Chapter 7: Educating Librarians: Applying the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Apprenticeship Model to the Education of Librarians

Databrarian ed? Preparing Information Specialists for Participation in an Open Datafied Society

“…Another study of future skill requirements with a wider range of information professionals produced similar results, and foregrounded the stand-out qualities for the future as a passion for their sector/domain/discipline, or 'a "whole of life" approach' to their profession, coupled with 'an understanding of why we do what we do' (Howard et al, 2016), confirming the professional identity of librarians, including the values and ethics of the profession (ways of being), as an essential dimension of library education alongside professional knowledge (ways of thinking or understanding) and professional practice (ways of doing or acting and contexts of application), as envisioned in the Carnegie Foundation's professional apprenticeship model (Pettitt, 2018).The key point here is that in contemporary social environments, where library professionals are expected to act as community change agents and lead social innovation, identity development needs to move beyond socialising students into their professional roles and require them to debate and critically reflect on their roles in the community and society.…”

“…Management education is another continuing concern, raising similar issues about theory versus practice, emphasising social justice and ethics, and extending requirements from basic to advanced courses on topics such as advocacy and marketing (Pettitt, 2018;Singh and Vorbach, 2017). Singh and Vorbach (2017) report partnering with practitioners to develop a set of dualpurpose courses for students and mid-level professionals.…”

“…Several studies in the past five years have taken a more fundamental look at LIS education informed by practitioner and other stakeholder views on gaps in current provision and requirements for the future, including one-off contributions (Bedford, Donley and Lensenmayer, 2015;Pettitt, 2018) and multi-year projects (Abels, Howarth and Smith, 2018;Bertot, Sarin and Percell, 2015;Lankes, Stephens and Arjona, 2015). Collectively the studies offer a range of perspectives on professional education, using various lenses to frame their investigations, such as intellectual capital (Bedford et al, 2015), professional apprenticeships (Pettitt, 2018), participatory/convergence culture (Lankes et al, 2015) and design thinking (Abels et al, 2018). The reports vary in focus, but share several common themes reflecting both longstanding concerns and emerging interests.…”