If you were asked off the top of your head to state the top-ranked graduate school at the University, you might say the College of Engineering. You would be close, as the graduate engineering program holds the No. 5 spot in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report. However, there is a program at the University that has maintained a top-dog seat at the peak of schools across the nation for years: the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Ranked No. 1 in the country ever since the U.S. News & World Report started ranking library and information science programs in 1999, the University’s program receives little attention. Though the College of Engineering is 14 times its size, GSLIS is small yet mighty, for the study of library and information science is arguably more important today than ever before. The integration of library science — the organization and accessibility of information — and of information science — the use of information — is used to improve research, learning and teaching methods. With the exponential rise in the amount of information out there and the amount of technology available to access it, library and information science helps us to make sense of and manage it all.

The fact that Illinois has the largest public university library system in the country lends to GSLIS’s success: Over 13 million volumes certainly afford many research opportunities and resources. Graduates of GSLIS work in libraries, consulting firms, technology companies and more.

Perhaps why GSLIS does not receive much attention is because it is doesn’t attract much negative attention. For example, when the University’s law school dropped 12 spots in the rankings, it received a huge amount of unwanted attention.

And when schools receive large donations, such as the recent $100 million pledge to the College of Engineering, other programs that don’t receive much funding are pushed further to the background.

It is also not exciting to talk about things that have not changed. Since GSLIS has maintained its No. 1 spot, there’s no need to make a big deal about it.

But this is where our thinking is wrong.

Programs that are working and successful should be acknowledged more than they are. Many times we like to highlight the programs that are broken or that are breaking, or only pay attention to big names with big money.

It is amazing that GSLIS is No. 1 in the nation. It is even more amazing that they have managed to maintain this position for over a decade. 2013’s ranking was based on a fall 2012 survey given to the dean, the director and a senior faculty member in each program. Questions on the survey asked about the quality of programs at their respective schools. The scores were totaled and then divided by the number of people who took the survey. The University’s GSLIS program is ranked 4.6 out of a 5-point scale, followed closely by No. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a ranking of 4.5.

In a time when information is increasingly abundant and technology is constantly changing, it takes a considerable amount of prowess to keep up with it all.

Those who run the GSLIS program and the students enrolled in it should be recognized and commended for their hard work. They should also be thanked for the reputation it gives the University as a whole, because a No. 1 ranking really is an honor, no matter the amount of attention it receives.

Kirsten is a sophomore in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].