Re: Response to Goodman's comment on librarians

[Janellyn P Kleiner <jkleiner@lsu.edu>]

Response to Krichel

Knowledge of current trends in scholarly information and in universities,
even basic knowledge of the array of resources available, the most basic
supervisory skills, time management skills, ability to think outside the
box which is essential today, multi-tasking and business/accounting
skills, etc. I would like to see library schools with academic library
tracks incorporate more business classes.  Incorporate students in faculty
research projects and introduce them to grant writing. They should at
least know something about how universities operate, projects and programs
are initiated and implemented, and funding needs are addressed.

A lot of these are skills but skills that other professional schools see
as important and have some encouraging their development. We need
students/graduates who are creative, able to deal with change, and willing
to take risks. I think it's also important that they are introduced to how
information develops -- from it's beginning to publication to cultural
effects. Mass communication schools often have such courses and that
background is excellent for future academic librarians.  This is the
Information Age and it is an age where librarians can play important roles
if they can meet today's challenges and those of tomorrow.

Thomas Krichel <krichel@openlib.org>@lists.yale.edu on 08/25/2005 07:25:37
To:    liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
cc:     (bcc: Janellyn P Kleiner/jkleiner/LSU)
Subject:    Re: Response to Goodman's comment on librarians

Janellyn P Kleiner writes

> A bigger challenge today is finding graduates of library & information
> science schools who have the skills and preparation to step into this
> environment without having to "re-educate" them to meet today's academic
> library and university faculty demands. I don't foresee any problems for
> future librarians who are professionally prepared to work in this
> challenging and ever-changing environment. In fact, the demand for those
> with the skills needed today will be greater than ever. Those who will
> not benefit are the ones, unfortunately, still clinging to the
> traditional models of librarianship.

If the enviroment is constantly changing, then the library schools are
chasing a mobile target. Changing the curriculum around every year is not
possible. Thus the schools have to stick to some fundamentals that,
hopefully, will be useful even in five or ten year's time.

>From your point of view, would should be taught in a library school today
that you find most missing when dealing with graduates?

Cheers,

Thomas Krichel                      mailto:krichel@openlib.org
visiting CO PAH, Novosibirsk   http://openlib.org/home/krichel
                           RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel

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