SILS ranked number one by U.S. News and World Report

The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been ranked number one by U.S. News and World Report in the magazine's 2007 edition of “ America 's Best Graduate Schools.” The School tied for first with University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign among programs with accredited master's degrees.

“We are delighted to once again receive a number one ranking in U.S. News and World Report,” said Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, dean of SILS. “The ranking is an acknowledgment of our efforts to provide one of the best graduate programs in the nation, and we aim to maintain the highest standards of excellence as we prepare our students for their careers.”

In addition to ranking number one overall, SILS also placed in six of seven specialty areas of the magazine's top ten list, including:

• Health librarianship 2nd
• Digital librarianship 4th
• Law Librarianship 5th
• Archives and preservation 7th
• Information systems 7th
• Services for children and youth 8th

The specialty areas were ranked based on nominations from respondents from peer institutions. They rated each school for excellence in the given specialty area.

The rankings for the 50 accredited information and library science schools are based on a survey of deans, program directors and senior faculty of the schools. According to information released by U.S. News and World Report, those responding to the surveys rated programs on their academic quality using a scale of one to five with five outstanding. SILS received a 4.5 overall ranking for its accredited master's programs.

The top ranked library and information studies in the magazine's report include:

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
3. Syracuse University (NY)

Prior to the current results, the magazine's most recent ranking for schools with master's programs in information and library science was conducted in 1999. SILS also placed first in that ranking tying with University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.

The new rankings will appear in the April 10 issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine, which hits newsstands Monday, April 3 along with the “America 's Best Graduate Schools” guidebook. Details will be available at: www.usnews.com

For more information about the University's rankings for other schools, see the Fact Sheet issued by the News Services office. For more about the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, please visit our Web site at: sils.unc.edu