As a teenager, Kimberlee Smith worked summers at the public library in her hometown in Minnesota. She loved the experience and wanted to become a librarian. But, Smith received a scholarship to attend the University of Minnesota and at that time, the university didn’t offer an accredited degree in library science.

Smith calls herself a “lifelong lover of learning” so when Beaufort County School District announced a new partnership with the University of South Carolina School of Information Science, she knew this was her opportunity to finally realize her dream of becoming a librarian.

After working in a university museum and then in corporate IT, Smith’s life led her to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and into the high school classroom.

“My husband is in the U.S. Coast Guard, which brought us here. I’ve worked for Hilton Head Island High School for 16 years. I’ve built the media arts program, teaching drawing and media arts along the way and serving as department chair and art club sponsor. We raised our family here, and I believe this is where I’m supposed to be.”

This fall, Smith and four other teachers from the school district enrolled in USC’s Master of Library and Information Science, a 100% online degree program that prepares certified librarians. The teachers make up BCSD’s first cohort enrolled in the partnership.

“School librarians are a critical need in South Carolina,” said Jenna Spiering, an assistant professor in the iSchool. “There are just not enough certified librarians to fill vacancies.”

Spiering said BCSD reached out to USC in 2024 as they faced a potentially dire shortage of librarians in the coming years.

“They had heard about our successful partnership with Charleston County School District and wanted to replicate those results. We were excited to expand this offering to another large school district to reach more educators,” said Spiering.

In 2017, Charleston County School District began the school year with 18 librarian vacancies, and four schools completely lacked a certified librarian. The critical shortage of librarians impacted the amount of time students spent in the library reading, researching and taking advantage of the resources. Eight years later, 40 CCSD teachers have graduated from the MLIS program, and 31 now work as librarians in the school district. Six additional teachers are currently enrolled at USC.

“This partnership allows school districts to grow their own talent,” said Spiering.

During the two-year program, teachers take two online courses each term. The school district pays two-thirds of the tuition cost, with the teacher covering the remaining amount. In exchange, the teachers must work in one of the school district’s libraries for five years after earning the MLIS degree. The online aspect of the program allows flexibility for busy, full-time working teachers.

“I had gone through the graduate program myself. I knew the rigor and how well it prepared me,” said Ryan Copeland, BCSD’s library service coordinator. “I felt comfortable with how it would prepare the educators involved.”

Copeland, a USC Graduate School alumnus, said he and other BCSD administrators knew they must take proactive steps to fill a growing number of current and future librarian vacancies in the district’s 32 schools.

“I asked our job recruiter, ‘Who’s in the pipeline?’ They said, ‘No one is applying.’ I had a moment where I said to myself what are we going to do to address this issue,” said Copeland. “I went to our instructional services chief with this partnership idea. She asked what’s more important — books or people. I said, ‘Right now, people. You can’t run an effective library without qualified people.’”

Copeland knew qualified people were already in their classrooms working as teachers. With the help of the district’s communications personnel, they quickly shared emails and social media posts about the MLIS program, held an interest meeting, took applications and eventually ended up with the five teachers in the first cohort, with about seven other educators who want to join future cohorts.

“These teachers are working a full day in the classroom before attending online classes. Many are raising families and dealing without outside responsibilities, too,” said Copeland. “They are making sacrifices and putting in hard work. You can say we are making an investment in them by paying part of their tuition, but I know they are truly investing in themselves, our district and our profession.”

Once the educators complete the program and earn their master’s degree, they often become trusted mentors for future USC students, too. 

“This is truly a mutually beneficial relationship,” said Spiering. “We grow strong relationships with cohort members, who tend to be highly knowledgeable students who then become trusted mentors to the next generation of interns. All of our MLIS students must complete an internship before earning their degree, so these mentors are critical to the success of our overall program.”

This symbiotic partnership benefits USC, the school districts, educators and children who reap the rewards of having a qualified librarian in their school to ignite their love of reading and learning. The partnership also allows non-traditional students, like Smith, to reach a dream that’s decades in the making.

“Who would have thought as an empty nester I would be going back to school, but here I am. As a librarian, I will be able to reach a larger audience of students — the entire student body, in fact. I am already thinking about starting a book club for students and bringing in guest authors. It’s not that I want to leave the classroom. It’s that this opportunity is the best of both worlds. I can use my skills to reach more children, while doing something I’ve always wanted to do.”