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The planning of the Shady Grove offering goes back to 2005,
that's when we started planning
and coming here,
meeting with people
and understanding the approach here,
and learning about the facilities.
And after about two, three years of planning,
we finally brought the program here in Fall 2008.
We started small,
with about ten students,
and we offered two sections in Fall 2008
when we started.
We have about sixty students now in the MLS program
and about 15 students in the MIM program,
which we brought here last year, in Fall 2011.
And we're offering about seven to eight sections
in the MLS program
and about four sections in the MIM program
in regular semesters,
and about two to four courses each summer.
That depends mostly on student demand.
Well, the quality and the accessibility
of the Shady Grove campus cannot be beaten.
I find that as a career changer like me,
it's the ideal setting.
The professional ambience is quiet.
We have really convenient classes here,
offered in the evenings and on weekends;
and the parking is free, it's plentiful;
the dining options are great.
So that coming after work in the D.C. Metro area,
this campus is so conveniently located,
I can just drive right over, take the metro,
or even the shuttle from the College Park campus
and it's so much easier than
trying to fight traffic in the D.C. area,
getting over to College Park.
The facilities here at the USG campus
always excites people, fascinates people.
They use technology in a really creative way
and they have some really high standards.
Being an energy efficient LEED-certified building,
they're really particular about being environmentally conscious.
There's a great recycling and compost program here,
and we don't have something like that at College Park,
not to that extent.
So people really like that as well.
They like the technology.
It's something that really helps me a lot,
because it's really easy to impress our instructors.
So when people first come here,
they see the facility,
they see the level of support,
and they like it, they like teaching here.
Well, the Priddy library
is an excellent resource for us.
It is full of a great collection
that meets the needs of a school library media specialist.
And Irene Munster,
she is always looking out
for resources and things that we might need
and making them available for us.
And the OIT staff has always been there
to just step right up at a moment's notice
when we have any kind
of audiovisual technical difficulty in our classrooms;
they have all this great technology.
Shady Grove is so intimate
that you can really form good relationships
with the professors here,
and you can form good relationships with your peers,
and you can form relationships
with even the librarians downstairs.
Fabulous! It's just...
I think that the climate that is created
really fosters a wonderful environment
for what I consider the librarians of the future.
And Dr. Diker and Vicky Reinke
have always been there.
They make themselves available.
I've sat down with them several times
and they've helped me explore and develop
some of my personal interests and skills
and talk about career needs,
and I have to say that
Dr. Sheri Massey has been an incredible mentor.
She went above and beyond
to prepare all of us for this current job market
and she's helped me especially make the career change.
MLS students are allowed to take classes
from either campus.
So Shady Grove MLS students
can take College Park courses
in addition to Shady Grove courses.
I guess that works on several different levels.
One is, of course they have more choices
when it comes to choosing their electives
or even the days and times
when they can take their core classes.
Now, being able to take courses at both campuses
also help them to build a wider network.
I believe that really exposes them
to a wider range of opportunities over time.
You get the benefit
of a very small intimate environment
and also the benefit
of the whole University of Maryland College Park
standing behind you.
Well, coming into the MLS program here
two-and-a-half years ago,
my goal was to become a school librarian,
and I'm realizing that now.
I feel like the preparation I had here
gave me the confidence
and the competitive edge
to really succeed in the job search.
In fact, I was so lucky I had two job offers
before I even graduated.
I think they've designed
and they're continually enhancing their curriculum
to meet the current standards
in the library science field
and I really feel like
the iSchool is a leader in library science today.
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