Accreditation historically has been the way for students to determine whether the institution they attend maintains certain quality standards. In most countries, the central government accredits higher education institutions. In France, for example, the national government is the accrediting agency. In the United Kingdom, the national government essentially supervises accreditation. In Canada, the provinces are responsible.

In the United States, the accreditation system works differently. Its different structure may make it a potential vehicle for certifying quality in...

Dating back to the end of the Middle Ages, at the heart of every traditional university has been a great library. Libraries are essential elements in the process we call education.

In the early 17th century, Sir Francis Bacon may have created one of the first library cataloging systems. As part of his essay “In Advancement of Learning,” he divided “all knowledge” according to the faculties of memory, imagination, and reason. Thomas Jefferson used the same three categories to organize his own large personal library out of which grew the Library of Congress, which has become the...