July 5, 2005
For Immediate Release                                                          Page 1 of 1

LSIT Returns from Annual ALA Conference

Chicago, IL. – Members of the Department of Library Science and Instructional Technology (LSIT) recently returned from the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago held the last week of June.  Mr. Kevin Cherry, Dr. Susan Colaric, Ms. Bethann Fine, Dr. John Harer, Dr. Al Jones, Chair, Dr. Jami Jones, Dr. Diane Kester, Dr. Barbara Marson, Ms. Karen Mathis, Dr. Bill Sugar, and Dr. Larry White all attended the conference.

They participated in meetings related to applying for ALA accreditation for the three programs in LSIT.  The department received encouragement from ALA to put their programs forward for accreditation.  ALA accreditation is important to ECU’s LSIT programs since it will allow the department to offer library science tracks in academic and public librarianship in addition to the NCATE-approved track in school librarianship.  They will now move forward with a self study.  This study will be submitted to the ALA in early 2006 as the first step in a three-year process of precandidacy.  If accepted as a precandidate, LSIT will begin a three-year candidacy process.  If granted candidacy and initial accreditation, LSIT will begin a seven-year continual accreditation process.  “I heard such nice comments from colleagues about how strong ECU’s program in school librarianship is and has been over the years, and received encouragement for LSIT to strive for accreditation for library science tracks in academic and public librarianship and the programs in instructional technology”, said Dr. Al Jones, chair of the Department of Library Science and Instructional Technology.

Those attending the conference also went to meetings in their respective specializations: collection development, cataloging, library administration and management, reference, and school librarianship.

Dr. Al Jones was elected chair of the ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Round Table for 2005 to 2007.  And, Kevin Cherry was elected the North Carolina Library Association representative on the ALA Council, the deliberative body for ALA.

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For more information, contact Jessica W. Davenport, Director of Communications in the College of Education, 252-328-2179.