NYU Collaborates on Dual Degree Program for Scholar-Librarians

By Barbara Jester

NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) and Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library and Information Science are collaborating on a dual master’s degree program aimed at addressing the critical need for scholar-librarians. The program is intended to prepare students for careers in academic institutions, research institutes, cultural organizations, and other research settings and will offer them significant subject expertise and professional skills that will greatly enhance their career options.

Beginning in the fall of 2006, graduate students will be able to matriculate at both NYU and LIU’s Palmer School, where programs will be tailored especially for them. To develop their understanding of a particular subject area, students would study in any of the areas offered by GSAS—from anthropology to economics, from neural science to Spanish and Portuguese languages and literature as well as in such programs as archival management and museum studies. The Palmer School would train them in information skills, and they would have to adhere to the regulations for the MSLIS degree.

“Beyond the goal of producing more scholar-librarians for a field that has indicated a current and future need for such talent,” said Carol Mandel, dean of the NYU Libraries, “this plan is significant for its unusual collaboration among several academic areas across two institutions: a graduate school of arts and science, a library and information science school, and a major research library.”

An integral part of the new dual degree will be a carefully structured mentoring program, with mentors drawn largely from the NYU Libraries’ staff of librarians. NYU’s Bobst Library, the university’s central library in its system, currently is the Manhattan training site for The Palmer School’s full MSLIS degree program.

The planning and initial implementation of the new dual degree program is being supported by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“The Graduate School of Arts and Science is very pleased to be a part of this innovative collaboration,” said Catharine Stimpson, dean of GSAS. “The role of master’s degrees is growing rapidly, and this dual degree will serve our students, libraries, and our society.”