1960

1970

1980

“Information” and other discipline in name, and is not a member of the Dean’s Group or iCaucus

“Information” is only discipline in name, and is not a member of the Dean’s Group or iCaucus

“Information” and other discipline in name, and is a member of the Dean’s Group or iCaucus

“Information” is only discipline in name, and is a member of the Dean’s Group or iCaucus

“Information” not in name or is in the form of information systems, which for the purposes of this chart represents something different, and is an iCaucus member.

NORTH CAROLINA

MICHIGAN
MCGILL
MONTREAL
WISCONSIN
WASHINGTON
TORONTO
ILLINOIS
FLORIDA STATE

UT-AUSTIN WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE

INDIANA-SLIS RUTGERS DREXEL

UC BERKELEY SYRACUSE

UCLA TENNESSEE

UC IRVINE

MARYLAND

NORTH TEXAS

PIT TSBURGH

1960 1970 1980

1990

2000 2010

CMU

SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITY

GEORGIA TECH

INDIANA-INFORMATICS

PENN STATE

1990

2000

2010

[ 4] Ostler, L. J., T.C. Dahlin, and J. D. Willardson. The Closing of American Library Schools: Problems and Opportunities. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1995.

March + April 2009

[ 5] Cronin, B. “An
I-dentity crisis?
The information
schools move-
ment.” International
Journal of Information
Management, 25 (2005):
363-365.

failed to meet the academic standards of leading research universities. In addition, librarianship was overshadowed in the eyes of many by the rapidly expanding, highly paid information technology profession [ 4].

Itwas in this period that many schools added the term “information” to their name, most often by shifting “library” to “library and information,” although there were other combinations as well. Pressure continued into the 1990s as the spread of digital technologies raised questions about the future of libraries and publishing. Several schools with a major library focus rethought their missions. In 1996 the University of Pittsburgh rechristened its school as the School of Information Sciences, and the University of Michigan officially sanctioned the School of Information.

The dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana wrote of the change at Michigan: “In 1996, the School of Information and Library Studies at the University of Michigan metamorphosed into the School of

Information. A first. Used though we were to talking about schools of business, we found it devilishly difficult to insert a period after ‘information.’ We’d become accustomed to ‘information’ being coupled with a qualifying noun such as ‘studies,’ ‘science,’ or ‘management.’ It took a little time to get used to the new moniker, and snickering could be heard in certain quarters. Those who scoffed have since had to eat their words. Michigan’s scholar-dean, diverse faculty and research accomplishments mark it out as a program of note, a benchmark for other aspiring I-schools [ 5].” Here, we describe the process at Michigan, in which one of us participated, in more detail.

The University of Michigan School of Information In 1992 University of Michigan President James Duderstadt appointed computer scientist and innovator Dan Atkins to be dean of the School of Information and Library Studies (SILS). Duderstadt provided resources to support change and convinced the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to invest, over