ISchool Tagline Forum
From Clisala
Those of you who attended the State of the College address heard Dean Preece mention that efforts are underway to redesign the CLIS website and other promotional materials. During this branding process the College of Information studies will be identifying itself as an iSchool.
While the name of the school will not change (we will remain the College of Information Studies) the outdated CLIS acronym will go and a tagline (intended to sum up our distinctive features) will likely be adopted.
A small group of collegium members met last Friday to brainstorm taglines and came up with the following recommendations:
College of Information Studies Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information
College of Information Studies Maryland's iSchool: Creating Information Capital
College of Information Studies Maryland's iSchool: We Have an i for Information
College of Information Studies Maryland's iSchool in the World's Information Capital
At this time the college is focusing its efforts on making itself more visible to the UMD administration, employers and professional organizations and wants to reinforce these efforts through the branding process.
The group which came up with the tagline recommendations used the following list of distinctive features to guide their suggestions (please take these into consideration when evaluating the suggested taglines):
Distinctive Features: -The iSchool's education and research transforms the way people, organizations and society interact with information.
-The iSchool's talented faculty work with organizations at the nexus of knowledge, information, people, and technology.
-The iSchool is ideally located in the information capital of the world, the Washington D.C. metro region, at a top-ranked public research university.
-The iSchool enjoys significant momentum, with achievements in growth, innovation and impact.
The Dean will be deciding on a tagline very shortly and would be interested in getting student feedback on the recommended taglines.
What do you see as their strengths and weaknesses? Does one stand out in your mind?
Comments:
I feel that "Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information" is the strongest all-around tagline. It appeals to those interested in "traditional" librarianship, as well as to those who specialize in technology. While both of the "information capital" options are also very clever taglines, I believe that these would have little meaning to prospective students who are unfamiliar with the term. Finally, the "We Have an i for Information" option is too simplistic.
--You make a good point about the "connecting people to information" tagline, although it does seem a little bit bland.
++++++++++
Maryland's iSchool: Creating Information Capital --"Info Capital" sounds too 'jargony'
Maryland's iSchool: We Have an i for Information --too cutsy, and just having an "eye" does not come close to capturing the breadth of what info professionals do.
Maryland's iSchool in the World's Information Capital -- if you don't know what an "iSchool" is, why would you care where it's located?
Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information -- that's the one. Expressive. Simple. Direct. Clear. In four words, I get a very good idea of what an "iSchool" does...and that's exactly the point of a tagline, isn't it?
++++++++++
I vote for Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I vote for Maryland's iSchool in the World's Information Capital.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One of the things that distinguishes our program from other schools is its prominent position in the DC area. I think that this should be emphasized.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I vote for "Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information".
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ the connecting people to information is the best, not everyone who goes to this school lives in the DC area and plan to stay here, not all of us work for the government, furthermore, we have courses and students working on serving many in our world's population such as global nations, children, special need patrons, just not the government departments, and many librarian students are really upset the school no longer has the word, "library" in it, I thought thats the school I applied to: "a library AND information school". Sadly if this school continues on the who cares about public/ academics/ public need libraries path I can't push people to apply to this school who want their MLS.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I vote for "Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information". It is the least obnoxious of all of them. I agree with the above poster. We shouldn't forget that there our main purpose here is user centered. Without an education that teaches us how to instruct and understand the people we serve, all the information in the world is useless.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ my goodness--we really do have an image problem, and it's a SELF-image problem. Like we're ashamed that we are even affiliated with libraries! We are smart to try to focus on connecting people and information, but what about knowledge and wisdom--which are the ultimate goal of all that information--and thus the reason why libraries and librarians are ever more indispensible, although no one seems to know it. I think the little "i" business is too trendy and in some number of years we will be embarrassed about it. I like the classicism of our old name. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I completely agree with the above comment. This trend seems to be spreading throughout library programs around the country. I'm sure it's much too late for these comments, but the name iSchool does not sound like a school with the history and the foundation that the CLIS program has. I agree that CLIS needs to make some changes, but it's in the program itself (many other schools offer a much larger array of classes) not the name. That being said if I have to choose, I would have to go with Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information. It is simple. It represents everyone in the College of Information Studies. Maryland's iSchool in the World's Information Capital---it's a tongue twister that most people will not understand Maryland's iSchool: We Have an i for Information---sounds like a tag line made by children (sorry) Maryland's iSchool: Creating Information Capital--what is it with the word capital in two of the choices?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I also vote for Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information though what other colleges actually have taglines at UMD? Shouldn't we be modeling ourselves after the Robert H. Smith School of business which is basically an entity of itself at this college and works on building and facilitating relationships rather than using tricks like taglines and silliness like that?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I like:
College of Information Studies Maryland's iSchool: Connecting People to Information
It's a little more generic the some of the other suggestions, but I feel that more people would be able to understand the concept of the school and what we are trying to do.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I agree with the poster who bemoans the librarian/information professionals community's inferiority complex. That has dismayed me since my very first day at CLIS. And I agree with the person who thinks the taglines are silly and maybe the college should focus on actually providing a better product to students.
I like "Connecting people with information" -- that's not too pretentious. But iSchool? The i- prefix was fine until it became synonymous with shiny Apple products. iSchool makes me feel like it is a trendy but overpriced and overhyped school that has fun features but little real substance. If that's what they're going for, then fine... Of course, I do realize that the powers that be have decided on iSchool (I feel like I should do a little dance whenever I say that) and our input probably doesn't matter.
Question: does the College have a vision or mission statement?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I agree with several of the comments above. iSchool sounds gimmicky and trendy... and overemphasizes a connection to technology. While technology is obviously important, it is only one aspect of library service. I feel the library part is gradually getting obscured at CLIS is favor of technology... it's as if I'm majoring in computer science and not library science, which is extremely frustrating. I really wish the word "library" appeared back in the title... because that's why every student I've talked to is attending CLIS- so that they can work in a library. I also feel that it's hypocritical to emphasize CLIS' connection to technology- while at the same time discontinuing the WISE courses which are an important and vital technological part of the program. I really wish that there was a wiki or a forum for students to discuss and recommend class offerings- that would be incredibly useful and give students a voice in the process.
All of that being said, I like "connecting people with information" the best, because that's what librarians do.
Response to this comment:
We encourage you to use this wiki to start up any type of discussion that interests you.
I'm adding a course discussion forum. Thanks for the suggestion!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyone Google ischool just to see who else is doing it? Washington, Drexel, Texas, Berkeley.... Do we want to follow, or is there a way to distinguish UMD and our college from some of our leading competitors?
Also, in an age where the MLS is devalued in libraries, and the prevailing perception is that style is more important than substance, & that librarianship is not a profession that requires specific training, we do ourselves a disservice by describing ourselves in such general terms. "Ischool".... OK, but what is it? With that question in mind, I vote for the "cute" "i for information" slogan, because it at least makes the connection between the proposed name and the tagline explicit.
I understand that there is more to the college than the MLS program, but "Library and Information" seems pretty inclusive to me. Change necessary? I think there's a need out there to defend the MLS as a necessary professional qualification, and I think that removing references to library science from the name of the college don't help in that effort.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
