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evolutionary transformations are successful, and it is also true that it is
possible to survive over time without significantly evolving: sharks and
horshoe crabs are examples of this. But the organisms that change their
environment (for better or worse) are those that evolve: in other words,

organisms and environments evolve in reciprocal relationship. Or, as
Senior Expert Meng Guangjun told us earlier this afternoon, “it is highly
commendable to review and amend our programs from time to time, in

response to changing circumstances.”
So, let’s begin this talk about the future by talking about the past.
For more than a century, library and information science research and
education have helped societies around the world to cope with the rapid

changes in knowledge management brought on by industrialization, and
then by the information age. At both Wuhan University and the
University of Illinois, there is also a long and proud tradition of

librarianship and library education as a public service, and both
programs have made special contributions to the education of librarians
for academic research libraries and to producing faculty who teach

library science (and later, information science) in research universities.
Both have also had considerable historical impact on the evolution of
libraries and library science education, and both seem likely to continue

to do so.
In 2009, Wuhan’s School of Information Management became the
first Chinese institution to join the iSchools Consortium, a group of
more than 25 of the leading schools of information, most with a heritage

of library and information science programs, all with doctoral programs
and substantial research activity, and all focused on the important
intersection of people, information, and technology.

Many of the iSchools—like SIM—also publish leading journals,
and all of them have forward looking educational programs. The
leadership caucus in the Consortium includes Wuhan, Pittsburgh
University and the University of Illinois, and Ron Larsen and I have

each led the organization for two-year terms. Harry Bruce, the dean of
the School of Information at the University of Washington, currently
chairs the Consortium. The group holds bi-monthly conference calls,

undertakes special projects to promote awareness of iSchools, and
organizes an annual conference (hosted last year at Illinois, and this year
at the University of Washington). One significant challenge for the

future of library science education is to preserve the independence of our
information schools and to assert the importance of the information