 The
Free Library of Philadelphia and the School of Information
Sciences will form a partnership supported by funding from
the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In
June 2007, the IMLS awarded the Library $999,980 to fund
25 students (over a two-year period) as they earn their
MLIS degrees via the FastTrack MLIS online education program. FastTrack
MLIS offers the ALA-accredited master’s degree program
through Web-based asynchronous delivery. Students
from more than 26 states have participated in the on-line
educational opportunity since its inception; in fact, in
2005, IMLS funded a similar partnership between the University
of the Virgin Islands and SIS.
The grant will be used to recruit and support 25 current
staff members at the Free Library as they earn their MLIS
degree. The staff members will be drawn from three different
applicant pools: full-time paraprofessional staff;
library interns; and part-time or seasonal staff. SIS
and the Free Library leadership will design a special program
of study that will focus on public librarianship, with
an emphasis on services to children and youth, in an urban
setting.
Project organizers hope that this program will do more
than just increase the number of minority librarians, specifically
youth librarians, working at the Free Library. Additional
goals of the program include increasing the number of current
and future library leaders and growing their leadership
skills through a mentoring program and active participation
in state and national professional organizations. At
the end of the grant period, it is to be hoped that the
project will have created a replicable model for an environment
that supports community based librarians that could be
adopted by other library systems, particularly those in
large urban areas.
This grant is part of the IMLS’s multi-million dollar
initiative, LAURA BUSH 21ST CENTURY LIBRARIAN PROGRAM to
help offset a shortage of professional librarians working
in underserved communities. The Institute’s
approach to creating the next generation of librarians
is to support a wide variety of initiatives including tuition
assistance, curriculum development, service expectations,
job placement, recruitment of non-traditional library students,
and support of doctoral candidates in the library sciences
field.
Pitt’s MLIS degree program is ranked seventh in
the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Students
are admitted to the FastTrack MLIS program as a cohort
that will move through the program together, allowing for
peer interactions and support similar to that found in
the on-campus program. Students will participate
through asynchronous course delivery, real-time conferencing
with other students and the faculty, and face-to-face learning
experiences throughout the time of study.
For more information about the FastTrack MLIS program,
please visit http://fasttrack.sis.pitt.edu/.
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