This entry is part [part not set] of 9 in the series The MLS Project

As promised, here is my overview of the book, The MLS Project:

Boyd Keith Swigger, the author of The MLS Project, is a professor at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) with a strong background in both history (his A.B. was in History in the Humanities, one of his M.A.s was in American History, and his Ph.D. was in American Civilization) and library management. As stated on his professional page at the TWU’s website (http://www.twu.edu/slis/swigger.asp), his research focuses on the nature of professionalism, particularly as related to librarianship. Given Dr. Swigger’s background and academic interests, he was the perfect choice to write a concise, historical overview of both the creation of the Master’s of Library Science in 1951 and its aftermath. However, as Swigger makes clear, it is not a monograph on the history of library schools but is instead focused on outcomes assessment of the original goals as set forth when the American Library Association created the MLS paradigm in the late forties/early fifties.

Swigger first explains what he means by the phrase “the MLS project” (the decision of the ALA in 1951 to restructure accredited librarianship higher education with the creation of a Master’s in Library Science) by dissecting the history of librarianship which lead to the decision that some kind of professional designation was needed, following that with what the goals of the MLS project were (and are). From there the book ranges into questions that are quite dense, despite the diminutive size of the book (which weighs in at a mere 154 pages), such as the nature and definition of “profession”, status, and prestige.

In these arcane debates Swigger approaches the history of librarianship as a both an academic question and a serious modern professional quandary for the field in chapters such as “Intellectual Foundations and Library Schools” and the prosaic “Librarians’ Work.”  There are reams of research that went into this book, the purpose of which Swigger writes “is to recount the reasons ALA enacted [the MLS project] and to consider its consequences by reviewing relevant data”.

He finishes the book with the chapter “What Could Be Done?”, stating that “evidence shows that the MLS project has been costly, has created confusion outside librarianship and polarization within, and has accomplished some but not all of its objectives”. It is a fairly damning wrap up, but Swigger also proposes several alternatives to continuing the current system, some more radical than others (which I will discuss in more detail in a later post).

Reviews of this critically important, breakthrough work are thin on the ground, and causes one to wonder if the profession as a whole is ignoring it because it does not deliver happy news. Swigger does not soften any blow and backs up every supposition with hard data. It may not be what the profession wants to hear, but the book only proposes a conclusion that most have already come to: the MLS project did not meet its goals, and sixty years later we are still struggling with many of the same issues that gave rise to the creation of a Master’s in Library Science in the first place.

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