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My thoughts on the future The Future of LIS Education from both ALIA and CSU... a thread. Also disclaimer I have previously worked for CSU as a casual marker, still technically a member of staff there https://shar.es/abNGZW https://twitter.com/siscsu/status/1321948218515599360
Firstly, I take @SISCSU point we are basing a whole lot of decisions about the future of education in the industry from the opinions of about 1% of the industry. If one of the major library educators feels like their opinion wasn’t sought then there’s a problem.
I also feel they are right about the status of librarianship as profession and the need for some sort of formal university education to keep that status.
On the other hand the discussion paper points out that we need a better diversity in the industry and maybe the traditional university course isn’t the best way for that to happen with cost being a factor.
Side note: there’s a whole bunch of reasons for a lack of diversity in the industry for which the costs of education is one IMO.
I feel like some kind of alternative way needs to be found. One three week placement and visiting some libraries is not enough practical experience to be job ready.
Perhaps a theory and practical component (like a science degree) where you do on the job learning and also the theory is a better approach to LIS education going forward
The disappointment for me in the ALIA paper is that it doesn’t really address the hiring of non-lib qualified staff at all levels. 2/3 of people still being library qualified in libraries doesn’t mean we can stand still, we need to understand why and see what we can do about it.
Another thing to consider is librarian skills adaptability to outside the GLAM sector. We should not just be thinking how do we train people to work in libraries but how do we train librarians to have skills that are usable in a wide range of industries.
