Predicting sustainability for programs in library and information science: Factors influencing continuance and discontinuance

The purpose of this paper is to identify a set of variables for the sustainability of programs in LIS. Findings are presented from the literature of case histories, informed perspectives and academic and professional task forces on closure of LIS programs, and other academic programs, including Education, Nursing and Social Work. General studies that discuss indicators of quality and the relative merit for the sustainability of academic programs overall are reviewed and incorporated. Thirteen propositions, centering on leadership, centrality, quality and status, financial impact and social/political capital and presence, were generated from the research and validated by LIS deans and directors. Discussion here is of predictive and academic interest to LIS and other program leaders-deans, directors and faculty-tasked with charting the long-term sustainability of their programs. Keywords: sustainability, academic programs, academy, leadership, literature review Introduction The LIS community endured a wave of school closures during a prolonged period of academic retrenchment in the late 1970' s that continued through the 1980's and the early 1990's. From 1978 to 1 992 sixteen graduate programs in LIS were closed (Paris, 1990, 1991; Marchant, 1 992). Closures appeared irrespective of school ranking, taking some of the oldest, most venerated LIS programs, many of them in research institutions: Columbia University, Emory University, University of Chicago, and the University of Southern California. Amidst recession a decade later another closure was announced. Termination of the Clark Atlanta University LIS program, valued for its diversity in higher education and the historical access it afforded to the African American community, prompted further task force reviews to secure continuity and access to LIS education. With threats to education ongoing and state budgets "in crisis," reduced funding to universities, and as projected fiscal gaps widen ("Happy new year," 2009), renewed discussion is especially useful. LIS and other program leaders tasked with charting the sustainability of their programs will be interested in this subject. Methodology and Objectives This study investigated factors in perceived quality, institutional health and closure to determine the sustainability of LIS and other academic programs, including Education, Nursing and Social Work, as an exploratory study based on content analysis of literature and the views of current (2008) LIS deans and directors. What success factors will serve LIS and other program leaders - deans, directors and faculty - tasked with charting long-term sustainability of their programs? This was the primary objective of this study. Among the classic LIS studies reviewed were case histories on program closure: Paris (1988) reported on four closures of accredited graduate schools in LIS; Marchant (1992) studied the LIS closure at Brigham Young University; Mulligan (2006) reported on the first case of LIS closure in this century at Clark Atlanta University. Paris (1990,1991), Heim and Ostertag (1991), Katzer (1991), Stieg (1991), White (1991), Saracevic (1994), Slattery (1994) and Jin (2008) offer perspectives on closure of graduate LIS programs. Gaughan ( 1 992) studied perspectives on institutional health in an American Library Association (ALA) survey of LIS deans and directors. Two papers reported on curricular change and trends in LIS education related to sustainability (Curry, 2000; Marshall, Wilson, Marshall, & Harris, 2000). Findings from task forces convened to learn from and counter subsequent LIS school closure were reviewed, viz., an ALA Task Force Review on Library School Closing (Jeng, 2005) and a review by the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Board of Directors and by deans and directors of the resulting predictors of success for LIS graduate schools. Retrenchment in the 1 980' s and 1 990' s also saw discontinuances of other professional schools including Education, Nursing and Social Work (Gumport, 1993). …