Mission, Goals and Objectives

The Mission of the School (2005)

The Indiana University School of Library and Information Science is committed to fostering excellence and innovation in the education of information professionals, the creation of new knowledge, and service to a diverse society in a dynamically changing global information environment.

To this end, it has adopted these statements to further define the mission:

To educate students, through library and information science courses, mentoring and field experiences, for fulfilling careers; professional leadership; lifelong learning; social responsibility; and technological mastery.

To contribute new knowledge and advance science through library and information science research, with a particular interest in user-centered approaches; social, behavioral, and technological perspectives; interdisciplinary collaboration; and the role of information in society.

To serve, in keeping with our responsibilities as professionals, our state and local constituencies; the library and information science profession; and society, by promoting universal information access.

To create a climate within the School that fosters intellectual engagement, openness and exploration, respect, support, and diversity.

To meet the challenge of a complex, changing and interconnected world through ongoing dialogue, scholarly communication, civic engagement, and self assessment.

Accomplished Goals (2001 — 2004)

In cooperation with SLIS at IUB, hosted a successful re-accreditation review and have received full re-accreditation for the MLS program in association with IUB through 2012.

Approved, established and now advertising new joint degree programs between the SLIS MLS and graduate certificates or degrees with SPEA, Law, Philanthropic Studies, and Medical Informatics. A dual masters with Medical Informatics is on track for approval by 2006.
Established and met with on a regular basis a master's program Advisory Council with members representing SLIS-Indianapolis Alumni and the library professions and employers in the state.
Approved joint governance document with SLIS at IUB, as well as promotion and tenure guidelines and annual review guidelines for salary decisions at SLIS-Indianapolis.
Hired ten full-time faculty, several involved in campus committee service for planning and evaluation, graduate academic affairs, affirmative action, public relations, civic engagement, and faculty governance.
Established training sessions for teaching improvement and distance education delivery for full-time and adjunct faculty.
Established a regular symposium series in cooperation with the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library to address literacy and philanthropic issues related to public library community service.
Established a regular delivery of graduate courses over interactive television and the Internet.

Doubled Annual Numbers - 2001 to 2005

Annual number of students taking classes per semester has increased from 250 to 340 (projected to 500 by 2008)
MLS degrees awarded from 67 to 111 (projected to 140 by 2008)
Number of courses delivered annually increased from 35 to 90
Number of courses delivered over interactive television or the Internet has increased from 2 to 18
Amount of dollars won for teaching, service, research, or fellowships has increased from $70,000 to $300,000
Student scholarship dollars received from competitive sources outside of SLIS have increased from $3,000 to $65,000 annually.
Percentage of minority students has increased from 2% of 250 to 6% of 340 (goal of 8% of 500 by 2008)
90% of graduates placed in Indiana libraries, a steady number not likely to change.

2006 — 2008 Revised Goals and Objectives

Based on SLIS-Indianapolis faculty input from a series of planning sessions in 2005 (Faculty noted are responsible for guiding actions to implement the objective and to establish outcome measures.)

I. Teaching and Learning

A. Encourage development of more online and field experience components within existing courses.

a. Double the number of courses that effectively use OnCourse or field experience activities between 2005 and 2007. (Ball, Tilley)
b. In cooperation with the IUPUI Center for Teaching and Learning, offer training sessions for full-time and adjunct faculty in methods for effective use of OnCourse applications and field experience options. (Ball, Tilley)

B. Infuse more technology applications to information services and management problem-solving across the curriculum. (Ball, Schilling)

a. Demonstrate options for wider technology applications to full-time and adjunct faculty. (Ball, Schilling, Tilley)

C. Integrate more leadership for civic engagement and public service issues as well as a philosophy of civic professionalism across the core curriculum, especially in management courses.

a. Establish civic engagement as a primary area for curriculum review. (Preer, Schilling)

D. Develop additional joint degree programs.

a. Explore potential collaborative academic relationships with other IUPUI units which do not have joint degree offerings with SLIS. (Applegate, Irwin)
b. Negotiate joint degree programs that will address a market need and further define a differentiated mission from SLIS-IUB (museum studies, educational leadership, higher education assessment, special need patrons). (Applegate, Irwin)
c. Promote current joint degree programs and increase enrollment from 10 to 40 students between 2005 and 2008. (Callison, Hollcraft, Preer, Schilling)

E. Establish a high quality, graduate level track for delivery of school library media certification online. (Callison, Lamb, Tilley)

a. Expand school library media course offerings nationwide and target an annual population of 50 new graduate students from public school teachers outside of Indiana by 2007. (Callison)

F. Explore the potential for selected SLIS courses to be taken by graduate students from other academic units at IUPUI (Education, Informatics, Science). Promote courses that add options to other programs and do not duplicate academic content. (Irwin)

a. Increase the number of credits taken by non-SLIS graduate students by 100% from 2005 to 2008. (Irwin)

G. Reach 7,000 graduate credits completed annually by students attending SLIS at Indianapolis by 2008 (double the total credits completed in 2001). (Callison, Hollcraft)

II. Civic Engagement

A. Establish a Civic Engagement Plan for IU SLIS-Indianapolis. (Preer, Schilling, Callison)

a. Provide information to SLIS faculty concerning IUPUI civic engagement activities and policies. (Preer)
b. Identify current and planned courses and activities that might be enhanced by greater infusion of civic engagement activities and philosophy. (Preer)
c. Reach agreement as to appropriate level and methods of civic engagement to be undertaken by SLIS-Indy and the appropriate support and rewards associated with such actions (promotion and tenure, annual salary review). (Callison, Preer)

B. Work within an IUPUI framework in cooperation with the School of Education to provide greater support of literacy programs in the Indianapolis Public Schools. (Irwin, Callison)

C. Continue collaborative public seminars with the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. (Preer)

D. Establish closer working relationships with the Indiana State Library. (Callison)

a. Promote quality public librarianship certification standards. (Callison)
b. Attract qualified professionals to service in directorships for small and rural libraries in Indiana. (Callison, Irwin)
c. Seek grant funding for special projects, including standards for digital library collections. (Callison, Ball)

. Scholarship and Research

Increase the total amount of grant applications from full-time SLIS-Indianapolis faculty from $300,000 dollars in 2004-2005 to $500,000 in 2007-2008. (Callison, Ball, Schilling, Applegate, Irwin)

Maintain the expectation that each tenure-track faculty member at SLIS-Indianapolis makes at least one refereed presentation and/or publishes at least one refereed scholarly article annually.

Establish regular informal meetings among faculty from SLIS-Indianapolis and other relevant researchers to identify common research interests and potential projects. (Ball)

Document SLIS-Indianapolis research interests and activities. (Ball)
entify and support research collaboration with other IUPUI units, community institutions, as well as agencies related to library and information science. (Ball, Callison)

Work with University Library faculty and other academic units and community organizations to establish research projects. (Applegate, Schilling)

Establish an inventory of research interests and potential projects. (Applegate)
ganize regular meetings between UL and SLIS-Indianapolis faculty to showcase research ideas and projects, especially to meet assessment needs of the University Library. (Applegate)
c. Establish a national conference on Health Information Literacy that involves planning and participation among faculty from SLIS-Indianapolis, UL, the IUPUI School of Nursing, and Medical Informatics. (Schilling)

Best Practices for Program Enhancement

Add to the diversity of the SLIS-Indianapolis (including distance receiving sites) student body. (Callison, Preer, Irwin)

Increase (by 2% to 5% or higher from 2005 to 2008) the portions of the student body that are classified in one or more of the following: male, out-of-state, international, physical disability, high scholarship potential. (Callison, Preer, Irwin, Hollcraft)

Promote diversity-related scholarships, professional opportunities and organizations. (Callison, Preer, Irwin, Hollcraft)

Add to the diversity of the SLIS-Indianapolis faculty. (Callison)

Seek additional qualified visiting and adjunct faculty from minority ethnic populations. (Callison, Hollcraft)

Conduct a campus-based Program Review starting with the professional accreditation self-study and report. (Applegate, Schilling)

Identify steps for a campus-based graduate-level professional program review. (Applegate, Schilling)
b. Gather and analyze relevant data. (Applegate, Schilling)
c. Present recommendations by 2007. (Applegate, Schilling)
d. Incorporate selected recommendations with SLIS Strategic Plan. (Callison)

D. SLIS-Indianapolis will investigate the implementation of e-portfolios to document and assess students' mastery of program learning outcomes. (Schilling, Applegate)

a. Explore the use of Sakai's e-portfolio software and other potential software to manage student portfolio documents. (Schilling)
b. Establish criteria and models for acceptable student e-portfolio products and involve SLIS-Indianapolis faculty in selection of examples of acceptable student products. (Schilling, Applegate)
c. Map progression of e-portfolio development in order to establish a system that will recognize levels of required student performance and exemplary student performance. (Schilling, Applegate)

E. Improve the methods and responses for advising students relevant to their program and career plans. (Tilley)

a. Discuss options with full-time faculty. (Tilley, Callison)
b. Reduce the frequency of student exit surveys that include comments concerning the lack of meaningful advising. (Callison)

F. Enhance student extra-curricular activities, including attendance and presentation at conferences, publications, and scholarship awards. (Irwin, Albee)

a. Increase the number of SLIS-Indianapolis students attending state or national conferences by 100% between 2005 and 2008. (Irwin, Albee)
b. Increase the number of SLIS-Indianapolis students presenting at state or national conferences by 100% between 2005 and 2008. (Irwin, Albee)
c. Increase the number of SLIS-Indianapolis students who submit manuscripts to state or national trade or research journals by 50% between 2005 and 2008. (Irwin, Callison)
d. Increase the amount of competitive scholarship dollars received by SLIS-Indianapolis students by 25% between 2005 and 2008. (Irwin, Applegate, Callison)

G. Establish a stronger engagement with SLIS-Indianapolis Alumni. (Irwin, Callison)

a. Develop a regular electronic newsletter. (Irwin)
b. Participate with SLIS-IUB in major Alumni activities, including reunions at conferences. (Irwin, Callison)

c. Increase Alumni involvement in Commencement, reunions, class presentations, Advisory Council, and supervision of interns. (Irwin, Callison)