Are iSchools’ more adaptable than library schools?: Analysis of lis student engagement in programmatic changes and improvements

The iSchools organization and its 65 member schools frequently reference their roles and responsibilities as leaders in information education. With the iSchools’ commitment to advance the information field (iField) through collaborative academic and research endeavors, it would logically follow that individual iSchool constituents are engaged in promoting improvements to their own educational programs, thus strengthening the future of the iField. This poster examines how iSchools and non-iSchools engage their master’s student constituents in implementing programmatic changes and improvements to their library and information science (LIS) degree program(s). The results of a content analysis of 15 American Library Association (ALA) accreditation self-study documents were compared based on iSchool membership status to determine whether iSchools were more likely to implement programmatic changes and improvements based on student engagement than non-iSchools. Our results revealed little difference between how iSchools and non-iSchools use LIS student engagement to implement programmatic changes and improvements