Associate Professor Terry L. Weech will discuss the accreditation of library and information studies (LIS) programs at the Conceptions of Library and Information Science (CoLIS) 10th international conference, which will take place on June 16-19 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The conference aims to provide a broad forum for the exploration of ideas in the field of LIS, information studies, and related disciplines.
Weech will give the talk, "Conceptions of LIS Profession and LIS Education Globally," in which he will discuss the accreditation of LIS programs by the American Library Association (ALA).
"While recognizing that many regions have very different education requirements for library studies, internationally, the ALA program of accreditation is recognized as a valid process for assessment of the quality of LIS programs," Weech said. "By examining the impact of changes that have occurred in library studies curricula and assessment procedures within the ALA accreditation process in the U.S. and Canada, the results of this research should be of interest internationally."
Weech's research interests include the areas of reference services and sources, government information, library administration, library cooperation and networks, library use instruction, and economics of information. At the iSchool, Weech teaches the Economics of Information course (IS 549). He has been active in the ALA and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and he has been involved in the administration of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award reception at the ALA Midwinter meeting for nearly twenty years. Weech received his MS and PhD degrees in library and information science from the iSchool at Illinois.