CUNY Queens

[Logorrhea224]

I applied to (or am in the process of applying to) four schools: University of Washington, University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign, UNC- Chapel Hill, and City University of New York- Queens. I mainly applied to CUNY Queens as an in-state, safety school... I'm really interested in public librarianship, specifically youth services, and neither University at Buffalo or SUNY Albany really seem to have programs suited to those interests. Plus, UB just came off of conditional accreditation.

Anyhow, from everything I've heard, the most affordable option is the best. However, CUNY Queens has just been demoted to conditional accreditation. According to the ALA website, my degree would still be considered accredited. However, I'm worried the going for the degree at Queens wouldn't prepare me as well as some of the other schools would, as it is only conditionally accredited and doesn't seem as up-to-date on the tech-based side of the field. Do you think it's better to stick with CUNY Queens, as it's considerably more affordable, or should I go for a pricier but fully accredited program? What difference does "conditional" accreditation make?

[jordtas7]

I looked on the American Library Association website to see if there is more information on conditional accreditation. It seems that if a school is not meeting ALA standards they are put on conditional accreditation status. The conditional status lasts for three years and after that three years the ALA reviews the program makes a determination as to whether to remove accreditation or grant it full accreditation. Like you said if you got your degree within those three years your degree would still be considered accredited, however there is the concern that the program may not be fully preparing you. Perhaps you could talk to someone at CUNY Queens about what they are doing in response to their conditional status to make sure they are working towards meeting ALA standards. From what I hear the "tech-based" side of the field is becoming increasingly important in librarianship so it might be good to consider another program that will be sure to prepare you in this respect. It also might be helpful to speak with a working youth services public librarian to discuss how important and what role technology has in their particular field. These are just a few suggestions---this is a very tough decision.

Here is a link for the website I looked at:

http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/standards/ap3/overview/conditional

I hope this is helpful!