About SLIS

Promoting access to information for all humanity through research, professional practice, and public service and engagement.

We prepare students in our accredited graduate degree programs to have the leadership, creativity, and technical skills to use the principles of information science, library science, data science, and computing to ethically, inclusively, and humanistically address critical challenges in our society.

To support the school’s vision and carry out our mission, we have defined four key goals:

1. Provide an environment that enhances the professional and intellectual development of faculty and students
2. Sustain innovative and quality teaching that fosters student learning
3. Promote faculty and student participation in scholarly and creative activities that contribute to the knowledge base of our professions
4. Strengthen participation in the development of literate and informed communities through faculty and student engagement in public service

Objective 1:  Given an improved environment, students will be able to meet professional and intellectual goals as reflected in course objectives for the student’s program.

Objective 2: After the implementation of a new evaluation program and accomplishments by faculty of their professional development programs, teaching at the SLIS will demonstrate continued innovation and sustained quality by means of student feedback via forms and shared learning experiences.

Objective 3: After receiving support for scholarly and creative endeavors, faculty will make documented contributions to their professions.

Objective 4: Given encouragement to increase and strengthen participation in public service, faculty and students will provide communities with tools and resources to improve levels of literacy and channels of informed communication.

The School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS) of North Carolina Central University was authorized by the State Legislature in 1939 when the charter of the then North Carolina College for Negroes was amended for the purpose of allowing the establishment of graduate and professional programs at the College. That amendment established the program in library education and the mission of educating African American librarians for the state of North Carolina.

In the fall of 1939, the College offered a course of study through the Department of Library Science. The School of Library Science was organized as a professional school in 1941. Three programs were offered during the first two years of the operation of the School of Library Science. The professional program for the Bachelor of Library Science (BLS) degree was established for persons holding a baccalaureate degree at the time of entrance, and undergraduate majors and minors were offered through the College of Arts and Sciences.

The undergraduate major was discontinued in 1943. Ten years later, in 1953, the School awarded its final BLS degree. The master’s program in Library Science was initiated in 1950, with the first Master of Library Science (MLS) degree awarded in 1951. The master’s program in Library Science was originally accredited by the American Library Association in 1975. The name of the school was changed to the School of Library and Information Sciences in 1984. In January 1989, the School began offering a joint program in law librarianship and legal information systems. Beginning with the 1990–1991 academic year, the School now offers an interdisciplinary program in Information Science leading to the Master of Information Science (MIS) degree.

The SLIS offices, library, classrooms, computer laboratory, distance learning center, and other facilities are located on the third floor of the James E. Shepard Memorial Library. The SLIS Library consists of professional literature and other print and non-print materials needed to support the various courses. There are also two special collections: (1) papers of African American librarians and (2) works by African American authors and illustrators of children’s materials.

The School established an African American Resources program in 1991, which includes the William Tucker Collection of African American authors and illustrators of children’s materials and the North Carolina Center for the Study of Black History, an archival collection of civil rights and African American economic and social developments in the southeastern United States. This program, which supports teaching, research, and outreach services, is located in the new Hayti Heritage Center of Durham.