Accreditation of LIS Education
Dear Friends, I do agree with Smita, Parinita,Vijay Gautam, K Desale, Prof. Mangla and others who have expressed concern over the present state of LIS education in our country. In this connection, I Iike to say that India today has more than 100 LIS schools at the university level alone churning out at least 5000 LIS degree holders — 4500 bachelor degree holders and 500 master degree holders — even at a modest estimate, which is several times more than the available job opportunities in Indian market and possibly highest production in the world. All these have brought into focus the question of continued relevance and adequacy of the present programme of LIS education. The present scene in LIS education in India gives dismal condition and reflects a very disappointing scene. To achieve academic excellence, it is of utmost importance that standards and norms for LIS education should be set by an external agency and thereafter adherence to them be made mandatory. The immediate task is to establish a mechanism for accreditation of LIS courses offered by different library schools in India. It is a high time that the Government of India should pass an Act for LIS education on the analogy of Indian Medical Council Act, BAR Council of India Act and All India Council of Technical Education Act which would help in standardization of LIS education in India. The proposed Act should make provision for establishing a Library and Information Science (LIS) Council of India (or in any other name) and it should function as a central agency to provide guidelines and standards in LIS education and practices. I think all library professionals should come forward to raise their voice in favour of accreditation of LIS education to overcome its present crisis. Dr. J. K. SarkhelProfessor & HeadDept of Library & Information ScienceUniversity of KalyaniKalyani-741235West Bengal; India _________________________________________________________________ Searching for the best deals on travel? Visit MSN Travel. http://in.msn.com/coxandkings -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
The modern times has blurred the boundaries if any between Library Science, Information Science and ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment). The scene on ICE Technologies is changing very fast. Only yesterday, PM has officially inaugurated 3G Services in Delhi. While developments in ICE Technologies are a boon for end users; these rapid changes make the information professionals outdated even more rapidly. The training courses and curricula at LIS Schools will never be able to meets the information and educational requirements of the future generations. Thus we need to prepare professional who can quickly respond to changing technologies with application of their sound theoretical background in Library/Information Science and Philosophy of the profession. Please refer to my earlier email on LIS-FORUM - http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/pipermail/lis-forum/2008-February/006909.html I had suggested a model for LIS Education. The relevant extract is reproduced below: The educational scheme for Library and Information Science Professionals should have three concentric cores (facets): 1 - CORE - having the essential LIS philosophy, theory, Tools and Best Practices. 2 - MIDDLE CORE - comprising of Information Technologies (All ICE Technologies) that boosts the effectiveness of the CORE (1). 3 - INTERFACE CORE - This is the face that is perceived by Prospective Employers. It takes the feedback from the job market, adjusts the MIDDLE Core to satisfy the Employers' requirements. (http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/pipermail/lis-forum/2007-November/006454.html) I would put the Library Users under the INTERFACE CORE. Applying Library 2.0 Concepts to this would mean mechanisms be taught were Professionals develop processes in their library systems to capture the user behaviour and further refine and enrich library services and Content by encouraging collaborative feed back from users. For example - OPAC may be developed to allow tagging and adding to their 'favourites'. ------- --Sukhdev Singh, NIC. On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 10:10 PM, Juran Sarkhel <jksarkhel@hotmail.com> wrote:
Dear Friends,
I do agree with Smita, Parinita,Vijay Gautam, K Desale, Prof. Mangla and others who have expressed concern over the present state of LIS education in our country. In this connection, I Iike to say that India today has more than 100 LIS schools at the university level alone churning out at least 5000 LIS degree holders — 4500 bachelor degree holders and 500 master degree holders — even at a modest estimate, which is several times more than the available job opportunities in Indian market and possibly highest production in the world. All these have brought into focus the question of continued relevance and adequacy of the present programme of LIS education. The present scene in LIS education in India gives dismal condition and reflects a very disappointing scene. To achieve academic excellence, it is of utmost importance that standards and norms for LIS education should be set by an external agency and thereafter adherence to them be made mandatory. The immediate task is to establish a mechanism for accreditation of LIS courses offered by different library schools in India. It is a high time that the Government of India should pass an Act for LIS education on the analogy of Indian Medical Council Act, BAR Council of India Act and All India Council of Technical Education Act which would help in standardization of LIS education in India. The proposed Act should make provision for establishing a Library and Information Science (LIS) Council of India (or in any other name) and it should function as a central agency to provide guidelines and standards in LIS education and practices. I think all library professionals should come forward to raise their voice in favour of accreditation of LIS education to overcome its present crisis.
Dr. J. K. Sarkhel Professor & Head Dept of Library & Information Science University of Kalyani Kalyani-741235 West Bengal; India
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Dear Members, I would really want to say thanks to Dr. Sarkhel for giving the exact or approx. statistics over here. This mail really gives a idea of demand - supply of this profession in job market. If we look at LIS jobs as a type of business then we have to really think from this angle. Some time back while taking interviews for junior position I seen the quality of most of the new comers and felt very bad. The standard has come down a lot (I am NOT saying that there is no standard remained at all). It seems that reputed institutes as well giving admission to whoever is coming to enroll. That brings our market further down. Selection of candidate and revision in course material has become basic needs in our profession. The course should include more and more practical based / situation based curriculum where guest lecturers would come from various types of libraries and brief students about profiles in market or problems and solutions in actual work scenario. Their can be a special paper of case studies like most of MBA colleges have. We can also have the exams at state or national level than of board level so that only those students will pass who actually put efforts (but the paper checking should be without any bias and corruption less). Associations should make it compulsory to close down the course for those colleges who can not achieve the results as per pre-decided conditions. This would give a standard in market and also the supply in field will have some quality and restricted quantity. The tricks and methods suggested by all my friend are really worth and good to apply but the person who has to apply that should be capable enough to do that and the production of such capable persons will be from our educational factories. So I guess it has become the responsibility of our associations to check the standard of institutes and students graduating from them, before they start fighting for rights of current and future professionals who would be coming in field. If people are capable enough then it make sense to fight for their existence or else the image of these associations would get spoil to for defending those who are good for nothing or not upto the standards. And when we have standard in ourself then at later stages we can fight for standard response to our expectations like types of jobs, salaries offered for various positions etc. Regards, Monali Panchbhai - Maduskar Mumbai. From: jksarkhel@hotmail.com To: lis-forum@ncsi.iisc.ernet.in Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:10:51 +0530 Subject: [LIS-Forum] Accreditation of LIS Education Dear Friends, I do agree with Smita, Parinita,Vijay Gautam, K Desale, Prof. Mangla and others who have expressed concern over the present state of LIS education in our country. In this connection, I Iike to say that India today has more than 100 LIS schools at the university level alone churning out at least 5000 LIS degree holders — 4500 bachelor degree holders and 500 master degree holders — even at a modest estimate, which is several times more than the available job opportunities in Indian market and possibly highest production in the world. All these have brought into focus the question of continued relevance and adequacy of the present programme of LIS education. The present scene in LIS education in India gives dismal condition and reflects a very disappointing scene. To achieve academic excellence, it is of utmost importance that standards and norms for LIS education should be set by an external agency and thereafter adherence to them be made mandatory. The immediate task is to establish a mechanism for accreditation of LIS courses offered by different library schools in India. It is a high time that the Government of India should pass an Act for LIS education on the analogy of Indian Medical Council Act, BAR Council of India Act and All India Council of Technical Education Act which would help in standardization of LIS education in India. The proposed Act should make provision for establishing a Library and Information Science (LIS) Council of India (or in any other name) and it should function as a central agency to provide guidelines and standards in LIS education and practices. I think all library professionals should come forward to raise their voice in favour of accreditation of LIS education to overcome its present crisis. Dr. J. K. Sarkhel Professor & Head Dept of Library & Information Science University of Kalyani Kalyani-741235 West Bengal; India MSN Tech and Gadgets: You are just one click away from a total update on the latest gadgets and games Try it! -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _________________________________________________________________ Searching for the best deals on travel? Visit MSN Travel. http://in.msn.com/coxandkings -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
Dear Juran, Thanks for an objective analysis on demand supply situation of library professionals in India. As systematic and methodical as you are (going by our brief interactions some 30 years back) - there is hardly any area of disagreement towards your thesis. However, here's my two cent contribution on same subject from another perspective I believe, there is huge opportunity for information science professionals in Indian corporate - far more than all library schools in India can supply. With increased competition in market place - companies today are compelled to invest on reliable information collection and analysis infrastructure. To remain in market place - CEOs need information on variety of areas ranging from market data, competition profile, consumer demography, technological information, economic information such as production, consumption, export, import etc. Library professionals are in a better position to make this information available. However, traditionally library schools have taught how to manage academic and technical information. If horizon of library education is broadened with emphasis on corporate and market related information - there will be no unemployment problem for good information science professionals At present, MBAs from all shades of management institutions are grabbing these positions. Suitably trained library professionals can capture a good part of these job openings My advice to budding professionals - do not wait for changes in course curriculum or Govt policy - start learning Internet and other information resources, sharpen your analytical and presentation skill, improve communication style and start looking for jobs in corporate world. Already a good many library and information science professionals are employed in corporate information centres. My advice to them: 1. Understand value of data validation. Its not enough to supply requested data or information. Ask yourself 'How reliable is my data ?' How reliable is the source ? Is there scope for cross-checking with another source ? 2. Look for details, facts, statistics, data - all the time. Be agile with numbers, statistics, data related to your company's products and services. 3. While on the job of information retrieval - always aim for higher precision - not larger recall. Time is precious in Corporate world. 4. Sharpen your human networking skill - never confine yourself to library, roam around, collect information on how other departments are working, find out what kind of information they need, innovate on channels and delivery of information Remember - you are an information professional ! 5. Your position, influence, financial emolument etc. are all proportional to your contribution to organization's goal. If possible, get involved in important projects, not necessarily related to library, and do your best to contribute as much as you can. Sooner or later, your efforts will be noticed and you will be rewarded with greater role. 6. Unlike Govt - hierarchy in Corporate is more subtle. Some General Managers are more powerful than even VP. Ascertain the power centres and try to get nearer to it. Warm Regards Dr. Amit K Chatterjee Ace InfoBanc Pvt Ltd New Delhi - 110016 www.infobanc.com
Dear Friends,
I do agree with Smita, Parinita,Vijay Gautam, K Desale, Prof. Mangla and others who have expressed concern over the present state of LIS education in our country. In this connection, I Iike to say that India today has more than 100 LIS schools at the university level alone churning out at least 5000 LIS degree holders ? 4500 bachelor degree holders and 500 master degree holders ? even at a modest estimate, which is several times more than the available job opportunities in Indian market and possibly highest production in the world. All these have brought into focus the question of continued relevance and adequacy of the present programme of LIS education. The present scene in LIS education in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><?xml:namespace prefix = u1 />India gives dismal condition and reflects a very disappointing scene. To achieve academic excellence, it is of utmost importance that standards and norms for LIS education should be set by an external agency and thereafter adherence to them be made mandatory. The immediate task is to establish a mechanism for accreditation of LIS courses offered by different library schools in India. It is a high time that the Government of India should pass an Act for LIS education on the analogy of Indian Medical Council Act, BAR Council of India Act and All India Council of Technical Education Act which would help in standardization of LIS education in India. The proposed Act should make provision for establishing a Library and Information Science (LIS) Council of India (or in any other name) and it should function as a central agency to provide guidelines and standards in LIS education and practices. I think all library professionals should come forward to raise their voice in favour of accreditation of LIS education to overcome its present crisis.
Dr. J. K. Sarkhel Professor & Head Dept of Library & Information Science University of Kalyani Kalyani-741235 West Bengal; India
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participants (4)
-
Amit K Chatterjee -
Juran Sarkhel -
Monali Panchbhai -
Sukhdev Singh