Did I ask a "question" ?... I'm responding to Mr. Leonhardt's comment below about wanting to hire entry level librarians over librarians with more experience. I didn't have a question --the only question on this thread I had was to Ian Johnson about the Robert Gordon University Business School which he answered the other day.
I don't anyone expects what you are describing Sue, however, it is important for all librarians and LIS educators to understand what libraries do and provide beyond a "theory".
That is very nice to have one's research niche however, that niche is not the same for LIS educators either as it once was 20 or 30 yrs ago, nor should it be expected to be either.
What is happening now in the U.S. in some graduate programs is that there are less and less faculty experienced too who have even been inside a library physically or virtually.
When we see that happening more and more, less and less new grads hitting the ground running or not--will not be getting positions anywhere beyond answering the phone or the email chats. It is not about "training" either--it's about education. we train dogs.
I think that too is another old discussion from about 2 years ago here.
We also discussed the differences between the U.S and also Australian LIS programs at that time as well from what I recall.
ps I'd gladly trade some winter snow here for your heat in Australia ! :-)
Cheers,
Karen
Karen Weaver, MLS
Adjunct Faculty, Cataloging & Classification
The iSchool at Drexel University
Philadelphia PA
/Electronic Resources Statistician
Duquesne University, Gumberg Library
Karen Weaver
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 8:06 PM, Sue Myburgh
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Well, Karen, I think you have answered your own question: it is the "growing amount of challenges" that makes it impossible for any LIS school to train graduates to hit the ground running. In a survey
I conducted last year, more than 500 different skills sets were identified as required from a selection of job advertisements which appeared under the title 'librarian'.
Susan
Dr Susan Myburgh
School of Communication, International Studies and Languages
University of South Australia
From: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karen Weaver [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, 13 January 2010 11:13 AMSubject: Re: 2010 Forum on Library Education
On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 8:22 PM, Thomas Wilburn Leonhardt
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
"You can always find someone who
denigrates one's graduate education but as a long-time employed, I would rather have an entry level librarian than one with experience in many if not most positions. ..."
I find this a very troubling remark especially since that most often translates as pay your faculty librarians as cheaply as possible based on their in turn "lack of experience"
that's a double edged sword, I'm not sure most would agree with in the field today when experience is especially needed to meet a growing amount of challenges beyond answering a reference question and picking up the phone. It ends up more work for the
managers/supervisors, maybe more than the administration level.
I would not recommend that approach or mindset to people going out looking for jobs today either, if that is how some are thinking about the question, then there is a growing gap or soon to be "canyon". Budgets are cut these days, if there are more experienced
faculty hired, they will also require higher compensation too...
--Karen Weaver, MLS, Adjunct Faculty 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]
