Preparing Information Professionals for the Next Century

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Stueart, Robert D.

Affiliations: 43, Avon Road Wellesley, MA 02181, U.S.A. E-mail: RStueart@Simmons.edu

Abstract: Information policies and economic development worldwide combined with political and societal demands require greater access to information in whatever form and wherever located. This raises many educational issues and professional challenges related to legal access, physical access, affordable access, intellectual access and organized access of information. These pressure dictate on-going broad-based planning and evaluation of the preparation of those entering this exciting profession encompassing libraries, archives and other information agencies and organizations. It impacts the curricula of graduate and undergraduate programs, the recruitment of qualified, research-oriented faculty, the placement of graduates into positions of significance, the education of users of information in many formats, and the continuing education and staff development of current professionals who feel disenfranchised. The key component is the preparation of future professionals who know and understand the nature of information, how it is used and managed, and the systems, mechanisms, institutions and tools which facilitate that use – all set in the larger political, economic, social and technological context. A curriculum conceived in terms of: knowledge, skills; and tools (E. Daniels, 1987) can advance that goal.

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-1998-16305

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 243-251, 1998