Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2008 20:17:49 +0530 From: atanu garai Dear Professors, I am very glad to interact with you all again, as I always look for opportunities to ask questions to teachers. Let me be very honest here. I will of course agree to what is said regarding the imminent need for improving the quality of intake and output of LIS incumbents. There is no doubt about it. But, this is just one side of the coin. The other side is equally dark and grim and I have serious doubts that even if we are successful in bringing out quality graduates, Indian companies are very unlikely to take them (practice in North America and Europe is very different). Let me explain. First and foremost, the heads of these institutes (say, HR heads - who corporate librarians most often report to, e.g. http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/pipermail/lis-forum/2006-July/004325.html) have little to no idea of library and librarian. Lets do little bit of survey of Terms of Reference of job advertisements of posts relevant to corporate world (knowledge manager, librarians etc.). Case Study 1: Knowledge Management Officer. This advt is posted in naukri.com on 20 Nov. It says: Client of XYZ HR agency "Job Description: 1.Conceptualizing and implementing the knowledge management processes - both for physical library and virtual knowledge base. 2. Designing & Implementing project based knowledge sharing system ensuring optimum utilization. Desired Candidate Profile: 1. Engineer / Commerce graduate 2.Should be fluent in English and well versed with usage of computers 3. Experience in working with libraries will be added advantage Company Profile: It's India's top maritime and port consultant. It provides Business Research, Consulting, Information and Data services to Ports, Shipping, Logistics and other maritime industry." So, presumably this posting is released by a HR company, which has sufficient knowledge and expertise in this domain, with MBAs in HR and aware of the requirements of "Conceptualizing and implementing the knowledge management processes - both for physical library and virtual knowledge base". For the development of library, they need either an engineer or a commerce graduate, a person who known English and usage of computer (Librarians dont know either for sure) and experience in working with libraries will be advantage (as if, engineers generally work in libraries). Case study 2: Librarian (Client of XYZ HR agencies) "Job Description: should be a Bachelor in Library science/MBA. Preferably from a law institue,law firm or worked earlier in some legal deparment. Preferably a male candidate Desired Candidate Profile: should be a Bachelor in Library science/MBA Preferably from a law institue,law firm or worked earlier in some legal deparment. Preferably a male candidate Company Profile: Leading Law Firm based in Delhi" This is not very clear if the recruitment agency wants to say a Bachelor in Library Science equals to an MBA or, an MBA or BLIB will be required. Also, the gender bias in the advertisement is does not go well. Additionally, one can read the article written by T D Wilson, The nonsense of 'knowledge management' - http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html, which is a gem in this regard. Secondly, I do not believe the concept of traditional sense of library as a physical building go well with corporate (or for that matter any other fast paced working environment) working culture. Information has to reside within the grasp of people, not in a distant location where you need to go and come back with your piece of information. Some authors have already written on this issue. Thirdly, since the HR managers do now know what to do with the librarians, they have already started recruiting MBAs (not the librarians with MBAs, but plain MBAs), so abundantly available in Indian market. Drive past the Delhi and Jaipur highway, and you can actually get an MBA degree from the roadside MBA dhabas in lieu of few thousand rupees and don't forget to get it signed from the head of the institute. The current issue of CACM actually gave a dim picture of India's tryst with ICT education as well ( http://mags.acm.org/communications/current): "In addition, while the Indian IT exports industry has a severe need for students to have "soft qualifications" (such as proficiency in spoken and written English and the ability to manage projects efficiently), this education system does not provide any such courses. Hence, it is not surprising that a recent study by the strategy consulting firm McKinsey and Company (www.mckinsey.com/mgi) indicated only 25% of engineering graduates would have the requisite qualifications to be employed in the Indian IT exports industry." (http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1409360.1409369). The immediate strategy will be therefore to educate these HR people about LIS and perhaps few well-drafted TOR for various positions and roles related to corporate world could be sent to all these firms, so that they know they dont have to curse their brains next time. Best regards Atanu Garai