University of Minnesota. Library School

The University of Minnesota Library School was established as the Division of Library Instruction in 1928. Its founder and first director was University Librarian Frank K. Walter. The Division became the Library School in 1953, and a Ph. D. program was added to the curriculum in 1969. The school was closed in 1985. The collection documents the changes that occurred in library science education to prepare candidates to meet the changing information needs of society, including special programs (medical, law, and children's librarianship, and the popular Ph. D. program), special tools (computers), and inter-library organization (ERIC, CLIS), among other developments.

The University of Minnesota worked with the State Department of Public Instruction to offer Library Training Schools for public and school librarians during the 1910s and 1920s. The College of Science, Literature and the Arts Announcement of Courses for 1922-1923 is the first University course bulletin to include a course in Library Methods. “Use of Books and Libraries” was described as an “introductory study of reference books and library methods as applied to individual study and research.”

At their April 5, 1928, meeting, the University Board of Regents voted to authorize the establishment of a Division of Library Instruction, and at their October 1, 1928 meeting, the Board of Regents passed several resolutions to amend the April 5 vote, including that the “University Librarian is hereby made Director of the Division of Library Instruction.”

In his report on the Division of Library Instruction for the 1928-1930 President’s Report, University Librarian Frank K. Walter wrote, “The division…was formally opened to students with the fall quarter of 1928-29. Unlike any other similar agency on record, it is an instructional unit and not an administrative entity. The curriculum and faculty are under the control of the director of the division. The courses offered are accepted for credit by the various schools and colleges of the University…The attendance has been surprisingly large. About a hundred different students were enrolled in 1928-29 and 102 in 1929-30…”

A Bachelor of Science degree in Library Science and a five-year professional degree were approved by the Board of Regents June 16, 1945. The degrees would be granted by the College of Science, Literature and the Arts, and courses at the time included Origins of the Book, Public Library Administration, Library Service in Hospitals, Theory of Bibliography, and Sources of Information about Library Materials.

The Board of Regents voted at their February 13, 1953, meeting that the Division of Library Instruction, which was an independent unit reporting directly to the President, would be transferred to the College of Science, Literature and the Arts as a department of the College, to be called the Library School. The transfer took effect July 1, 1953. David K. Berninghausen was appointed as the first Director of the Library School.

In 1956, the American Library Association (ALA) Board of Education for Librarianship accredited the graduate program in Library Science for a Master of Arts degree. In accordance with the standards of ALA, the Library School offered a program leading to the Master of Arts degree as the basic preparation for professional librarianship. The Library School began offering a PhD with a major in library science in 1969.

The University and the College of Liberal Arts (the successor to the College of Science, Literature and the Arts) considered the question of closing the Library School for several years. At the October 12, 1984, Board of Regents meeting, the Regents approved recommendations from the Educational Policy and Long-Range Planning Committee that included the following, “The academic degree programs of the School of Library Science, College of Liberal Arts, Twin Cities, be discontinued effective June 30, 1985 as recommended by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.”