Program Mission
The SLM Program is guided both by the mission of the College and by its own mission statement. The College’s mission and vision statements affirm that:

Mission

The iSchool engages in collaborative, interdisciplinary, and innovative research, teaching and service. We educate information professionals and scholars; and we create knowledge, systems and processes to promote the management and use of information.

Vision

The College of Information Studies - Maryland's iSchool - transforms the way individuals, organizations, and communities connect with information.

The mission statement highlights College's focus on the preparation of graduates who have a deep understanding of the concepts, issues, and practices of the information age. In keeping with the College's belief in preparing leaders for a variety of information professions, the SLM Program grounds students in information studies as the foundational knowledge base of the program.

The mission statement for the SLM Program expands upon the College's mission statement to deal specifically with information issues related to the library media specialist's role in learning and teaching:

The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. This mission is accomplished:

• By providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats
• By providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas
• By working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of individual students.

Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning
(AASL and AECT, 1998), p. 6

The SLM Program mission statement was taken directly from the mission statement for the latest national guidelines and standards for school library media programs — Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning — published in 1998 by the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. By adopting the mission endorsed by the two organizations that represent the school library media field nationally, the SLM Program ensures that its theoretical framework and philosophy are consistent with the latest and most advanced national statements regarding the profession.

Program Goals
The goals of the SLM Program are derived from the mission statements noted above. Designed to provide a solid grounding in the theories and concepts of the field and extensive practical experiences that allow students to put those theories and concepts into practice, the program addresses the following goals:

• To provide students with a theoretical and research-based foundation in the historical and contemporary issues influencing the development of the field of information studies and of the school library media field.
• To help students develop the understanding and skills necessary to fulfill the four roles of the contemporary School Library Media Specialist — teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator.
• To prepare students to be (1) effective members of the instructional team who work with teachers and others to integrate information literacy throughout the curriculum and (2) leaders in using technology to enhance learning.
• To help students master the most advanced thinking about learning theory, pedagogy, information access and delivery, educational and information-studies research, and concepts and techniques of program management.
• To provide rich field-based experiences that will enable students to apply theoretical understandings to practical settings.
• To foster among students professional attitudes, a commitment to the ethics of the school library media profession, and a dedication to becoming engaged and active leaders in creating and sustaining the learning community of the school.

The Curriculum
The curriculum is aligned with Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, the current national standards for school library media programs. It includes a focus on the key concepts in those standards: the four roles of the contemporary School Library Media Specialist and the nine Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning (ILSSL). The roles describe the full range of responsibilities of the Library Media Specialist, and the standards and their accompanying indicators describe the full range of learning outcomes associated with information literacy. By using Information Power as a key organizing element, the program steeps students in the philosophy of the field, including the use of standards to foster student achievement.

Students have the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art technology in a variety of their courses. Several courses directly address the use of technology for information access and retrieval, and others directly address it for learning and teaching. In addition, students are exposed to the use of the latest technology through topics in a variety of other courses and through the modeling of faculty who use such technology in their own instruction. Several faculty use Blackboard to enhance their course delivery, while others use dedicated facilities on the University campus as ongoing parts of their instruction. For example, faculty regularly use Internet connections in our "regular" classrooms, teach in specially equipped "technology classrooms" in the College and in other campus buildings, and conduct classes in fully networked "teaching theaters" that allow students to use some of the latest advances in technology.

Class work includes a variety of approaches ­­— lecture, small-group, individual study, technology-enhanced, etc. — that model current pedagogical "best practices" as well as facilitate students' learning. Practical experiences take a variety of formats, such as guest lectures by practicing library media specialists and structured observations of library media programs. The "practice" component of the program culminates in a fieldwork experience, which engages students actively in all the roles of the library media specialist described in Information Power.

The fieldwork course provides students with an extended clinical internship. Students complete a total of 180 hours in at least two schools in at least two school districts. Students work under the direct supervision of a faculty supervisor and a selection of cooperating library media specialists who serve as clinical faculty. As part of this internship, students are required to participate substantively in the conduct of the ongoing library media program at the sites, to write reflective pieces on their experiences, and to engage in regular discussion with faculty and others to ensure that they are learning the concepts and skills they will use as professional library media specialists. Students enroll in the practicum for one semester near the end of their studies but may extend the placements over two semesters. Because the experience requires extensive planning and a substantial commitment of time, each student is encouraged to meet with the faculty supervisor early in the SLM Program to begin making plans.

Program Admission and Graduation Requirements
To be accepted at the College of Information Studies, SLM Program applicants must meet the requirements of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland as well as the requirements of the College. An applicant must have an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited college or university and an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or above. As part of the application process, each applicant must also submit three letters of recommendation, a current resume, and a 500-word essay describing his or her reasons for seeking the degree.

Applicants with GPAs under 3.25 must submit acceptable scores from the Graduate Records Examination or a similar test (e.g., Miller’s Analogies). On GRE tests taken before October 2002, an applicant must have a combined score of at least 1000 on any two of the Verbal, Quantitative, or Analytic tests. On tests taken since October 2002, an applicant must have a combined score of at least 1000 on the Verbal and Quantitative tests. Recent scores are preferred. The GRE requirement is waived for applicants who have already earned other graduate degrees and who have strong graduate-school GPAs.

In general, applicants who meet or exceed these requirements are admitted automatically. The records of applicants who fall slightly short of the formal requirements or for some other reason require particular attention are reviewed by the Master's Program Commmittee and the Director of Student Services. This committee makes the final determination on admission in such cases.

To graduate with an M.L.S., a student must complete 36 credit hours with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. A student cannot graduate with a "C" in any core course and must repeat the course to earn a satisfactory grade. Students have five years to complete the program.

To graduate with a specialization in school library media, a student must successfully complete the four core courses (including one devoted to school library media); six advanced courses of the seven stipulated in the program; and two electives that are related to the school library media field. In addition, SLM Program students who do not have teaching backgrounds must take additional course work outside the program — three credits in learning theory and three credits in classroom techniques. These courses may be at the graduate or undergraduate level and do not count toward the requirements of the program itself. However, the College will not recommend students for certification without teaching backgrounds or this additional course work. Each student has a faculty adviser, and every student’s program — including approval of additional courses as necessary — is personally supervised by that adviser.

A pdf directory of institutions and their course offerings in learning theory and classroom methods can be found here .

Course Requirements
The following course numbers, titles, and catalog descriptions describe the required courses in the program. Each course is worth 3 credit hours. Descriptions of the courses in the SLM Program were approved by the College Curriculum Committee and the Collegium (the governing body of the College) in the spring of 2001.

Core Courses

• LBSC 640 Library Media Specialists as Information Professionals
  Foundational concepts in information studies and in school library media programs and services. Current and evolving educational systems and the roles and functions of library media specialists within them.
• LBSC 650 Information Access Services
  Information needs analysis. Information resources. Search strategy and query formulation.
• LBSC 670 Organization of Information
  Analysis and representation of data, information, knowledge, language, and text. Metadata for the control of documents and other objects.
• LBSC 690 Information Technology
  Principles of computer networking. Internet and Web characteristics. Structured document design. Multimedia. User interfaces. Systems analysis. Technology issues and their impact.

Courses Stipulated in the SLM Program:

• BSC 641 Selection and Evaluation of Resources for Learning
  Criteria and procedures for selecting, evaluating, and using nonprint and electronic resources for learning. Current and evolving issues involving learning resources.
• LBSC 642 Integrating Technology into Learning and Teaching
  Hardware, software, video and other equipment, and networking in schools. Pedagogic uses of information technology, including networked resources and multimedia.
• LBSC 645 Literature and Materials for Children
  Survey of literature and other materials for children and youth and the criteria for evaluating such materials as they relate to the needs, interests, and capabilities of young readers.
  
  OR

• LBSC 646 Literature and Materials for Young Adults
  Survey of literature and other materials for older children and adolescents. Criteria for evaluating and using such materials as they relate to the needs, interests, and reading and other capabilities of young readers.
• LBSC 741 Seminar in School Library Media Program Administration
  Development, management, and evaluation of school library media programs at all levels.
• LBSC 742 Collaborative Instructional Design and Evaluation
  Library media specialists’ collaborative role in instruction. Systematic design, development, and evaluation of instructional strategies and products for learning.
• LBSC 744 Field Study in School Library Media Programs
  Practicum and seminar in library media programs at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels.

In general, students may take these courses in almost any order. As noted in "Course Scheduling" in the next section, however, several basic rules apply.

Planning the Program
The key to charting an effective and efficient path through the School Library Media Program is consultation with an adviser. Because the program is tightly structured and because the courses are scheduled according to a master plan that does not allow for each course to be offered each semester, speaking to an adviser early is essential to making the best use of the student's time.

Individual Student Plans
Before the completion of his or her first semester, each student is responsible for seeing an adviser to develop a plan for completing the requirements of the program. A copy of this plan must be on file in MEGS to ensure that each student is adequately advised and to facilitate students' admission to SLM Program courses on a priority basis. Many of these courses fill early, and advisers use these plans to work with the Student Services Office to make sure that students get the courses they require in a timely fashion.

After advisement, each student's plan is approved on the MEGS system by the adviser. This signed plan constitutes the adviser's permission to register for the courses listed; a student cannot register for SLM Program courses without having this plan on file. With the approval of the adviser, the plan can be modified easily at any time during the program. As long as a plan is accurate, students do not need to get new copies approved for registration; however, students need newly approved copies of their plans each time those plans change.

Course Scheduling
Scheduling courses can be challenging: not all courses are offered every semester, some are rarely (if ever) offered in the summer, and sequencing courses appropriately is essential. Although prerequisites have been kept to a minimum to maintain as much scheduling flexibility as possible, the following sequencing requirements apply:

1. Students must take the four core courses (including LBSC 640, Library Media Specialists as Information Professionals) within their first six courses at the College.
   
   LBSC 640 is an introduction to the field of information studies as well as to the program.
2. Students may take either LBSC 645 (Literature and Materials for Children) or LBSC646 (Literature and Materials for Young Adults) to meet the "literature" requirement.
   
   
3. Students are required to take LBSC 741 (School Library Media Program Administration) and LBSC 742 (Collaborative Instructional Design and Evaluation) before or concurrently with LBSC 744 (Field Study in School Library Media Programs). Students need permission of their adviser and of the course instructor to take LBSC 744.

Waiver Requests
Students may seek waivers from any of the courses if they believe they have already acquired the knowledge and skills covered by these offerings. As early in the program as possible, any student who plans to seek a waiver should meet with his or her adviser to discuss these plans. The adviser will direct a student to the appropriate instructor to determine whether a particular waiver is possible and desirable.

After a student has secured the verbal approval of a waiver from the instructor, he or she must complete the appropriate paperwork. For a waiver of any of the core courses, the student must write a formal letter requesting the waiver; the letter should be addressed to the Master’s Program Committee and submitted to the Student Services Office. For a waiver of any of the SLM Program requirements, the student must address and submit a letter to the SLM Program Coordinator. Records of all approved waivers are placed in the affected students' files.



Completing the Program and Gaining Certification
During the final semester in the program, each student is required to complete three forms:

1. A Master's Approved Program form, which must be completed for the Graduate School;
2. A School Library Media Specialist Certification Checklist, which initiates the process for applying for certification in the State of Maryland; and
3. A diploma application. The first two forms are available from and are returned to the Student Services Office; the diploma application is available online through Testudo.

The State of Maryland — not the College or the University of Maryland — certifies individuals as School Library Media Specialists for the State; however, because the SLM Program has been approved by the State, graduates are automatically eligible for State certification by virtue of completing program requirements. The Student Services Office facilitates the process by which students gain certification through several steps. First, during the last semester that a student is enrolled, he or she applies for certification by completing the School Library Media Specialist Certification Checklist available from that Office. Next, the Office analyzes the student's program to be sure that all requirements have been met, and the Program Coordinator signs the Certification Checklist that guides this analysis. Next, the Student Services Office submits a formal recommendation for certification to the Maryland State Department of Education. The recommendation consists of a letter to the State Department listing all the recommended students; a copy of the letter is sent to each student on the list. This letter serves as College's endorsement of candidates for certification and enables program graduates to avoid the problems inherent in seeking State certification through alternative means.

In Maryland, certification is normally processed when one is hired by a school district. The letter from the College is a necessary prerequisite, but the actual application for certification is handled through the local school districts. Although the program meets all the requirements of the State of Maryland for certification, students should be aware that local school districts sometimes may add their own requirements to those stipulated by the State. Graduates who have questions about this process or the requirements of individual districts should consult the Program Coordinator.

Students who plan to work in Maryland but who do not plan to seek employment immediately upon graduation should begin the certification process during the last semester but should consult the Program Coordinator for further information about the appropriate procedures. Students seeking certification in other states should also consult the Program Coordinator for assistance.

School Library Media (SLM) Certification for MLS Holders
For MLS Holders who seek SLM Certification only, please see Non-degree Study.

Additional Information
Financial Assistance
One fellowship — the James L. Liesener Fellowship — is reserved for School Library media Program students. These students are eligible for other fellowships, scholarships, and work opportunities as well. Detailed information about financial assistance is available through the Student Services Office.

Partnership Programs
For a number of years, the SLM Program has had especially close ties with several neighboring counties — Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George's — through partnership programs designed to recruit teachers and other school personnel in these counties into the school library media profession. Each year, students from one or more of these counties participate in specially designed arrangements that provide not only tuition assistance from the counties and the University but also mentoring and other kinds of support from the counties to nurture them as they launch new careers within the schools. Students from these counties should check with the SLM Program Coordinator and with the Library Media Administrator in the appropriate county to learn more about the partnership program.

Contact
For program information:

Dr. Ann Carlson Weeks
Coordinator, School Library Media Program
Phone: 301-405-2060
Fax: 301-314-9145
E-mail: acweeks@umd.edu

For admission and registration information:

Student Services Office
Phone: 301-405-2038
Fax: 301-314-9145
Email: ischooladmission@umd.edu

College of Information Studies
4105 Hornbake Library Building, South Wing
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4345