Dr. Frank Lambert, MLS Program Coordinator with the precandidacy letter from ALA
Written by Holly Hebert
Middle Tennessee State University’s (MTSU) online Master of Library Science (MLS) Program continues to thrive in 2020. Two students, Cara Brown and Christy Schwab, were chosen as interns for the 2020 TLA Annual Conference, and although the conference was cancelled, they are invited to the conference in 2021. In June 2020 the MLS Program was granted precandidacy status by the Committee on Accreditation of the American Library Association (ALA).
This is an exciting first step forward towards ALA accreditation. Our summer 2020 enrollment grew by nearly 20% over summer 2019 semester with the program now having 47 students enrolled for summer 2020 semester. For Fall 2020, the MLS Program is expecting its largest influx of new students ever, with 23 new MLS students accepting admission. This will result in a nearly 100% increase in MLS Program registrations since the Fall 2015 semester when enrollment was at 36 students.
The MLS program, accredited by NCATE and CAEP eligible, currently has four tracks: the Master of Library Science; non-degree Library Media Specialist endorsement for those who already have a master’s degree and teacher’s license; non-degree Library Media Specialist for those who already have a master’s degree but need a teacher’s license; and, the Master of Library Science with initial teacher licensure. Several new courses were added this year: Public Libraries and Librarianship and the new core course, Information Technology for Information Professionals.
Other new courses that have been approved for design and delivery in the coming year include Academic Libraries and Librarianship, Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals, Library Services for Special Populations, and Advanced Metadata Management of Library Resources.
For more information, contact: Dr. Frank Lambert, frank.lambert@mtsu.edu
Holly Hebert MLIS, MSEd-OTL, is Assistant Professor, Master of Library Science Program, Middle Tennessee State University
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