Since 1987 SLIM has made its Master of Library Science degree available to locations in seven states in the western half of the country through its Distance Education Program. More than 500 persons living in areas where the degree is not otherwise available have graduated through this program without ever coming to Kansas. The Distance Education Program is fully accredited by the American Library Association and is approved by the individual systems for higher education of each state that has invited us to operate within their boundaries. A group, or cohort, of students are recruited in a certain area of the country, say Salt Lake City, for example. Our faculty travel to the class location to teach on weekends and classes are held about once a month.
Students are in class about twelve to fourteen weekends per year and classes are held all year long.
SLIM delivers classes for eight semesters, including summers, at the end of which the cohort graduates and, if there is enough interest, a new cohort is recruited to start the process all over again. The first four semesters of the curriculum delivery cycle is spent on the required classes and two or three classes are offered each semester. The last four semesters are for the elective classes. The number of elective classes offered at any one site is dependent on the number of students in the particular program. The more students, the more electives we are able to deliver.