TOC 408 College & Research Libraries September 1999 Guest Editorial Changing Education for a Changing Profession The Congress on Professional Education, sponsored by ALA, drew more than one hundred delegates to Washington, D.C., on April 30 and May 1 of this year. It was an outgrowth of the concern among many practitioners that ALA-accredited pro­ grams do not adequately serve the library profession. The meeting brought together a diverse group of delegates from vari­ ous stakeholder groups, and most of ALA’s constituency groups, including ACRL, were represented there. There was a great deal of heated dis­ cussion in person, in print, and on listservs before the congress took place. As might be expected, there was often a chasm between the viewpoints of the practitioners and those of the educators. Many practitioners believe that LIS edu­ cators are not interested in what practic­ ing librarians want and expect from the schools, especially in terms of requiring courses in core competencies such as cata­ loging, and in producing new librarians to work in areas where there are national shortages, such as youth services. Some also feel that schools that have dropped the word library from their names are sending a clear signal that they want to disassociate themselves from the library profession. On the other hand, many edu­ cators feel that practitioners are often unaware of the competitive reality of con­ temporary higher education and are un­ realistic about what they expect from graduates emerging from what are still primarily one-year master’s programs. In addition, educators are keenly aware of the difficulty of attracting students to spe­ cific areas of librarianship. Market forces prevail in LIS education, as elsewhere, and students often bypass specializations such as children’s librarianship for others that offer better en­ try-level salaries. The tension between practitioners and educators has been in­ tensifying over the past few years as many LIS schools have undergone change, usually in response to pressure from their parent institutions; and it is be­ ing exacerbated by the lack of effective means of communication. It was obvious from the position papers issued before the congress that practitioners and educators live in two separate worlds, with each group being more aware of the needs and demands of its own environment than of what is going on in the other group’s en­ vironment. Conflict between practitioners and educators is not unique to librarianship; it can be found in most professional fields. Moreover, conflict can be healthy as long as both sides are committed to engaging in ongoing dialogue and working to­ gether. The congress provided a wonder­ ful opportunity for those who attended to engage in discourse and to become more aware that practitioners and edu­ cators are joined in a common purpose— to ensure that the librarians working in the libraries of the next century are the best that can be provided. The congress provided a good start to­ ward fostering greater cooperation. The conversations were spirited, and a num­ ber of recommendations were made on is­ sues ranging from core values and com­ petencies to recruitment.1 However, al­ though a great deal of ground was cov­ ered, it was merely a beginning. One of the outcomes of the congress will be the recommendation of a structure for continu­ ing the dialogue started there. Educators 408 and practitioners will need to act in con­ cert to provide the education needed for the professionals who will work in the li­ braries of the twenty-first century. Everyone finds change hard, but it is inevitable that the schools will continue to change and that the schools of tomor­ row will bear little resemblance to those that produced most of the professionals working in librarianship today. These changes will be necessary not only to en­ sure the continuation of LIS education within academe, but also to produce the types of librarians needed for the future. A number of professional organizations have recently assembled lists of compe­ tencies needed in the future.2 If compe­ tencies similar to the ones in these lists are desired, LIS programs will necessar­ ily be reshaped and perhaps lengthened. Conflict between practitioners and educators is not unique to librarianship; it can be found in most professional fields. As they are presently constituted, the schools are too small to have faculty with expertise in all the areas required and the programs are too short to enable students to acquire knowledge in all of these ar­ eas. LIS education will need to become more interdisciplinary. Students will still need to learn about the acquisition, stor­ age, retrieval, and dissemination of infor­ mation from individuals, similar to present-day LIS faculty, who have specific expertise in these areas. But, in addition, they will need to gain knowledge from economists, cognitive psychologists, and experts in fields such as communication and instructional technology. In the fu­ ture, most LIS education will be in larger units in which the library program will be one of several, and students prepar­ ing to work in libraries will share classes and facilities with students going into other information careers. If the indi­ vidual programs within the larger unit are designed to provide the appropriate spe­ cialized preparation needed for each, in­ formation professionals of all kinds can Editorial 409 benefit from sharing elements of their educational experience. Moreover, a greater variety of types of programs will be available in the fu­ ture. There will not be just one type of program preparing librarians, but many different models. Each school will need to look at the local academic environ­ ment and to be responsive to local de­ mands and needs. Schools are being reshaped now in various ways. The day of the small, single-purpose, freestand­ ing unit to prepare librarians is likely nearing its end. There has been a move on many campuses to consolidate LIS schools with other schools or depart­ ments as universities continue to streamline by either consolidating or eliminating small units. It is likely that there will be more mergers and more LIS schools seeking to expand the types of programs offered. Some schools have started undergraduate programs. Others have moved into distance edu­ cation, offering all or part of their LIS program to distance learners. Perhaps to meet the need for various subspecialties such as academic librarianship or archives, schools will begin to work cooperatively with differ­ ent institutions specializing in different areas and providing more specialized courses through distance education to students across the country. The shape of the schools of tomorrow is unclear, but as these transformations take place, the need for educators and librarians A major component of making recruitment efforts successful is to raise the salaries of librarians of all types. to work together will be greater than ever. In addition to help in shaping the cur­ riculum, practitioners need to work in tan­ dem with educators to attract to the pro­ fession the individuals who will be needed in the future. Enrollments in LIS schools are high, but many graduates seek jobs as information managers in private indus­ 410 College & Research Libraries September 1999 tries instead of working in traditional li­ braries. There are going to be a large num­ ber of retirements in libraries in the next decade, and the profession needs to be thinking about recruitment now to ensure a future supply of talented librarians. Larry Hardesty has begun that movement within ACRL with his presidential focus on de­ veloping programs to recruit individuals to academic librarianship. A major com­ ponent of making recruitment efforts suc­ cessful is to raise the salaries of librarians of all types. The kind of individuals we most wish to attract to libraries will have many other opportunities available in the expanding information industry. Accord­ ing to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest-growing segment of new jobs over the next decade will be information re­ lated, in areas such a computer software development and networking. If we want to ensure “the best and the brightest” for the libraries of tomorrow, we will need to compete. There is no way that either LIS educa­ tors or practitioners working alone can succeed in preparing tomorrow’s librar­ ians. We need to work together to define the roles of librarians and information specialists in society, to explain the con­ tributions made by these professionals, and to ensure the high quality of LIS edu­ cation programs. There needs to be good effort and goodwill on both sides. And there needs to be much more communi­ cation. The recent congress provided a good opportunity to start the conversa­ tion. Let the discourse continue. BARBARA B. MORAN School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Notes 1. The recommendations and much more may be seen at the congress Web site: http:// www.ala.org/congress. 2. 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