1927 -- Mabel Smith Douglass, Dean of the New Jersey College for Women (a part of Rutgers since 1924), initiates plans for a library school at the College
1929 -- The NJCW baccalaureate degree in librarianship is accredited by the American Library Association
1930 -- Ethel Fair assumes directorship of the program, a post she held until her retirement in 1950
1950 -- Rutgers College men are allowed to enroll in the program
1950 -- State Librarian Roger McDonough urges State Education Commission to take action to address shortage of trained librarians in New Jersey
1951 -- Consultant Dr. Robert D. Leigh reports to the Commission that nearly three fourths of those holding professional library positions in New Jersey lacked appropriate education
1952 -- Creation of a graduate library school at Rutgers is recommended and approved; the NJCW program ceases; the State Library and the New Jersey Library Association work to secure start-up funding
1953 -- Rutgers Graduate School of Library Service is officially established in September
1954 -- Lowell Martin becomes the first dean of Rutgers GSLS, housed at 5 Huntington Street, in the building now occupied by Campus Security; original faculty includes Mary Gaver, Ralph Shaw, Keyes Metcalf, Margaret Monroe; GSLS admits its first class of 104 students.
1956 -- Alexander Library opens, and provides classroom space for GSLS; ALA accredits the new Rutgers MLS program
1957 -- A $100,000 grant from Council on Library Resources launches research program headed by Ralph Shaw
1959 -- Dean Martin resigns to accept a position with Grolier; Ralph Shaw succeeds as dean; PhD program is initiated
1961 -- The first three PhD's graduate; Shaw is succeeded by Neal Harlow
1962 -- Dean Harlow begins the campaign to raise funds for a new building
1964 -- Libraries for the People of New Jersey or Knowledge for All, informally known as the Martin-Gaver report, is published by the NJLA; provides the framework for state-funded library cooperation until superseded by the regional system two decades later
1965 -- Bureau of Information Sciences Research established with support from National Institutes of Health and Office of Naval Research
1968 -- The new building for the school opens in December
1966 -- Professor Mary Gaver serves as president of ALA, 1966/67; she is the third Rutgers faculty member to hold this office (preceding her were Keyes Metcalf in 1942/43 and Ralph Shaw in 1956/57)
1969 -- Harlow is succeeded by Thomas H. Mott, previously the director of the Rutgers Center for Computer Studies; Bureau of Library and Information Science Research established
1972 -- The Professional Development Studies program is formalized under the leadership of Professor Dorothy Deininger
1973 -- Department of Human Communication faculty are invited to participate in PhD program; Sixth-Year Specialist certificate program approved; ALA publishes Rutgers study (led by Ernest DeProspo), Performance Measures for Public Libraries, the forerunner of the output measures series
1974 -- Audiovisual laboratory established; ALA reaccredits MLS program
1978 -- The name of the school changes to The Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS)
1980 -- ALA gives conditional accreditation to the MLS program; enrollment drops
1982 -- GSLIS merges with the School of Communication, becoming a department in the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS); Tom Mott resigns
1983 -- Richard Budd (Communication) becomes dean of SCILS; James D. Anderson is chair of LIS
1984 -- Patricia Reeling becomes chair of LIS; Master's in Communication and Information Studies is designed, aided by a federal grant
1987 -- ALA reaccredits the MLS program
1989 -- Betty Turock replaces Patricia Reeling as chair of LIS, and assumes title of director of the MLS program
1995 -- Betty Turock serves as ALA president; David Carr assumes leadership of the LIS Department and the MLS program
1997 -- Dean Budd departs; ALA reaccredits MLS program
1998 -- Kay Vandergrift replaces David Carr, who accepts position at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Gustav Friedrich appointed dean
1999 -- Vandergrift becomes Associate Dean; Carol Kuhlthau is appointed LIS department chair and MLS program director
2001 -- LIS Department launches new undergraduate major in Information Technology and Informatics (ITI)
2002 -- Nick Belkin becomes director of the MLIS program and chair of the LIS department; Betty Turock becomes Associate Dean; Paul Kantor director of the PhD program; and Ross Todd director of the ITI program
2004 -- MLIS program is reaccredited by the American Library Association for seven more years
2005 -- First cohort of students to take the MLIS degree program entirely online is admitted. Michael Lesk becomes chair of the LIS Department, while Ross Todd becomes director of the MLIS program; Claire McInerney takes over the ITI program.
2008 -- Dean Gus Friedrich steps down from deanship, and Jorge Reina Schement becomes Dean of SCILS in the fall. Also in the fall, Kay Cassell assumes the role of director of the MLIS program, and Stew Mohr takes over as diretor of the ITI major, following a year of serving as MLIS director. Claire McInerney becomes chair of the LIS department in January 2009.
2009 -- Dean Schement proposes a name change, and the School's faculty and the University Board of Governors approve the new name of School of Communication and Information, SC&I for short.
*Based in part on a chapter by Patricia Reeling in A History of New Jersey Libraries, 1750-1996, edited by Edwin Beckerman (Scarecrow, 1997)