Deans Rank Indicators of Effectiveness for Schools of Library and Information Studies

Abstract

This article identifies indicators of effectiveness that deans of schools with American Library Association (ALA) accredited programs believe are essential, important, or not important to know about a school of library and information studies (LIS) in order to evaluate it. A previous article by the same authors focused on views that members of four constituent groups of LIS schools hold about the same indicators. Comparing deans with the constituent groups, there is 77 percent agreement between deans and members of ALA's Committee on Accreditation (COA) over which indicators of effectiveness belong in each of the three designated categories. There is less agreement between deans and senior academic administrators (70 percent), alumni (57 percent), and employers (44 percent). Overall, deans focus heavily on administrative, faculty, and resource issues.