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Advance Review of Proposed CoA Edit of Standard Element V.3

  • 1.  Advance Review of Proposed CoA Edit of Standard Element V.3

    Posted Jan 11, 2019 02:54 PM

    To:  ALA Councilors

    I would like to share an item in advance of ALA Midwinter Council meetings for your consideration.  This item will appear on the Council II agenda for action.

    The ALA Committee on Accreditation (CoA) is requesting Council adoption of an adjustment to the first sentence of standard element V.3 of the 2015 Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in Library & Information Studies (ACTION REQUEST FORM CD#36_121918_ACT) in order to bring ALA into compliance with Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) standard 10D which reads, [the accreditor is to] "Refer to institutional or programmatic resources only to the extend required for students to emerge adequately prepared."

    The adjustment requested is as follows to respond to the word "only" and to relate the ALA Standard element to students:

    The administrative head of the program has [delete: title, salary, status, and authority comparable to heads of similar units in the parent institution] [add: to ensure that students are supported in their academic program of study].

    Revised language:
    "The administrative head of the program has authority to ensure that students are supported in their academic program of study."


    CHEA is the body that recognizes ALA as the accreditor of the professional degree in the field of library and information studies. CHEA is requiring an adjustment to this ALA standard be in place by the end of April 2019 and be fully implemented by the ALA-CoA by June of 2019 in order to continue ALA-CoA's recognition status. The ALA Committee on Education has reviewed the change.  

    CoA is looking for Council adoption of the CoA-approved/CHEA required change to that sentence of the standards. The CoA Chair is Loretta Parham and she will attend the first Council Forum meeting Sunday 1/27 between 7:15am-7:45am to answer any questions (she then has to run to chair the CoA meeting). She will also be speaking to this request at the Council II Monday morning session when Council will be asked to vote on the adoption of this change.

    If you have any feedback in advance of the forum/council meeting, you can share the feedback in this discussion thread or send an email to accred@ala.org

    Best regards,
    Sandy Hirsh, IRRT Councilor



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    Sandra Hirsh
    Professor and Director
    San Jose State University School of Information
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