Today: Mar 29, 2024

Library science accredited this year

Sofia RositaniEditor-In-Chief

Sarah SheltonFeatures Editor

Library and Information Science was recently accredited this year after losing its accreditation for both the undergraduate and graduate programs.  

“We are offering 36 credits. This means 12 courses. Six courses are required and then six electives,” Chairperson of Library and Information Science, Hak Joon Kim said.  

He added that students also have to do a capstone. There are other programs within the Library and Information Science which are School Library Media Specialist, Graduate Certificate – Cross Endorsement and School Library Media Specialist, Graduate Certificate – Initial Certification. 

Emily Raymond is a Graduate Assistant for the department who graduated from UConn with an English degree and has been working at the university’s bookstore for quite some time. 

“I’ve known Southern had a library science program for a long time,” Raymond said. “I grew up in Connecticut and it was mentioned to me all the time like ‘oh, if you want to become a librarian, Southern has a program.’ I learned about this new specific one, the accredited program, from one of the professors. He and I were talking one day because I work on campus and we ran into each other and I was like ‘oh you’re working in the library program, too bad it’s not accredited, and he said ‘oh, it will be’ and that was a few years before I applied, but it put the bug in my ear that this was an option.” 

Even though she already graduated with a different degree, Raymond said she decided to become a part of the library science program to follow her dream of being a librarian. 

“I’ve worked at Southern for several years, and I’ve known I’ve wanted to become a librarian for probably the same amount of time and I did not want to apply to the program until I knew it was accredited,” Raymond said. “I knew I should put in my application and start this part of my life because being a librarian is what I want to do and Southern is going to be the most cost-effective option for me, URI (University of Rhode Island) is expensive and Simmons is expensive, and having a completely online program that I can do full time while working full time is really important. I was so happy when they got the accreditation because I didn’t have to go to URI.” 

The undergraduate degree is one of 63 in the world that are accredited, according to the American Library Association. 

Biochemistry major Matt Berry, a senior, said that he had no idea that the Library and Information Science degree became accredited. 

“I think it’s good for people who chose to go into that field, now they have that chance to make it official,” Berry said. 

Berry said he would not go into that field for library purposes, but since he is a science major he may be interested in taking some of those classes that go in that direction. 

“It’s a completely online degree, so I have to take 36 credits. 6 courses are required for the degree and the rest are electives,” Raymond said. “I had to take “Fundamentals of Library Science,” an Information technology course, a management course, a cataloging course, and user services and reference. I also had to take an internship, which I did this summer here at Southern.” 

For this internship, Raymond spent a lot of her time in Buley Library in their special collections department helping set up an exhibition for the New Haven mayoral archive that is going to come out this fall. She also worked in the New Haven mayoral archive organizing the papers. 

“I love the faculty,” Raymond said. “The faculty of the Library Science Department here at Southern are fantastic, and I’ve had really good conversations with all of them about what the jobs are like, how the courses work, and honestly, the internship was an amazing experience. I interned with Patrick Crowley, a librarian in the library here at Southern and he was an amazing mentor.” 

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