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The Education of Academic Librarians

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The Education of Academic Librarians l I The Education of Academic Librarians John Budd Progress in education for academic librarianship has been hindered by an adherence to train­ ing, rather than to graduate education. While recommendations from within and outside the profession have urged the upgrading of education, developments have been slow in coming. All of librarianship should share a common core curriculum, but the complexities of academic Ii­ brarianship (and the environment in which academic libraries operate) point to subject and functional specializations necessary for some personnel. Education for academic librarianship should prepare students for the roles they are to assume within the community of higher educa- tion. · n 1887, when Melvil Dewey es­ nature of the collections of these libraries tablished at Columbia Univer­ is different, as are the kinds and depth of sity the first school designed to services and the manner in which they are educate librarians, the course of provided. This phenomenon is directly re­ education for librarians was set, and, lated to the differing purposes of the vary­ while there has been some progress in cur­ ing environments. There is something ricular matters in the last one hundred about the college or university that sets it years, the effects of that early effort are apart from other segments of society. Al­ with us today. Dewey's program empha­ fred North Whitehead posits that the mere sized the practical skills that he envisioned provision of information is not sufficient as essential to the efficient operation of a reason for the existence of the university library. Debate over the most desirable (he sees the proliferation of printed books proportional mixture of theory and prac­ as negating such a mission) and that "the tice rages yet; some individuals bemoan justification for a university is that it pre­ the dearth of the one whenever they see serves the connection between knowl­ what they consider to be too much of the edge and the zest of life, by uniting the other. Dewey's philosophy of education young and the old in the imaginative con­ as apprenticeship has shown itself to be sideration of learning.' ' 2 enduring, though, and that philosophy The academic library does not simply may be the single greatest hindrance to operate in this milieu, it is a vital and inte­ progress in the area of educating academic gral component of the process of educa­ librarians. 1 tion. Because of this, the academic librar­ Examination of education for academic ian must be engaged in that process as an librarianship implies an inherent differ­ active participant. This is not to say that ence between it and librarianship in other the activities of the librarian are identical environments. There are certainly differ­ to those of other members of the academic ences among the client.ele served by public community, but the librarian, in order to libraries, school libraries, special libraries, function as a facilitator of the imaginative and academic libraries. These differences quest fo! knowledge, must work in con­ do not constitute an artificial distinction; it cert with other members of the commu­ is not just a matter of providing informa­ nity toward fulfilling the university's pur­ tion for different groups of people. The pose. If this distinction between academic John Budd is a doctoral student in the School of Library Science, at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill . The author would like to thank Professors Barbara Moran and Lester Asheim for their comments and assist­ ance. 15 16 College & Research Libraries January 1984 and some other types of librarianship interdisciplinary study, within a two-year (which is not meant to assume superior­ curriculum.8 Edward G. Holley discusses ity) is accepted, then it becomes clear that the extended library school program and the education of academic librarians offers examples of some institutions that should be equally distinctive. Beverly Toy have made the decision to extend their notes that programs beyond one year. 9 While there programs for training academic librarians are some schools with extended pro­ should be significantly different from those of grams, these are in a distinct minority and other librarians. The M.L.S. should include a there are no indications that employers common core of training, but for academic li­ display a preference for graduates from brarians it will tend to be the beginning level, as these programs. (The exception to this is advanced work in librarianship and/or pro­ the recommendation of the Office of Per­ grams in scholarly disciplines require more sonnel Management that only those indi­ than can be accomplished through the M.L.S. viduals with two years of Wo'aduate study degree. 3 be hired at the GS-9 level.) 0 A brief look at the history of education Peter Drucker discusses the amount of for librarianship reveals that in 1923 education required for those in public ser­ Charles C. Williamson stated that profes­ vice institutions (including libraries), sional librarians should receive broad, which, he claims, may not be as extensive general education in full college courses as is popularly thought. He states that plus at least one year's graduate study in a 4 many individuals in the professions are over­ library school. Williamson's report has trained for the responsibilities assigned to had considerable impact on the develop­ them. This is partly due to the bureaucratic na­ ment of library education, though the de­ ture of the public service institutions they serve velopment has not been rapid and is, in in, but it also may be related to an exaggerated fact, still occurring. In 1924, the Associa­ notion of the training needed to enter the pro­ tion of American Universities (AAU) rec­ fession.11 ommended that library education be at the Drucker's statement betrays some igno­ graduate level and that this graduate edu­ rance about academic librarianship (and cation be two years in length, but the some aspects of librarianship in general). AAU' s recommendation went essentially First, he does not seem to realize that the unheeded.5 Ralph Munn, in his report of first exposure many individuals receive to 1936, stated that librarians at universities, the discipline of library science is at the great public, and some special libraries graduate level. This will be discussed in need a broad, general educational back­ greater detail later in this paper. Drucker ground, proficiency in at least one foreign also ignores the fact that the academic li­ language, technical knowledge, a schol­ brary assists in the fulfillment of the insti­ arly attitude, and two years of library tution's educational goals, thus, the li­ school training. 6 Munn takes the attitude brary is not concerned merely with that academic librarians are partners in the mechanical processes. To borrow from scholarly process and should be trained as Pierce Butler, the operation of the library scholars. Louis Round Wilson shared this involves a science, which deals with the attitude. In 1949 Wilson saw the one-year properties of the materials; a technology, master's degree as a superficial change which is involved with the processes used from the bachelor's degree, but he was en­ in exploiting the materials; and a human­ couraged by some changes in the content ity, which involves "the motives, reasons, of curricula and some new (at the time) purposes, or ends for which the science doctoral programs.7 had been accumulated and the technology This debate over the length of library ed­ invented."12 ucation has neither died nor abated since If librarians are indeed to share in the 1949. Ralph Conant, in his sometimes­ purpose of the college or university and if - maligned report, recommends that library they are to join in the community of schools provide opportunities for speciali­ scholars, then the education of academic zation, including interdepartmental and librarians should at least approximate that Education of Academic Librarians 17 of their colleagues. Though a number of bred. Such so-called assets as a love of undergraduate library science programs books are no longer sufficient (if they ever remain, many existing as minor fields in were) for academic librarians because li­ schools of education, the first year of the brarianship encompasses more than arti­ master's program is essentially introduc­ facts. The view of librarians as researchers tory. This is a necessity because of the or teachers is not to be ignored, but it is number of individuals who enter library sometimes tied to a notion that librarians schools from other fields. Therefore, the should directly emulate teaching faculty specialization needed to prepare one to in the narrowness of subject scope to be begin to take a place in the community of studied. There is no doubt that the ability scholars is, perforce, minimally achieved to conduct fruitful research in a particular at best in the one-year program. A similar subject area is beneficial (assuming that thought may have motivated one respon­ the area of librarianship is also a valid sub­ dent in Conant's study to say, "We can­ ject area), but it must be ~ccompanied by not count on the master's degree in librari­ something more. The academic librarian anship as an assurance of an applicant's must have an intimate knowledge of the ability to meet the needs of the academic purpose of the college or university and a library; moreover, lack of the MLS is not a willingness to participate in achieving that barrier to effective academic librarian­ purpose. ship. " 13 Another academic librarian inter­ Edward G. Holley elaborates on this viewed in the course of the Conant study particular aspect of the orientation of the indicated that ''the interdisciplinary na­ academic librarian.
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