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In
2002, the Robert Gordon University decided to restructure the 4 Schools (Business
Studies, Hotel Management, Information and Media, and Law) in the then Faculty
of Management into a single School, called the Aberdeen Business School, with 9
Departments, one of those being a new Department of Information Management.
Some
of the reasons that led the former Faculty Dean to propose the change can only
be a matter for speculation, and it would not be appropriate for me to do that
openly.
The
publicly stated reason for the new structure was to bring together subject
expertise which had been dispersed because the 4 Schools had tended to hire
people to meet their curricular needs rather than seek expertise from another
School which had a concentration of people with that expertise. One of
the immediate changes that took place was in teaching of the undergraduate programmes
(which account for about half the new School's 4,000 students), which was
rationalised. The structure was also intended to effect some efficiencies
in the work of School's administrative and technical staff by bringing them together
in larger groupings where they could specialise on particular tasks. The
4 Heads of Schools (of which I was one) were re-designated as Associate Deans,
and assigned cross-School responsibilities and line management responsibility for
2 or 3 Departments.
As
part of the restructuring, some staff were transferred between Departments.
This included a couple of staff who were teaching information systems/management
in the courses managed by the former School of Business Studies and who were assigned
to the new Department of Information Management (but continued to teach those Business
Studies courses as well as others within the new School).
Some
further re-organisation has taken place since 2002 as the strengths and
weaknesses of new structure (and of the new Departments) became clearer, and the
roles of Associate Deans have also been revised in the light of changing
circumstances.
When
the Dean who had instigated the new structure left, a couple of years after the
initial changes were introduced, my colleague and former Deputy Head of the
School of Information and Media was appointed as Dean. When one of the
former Heads left to take up a position elsewhere, the new Dean's successor as
my Deputy Head was promoted to be Associate Dean. When I retired from my
academic position a couple of years ago, I was pleased that another of my
former colleagues from Information Management was promoted into the vacant position
of Associate Dean. Thus, for the past 5 years the Dean and 2 of the 4
Associate Deans of the Aberdeen Business School have been librarians - which has
been something of an eye-opener for accreditation teams from the Library
Association (CILIP) and from the various bodies from the business and legal sectors.
The
Department of Information Management currently has around the same number of academic
staff teaching LIS as it has had when I became Head of the then School of Librarianship
and Information Studies 20 years ago (it grew and changed and was redesignated the
School of Information and Media in 1998). Its LIS course portfolio has been
refocused continually over that period to accommodate changes in the
professional and educational environment. Although there is still some
undergraduate teaching, it now manages only postgraduate programmes, and the
majority of its students are distance learners at Masters and Doctoral
level. In the last national assessment of teaching quality, it was awarded
the highest recognition possible. It has also emerged as the strongest
centre of research expertise in the University, and as number 2 in LIS research
in the UK in the latest national research assessment.
Ian
Johnson
Joint
Editor
Libri:
international journal of libraries and information services
The
Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen
From: Karen
Weaver [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 10 January 2010 04:40
To: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum
Cc: IAN JOHNSON (0616285); B.G. Sloan
Subject: Re: 2010 Forum on Library Education
Is the Library & Information
science/studies program at Robert Gordon University, Scotland now part of the
Business school ? when did that change occur, just wondering
I was just reading :
"The proposed European
Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning –
challenges and
opportunities"
Ian M. Johnson
Professor and Associate Dean, Aberdeen Business
School, The Robert
Gordon University, Garthdee Road,
Aberdeen AB10 7QE, Great Britain
Abstract
“No one is too old to
learn, but many people keep putting it off anyway.” 1
"
This paper will review the
opportunities and challenges that are presented to
educators, employers and
professional associations by the proposals issued by the
European Commission for the
establishment..."
I was just wondering how that has
transitioned as part of the business school there, I find that an interesting
change, often programs or entire LIS schools are shifted to Education.
Thank you,
Karen Weaver, MLS Adjunct
Faculty, Cataloging & Classification, The iSchool at Drexel University,
Philadelphia PA email: [log in to unmask]
/ Electronic Resources Statistician, Duquesne University, Gumberg Library,
Pittsburgh PA email: [log in to unmask]
On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 6:11 AM,
IAN JOHNSON (0616285) <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
The curriculum for courses in librarianship and
information science has been the subject of countless analyses and debates by
academics, almost all focused on the content of courses and, when they survey
employers about the development of their courses, the teachers have tended to
maintain that focus on content. Employers also tend to focus on subject
knowledge, but usually complaining from a rather self-interested perspective
(and usually also forgetting that they are the ones who have failed by
not attracting or selecting staff with the specific skill set that they
require).
But what do employers really value? For
many years, broadly based surveys of employers (across all industries) have
consistently tended to show that employers pay less attention to their
employees’ subject knowledge, and more attention to their:
· communication
skills, including presenting a case, persuading, influencing;
· task
management skills, including planning, organising, decision making, evaluation
· creative
thinking and problem solving skills;
· self-appraisal
skills; and their ability to
· combine
all these attributes in action-centred leadership skills.
Perhaps a little more attention should be given
to how LIS teaching helps to develop these vital skills? Defining
apropriate learning outcomes and devising relevant means of assessment are ways
of enhancing these capabilities in individuals (who, of course, cannot be
developed in such a way solely within the limited confines of a Masters
program).
Professor Ian Johnson
Joint Editor
Libri: international
journal of libraries and information services
The Robert Gordon University
Aberdeen