Earliest History of Library Education

Education is so much important that it is considered as the foundation and backbone of any society. It plays a vital role in developing the traits of any society. Library education is the education for the professional career in the libraries. The word 'profession' comes with the synonymous terms of occupation, prolonged training and formal education.

The library education first started in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. The known first LIS students were from America who were being trained under the British apprenticeship system. But this limited student and specific method of training happens to be insufficient to provide the librarians with the formation of many new libraries in US and increase of the industrialization in 1800s. As a result, a new system for train up the librarian came in limelight.

Melvil Dewey; Source: wikiquote

Melvil Dewey was a pioneer in American Librarianship. After receiving his undergraduate degree he was hired by Amherst's library to reclassify its collection. After introducing Dewey Decimal Classification in Amherst library during his tenure. Later he was one of the founder of American Library Association (ALA) and became president in 1891 and 1893. In 1883 Dewey became the librarian of Columbia College and in the later years School of Library Economy was founded which is considered to be the first recognizable school in the history of library education. The proposal of this school was approved in 1884 and officially opened on 05 January 1887 with 20 students - 3 men and 17 women. The curricula contained training of three months and two year internship. Later, Melvil Dewey joined the New York State Library and the school was formally transferred over the issue of the presence of women in Columbia College and re-established in Albany as the New York State Library School in 1889. The vice-director of New York State Library School later added theoretical and cultural aspects of librarianship to form a business-focused curriculum.

1887-1888 class, School of Library Economy at Columbia University; source: American Libraries Magazine

By 1900s, three additional library schools were created after the success of the program. Those are: Pratt Institute, Drexel University, and Armour Institute. Each school had contributed to the librarianship field. Pratt introduced first specialization in Children librarianship, Drexel's director published the first major texts on reference materials and book selection, and Armour Institute which later became the Library School at the University of Illinois converted its program into a four-year bachelor degree. By 1919, there were 15 library programs mostly which awards five-year bachelor's of library science (BLS) degree after four-year long Baccalaureate. The MLS was only awarded at Albany. In 1926, first doctoral program introduced in University of Chicago. By 1950, most schools were offering MLS degree. In 1925, the Hampton Institute Library School was established which trained African-Americans. It was closed and reopened two years later at Atlanta University.

Charles C. Willams; Source: Wikipedia

The Carnegie Corporation played a vital role. Carnegie Corporation is a philanthropic fund to support education programs across the United States. Charles C. Williamson was the Director of the Columbia Universities and Dean of Columbia School of Library Service from 1926-1940. In 1919, Charles C. Williamson conducted a study for the Carnegie Corporation which is based on the training for library services. The project was known as "Williamson Report" and after completion of the project in 1921 it published in 1923 entitled "Training for Library Service." The focal point of this report was to clear the misconceptions regarding librarians and laying a foundation for Library Science to portray a picture how it should look like in the future. It also provided standards for what future librarians should be learning, thinking and theorizing about. In 1951, ALA Board of Education for Librarianship issued educational standard that required the graduate master's degree. In 1956, ALA Committee on Accreditation formed and these actions stopped other forms of library education beside graduate schools.

The 1950s-1960s library education gained popularity because of economic expansion, federal funding which creates more libraries and need of trained library professionals. By the 70s there were over seventy accredited programs in the US and Canada. But later by the 1999, the number of the programs had fallen to fifty-six.

References:

1. Rubin, R.E(2010). Foundations of library and information science. Fourth edition. New York: Neal-Schuman.
2. Butkowski, Grace (2016). History of LIS Education.
3. Nix, Larry T. (2012). Charles Williamson and His Report on Training for Library Service.