Chapter 1: Introduction: Re-Envisioning the MLS

During the academic year 2013–2014, a group of faculty, students, and staff at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, began to plan a project what we would eventually call “Re-envisioning the MLS.”¹ Initially, we thought the project would last three years: year one for planning and data collection; year two for design and content creation; and year three for initial implementation. Four years later, this project continues, and it has been embedded into the day-to-day and long-term planning for the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at Maryland as well as other programs and discussions in the field more broadly. Re-envisioning will (and should) never be complete.