iWonder

The ETS has renamed its ICT exam to iSkills to make it sound more relevant and hip. At least they didn’t call it iSkillz.

I’m guessing people got tired of explaining the acronym – or correcting people when they assumed the C stood for computer.

But in the rush to be cool, I wonder: Should UDub rename its LIS program iSchool? Should we drape giant white earbuds over our libraries to make them appear more plugged in?

iDoubt it.

Author: Barbara Fister

I'm an academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Like all librarians at our small, liberal arts institution I am involved in reference, collection development, and shared management of the library. My area of specialization is instruction, with research interests also in media literacy, popular literacy, publishing, and assessment.

6 thoughts on “iWonder”

  1. Perhaps I’m too literal, but isn’t the rush to be cool the current meme? iSchool is what UDub’s LIS is known as, and funky names are ubiquitous in library marketing.

  2. You’re right – I’d heard it called “I-School” as a shortened version of Information School, but didn’t realize they spelled it Apple-style. It’s right there, on their Website.

    Looks as if they started calling themselves iSchool in 2001, the same year the iPod launched. Now if UDub did it first, maybe they can lay prior claim to it and make some money. Or get free shuffles for their students, or something.

  3. What does the ‘i’ stands for?. If it stands for ‘information’, then it is OK!. The old name was misleading, to say the least. There is a problem, however, with the ‘skills’ part of the new name. The ‘skills’ vs. ‘competences’ struggle should by now be over, shouldn’t it?

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