- History. The School of Information and Library Science opened in 1931 as the School of Library Science with a Carnegie grant of $100,000. It was the fifth professional school established at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1932 the school received accreditation for its library science degree program by the American Library Association and this has been continuously accredited by that body since. In 1987 the name was changed to its present form. The school has offered a Master of Science in Library Science since 1951, a Master of Science in Information Science since 1992, a Ph.D. degree since 1977, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies since 1988. In 1998 the school began offering an undergraduate minor in Information Systems. The Master of Science in Information Science degree was accredited by the American Library Association in 1999. The University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
- Mission of the School. The School of Information and Library Science seeks to advance the profession and practice of librarianship and information science; to prepare students for careers in the field of library and information science; and to make significant contributions to the study of information. Faculty members further these goals by teaching and advisory work; by research and scholarly publication; and by service to the school, the university, the state, and the professional community.
- The Faculty and Its Mission. A faculty statement of identity and mission was adopted September 22, 1999. It states:
We are here to conduct inquiry devoted to information generation and use; to prepare reflective, adaptive information professionals for actin in the present and the future, and to transfer to them an uncompromising advocacy for knowledge.
We are, foremost, colleagues with multiple perspectives on information. We are behavioral and social scientists, archivists, librarians, consultants, information scientists, computer scientists, educators, counselors, bibliographers, scholars and researchers. Through these identities, we share a common mission, working to understand all aspects of information and librarianship. We study the values of information in human life, how people construct information as they learn and work, and how the creation, management, and use of information empowers individuals in organizations, communities and societies.
As information technology transforms us, we explore and shape its effects on individuals, organizations and cultures, guided by questions about the future of knowledge, the direction of practice, and the value of change. We educate professionals and researchers to learn, teach, and inquire using both traditional professional knowledge and innovative tools. We expect our students and ourselves to design and improve systems that deliver information to diverse users, to evolve with technology, and, in an era of change, to understand the relationships between human beings and knowledge.
As a faculty, our primary task is to help shape the expanding domain of information. In research, each of us works to discover new knowledge about information creation, dissemination, seeking, retrieval, and use, and to share that knowledge with our students and others. As educators, we are engaged by the challenges of integrating issues of theory and practice; assuring that themes of society, technology, and law are brought into the classroom; and assisting students to evaluate their experiences critically as they interact with information and other people.
We are constantly engaged in building and maintaining bridges of communication with our students, each other, and our colleagues in other disciplines, here and abroad. Among the expanding information professions, we strive to promote a collective conversation for mutual learning, toward understanding the scope of our discipline and its applications in practice. We nurture a curriculum that promotes the traditional values of service and scholarship while interpreting those values in the face of social, cultural, and technological transformations. As leaders in research and the applications of technology, we define and redefine these changes without sacrificing our rich continuities with the past.
- Amendment Procedure. The school's bylaws comprise Chapters I and II of the Bylaws, Procedures and Policies of the School of Information and Library Science hereafter referred to as the Bylaws. They are to be reviewed annually by the dean and revised to comply with any changes in university governance and with changes within the school occurring as a result of formal action by the faculty during the preceding year or changes in policy issued by the dean. It is the responsibility of the dean to assure that an updated copy of the Bylaws incorporating all changes that have taken place the previous year is made available to the faculty at the beginning of each academic year. The changes that are made will be indicated on the new version.
The policies and procedures of the school are reproduced in Chapters III through VII of the Bylaws. They are automatically amended to comply with any changes in university policies and procedures, and for changes in such policies and procedures initiated by the dean or by formal action of the university. It is the responsibility of the dean to keep these policies and procedures up-to-date. Policy changes initiated by the dean or mandated by the university are to be distributed to the faculty in written form and presented at a faculty meeting before becoming school policy and being incorporated in the Bylaws.
Feb. 20, 2000