Re-engineering LIS education to meet industrial needs for knowledge societies

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the concept and characteristics of library and information science (LIS) vis-à-vis knowledge societies, and the emerging ICT skills in librarianship for knowledge societies. In addition, the study recommends strategies for enhancing the training of LIS professionals to meet industrial needs for knowledge societies. The researcher employed conceptual framework and critical examination to explore the concept of re-engineering LIS education, the state of LIS education and the requirements for meeting industrial needs for knowledge societies. There is a need to review the content and method of LIS education to inject more ICT content and approaches. If implemented, this will open up new avenues not only for the user community but also for the library profession. LIS constitutes a key factor in creating, developing and maintaining knowledge societies. To be able to achieve this, LIS education must equip library and information professionals with relevant ICT competencies. Consequently, there is need for re-engineering of LIS education in the area of methods and content of training for the LIS profession so as to meet industrial needs for knowledge societies. The value of this study lies in its exposition of the contemporary industrial needs and expectations of LIS education especially in the area of information and communication technology.

Keywords

ICT industrial needs information science knowledge societies library science LIS education re-engineering

Introduction

In recent years, work for the information profession has become characterized by fast-paced change and new skills requirements due to the emergence of relevant new technologies which characterize the development of knowledge societies. Information professionals are increasingly required to adapt their skills and practice in order to gain awareness and take control of technological advances. As a result, the profession itself exists in a state of flux alongside these emerging technologies, with traditional roles being increasingly characterized by new skills and therefore, job descriptions (Ashcroft and Watts, 2004). To complement long-held skills and technical expertise, librarians have developed strategies that lead their clients into effective access to, and use of information.

There is no doubt that libraries and information centres are among key agencies required for building knowledge societies. However, the extent to which library and information professionals (LIPs) can make required and meaningful contributions is dependent to a large extent on the extent of acquisition of relevant ICT competencies, some of which are gradually emerging. Instructively, head librarians and other employing agencies hold the strong view that the new library school graduates are unable to perform confidently and satisfactorily without supervision. Also from the employers’ expectations and ratings, some library educators came to the conclusion that the Nigerian Library and Information Science Curriculum is inadequate in the area of contemporary competencies in ICT (Ifidon, 2008). This is because, despite their training, LIPs are not able to adequately meet the requirements and demands of ICT in library and information services in the knowledge society. They lack the depth and breadth of knowledge required to perform many modern professional duties.

There is the need, therefore, to re-engineer LIS education in both content and method of the programme, especially by addressing emerging current trends in ICT and the competencies required for their effective utilization in libraries, information and documentation centres.

Concept and characteristics of LIS vis-à-vis knowledge societies

Reitz (2004) in his Dictionary of Library and Information Science provided separate definitions for library science and information science:

Library science is the professional knowledge and skill with which recorded information is selected, acquired, organized, stored, maintained, retrieved and disseminated to meet the needs of a specific clientele usually taught at professional library school.

Information science is the systematic study and analysis of the sources, development, collection, organization, dissemination, evaluation, use and management of information in all its forms, including the channels (formal and informal) and technology in its communication.

Knowledge societies are pluralistic and culturally diverse society (Dike, 2008) where living standards, patterns of work and leisure, the educational system and market place are all influenced markedly by advances in information and knowledge (Martin, 1995: 3). Knowledge societies have the characteristic that knowledge forms a major component of any human activity – social, economic, cultural, and all other human activities become dependent on a huge volume of knowledge and information. This, according to Jordan (2003), is evidenced by an increasing array of information-intensive products and services, communicated through a wide range of media, many of them electronic in nature. Knowledge societies are increasingly centred on information handling, processing, storage and dissemination, using micro electric-based technologies, especially those made available through convergence of computer with telecommunication namely IT.

According to Tripathi (1999), knowledge societies:

enable most of their members to engage in productive pursuits that are knowledge-intensive, knowledge-generating and knowledge-based;

have a communication network that freely circulates information so that this information is consistently, effectively and efficiently acted upon in the making of choices;

manage inevitable conflict between conservative pressures and pressures for adoptive change by reasons, knowledge-based understanding and enlightened creative wisdom blended with human values.

Knowledge societies are characterized by three factors:

abundance of information and knowledge;

wide and easy access to them;

availability of ICTs necessary for their dissemination.

Appraisal of library and information services for knowledge societies

There are two scenarios on the future of libraries and librarians in knowledge societies: the obsolescence and mastery scenarios (Hathorn, 1997). In the obsolescence scenario, there will be no need for libraries and librarians as everything will be available on the Internet and users will be able to retrieve the information for themselves. In the mastery scenario, libraries and librarians move to positions of prominence as information professionals, information consultants and information brokers in a world dependent on information. There is no doubt that the mastery scenario is more prominent for knowledge societies. This is so because:

Finding quality information online is just an end product which begins with the design and provision of quality information in the Internet for use.

Finding relevant information in the Internet is not easy. Search enquiries typically retrieve numerous hits and with no evaluation of quality. Advanced searches on different engines require different search syntax. No engine covers the entire Internet, and a number of different engines must be used for a comprehensive search.

Some information is licensed only to libraries and information centres and can only be accessed via passwords or some other means while some databases are held locally for searching by researchers.

The implication of the above is that as Croud (2002) puts it, librarians are seen as experts with regard to delivery of information across the Internet. Libraries fall within institutions classified as knowledge organizations. Whether public, academic, research, special or school libraries, the mission of accumulating mankind’s history, culture, growth, development, and scientific and technological advances remains the speciality of libraries (Omekwu, 2001)

The virtual library is an important feature of library and information services for knowledge societies. A review of literature on digital libraries reveals that there are many definitions of the virtual library. In literature, the virtual library is also referred to by a variety of other terms such as the ‘electronic library’, the ‘digital library’, the ‘library without walls’, ‘desktop library’, ‘online library’, ‘future library’, ‘logical library’, ‘networked library’, ‘hybrid library’, ‘gateway library’, ‘extended library’, and ‘Internet library’. Of these terms, digital library, virtual library, electronic library, and hybrid library are most common (Pandian, 2008)

Jones et al. (2006) argue that there is no consensus in regard to the definition of a ‘virtual library’. The term was originally adopted by the computing science community whilst librarians, at the time, were still referring to it as the ‘electronic library’ and the ‘hybrid library’. Sun Microsystems (2002) defines a virtual library as the electronic extensions of functions that users typically perform and the resources they access in a traditional library. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) states that digital library (DL) evokes a different response from each reader. To some who have studied library science, it calls for more reliance on electronic systems and networks in carrying out the functions of libraries in a new way, encompassing new types of information resources,

According to Peters (2008), a distinction is being made between digital and virtual libraries. Digital libraries have been in existence for decades while virtual libraries are newer than digital libraries. Virtual libraries exist in the virtual learning environment (VLE) as opposed to libraries in the real world. Koltay and Boda (2008) explained that virtual library (VL) points towards resource availability on the Internet outside the given library. These resources are free, either with or without registration. Virtual libraries are often parts of digital libraries but are not identical to them. Digital libraries, in a wider sense as explained above, can also encompass resources (catalogues, databases, full-texts) produced by a given library. The common denominator between digital and virtual libraries is quality control, as both types of libraries maintain collections of selected resources.

To promote the growth of knowledge societies, libraries are going to act as nodal points of local information dissemination where information professionals act as agents of change providing means to seek a better future. Libraries of the knowledge society will be providing new services and greater access while still remaining part of a nation’s cultural inheritance, inevitably reflecting the values and conflicts of societies (Kant and Jain, 1999). The knowledge society provides both an opportunity and a challenge to libraries. Libraries are responding by developing more sophisticated online catalogues that allow users to find out required information. With Internet connections across the globe, people who did not have access to traditional library services now have the opportunity to get information about all types of subjects, free of political censorship. Additionally, libraries are now recognized by variety of service delivery.

Required competencies

Librarians have assumed the role of educators to teach their users to find information both in the library and over electronic networks providing local community information through publicly accessible computing systems. Omekwu (2001) observed that librarians will become more prominent as educators, information managers, information management consultants, custodians of information, information providers and publishers and change agents.

To be able to perform the above roles, librarians require a wide range and variety of skills. Apart from the professional training in librarianship and information work, the librarian must acquire computer and Internet literacy. Additionally, Omekwu (2001) noted that librarians require knowledge of:

sources of information and have access to them as required;

strategies that will yield optimal retrieval result in less time. The information explosion of the knowledge society as Ayo (2001) asserted, requires electronic manipulation of information resources to gain access to the knowledge embedded in the document;

services that could attract and retain customers including multimedia, multi-format, knowledge distillation and dissemination-based services;

system use – using both technology and information to provide access to knowledge;

systems administration to be able to manage network connectivity and provision in the libraries without relying on computer science trained system analysts/administrators;

systems maintenance to be able to detect and fix basic computer hardware and software problems so as to be able to communicate on the same frequency with the system supplier;

systems networking for optimal access and utilization of networked resources;

systems development, including knowledge of web design and web management.

The work of librarians has also moved outside library walls. They have begun to work in the information industry as salespeople, designers of new information systems, researchers and information analysts.

The work of LIPs has also extended to that of corporate information systems in which they add value to information for users. They carry out different tasks, such as pruning, providing contact, enhancing style and choosing the right presentation medium. They manage not only internal information resources but also those that were obtained externally from other organizations.

One more area where LIPs will be required to play a greater role for knowledge societies is in that of user instruction in online use in order to maximize the utilization of online services. This is very important because electronic databases are becoming more and more sophisticated and more numerous. Scholars and researchers with good computer skills still need help with database choice, the specifics of various systems and synthesis of results, since much more information can be retrieved in much less time.

Strategies for re-engineering LIS education to meet industrial needs for knowledge societies

There is need for a theoretical base to LIS education, vis-à-vis the technological and pragmatic changes witnessed in the library environment. A sound base for LIS education can be derived using learning objectives, a practice borrowed from the field of education. Similarly, different methods of teaching LIS can be evolved using the various teaching models (Srivastava, 2004).

The challenge demands that information science programmes should emphasize curriculum development to prepare professionals with abilities characterized by a creative response to the challenges of the technological, institutional and societal changes that accompany the transition from a manufacturing-centred economy to a knowledge-centered economy (Singh, 2002). LIS education must be able to equip students with the ability to demonstrate broad, in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of relevant fields and current technology (Giesecke, 1999). It must enable librarians to understand how to use microcomputers and how to adapt to change in technology and keep up to date with new practice, trends and standards in the field.

The time demands that the curriculum of LIS education be revised to promote self-reading, updating of information services and acquisition of contemporary ICT and related skills. Some university-based library schools have merely modified their names to Library and Information Science Department from the original Library Science Department but do not yet reflect the information component in their curriculum. Courses such as data base management, informatics, information systems and technologies, and computer programming are absent (Ifidon, 2008). Such courses should be included in the curriculum of LIS education and taught in both theoretical and practical formats.

Goulding (2001) noted that teaching departments have a responsibility to support the development of appropriate skills to deliver modern information services by incorporating new skills requirement into syllabi. Borrowing a leaf from Wilson (1987), LIS education should integrate existing information management curriculum which is composed of:

the idea of the emergent ‘information/knowledge society’ and the need for information policies and IT policies in societies and organizations;

the notion of ‘systems and systems thinking’ and the exploration of these ideas in the design and development of computer-based information systems and services;

information technology: hardware, software, and telecommunications, including such matters as the evaluation of software packages and some exposure to computer programming;

the economies of information: cost, value, pricing policies, information as a public good and information as a product, budgeting information systems and services;

the evaluation of information systems and services from the perspective of efficiency and effectiveness;

the identification of users’ needs for information or as it is generally expressed in the IT management literature, ‘User requirements studies’.

Additionally, library schools should include in their curriculum such areas as:

evaluation, selection, acquisition of materials for libraries and other agencies;

identification, description, information analysis and bibliographical control;

information resources and services; dissemination of information;

the nature and importance of skills which are essential for performance of the professional level by librarians, bibliographers and information scientists;

information resources and retrieval;

design and provision of information services;

library automation and information sciences.

In view of the contemporary trend with emphasis on education for self-employment, there is a need to integrate entrepreneurial courses in the LIS curriculum with a view to promoting self-confidence and job creation. The following areas have been identified as areas of entrepreneurship and job creation in LIS:

independent/non-institutionalized business research

editorial services

abstracting and indexing

compilation of bibliographies and reading lists

current awareness

directory compilation

authorship /editorship

publishing

printing and binding services

translating

writing/editing/reviewing

consultancy

collection organization

freelance information management/librarianship

cataloguing

database design

document delivery

literature searching

seminar/conferences

training

subject expertise

However, LIS education should not be limited to curriculum-based education. Library schools should also adopt in-house training to teach ICT competencies in postgraduate programmes (Onwubiko, 2007). They should organize workshops and online training to reach out to other LIPs who may not be students of the department. Library schools can organize short courses for training of LIPs on specially tailored information skills. The training programme, according to Croud (2002), can focus on effective access to and use of information and should be provided both in the classroom and also interactively. There should be flexible delivery of such training in a range of formats – print, electronic, online and self-paced, face to face.

Additionally, LIPs in developing countries need to be encouraged and supported by their libraries to spend time learning in libraries in developed countries. The University of Queensland in Australia runs such a programme. The client libraries may send staff for placement experience for up to three months, during which time they acquire designated tangible skills. Training consists of both a set of generic modules and hands-on practical experience. This is also a ‘train the trainer’ course as the trainees are expected to pass on the knowledge and skill they have learned to colleagues on their return.

More emphasis should be laid on practice librarianship/industrial work experience, academic visits to LIS-based industries to enable the students have hands-on experience of contemporary library work vis-à-vis ICT skills.

There is need for open and distance learning system to serve as complimentary/supplementary programmes to the universities. The programmes should be more flexible and versatile and run short-time courses in subjects of rising relevance.

Libraries should insist on the appointment of LIS graduates as librarians. This will enhance proper and rapid personal, professional and library development.

Role expected of library and information professionals

LIPs must be intellectually flexible, ready to embrace change and constantly updating their knowledge and skills. It is incumbent upon them to continuously augment and update their skills through continuing education programmes (CEP) (Jeevan, 1999) and lately continuing professional development (CPD) (Ahiazu, 2008).

LIPs have to keep abreast of advancements that have been made in the field of library and information technology. The knowledge acquired in this field becomes useful only when it is applied effectively to help the end user minimize his time in seeking knowledge. LIPs must of necessity both retrain and re-equip themselves to remain abreast with the challenges of opportunities of the current and emerging technologies in the 21st century. Thus, Ayo (2001) advised that LIPs need to re-assess their skills and adopt a positive attitude by showing interest in ICT activities.

Specifically, LIPs should make an effort to enhance their skills by attending courses that today’s information professional requires. Traditionally, library schools do not teach electronic use in library service. Therefore, some skills are not acquired in the library school. They have to be developed either by attending short courses or through on-the-job training. However, ICT awareness courses, communication skills and management skills should be the main focus. The LIPs should keep up to date with new practices, trends, standards in the field by reading, attending conferences and professional meetings, holding discussions with experts in the field and by embracing new technologies, and implementing practical applications (Kaul, 1998). Above all, self-education remains a viable means of keeping track of emerging ICT advances and competencies in librarianship.

Conclusion

Knowledge societies constitute a gateway to a new and hopefully enlightened era where LIPs have to take up challenges to provide the means for a better world. Among the defining trends of these societies is that work for the information profession has become characterized by fast-paced change and new skills requirement due to the emergence of relevant new technologies. While the role of librarians may include information distribution, the main emphasis will remain on information content. There is need for total re-engineering of the library profession by reviewing the content and method of LIS education. If implemented, this will open up new avenues not only to the user community but also to the library profession.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author biographies

Austin J.C. Mole holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Library Science/History, a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science (MLS), and a PhD in Library and Information Science from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Dr Mole is a chartered librarian and presently a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science. He has published over 35 scholarly works and has presented over 30 conference papers in both national and international conferences. He is also an editor for a number of journals, including the Global Review of Library and Information Science (GRELIS) and the International Journal of Library and Information Science (INJLIS). His areas of specialization and research interest include: organization of knowledge, public and national library services, African studies and social sciences literature, and ICT in reference and information services.

Chibuzor L. Dim is a senior librarian in Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Library Science and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science (MLS) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Mrs. Dim is a chartered librarian and presently works as reference librarian in Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She has published over 30 journal articles and has attended over 20 national and international conferences. Her areas of specialization and research interests include indigenous literature, academic library services, and reference and information services.

Millie N. Horsfall is a senior librarian presently working in the Information Services unit of Donald Ekong Library, University of Portharcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Her qualifications include a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in Industrial Chemistry, Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science (MLS) from the University of Portharcourt, and PhD (in view) in Library and Information Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A chartered (certified) librarian from the Librarians’ Registration Council of Nigeria, she has published over 20 journal articles and has attended over 15 national and international conferences. Her areas of specialization and research interests include knowledge organization, electronic information resources, and reference and information services.

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