52 TechTrends • November/December 2007 Volume 51, Number 6 he origins of East Carolina University’s Library Science and Instructional Tech- nology Department can be traced to the previously named East Carolina Teacher’s Col- lege Library Science Program, established in 1939. Te Library Science Program was initially authorized to ofer undergraduate courses that met the State of North Carolina’s certifcation re- quirements for school librarians and began with a handful of students and two faculty members in its frst year (Jones, 2006). Since its incep- tion in 1939, the department has experienced signifcant growth; a key period of which oc- curred with the department’s commitment and migration to a 100% online teaching environ- ment for all three degree programs beginning in 2000 (Kester, 2007). Over the last sixty-eight years, the Library Science Program has grown to the present day’s Department of Library Sci- ence and Instructional Technology, with over 500 students (approximately 400 majors plus li- censure-only students) in three graduate degree programs and twenty-two faculty and staf. Department History Te frst graduate degree approved by the Library Science Program was the Master of Arts in Education (MAEd) degree in audio-visual education for secondary education librarians, established in 1950. In 1969, the department experienced a major revision of the MAEd de- gree requirements to address student concerns and the revised national standards for school library media programs by the American Asso- ciation of School Librarians in collaboration with the NEA Department of Audiovisual Instruction (Jones, 2006). Te MAEd was a joint-degree pro- gram operated in conjunction with the School of Education until the early 1970s when it was reor- ganized into the Department of Library Science (DLIS). Te Department of Library Science then be- gan expanding its ofering of graduate courses in preparation for the ofering of the Master in Library Science (MLS) degree; 1970 was the frst year that the MLS degree program was approved and ofered at East Carolina University (ECU). Beginning in 1985, the Department of Founda- tions, Research, and Media in the School of Edu- cation began to develop the MAEd Instructional Technology Specialist-Computers degree that would also carry with it a certifcation for the North Carolina public schools (Jones, xvi), which was approved in 1987. Tis degree program was then relocated to DLIS and incorporated with the existing MAEd to create the program version ofered by the department in 1988. A Certifcate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Library Science for those who already held an MLS degree was ap- proved for ofering in 1994 and further supple- mented the department’s ability to meet the con- tinuing education requirements of library science professionals in North Carolina. In 1996, the MLS degree was approved by the AASL/NCATE and the department’s program became accredited for the frst time, with three accreditation agency approvals (NCATE, AASL, and NCDPI) for the MAEd and MLS degrees. One Department’s Transition to Online Instruction: Library Science and Instructional Technology Masters Programs at East Carolina University By Larry Nash White, Carol A. Brown, and William Sugar T