Gyankosh- The Journal of Library and Information Management
Year : 2010, Volume : 1, Issue : 1
First page : ( 97) Last page : ( 104)
Print ISSN : 2229-4023.

An Introduction to Library School Accreditation in North America and the American Library Association Office of Accreditation

Gomez Gabriel

Department of Library, Information & Media Studies, Chicago State University, USA

Abstract

The American Library Association (ALA) Office of Accreditation (OA) accredits library education programs in the US and Canada through a system based on standards. Programs seeking accreditation use these standards to evaluate themselves. Then this self-study, along with other reports and a visit from OA representatives, is used by the OA in a process that takes roughly two years. If successful, the program becomes inculcated with self-evaluating measures constitutive of its ability to educate librarians and information professional and the final result is also a credential others can accept as a sign of quality. Programs seeking initial accreditation must perform to the same standards but another set of steps and a longer period of time allow such programs to work toward accreditation.

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Keywords

American Library Association, Accreditation, Accreditation Standards.

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