment and leadership in library and information work settings and in the library and information professions as their careers unfold.

Objective 1-4

The School will recruit and retain faculty, both full-time and part-time, in sufficient numbers and with relevant expertise to support the achievement of the goals and objectives of the curriculum, including student achievement of learning outcomes.

Goal 2: Creation of New Knowledge in the Library and Information Fields

Faculty conduct original scholarly inquiry and research relating to the creation, organization, management, access and use of knowledge and information resources in a multitude of settings and cultural communities. Through the dissemination of these results in the library and information communities, other relevant communities, and society at large, faculty foster dialogue about important professional and societal issues relevant to the knowledge and information environment.

Objective 2-1

Faculty hired on tenure track will be tenure-capable and will be supported in their efforts to achieve tenure.

Objective 2-2

Faculty disseminate the results of their work through presentations and publications in venues and locales appropriate to their research and scholarly goals and objectives.

Objective 2-3

Faculty activity fosters dialog about professional and society issues relevant to the knowledge and information environment.

Goal 3: Diversity Woven Throughout the Fabric of [the School]

Strive to weave diverse perspectives into the fabric of all its activities by achieving diversity in its student body, faculty and staff and integrating diverse perspectives on library and information issues into its curriculum, research and outreach activities.

Objective 3-1

The ScholarshipProgram for recruiting and mentoring Latino and Native American students is institutionalized.

Objective 3-2

Diverse perspectives, including diverse multi-cultural and multi-ethnic perspectives, are represented in the curricular offerings.

Objective 3-3

Strive to achieve diversity in its student body.

Objective 3-4

Strive to achieve diversity in its faculty, both full-time and part-time, and in its staff.

Goal 4: Service, Outreach and Community

Act as a catalyst for enhancing knowledge and information resources, technologies and services in the state, the region, and the nation, through connections and interactions with the library and information professional communities, with employers in library and other information-based settings, and with other disciplines and constituencies interested in knowledge and information issues in a changing society.

Objective 4-1

Develop and maintain connections and collaborations with local, state and national library and information professional communities.

Objective 4-2

Maintain communication with employers of library and information professionals in the state.

Objective 4-3

The faculty develop connections and collaborations with other disciplines and constituencies interested in knowledge and information issues in a changing society.

Goal 5: Networked Digital Knowledge and Information in a Changing Society

Faculty and students develop evolving understanding of the creation, distribution, organization, management and use of digital networked knowledge and information resources and the professional, cultural, and societal issues arising in the changing technological and global environment.

Objective 5-1

Knowledge and information resources, as the focus of curriculum, include digital networked knowledge and information and the services and technologies for its creation, management and use.

Objective 5-2

The curriculum includes coverage of issues facing library and information professionals, diverse communities, and society as a whole in the emerging digital information environment.

Objective 5-3

Teaching, research and service encompass professional, cultural, and societal issues arising in the changing technological and global environment.