On June 29, 2008, the American Library Association (ALA) reaccredited the Master’s Program of the Graduate School of Information Sciences and Technologies (GSIST), of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), for 7 more years. As stated by ALA, the accreditation of a master’s program in library and information sciences is “a voluntary, non-governmental system of evaluation used to protect the public interest and to verify the quality of service provided by member institutions." The next comprehensive review of the School is scheduled to occur in 2015.ALA assigns a standing Committee on Accreditation (COA), the responsibility "for the implementation of the accreditation of library and information studies programs. The COA develops and formulates standards of education for library and information studies and policies and procedures for ALA accreditation."
The ALA Committee on Accreditation (COA), chaired by Dr. Richard B. Rubin, based its decision to reaccredit the GSIST/UPR's master's program on the Program Presentation submitted by the School on February 2008, the site visit and report made by the COA External Review Panel, the Response to the Report of the External Review Panel, all of the reports the program submitted to the Committee since the last comprehensive review, and the June 28th meeting with Prof. Edward Erazo, Chair of the External Review Panel, and the School’s Director, Dr. Nitza Hernández. The School’s Program Presentation Committee Chaiperson was Dr. Susan Jane Freiband.
The continued accreditation action was taken by COA at the 2008 ALA annual conference in Anaheim, California. A complete list of programs and degrees accredited by ALA can be found at http://www.ala.org/lisdir You may also view the distribution of Library and Information Science Schools accredited by ALA in a Google map.
COA/ALA based its decision on the School’s "totality of the accomplishments and the environment for learning...". The GSIST/UPR evaluation was made with the ALA 1992 Standards. The ALA 2008 Standards for accreditation of master’s programs in library and information studies can be found at http://www.ala.org/ala/accreditation/accredstandards/index.cfm
With the reaccreditation action, ALA has validated once again the quality of the Master of Information Sciences (MIS) degree program at the University of Puerto Rico. In the decision letter, COA stimulates the School to culminate with the revision of its goals and objectives, the curricular revision, and to increase its research productivity. Information about the GSIST/UPR can be found in its webpage: http://egcti.upr.edu
