Long Range Plan 2003 - 2007 : Library Education 

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston remains the only institution in Massachusetts offering the ALA-accredited Masters in Library Science (MLS). This poses some difficulty for students living at a distance from the Boston area. In 2001, however, Simmons for the first time offered certain of its courses on the campus of Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, benefiting students in central and western Massachusetts. Nearby out-of-state institutions offering the degree include the University of Rhode Island (which also offers off-campus courses at UMass-Amherst, UMass-Boston and the University of New Hampshire), the State University of New York at Albany and Southern Connecticut State University.

Library education is more important than ever as we face a growing shortage of professional librarians and especially children's librarians. Some 58 percent of professional librarians will reach retirement age between 2005 and 2019. Replenishment of that pool is an issue to be addressed, and it is to be hoped that President Bush's recent "No Child Left Behind" proposal will succeed in this.

School librarians seeking library-media specialist certification from the state will find a program of study at Simmons, Boston University, Salem State College and Cambridge College and Framingham State College. For many years, Bridgewater State College has offered a program also, but as of 2002, it faces an uncertain future.

New on the horizon and gradually increasing in importance is distance learning. A small but growing number of students are taking courses online from remote universities and colleges, working toward certification or the Master's degree. A local example is the Board of Library Commissioners funding of the Central Region in 2000 to conduct a LSTA pilot project partially using distance learning to conduct the Administration course of the region's Basic Library Techniques program. Much was learned that can be applied to future ventures.

Continuing education programs, workshops and conferences have burgeoned in the state within the past five years. The six regional library systems provide a large and varied menu of programs to suit the needs of their multi-type libraries, with many of the programs related to the new technologies. The automated networks, the Board of Library Commissioners, and the professional library associations add to the list their institutes, symposia, and annual conferences. Such in-service education has become vital in preparing librarians to deal with the constantly new and evolving technological environments in libraries and the issues that arise with their use.