scholarly journals Innovations and Challenges in Teaching Information Ethics Across Educational Contexts

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
Michael Zimmer
Keyword(s):  
Ethics Education ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Panel Discussion ◽  
Information Ethics ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Elementary And Secondary Education ◽  
Conference Theme ◽  
Undergraduate Programs ◽  
Teaching Information

Renewed attention to integrating information ethics within graduate library and information science (LIS) programs has forced LIS educators to ensure that future information professionals – and the users they interact with – participate appropriately and ethically in our contemporary information society. Along with focusing on graduate LIS curricula, information ethics must become infused in multiple and varied educational contexts, ranging from elementary and secondary education, technical degrees and undergraduate programs, public libraries, through popular media, and within the home. Teaching information ethics in these diverse settings and contexts brings numerous challenges and requires new understandings and innovative approaches. In keeping with the 2011 Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) conference theme of “Competitiveness and Innovation,” a diverse panel of educators and researchers were convened to foster a discussion in how to best incorporate information ethics education across diverse contexts, and how to develop innovative educational methods to overcome the challenges these contexts inevitably present. This article reports on that panel discussion and offers recommendations towards achieving success in information ethics education.

Perceptions on Job Requirements of LIS Graduates in Public Libraries: A Reflection on Public Libraries in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mpilo Siphamandla Mthembu ◽  
Dennis Ngong Ocholla
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Computer Literacy ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Structured Interviews

Public libraries play a crucial role in the information and knowledge society. Their access and services in the fourth industrial revolution require review as well as the knowledge of the competency requirements for Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates to offer professional services. This paper presents the competencies LIS graduates require for work. It also seeks to examine the challenges they encounter in public libraries. The study is driven by the notion that a skills gap and a lack of training for LIS professionals are still daunting challenges in most public libraries. The post-positivism paradigm was employed through the triangulation of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in data collection and analysis. Content analysis and a survey were employed as research methods. The study scanned job advertisements in four newspapers spanning a three-year period (from January 2015 to December 2017). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with assistant directors and structured questionnaires were administered to LIS graduates. Grade 12, one to three years of work experience, computer literacy and communication skills are the most required competencies to work at public libraries. There seems to be no balance between theory and practice offered in most LIS schools, which suggests the need for curricula revision. Employed LIS graduates are facing several challenges, which include lack of practical exposure or knowledge, lack of qualification recognition and individual promotions, and lack of ICT skills and knowledge.

Community engagement, cultural competence and two Australian public libraries and Indigenous communities

IFLA Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Sustainable Community ◽  
Science Framework ◽  
Definition Of

Two examples of community engagement in Australian public libraries, drawn from the author’s experience, are analysed using Sung and Hepworth’s (2013) community engagement model for public libraries and Overall’s (2009) definition of cultural competence in a library and information science framework. The examples are examined for the community engagement characteristics identified by Sung and Hepworth; each is also considered for cultural competence, using the domains which Overall posits are the sites where this competence occurs or is developed. A virtuous circle of community engagement is extrapolated from the second example. ‘Hierarchical equivalence’ between organizations, a group’s proportional presence in a population and the nature of each group’s aims, are suggested as further factors in sustainable community engagement. That culture is an asset on which communities draw to engage with libraries and the broader community, and that communities will respond to engagement approaches if they offer the possibility of meeting community aspirations, is evident in both examples.

Social Software Use in Public Libraries

2010 ◽  
pp. 451-461
Author(s):  
June Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Social Bookmarking ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Trust Authority ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Innovative Techniques

With the emergence of Web 2.0, libraries have started employing social software applications (such as blogs, tagging, social networking, and wikis) to engage readers, encourage user-contributed content, and connect with user populations in novel ways. However, little research has been conducted on the applications of Web 2.0 technologies within public libraries. This chapter focuses on the applicability of social software in a library setting and examines the use of such innovative techniques as live tagging, social cataloging, and social bookmarking. The chapter evaluates the potential of social software tools for facilitating collaboration between librarians and library patrons; it addresses the concerns expressed by the library and information science community related to the issues of trust, authority, accuracy, responsibility, and ethics in the context of the Library 2.0.

Social Software Use in Public Libraries

2010 ◽  
pp. 1174-1184
Author(s):  
June Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Social Bookmarking ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Trust Authority ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Innovative Techniques

With the emergence of Web 2.0, libraries have started employing social software applications (such as blogs, tagging, social networking, and wikis) to engage readers, encourage user-contributed content, and connect with user populations in novel ways. However, little research has been conducted on the applications of Web 2.0 technologies within public libraries. This chapter focuses on the applicability of social software in a library setting and examines the use of such innovative techniques as live tagging, social cataloging, and social bookmarking. The chapter evaluates the potential of social software tools for facilitating collaboration between librarians and library patrons; it addresses the concerns expressed by the library and information science community related to the issues of trust, authority, accuracy, responsibility, and ethics in the context of the Library 2.0.

scholarly journals Teaching Information Ethics in an iSchool

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 10-16
Author(s):  
David J. Saab
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Arts ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Information Ethics ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
Ethics Course ◽  
Teaching Information ◽  
Information Sciences

The iSchool movement is an academic endeavor focusing on the information sciences and characterized by a number of features: concern with society-wide information problems, flexibility and adaptability of curricula, repositioning of research towards interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary exchange (Harmon, 2006). Teaching information ethics in an iSchool would seem to be a requisite for students who will have an enormous impact on the information technologies that increasingly permeate our lives. The case for studying ethics in a college of information science and technology, as opposed to the liberal arts and humanities, has been regarded only marginally, however. In this paper I explore how I developed and delivered an information ethics course, paying attention to student receptivity and learning, course structure and assignments, as well as its connection to the wider curriculum and its efficacy.

scholarly journals An author report: Elfreda Annmary Chatman

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 844
Author(s):  
Murat Erkan Eren
Keyword(s):  
Information Seeking ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Women In Prison ◽  
Information Poverty ◽  
Information Seeking Behaviors

The main aim of this report is to become familiar with Elfreda A. Chatman and her major works and theories. She has contributed information science by producing several theories such as “the theory of information poverty,” “the normative behavior theory” and “the theory of life in the round” and implemented many studies about information seeking behavior of ordinary people. Although her major is library and information science, she focused on women in prison, the feminist movement, poor workers and janitors at large universities by using an ethnographic perception. She emphasized their information seeking behaviors in small communities and tried to describe their approach about information poverty. Also, she studied public libraries and the role of mentorship of the library leaders. The findings she found in her studies are useful not only for information science but also other disciplines such as sociology and psychology.

scholarly journals Convite à emancipação à luz da mediação da informação makerspace e inovações no contexto da biblioteca pública

2021 ◽  
pp. 71-85
Author(s):  
Mariana Rodrigues Gomes de Mello ◽  
Everton da Silva Camillo ◽  
Leda Maria Araújo ◽  
Fabiana Sala ◽  
Rosemari Pereira dos Santos Alves
Keyword(s):  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Number Of Publications

The public library brings with itself the social dimension, which creates a space for training and social change. However, society requires innovations and libraries are part of this context. Thus, this work is justified by understanding the role that public libraries have for society. It lacks spaces for access to innovative technologies and information mediation actions. To make the research feasible, the research problem consists on the following question: to what extent do the investigations on public libraries aim at increasing innovation and makerspaces to reinforce their social function? Then, the aim of this study is to ascertain the number of publications in scientific journals that relate innovation and the makerspace in the emancipatory context of public libraries. Methodologically, it was drawn a qualitative and quantitative exploratory research. An exploratory search was carried out in databases considering papers pusblished by authors dealing with the themes, as well as in the abstracts of papers in journals and proceedings in the databases Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) and the Base de Dados Referenciais de Artigos de Periódicos em Ciência da Informação (BRAPCI). Findings reveal that it lacks the relationship between public libraries, makerspace and information mediation, concomitantly, in investigations in the area of Information Science between the years 2009 and 2019.

scholarly journals Professional Principles and Ethics in LIS Graduate Curricula

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Martin Garnar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Ethics Education ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Library Science ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Graduate Degree ◽  
Current State ◽  
Graduate Curricula ◽  
Technical Proficiency

As a degree, the master of library science is regularly questioned as to whether it is still effective as preparation for professional roles in the field. Concerns range from a lack of technical proficiency and practical skills in graduates to whether a graduate degree is even necessary to be a librarian. Defenders of the degree talk about the theoretical foundation given to graduates of library and information science (LIS) programs, including a grounding in the principles and values that undergird the professional work of a librarian. If that is one of the primary justifications of the degree, then it is important to understand how those principles and values, including professional ethics, are taught in library and information science programs. More than twenty years have elapsed since Shelley Rogers conducted a comprehensive review of ethics education in LIS program, so the American Library Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics decided to undertake a survey of all accredited LIS programs to ascertain the current state of ethics education in graduate programs, compare it to historical approaches, and discover how the committee can best use its resources to support the teaching of ethics to future librarians.

Readers’ advisory: can we take it to the next level?

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 372-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Dali
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
User Orientation ◽  
Reading Activities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze a number of issues related to both education for and the practice of reading and readers’ advisory in library and information science (LIS). Written from the standpoint of an LIS educator, the paper is addressed to LIS professors, future and current LIS students, and public services librarians working in all types of libraries, including academic and special, because the practice of reading is no longer limited to school and public libraries. Librarians’ expertise can also benefit a larger community outside of the library walls, which would take outreach and embeddedness to an entirely new level. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes the situation in LIS education and reading practices based on a vast array of published sources and the author’s personal experience as an LIS educator. Findings – The following problematic points are raised: modeling reading work and education for reading after information services and information science education, respectively; outdated pedagogical approaches; insufficient user orientation and excessive focus on materials; limiting reading activities to one to two types of libraries; insufficient community outreach; and, in general, the prevalence of responsive rather than proactive practices. Originality/value – The paper proposes some solutions for the identified problems, the implementation of which depends on the collective effort and the collective will. However, it does not offer a particularly optimistic or upbeat view on the possibility of swift and sweeping changes.

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