A new initiative at the School of Information Studies (iSchool) offers an enriched graduate education experience to students who want to become leaders in librarianship and develop skills that are applicable to a wide range of 21st-century careers that are redefining what it means to be a librarian.
The Expect More Scholarship program will offer graduate students in library science an enriched experience.
“The Expect More Scholarship program is designed to provide promising students with all the graduate education experiences that will lead directly to career success,” says Jeff Stanton, interim dean at the iSchool.
The program offers one-on-one pairing of students with iSchool library faculty, experts who are some of the profession’s most compelling and innovative educators; two years of applied, pertinent work/research experience; industry networking and professional development opportunities; and significant scholarship and financial support.
A select group of students in the entering class of Summer/Fall 2015 master’s in library and information science degree program will become the inaugural Expect More Library Scholars.
Shaping Innovation
This program is designed “to provide students with the opportunity to work with expert library educators who are leading and shaping innovations that are refocusing libraries—and librarians—in the 21st century,” says R. David Lankes, professor and Dean’s Scholar for New Librarianship at the iSchool, and one of the library profession’s leading thinkers, noted speakers and innovative voices in the field today.
He noted how the program’s structure comprises a unique educational experience that goes well beyond classroom learning alone. “What we’re talking about is involvement with active faculty who are creating the future of the field, and we’re inviting our students to join us,” Lankes explains. “This is a way of building a really close relationship with people who are changing the field, and students are going to be part of that change from day one. It follows a similar strategy to a doctoral program, very much the idea of really building a network of outstanding librarians and library educators with people who are out there changing the field. We have people here doing brilliant work in many areas, and our faculty are preparing better librarians for better libraries.”
The program features:
“The ‘Expect More’ program is intended for students from a wide range of interests and who are interested in a wide range of careers in business, government, communities and academia,” says Lankes. In addition to the library degree itself, the iSchool offers a diverse set of graduate certificates—such as the Certificate of Advanced Study in Data Science—that can help library professionals address the professional challenges they will face in the field.
World Tour
R, David Lankes
The iSchool’s “Expect More” initiative also includes efforts to raise awareness of the paradigm shift underway in library education, the librarian profession, the in-library environment and the way libraries fit into their communities today through an “Expect More” World Tour, featuring Lankes as a keynote speaker.
As a noted author of three books that describe the “new librarianship” model, Lankes will address how libraries will become models of innovation for their communities and how librarians can lead that charge. The 2015 speaking tour will include events both in the United States and around the world.
Lankes’ “Expect More World Tour” begins at the mid-winter meeting of the American Library Association in Chicago on Feb. 2, where he will speak on the topic “Radical Conversations.” Other dates include the Tech Logic Showcase (Miami, March 20); the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Conference (July 2, in Liverpool, England); then will travel to Italy; New Zealand (Nov. 7-11, at the Library and Information Association of New Zealand); then on to Australia.
The focus of these talks will be on how libraries and the field of librarianship are shifting focus from collections and buildings to communities and civic empowerment, and with this shift is coming more hopeful and confident narratives around libraries and librarians.
“In our cities, our schools, our universities, our hospitals and our businesses, libraries are essential and can be so much more than what communities expect of them,” says Lankes. “Where once we looked to libraries to warehouse materials, we now look to them to help forward community aspirations through knowledge and learning.”
