As DLIS approaches the end of another academic year, I want to thank Rosann Kelly, Debbie Martinez, Linda Russell and the faculty for your support of the students and alumni throughout the year and the students and alumni for your outstanding contributions to the professional and geographic communities where you work. Those who know you and your work speak highly of who you are and what you do. Because of all of you, I enjoy the reception I receive when I introduce myself as the Director of the Division of Library and Information Science at St. John’s University.
There are two pieces of news I’m excited to share with you:
First, the Division of Library and Information Science will celebrate its 75th Anniversary celebration on Thursday evening, November 7th. The planning committee has been hard at work on the details of our event and we are excited to share some of them. I’m pleased to announce it will be held at the New York City Municipal Archives, a beautiful building, designed after the for all SJU alumni, but especially DLIS alumni and students. The celebration will include docent-guided tours of the municipal archives. At this time we ask you to save the date and watch your inboxes for more information.
The results from the Spring 2013 Student Survey were gathered and processed. Every year DLIS surveys students about their experience. It allows us to measure students’ satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. Hearing directly from our students is very important to us, and we thank those who participated. While there are still areas improvement, overall the positive responses are up and the negative ones are down. For example, 80.5% said we are doing a very good or excellent job of preparing them to be leaders in the profession who make a difference for good and 79.2% said they were well prepared for their careers. No one said they felt unprepared.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy summer. See you next fall!
~Dr. Jeffery Olson