State University of New York at Albany. School of Information Science and Policy.

The School of Information Science and Policy traces its origins to January 5, 1887, when Melvil Dewey first opened the Columbia College School of Library Economy. When Dewey left Columbia to assume the position of Director of the New York State Library, the library school moved with him to Albany and became an adjunct of the New York State Library. In 1926, the school moved back to Columbia University. To insure that a library school remained in the Capital Region, James Sullivan established a new Library School as part of the New York State College for Teachers, which had previously offered courses in librarianship. In 1921, Elizabeth Cobb became the primary instructor in the State College's new Department of Library Science and supervised the department until 1926, when the Department of Library Science was replaced by the new State College Library School. Martha Caroline Pritchard became the first head of the New York State College for Teachers Library School in 1926. The nascent program soon received national recognition when the American Library Association's (ALA) Board of Education accredited the department as a Type III (undergraduate) library school in 1934. By 1951 the school had expanded to a five year curriculum and in that year it offered its first Masters degree. However, six years later the school failed to gain accreditation under the 1951 standards for five-year programs adopted by the ALA. In 1966, after significant improvements, the ALA re-accredited the program. In 1986, the school merged with the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. The new School of Information Science and Policy prepared its students for an assortment of careers including information systems and library management, information policy, the economics of Information, government information resource management, archives and records management, and information technology applications.