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Professional development for special librarians: formal education and continuing education for excellence
Library Trends, Fall, 1993 by William Fisher, James M. Matarazzo
INTRODUCTION
As we think about professions, preparing people to work as professionals, and professional development, one factor is indisputably clear: the educational foundations of a profession are of paramount importance. Through educational processes, the body of principles, issues, skills, and attitudes that anyone entering the profession needs to know are transmitted. This is one reason why the accreditation of professional educational programs exists; to ensure that the core concepts of the profession are taught so that graduates of accredited programs enter the profession equipped with this body of knowledge and with professional standards. But this is just the beginning. Continuing education is important in every profession and it is absolutely essential in a professional environment where rapid change alters the scope, knowledge base, and methodologies of that profession. This is certainly the case with librarianship in general and with special librarianship as practiced in the corporate environment in particular.
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FORMAL EDUCATION
Many have expressed their views on formal graduate programs in librarianship. They include recent graduates, potential employers, and library educators themselves (for example, Hill, 1990; Rothstein, 1985; Tees, 1986). The general conclusion that many authors draw is that the basic MLS curriculum, especially a one-year program, cannot prepare a new graduate for all of the demands of the first professional job. While most programs give their students the opportunity to "specialize" in some aspect of the field, by and large the most any school can do is give students both a philosophical and practical foundation upon which to begin their careers.
Furthermore, when you look at what it takes to be successful in the corporate information environment, many of the traits that have been found to be important are not the kinds of things that can be taught in the classroom. In Matarazzo's (1990) recent study on corporate library excellence, a set of characteristics were found among a group of special libraries that were recognized as being excellent. These factors included support from corporate management; the efforts and leadership ability of the library manager; a library staff that was willing to follow the manager's lead; and a real service orientation toward clients, which in turn resulted in a great deal of loyalty and support for the library/information center. These characteristics are not very surprising, and we would hope that the attitudes involved--hard work, dedication, and a strong service orientation (among others)--are developed within every library school student. Having the students respond and put those attitudes into practice in the workplace is another matter.
This reinforces what Miriam Tees (1986) found when she asked practicing special librarians what knowledge and skills were important for new library school graduates. Of the top ten listed, only four were specifically library related, the kinds of things a student would/should get out of his/her MLS education. Those four are:
1. knowledge of basic reference sources;
2. ability to conduct a reference interview;
3. ability to develop a search strategy; and
4. knowledge of subject sources particular to your library. Of the remaining six listed, three involve communication skills:
5. ability to communicate orally;
6. ability to write well;
7. ability to communicate with staff;
8. an attitude of service;
9. ability to make decisions; and 10. ability to state a problem.
As Matarazzo found later, many of these last six traits are not taught as basics in an MLS curriculum and certainly not as separate courses. Most, if not all, of the six nonlibrary-related traits, however, should be covered in a basic management course. Management, once a highly neglected area in library education, is now found as part of virtually all library school curricula and it is required at many schools. Furthermore, these traits can be enhanced through other courses found in library school. Communication skills and decision-making skills should be enhanced by every course a graduate library school student takes.
The question that arises from this viewpoint is whether library schools should be involved at all in teaching what amounts to personality traits to their students. The assumption is someone either has a strong work orientation or they do not. While we feel that this article is not the best forum for that debate, we also feel that library schools do have an obligation to inform their students about the realities of the workplace. And, if that workplace is the corporate library environment, then those students better be ready to work and work hard as both Tees and Matarazzo found.
The usual outcome of such studies is a call for curriculum reform. The response on the part of library schools has either been to defend their current course offerings or actually add a new course or two. Curriculum reform is easy to call for and, for most schools, it is also easy to provide. However, curriculum reform may not be the best solution to the problem. As Mary Culnan (1986) wrote, "massive curriculum reform is not the answer to providing the skills needed to effectively serve corporate information needs in the future. Rather, educational programs at all levels should focus on adapting the traditional skills to the new environment brought about by technological and external environment changes" (p. 214). In other words, it is not the set of course offerings but rather the content and teaching methods and access to current technologies that is crucial.
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