Hi all, I agree with the views of Mr. Arunachalam and Ms Vasumathi. As a school librarian , I face some unique problems regarding quality of librarians. For the past year or so , our school has been struggling to find well qualified interns. Most LIS graduates we interview are generally okay in terms of library science and technical skills, but their English language and communication skills are zero.We have noticed that it is easier to teach them our library software and other routines but when it comes to providing reference service they draw a blank since they cannot communicate well. Many people still come to us thinking that is a cushy desk job without user interface, not realizing that in a school you have to interact with students of all ages as well as well-read international faculty. A school librarian has to keep track of current affairs and resources which facilitate students and faculty in their research and projects, along with being alert about potential misuse of websites like orkut etc. If the librarian is not net-savvy he/she can be easily fooled by the students. Our education system , at the basic level(both English and vernacular) does not encourage good reading habits. In school libraries, if the librarian has not read and relished classic and contemporary authors like Dickens or Murakami , how can we expect that person to suggest good reading material for different levels of students? Children are then exposed only to racy ( not necessarily good) bestsellers. They in turn miss out on good literature and good reading habits, and may grow up to be ill-informed librarians continuing the 'vicious circle'. Such Librarians give a very bad impression about the profession to our students. In fact they come up to us and say " Ma'am if I don't get a job elsewhere I will become a librarian ". Till date, quite a number of students who join this course do so after failing to secure admission in other professional courses.The problem is further aggravated by the fact that most Universities offering this course do not have stringent admission criteria as compared to other postgraduate courses. It is urgently required that universities and colleges offering LIS courses make English Language and Communication Skills a compulsory part of their curriculum. While Library software unique to each organization can be taught on the job, internet surfing and information retrieval skills should be part of LIS training. LIS students should be given compulsory reading lists which could include magazines, journals , literary works , scholarly LIS articles. All Institutes conducting LIS courses should have entrance examinations to select the best candidates. There must be so many more ways in which we can improve the quality of training in LIS. Saying no to mediocrity is the first step in that direction.(We still don't have an intern inspite of staff shortage , but our fingers are crossed) Warm Regards Mrs. Ananda Vartak Assistant Librarian Dhirubhai Ambani International School --------------------------------- Check out what you're missing if you're not on Yahoo! Messenger -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Saying no to mediocrity is the first step in that direction
Dear friends Ananda worked with me at QMed for about a month or so immediately after her MLIS, just to gain some experience. She happened to be one of the rare "fresh flowers" that still spring up in the profession every now and then. It was not just her academic record (which was superb). She proactively did things that she felt needed to be done at QMed. Once she got the school job and moved there (as a trainee), a little while later I had a vacancy, and asked her if she would come back. She told me that she would soon become permanent at the school, and she liked her job there too - and wanted to stay on. I was obviously disappointed, but I was also thrilled about a "Bigger Picture". I always believe that the foundation of our profession began at School Librarianship level - and I was happy that the area got someone like Ananda - "out of her choice - not simply because she landed there". I am really happy to see a very will written and passionate posting from her. Well done - Ananda! Her comment (that I have chosen at the beginning of the mail) - is definitely one step that has to be taken. We cannot make great professionals by just adding soft skills in the curriculum for ordinary of below par people. (Please note - I do not mean to negate any effort made in that direction. That is very important). In the long run, we need to take in students of high calibre AND train them not only in the technical + domain areas of LIS, but ALSO in soft skills Apart from that - I think Ananda's observation about how difficult it is to get a good intern, is very often shared with me even by librarians at leading public libraries. I really believe this is a wake up call. Many other respondents to this topic have made a point about - "let us not blame the LIS schools". I will add to that - Let us not blame anyone. That does not help. "Let us fix the problem - not fix a blame (on anyone or any organization)" - should be our motto Vasumathi Sriganesh Director, QMed Services A-3, Shubham Centre, Cardinal Gracious Road Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099, India Tel: 91-22-40054474 / 75 Fax: 91-22-40054358 Please visit our Directory of Indian Medical Sites- www.qmedin.com/medsites ----- Original Message ----- From: ananda thakur To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:55 PM Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Training in LIS Hi all, I agree with the views of Mr. Arunachalam and Ms Vasumathi. As a school librarian , I face some unique problems regarding quality of librarians............ -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
I some how have different opinion for the Profession and Professional Training. However Let me first start with perception of "Good Candidates" for school job interviews. In beginning of my carrier ( around 1987 ) I had faced few frustrated days of unemployment. I had been filling forms for vacancies here and there - but I had a minimum standard fixed for myself. Never apply for a School Library. Because I considered myself over qualified for that post. Same might be true today as well. One should not expect highly qualified people having Masters in either Library Science or Other Subject to Join a School Library. I would rather advice people to go for teaching in Schools rather join as School Librarian. No worth while professional course has "Soft Skills" component in their scope. This is what people are expected to have a part of their personality trait. For example - Lawyers do not have a such a component in their syllabus - yet they earn with these skills. Experimenting with communicative skills at university level of education would only reinforce the myth that librarians are mere secretarial staff. The emphasis should be on latest technological skills to handle information and knowledge especially in this fast changing and Internet "infected" information era. This however does not mean that Library and Information Departments should start competing with Computer Science departments. If we really want to reform LIS Education - We need to make it market oriented ( Excuse me! not for School Market). Let us find out what sells in this Internet Era. (Google sells, we know!!). Then check out what all is required to produce that sells. Then find out how we can produced people that are required for make such products and services ( of course Information oriented.. ) These are my views. --Sukhdev Singh NIC. On 4/17/07, Vasumathi Sriganesh <vasu@qmedin.com> wrote:
Saying no to mediocrity is the first step in that direction
Dear friends
Ananda worked with me at QMed for about a month or so immediately after her MLIS, just to gain some experience. She happened to be one of the rare "fresh flowers" that still spring up in the profession every now and then. It was not just her academic record (which was superb). She proactively did things that she felt needed to be done at QMed.
Once she got the school job and moved there (as a trainee), a little while later I had a vacancy, and asked her if she would come back. She told me that she would soon become permanent at the school, and she liked her job there too - and wanted to stay on. I was obviously disappointed, but I was also thrilled about a "Bigger Picture". I always believe that the foundation of our profession began at School Librarianship level - and I was happy that the area got someone like Ananda - "out of her choice - not simply because she landed there". I am really happy to see a very will written and passionate posting from her. Well done - Ananda!
Her comment (that I have chosen at the beginning of the mail) - is definitely one step that has to be taken. We cannot make great professionals by just adding soft skills in the curriculum for ordinary of below par people. (Please note - I do not mean to negate any effort made in that direction. That is very important). In the long run, we need to take in students of high calibre AND train them not only in the technical + domain areas of LIS, but ALSO in soft skills
Apart from that - I think Ananda's observation about how difficult it is to get a good intern, is very often shared with me even by librarians at leading public libraries. I really believe this is a wake up call.
Many other respondents to this topic have made a point about - "let us not blame the LIS schools". I will add to that - Let us not blame anyone. That does not help. "Let us fix the problem - not fix a blame (on anyone or any organization)" - should be our motto
Vasumathi Sriganesh Director, QMed Services A-3, Shubham Centre, Cardinal Gracious Road Chakala, Andheri East, Mumbai 400099, India Tel: 91-22-40054474 / 75 Fax: 91-22-40054358 Please visit our Directory of Indian Medical Sites- www.qmedin.com/medsites
----- Original Message ----- From: ananda thakur To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:55 PM Subject: Re: [LIS-Forum] Training in LIS
Hi all,
I agree with the views of Mr. Arunachalam and Ms Vasumathi. As a school librarian , I face some unique problems regarding quality of librarians............
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participants (3)
-
ananda thakur -
Sukhdev Singh -
Vasumathi Sriganesh