Daniel Alonzo wrote:

See below. This bums me out. This feels personal. UT once had the No. 1 ranked archival enterprise program in the country. Over the last decade, they've all but deleted the program. Urge to rant...checked.

Daniel

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Lucas J McGill <lmcgill@utexas.edu>
Date: Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Subject: Letter of concern to UT iSchool administration concerning the state of Libraries and Archives curriculum
To: Archivists of Central Texas <archivistscentraltx@gmail.com>

Hello Archivists of Central Texas,

I hope y’all are doing well. I am a current student at the University of Texas School of Information, SAA/ALA Officer, and current MSIS Committee Student Representative. Since I have attended the school, many concerns about the state of the program for Libraries and Archives have been expressed by current students, faculty, and alumni. We, SAA/ALA student chapter, have conducted a student survey that paints a dire state of affairs. We SAA/ALA student chapter and iSchool students, have also drafted a letter of concern which has been signed by current students and alumni expressing these concerns.

I will be presenting my survey results along with the letter and signatures to the MSIS committee on Friday November 7th. If you have the time, are an alumni or current student, and are invested in the future of the School of Information for Libraries and Archives students, I would appreciate you reading our letter and filling out our Google form to collect signatures. Also, please share if you know any other current students or alumni who would be interested in signing on to this letter.

Link to letter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FfWgx-gi_qJQHkClf7raLtePncu43OlUQgZ6JaukuVA/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Google signature form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdRxLN4iI-zAUbvj6r-MO7twQPNS5WtW5FMU0E-wyNwuQdIqQ/viewform?usp=header

Thank you,

Lucas McGill

----------------------

November 11th update:

Hello iSchool Students and Alumni,

We have some good news as well as some potentially unfortunate news. I'll start with the good:

We presented our letter of concern and data from our iSchool Student Experience Survey to the MSIS Master's Committee last Friday which outlined a stunning (but not surprising) lack of confidence in the Libraries and Archives side of the iSchool curriculum and student support. Our concerns were well received by professors and administration who sit on the committee. 

Our priority action items were voted "yes" unanimously and taken on as a committee charge for the academic school year. The iSchool will be hiring two additional professional track faculty which would potentially add six new courses each semester. The iSchool will also be conducting a comprehensive, faculty-led curriculum review for the iSchool against ALA and SAA core competencies. This should address gaps in the curriculum and provide aspiring archivists and librarians with the skills they need in their future careers. We have also secured a budget for interim skills workshops to address the immediate gaps in curriculum for soon-to-graduate students. For students concerned about their ability to fulfill the requirements for the CRM, a professor has been found Digital Archives and Intro to Electronic and Digital Records so those will be offered next semester. Elliot Hauser's Datafication class will be updated and qualify for the metadata component of the CRM next semester. We perceive these as big wins for iSchool Libraries and Archives students and alumni.

On to the potentially unfortunate news:

You may have heard that the School of Information will be merging with the College of Natural Science. This is true. This was a unilateral decision made by the Provost and no iSchool faculty were consulted before the fact. Ultimately, The School of Information will be a part of three foundational departments that are within a new unit (inside CNS) which are within a school within a college which is as of yet unnamed. Those foundational departments will be: Computer Science, Statistics and Data Science, and Information Studies. Libraries and Archives students have been justifiably frustrated by the news because of the potential it has to even further marginalize this side of the program and because of the roots of the School of Information being grounded in library science. We are not sure if there is anything to be done to prevent this merger as it seems to be the directive of the Provost. However, it is not all doom and gloom just yet. We were told to share the following information which UT administration shared with iSchool faculty, we remain cautiously optimistic that UT administration will stick to their word on these promises:

-We are not moving to a new building immediately

-All education is unchanged

-Accreditation is unaffected

-Nothing is being cancelled or changed

-Administration was told this would be "an investment opportunity"* (possible big asterisk on that one)

-Professors are being limited in communicating about it in writing

The final bullet point is critical. We have been told by faculty that students and alumni can more effectively spread the message of this merger because faculty are barred from putting it in writing until February. We encourage students and alumni to spread this message to anyone who has an investment in the iSchool's future. Especially alumni whose voices may carry some weight with UT administration.

In summary, our concerns were heard loud and clear by iSchool administration and we are overjoyed with the overwhelming support and action y'all displayed to make our voices heard, resulting in immediate and positive concrete outcomes for us all. The CNS merger is alarming. Nothing will change immediately, but certainly has the potential to in the future. That's why now is the time to make our voices heard yet again. Please spread the message of this merger and advocate the best you can for Libraries and Archives studies at the University of Texas. We are not sure what we can do (if anything) to prevent this merger, but we have demonstrated through our actions a strong base of support for Libraries and Archives students within the UT community and the ability to rapidly mobilize. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further thoughts, questions, concerns, or suggestions.

We also encourage y'all to read this article, if you haven't already, authored by the current Provost outlining his current thoughts on the state of academia and future plans for The University of Texas at Austin: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/restoring-academic-social-contract

Sincerely,

The University of Texas at Austin ALA/SAA Student Chapter Officers