We [LIS education] are challenged by the “increasing difficulty in maintaining coherence of identity, image, and purpose.” This is reflected in past, present, and future changes to the discipline. Information scientists finding academic home in library education programs in post-WWII higher education marked the beginning of LIS education and promised ensuing changes. Advent of the Internet in the late 21st century ignited a LIS education rebranding movement. Ubiquitous access to information through computers posited the unsettling question regarding relevance and needs for traditional libraries. In response, many LIS schools abandoned the ‘L’ opting for labels of information science reflecting modernized information access and subsequent student recruitment beyond interests in librarianship. Y2k ushered in the iSchools movement inviting interdisciplinary faculty, diversified curricula, and increased focus on funding for faculty research. More recently, LIS schools promote niche programs to the likes of big data, archival studies, and social justice. Changes remain centered upon preparing LIS professionals for meaningful practice. Standards for accreditation of Master’s programs in LIS continually ensure responsibility to prepare practitioners while straining meaningfulness of LIS Education within the academy entrenched in goals of research, teaching, and service. Ubiquitous pressures that drive change rekindle Cronin’s insight haunting, taunting, and provoking LIS education to find its “coherence of identity, image, and purpose." The dawning of 2018 marks a major LIS education conference theme beckoning LIS educators and practitioners to reflect and act upon ‘The Expanding LIS Education Universe.’
