Administrative History
The American Association of Library Schools (AALS) was formed in 1915 to replace ALA's Roundtable of Library School Instructors (1911-1915), but was not affiliated with the American Library Association until 1953 (1). AALS cooperated with ALA's Standing Committee on Library Education (SCOLE), which held institutional membership in AALS (2). In 1982 a name change was proposed with the result that AALS became the Association for Library and Information Education, or ALISE. The name change was confirmed in 1983 (3).
Organizational goals are:
(1) to provide a forum for the active interchange of ideas and information among library educators; (2) to promote, conduct, and demonstrate research related to teaching and to library and information science; (3) to formulate and promulgate positions on matters of mutual interest to library education; (4) to cooperate with other organizations on matters of mutual interest (4).
Executives, as elected by the membership, include a president, president-elect, secretary-treasurer, and executive secretary. The Board of Directors consists of the president, secretary-treasurer, most recent past president, and three directors. The Executive Committee of the Board is made up of the president, president-elect, and past president (5).
Until 1985, the publication of ALISE (of AALS prior to 1983) was the Journal of Education for Librarianship. The title was changed to the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science in 1985 (6). ALISE has also published an annual Library and Information Science Education Statistical Report since 1966 (7).
Until 1985 membership was of four types: personal and institutional, full and associate. All associate members were made full members in 1985, and membership categories were reduced to full institutional and full personal (8). In 1983 ALISE expanded to include international memberships (9).
ALISE interest groups include: Research, Continuing Education, Student Activities, Online Educators, Teaching Methods, Doctoral Students, Curriculum, Library History, Women in Librarianship, and International Library Education (10).
1. ALA Bulletin 10 (1916): 606; 48 (1954): 654.
2. ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services (Chicago: ALA, 1981) p. 325.
3. ALA Yearbook of Library and Information Services 1984 (Chicago: ALA, 1984), p. 65.
4. ALA World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services (Chicago: ALA, 1986), p. 488.
5. Association of American Library Schools, Inc. Bylaws (May 1975), pp. 2-3.
6. ALA Yearbook of Library and Information Services 1986 (Chicago: ALA, 1986), p. 62.
7. ALA Yearbook 1984, p. 66.
8. ALA Yearbook 1986, p. 62.
9. ALA Yearbook 1984, p. 172.
10. ALA Yearbook 1986, p. 62.
