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The promise of

an uncertain future…

Gill Hallam

QUT

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Questions for the future...

• What skills and attributes will LIS professionals need?

• What expectations will employers have?

• What are the challenges for LIS educators?

• What about the professional association?

• Who is responsible for what?

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But it’s your future…

• Where do you fit?

• What do you want to achieve?

• How will you reach your goals?

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The university of learning• How can we help students develop the capacity to handle

situations in the future that they have not previously encountered?

• How can we help students learn to deal with the uncertainty of future events?

• How do we design appropriate learning and assessment activities?

(Bowden & Marton, 1998)

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“The new skills”

• Plenty of literature

• Key studies:

1. KALIPER (1998-2000)

2. SKIP (2000)

3. SLA (1997, 2003)

4. CILIP (2003)

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1. KALIPER – Kellogg ALISE Information Professions and Education Reform project

• Trend 1In addition to libraries as institutions and library-specific operations, LIS curricula are addressing broad-based information environments and information problems

• Trend 2While LIS curricula continue to incorporate perspectives from other disciplines, a distinct core has taken shape that is predominantly user-centered

• Other trends:– IT to support curriculum– Experimentation with specialisations– Flexible delivery– Diverse levels of degrees (Bachelor, Masters, PhD)

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Trend 1 – broader information contexts

• The inherent transferability of library skills to other situations and information problems was evident in the creation and redesign of curricula so that the concepts and skills covered have broad implications and relevance.

• Introduction of new topics to focus on information problems such as licensing and legal issues, ethics, the creation and marketing of information products, the organization and management of digital information.

• Renaming or retooling of traditional LIS units such as cataloguing, classification and reference, or redesignating them as electives instead of core.

• Dropping the L-word and introducing the I-word.

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Trend 2 – a distinct core with different dressings

• Infusion of multidisciplinary perspectives into LIS curricula, eg from computer science, medicine, engineering, psychology, art and design, business.

• Yet the development of a distinct core: the central domain covers cognitive and social aspects of how information and information systems are created, organized, managed, disseminated, filtered, routed, retrieved, accessed, used, and evaluated.

• At the heart of the activities, issues and problems is the user.

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2. SKIPSkills for the new Information Professionals

• Management must recognise the changing nature of the role of the majority of professional librarians within LIS.

• Their changed functions will require new skills and training, and continual updating.

• 3 areas highlighted for attention – information and IT skills required to function in the

networked information environment;– an understanding of the nature of change taking place

in the teaching and learning process in higher education;

– team working and team management skills, particularly within the context of multidisciplinary team working.

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3. SLA Competencies

• 4 major professional competencies:– Managing information organisations– Managing information resources– Managing information services– Managing information tools and technologies

• Each competency – specific skills (illustrated by scenarios)

• Personal competencies included:– Oral and written communication– Teamwork– Problem solving– Adaptablilty

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• 2002 - merger of Library Association & Institute of Information Scientists

• Framework of qualifications to update the body of knowledge inherited from the 2 organisations

• Chartered status of LIS professionals in the UK

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QUT

• Research into the discipline knowledge and generic capabilities required by the LIS professional in the 21st century

• Literature review, environmental scan, focus groups and surveys

• 15 key areas of discipline knowledge• 10 generic capabilities• Development of a new course

Master of Information Management plus a series of Graduate Certificates

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Fields of discipline knowledge

Information and societyEthics and legal responsibilityManagementInformation organisationInformation servicesCollection management & developmentInformation resources & retrievalInformation literacy instructionInformation managementInformation systems for LIS professionalsWeb content managementCareer planningRecords management & archivesProfessional practiceResearch

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Generic capabilities

Information literacy

Lifelong learning

Teamwork

Communication

Ethics and social responsibility

Project management

Critical thinking

Problem solving

Business acumen

Self management

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So what are the skills that LIS

professionals will require –

on entry into the profession and

as they progress through their careers?

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Lots of lists…

• SLA Competencies• Cathie Koina (ALJ, 2002)• TFPL KM skills map• TFPL Knowledge and

Information Skills Toolkit

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What do employers want?

• Working within projects or initiatives

• Creativity/imagination• Understanding the

organisation and the role within organisation

• Impact analysis• Risk taking• Lateral thinking• Scenario planning• Evidence based practice• Policy responses

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And professional bodies?

CILIP:

Criteria for chartership

ALIA:

Core knowledge skills and attributes

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How can we draw all the players together to provide cohesion?

Educators…

Employers…

ALIA…

You…

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• LIS educators can kick start the

process

• And they need to work closely with

employers

• And qualified LIS professionals

need to commit to professional

development

• And employers need to commit to

their staff members’ professional

development

• And ALIA can provide the

framework

but

• You need to be the catalyst

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LIS

educators

training

providersALIA

employers

YOU

CPD

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So, sure, there’s uncertainty,

It’s all around us,

It’s part of life.

But it’s YOUR future,

You can make it happen…

You will make it happen…

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Promise?

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BibliographyBowden, J. & Marton, F. (1998). The university of learning. London: Kogan Page.Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) (n.d.), Chartered membership. http://

www.cilip.org.au/qualifications/chartering at 25 April 2004. Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) (2004), CILIP Framework of

Qualifications. http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualifications/framework/consultation_intro.html at 25 April 2004.

Fisher, B. (2003). Skills for the 21st century. The challenges for our professional practice. Impact , 6(1) http://www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk/impact/winter03/21censki.htm at 25 April 2004. Pettigrew, K.E. & Durrance, J.C. (2001). KALIPER: Introduction and overview of results. 42 Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 42, p.170.

Garrod, P. & Sidgreaves, I. (1998), Skills for the new Information Professional: final report. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/other/skip/ at 25 April 2004.

Koina, C. (2002). Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers? ALJ, 52(3). http://alia.org.au/publishing/alj/52.3/full.text/koina.html st 30 November 2004

Partridge, H. & Hallam, G. (2004). The double helix: a personal account of the discovery of [the information professionals’] DNA. ALIA 2004 http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/pdfs/partridge.h.paper.pdf at 30 November 2004.

Skills for the new Information Professional (SKIP) (n.d.). Home page. http://www.plym.ac.uk/faculties/research/skip1.html at 25 April 2004.

Special Libraries Association (SLA) (1997). Competencies of the special librarian of the 21st century . http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/97comp.cfm at 25 April 2004.

Special Libraries Association (SLA)(2003), Competencies of the information professional of the 21st century. http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/index.cfm at 25 April 2004.

Sutton, S.A. (2000). Trends, trend projections, and crystal ball gazing. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 42, p.241.

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