Thursday, January 24, 2008

Librarians and IT Professionals:

Ian said...
Actually, Ian only WORKS WITH the talented people who created the "Librarian/IT Professional" videos (Sean Robinson, our IT Department manager; Lynn Hoffman, Information Services Coordinator and Digital Collaborative chair; and Kay Gregg, videographer, among others).
But I did do the Miniature Mayhem one. With lots of help from Kay.




see also interesting comments [by Nick Dobbing, Meredith, @ davidrothman.net's Blog
  • Librarians and IT Professionals
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Librarians and Techies – A NEXUS
  • Saturday, January 19, 2008

    Is a Library Technician (LT or LIT) allowed to teach LTs?

    I have received the following question, any response to this?
    Hello Mohamed:

    I found this blog post on Sunday and I'm sending it round to anyone I think might be interested. Do you know if LTs are allowed to teach LTs in your area or if a university degree is required? Cheers.

    Julanne Hennessy, Library Technician

    Suggested reading:
    See also a blogpost by Derek Whitehead that shows concern (among others) at least on two related issues in the professional circles:
    • it seems likely that we haven't got a systematic enough approach to articulation between paraprofessional and professional qualifications

    • there is a strong preoccupation with the relative roles and status of librarians and library technicians, as one might expect

    Quotes (for reflection): "As with teacher-librarian jobs, full-time library technician positions tend to be a secondary school phenomenon." Anybody home?Who's really left in Ontario's school libraries?Glenn Turner

    "A library technician recently contacted me for advice on how to teach the school staff about the Focus on Inquiry document (Alberta Education 2004). Though I applauded her initiative in seeing the need to teach children using an inquiry model, I questioned why this job was being done by non-certificated staff. I am told by learning resources consultants from across Alberta that it is common for non-certificated staff to teach information skills." Almost extinct
    Teacher–librarians are Alberta’s newest endangered species
    , Fern Reirson

    And, the punchline is, if you wish to see the trend, as to how many LTs have teaching qualification, wait for the results of this survey: Australian School Libraries Research Survey

    Sunday, January 06, 2008

    Uneasy tensions in LIS Education

    This article covers the training and education of librarians.

    Education for 21st century librarianship continues to face many of the uneasy tensions that have been present since its beginnings in the 19th century. Some of the tensions facing Library and Information Science Education:

    Tension # 1: Generalization versus specialization

    There's always been a tension between specialization and generalization in the history of the development of Library Science as an academic discipline (at least in the United States). I guess you could say both have won or maybe they co-exist uneasily? For example, one can still get a graduate degree in Library and Information Science with just about 12 courses. In some schools such as the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science the generalization-specialization is exhibited in the following ways: graduate students can specialize in an area of study such as Knowledge Organization. The specialization is a core intellectual problem area of LIS - see this article in D-Lib Magazine for more. Or they can specialize in a particular information environment such asSchool Library Media certification.

    Tension #2: Practice versus Theory

    Tension #3: 1 year versus 2 year graduate degree

    Tension #4: Education for Information (the I word) versus Education for Library Science (the L word) or is it LIS Education?

    Tension #5: Cataloging education versus Knowledge organization (or organization of information) approaches

    Tension #6: Distance learning versus classroom delivery

    The Williamson report on library education chastised librarians and called them "prejudiced" even in this regard for failing to take advantage of new technologies that would provide access (to library education through DE - distance education) to rural areas.

    Tension #7: Crisis Criers - if we believe some folks LIS education has been in crisis now for over a hundred years in the US (since inception in fact). continue reading @

    Education - LISWiki