a study of changes in the library and

8/13/2019 A Study of Changes in the Library And

1/17

A Study of Changes in the Library andInformation Science Curriculum withEvaluation of Its Practicality

by Younghee Noh, In-Ja Ahn and Sang-Ki Choi

Available online

PurposeThis study analyzed the process ofchanges in Korean Library and Information

Science curriculum and evaluated the

courses currently available by using aperception survey of librarians in the field. Italso explored a possible demand for new

courses, while suggesting compulsory, core,and optional courses for Bachelor's degree

curriculum in Library and InformationScience worldwide including Korea and

the US.Design/Methodology/Approach This study

progressed through a total of 5 steps asfollows: investigating the background of why

current courses of Library and InformationScience were offered (interview), finding outthe current courses in Library and

Information Science (homepage search andphone interview), finding out which courses

students have actually completed amongthose available (literature and resource

research), evaluating the practicality of theavailable courses by librarians in the field

(survey), and exploring the demand for newcourses (survey). In addition, this study

analyzed the process of change in the coursesoffered by investigating the curriculum over

the last 20 years.Findings First and foremost, it was found

that the decision of which course will beoffered is strongly influenced by faculty.Second, in the analysis of the process of

opening up new courses, it was revealed thatthe number of courses is growing and the

courses are becoming more diversified andmore specific. Third, the survey results of the

completion of curriculum for the last three

years in 10 universities demonstrate thatonly 50% of the available courses are beingcompleted. Fourth, in the survey of which

courses the librarians in the field think arenecessary among the 90 courses suggested,

21 courses scored more than 4 points in a5-point Likert scale regarding the demand

for new courses. Fifth, the new courses whichscored high levels of demand points were:Practice in Organizing and Managing Web

Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and

Assessment, Understanding InformationTechnology for Managing Digital Collections,

and Information and Communication in aDigital Age. Sixth, this study shows that thereis a high level of agreement between courses

completed by students and those whichgained high levels of demand points in the

practicality evaluation.Limitations/Implications As this study was

performed in Korea where the Bachelor'sdegree course is fundamental, it will

contribute valuable information to countrieswhere universities have recently opened or

are trying to open programs for Bachelor'sdegrees in Library and Information Science

such as the US, or to curriculum study incountries such as China and Japan which

have educational environments similar toKorea. However, similar studies need to be

performed in different countries.

348 The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 38, Number 6, pages 348-364
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/Unlabelled%20image


2/17

Originality/Value This study has greatsignificance as it has analyzed not only the

curriculum of the last 20 years but alsodiscovered how many of the newly created

courses have actually been completed bystudents and the opinions of librarians in the

field on these courses; there has not been

such an encompassing study as this eitherinside or outside of Korea.

Younghee Noh,

Department of Library & Information Science,Konkuk University, 322 Danwol-Dong, Chungju-Si,

Chungcheongbuk-Do, 380-701, South Korea

Tel.: +82 43 3364; fax: +82 43 851 9325.

;

In-Ja Ahn,

Department of Library & Information Science, Donwon University,

South Korea

;

Sang-Ki Choi,

Department of Library & Information Science, Donwon University,

South Korea

.

Keywords: Library and Information Science; Curriculum; Courses;Evaluation; Taken courses; Librarians' perception

INTRODUCTION

This study began from a research question regarding how Library and

Information Science departments allover theworldhave developedand

are currently operating their curricula. In Korea's case, there have been

tremendouschanges in thecurriculum since 1950, when theLibrary and

Information Science course of study waslaunched in Korea. Particularly,

as traditional librariesare changing into highlymodernized ones such assemantic libraries, semantic digital libraries and libraries 3.0, the need

for transformation in Library AndInformation Science curriculato foster

librarians who are able to manage such libraries and provide appro-

priate user services is more intense than ever.

Many researchers have argued that Library and Information Science

curricula need to be changed and new courses created to reflect the

changes in libraries and information centers. Moreover, as time passes

and information technology develops, the contents of courses suggested

by researchers have also changed. Koo and Park1 suggested a direction

for improvement in curricula to foster appropriate information

specialists for changes in information technology and system environ-

ments. Through a survey, Hahn2 evaluated whether the courses

available at that time were appropriate for developing the right

professional librarians for the changing environment, and there havebeen similar studies performed repeatedly since.3 Koo4 tried to analyze

whether it is helpful to benchmark curricula from developed countries.

In the US also, several researchers have conducted studies arguing

that it is necessary to open up new courses adaptable to environ-

mental changes in the Library and Information Science curriculum57

and there are many researchers who have conducted studies in

similar contexts all over the world, including Europe8,9 and Kenya.10

This study analyzed the process of changes in the curriculum of

Korean Library and Information Science departments, evaluated the

courses currently available by using a perception survey of librarians in

the field, and discovered possible demand for new courses, while

suggesting compulsory, core, and optional courses by referring to the

curricula of Library and Information Science departments all over the

world including Korea and the US.In the case of the US, the UK, France, and Germany, Library and

Information Science courses have only been available and managed for

Master'sdegrees,so one needsto obtainat least a Master's degreeto be a

professional librarian. However, Library and Information Science courses

have recentlystarted to be launched forBachelor's degrees in theUS, and

countries suchas China and Japanhave similar educational environments

to Korea's. Therefore, it canbe concluded that theresultsof this study can

be referred to for curriculum development in these countries as well.

In other words, this study, which investigated the Korean Library and

Information Science curriculum that has been available as a Bachelor's

degree ever since the course of study was launched in Korea for the first

time in the1950s, will be helpful formany universities that have recently

started or are planning to launch a Library and Information Science

program at the Bachelor's degree level. Particularly, the survey results of

demand for new curricula will be of great help. Furthermore, Korea is

well known for its strength in IT as the whole population is accessing the

Internetand its own information technology is developing veryquickly.11

Korean libraries are also adopting new technologies for themselves and

their information centers. Therefore, this course development study for

fostering future librarians who have a high level of adaptability and

ability in technology applications will have significant implications for

Library and Information Science areas all over the world.

LITERATUREREVIEW

Studies advocating changes in curriculum start from the logic that

curricula should be changed constantly to produce future librarians

349


3/17

who can adapt to changes in the external environment as the librarian

environment changes due to information technology development.First of all, there are studies reviewing curricula in Library and

Information Science and suggesting the ways to foster information

specialists who can adapt to radical changes in the information

technology environment. Koo and Park1 investigated the contents of

Library and Information Science education to produce information

specialists equipped for the environmentalchanges in technologies and

systems they are facing. For this, they analyzed and suggested which

educational contents of artificial intelligence and expert systems should

be introduced into Library and Information Science. Hahn2 investigatedchanges in social andlibrary environmentsfollowingthe introduction of

information technology through a literature review, and alsoconducted

a survey of librarians in an information society regarding librarian

requirements and education for information specialists. In addition,

Hahn2 tried to diagnose whether the current curriculum of Library and

Information Science is appropriate for fostering specialists who are

highly adaptable in the situation where libraries are rapidly changing

from traditional to digital environments. Studying the transformed

curriculum in the US, Koo4 contemplated the introduction of the digital

information environment and technology and the influence of the

introduced technology on the library environment, and suggested an

ideal curriculum model suitable for the digital information environ-

ment. Juznic and Badovinac9 stated that the EU Library and Information

Science curriculum has been constantly changing and there was nogreat difficulty in raising specialists adaptable to the changing times.

There is also a study which arguesfor strengthening competitiveness

through the specialization of each university. Noh12 explained that in a

knowledge and information society, experts who are specialized in a

certain area are being highly evaluated and that there are a growing

number of universities and departments that designtheir educational

goals and directions to raise specialized experts. Noh12 also suggested

education programs that arespecializedin certainareas, considering the

circumstances and situation universities are facing.

There is another study which evaluated courses available in Library

and InformationScience based on a survey of librarians in the field. Lee3

investigated problems in current Library and Information Science

education and suggested desirable remedies from the perspectives of

the librarians surveyed. In other words, the study shows how fieldlibrarians evaluate the curricula and contents of current Library and

Information Science, what kinds of abilities they think librarians should

possess, and what educational contents are needed for Library and

Information Science to foster librarians who possess these abilities

required in the field.

Meanwhile, there is a study arguing for the standardization of

Library and Information Science curricula, which means that for the

improvement of librarians' specialization, common compulsory, core

and optional courses should be recommended to Library and Informa-

tion Science departments nationwide so that librarians of guaranteed

quality can be produced.13 There are some related studies such as an

analysis study of changes in the curricula of Korean Library and

Information Science and a study on the development of standard

curriculum for Korean Library and Information Science education.14

Although it is not regarding standardization, there is a study insisting on

designating core courses: Bawden8 suggests Knowledge Organization

and Information Literacy as core courses after analyzing Library and

Information Science curricula across Europe.

With a more specific approach, there are studies insisting that new

courses or newareas shouldbe introduced to theLibraryand Information

Science curriculum. For example, Hazeri, Martin, and Sarrafzadeh15

arguedthat there is a growing emphasis on theimportance of knowledge

management and that it should therefore be included in Library and

Information Science curricula, stating that, in fact, 30% of US Library and

Information Science faculties are offering knowledge management

courses and have great interest in this course, according to the results

of an investigation of Library and Information Science curricula. Saye5

argued that Organization of Information Resources needs to be included

in Library and Information Science curricula, suggesting the relevance of

this course to existing courses including classification and cataloging

courses, while Jaeger6 argued that it is necessary to include courses

related to e-Government, as this course plays an important role in public

library users' accessing e-Government information. Robins16 suggested

education, experience, knowledge, and responsibilities for fostering

information professionals, and based on this recommended Information

Architecture as one of the courses to educate information professionals.

This course includes the concepts of web development and informationtechnology. Brown and Krumholz17 suggested a model integrating infor-

mation literacy courses and a tool evaluating information literacy, and

Al-Daihani18 insisted that Information and Communications Technology

(ICT) education should be included in LIS curriculum to meet the

requirements from the constantly changing field. Wilson19 proposed a

model based on four foundational fields (information content, informa-

tion systems, people, and organizations) that may assist the process of

curriculum development and related activities in LIS education.

Tenopir7 analyzed studies on reeducation for information pro-

fessionals. She pointed out that professional institutions do not

believe that LIS curriculum is teaching state-of-the-art information

technology for fostering information professionals, while arguing that

there are still many LIS departments that are providing a rather wide

range of knowledge through continuing education programs in orderto prepare librarians for a constantly changing information environ-

ment. She also analyzed the education programs of the Special

Libraries Association, Association for Library and Information Science

Education, Medical Library Association, and American Library Asso-

ciation, noting the results as the evidence for his argument.

Consideringthat studieson curriculaare constantly being carried out

inAfrica as a whole,20 Kenya,10 Kuwait21 and so forth, in addition to the

precedent studies conducted in Europe, US, and Canada as reviewed

above, the results of this study will have a great worldwide influence.

RESEARCHQUESTIONS

As specialist education will be applied as practical knowledge several

years after it is completed, emphasis lies on its future applicability

according to evaluations of its practicality and analysis of demandsfrom those already in the field. Therefore, it is necessary to examine

Korean Library and Information Science curriculum courses, which are

offered depending on faculty composition. It is also necessary to

create a standardized basic model to facilitate professionalism.

Furthermore, it is urgent to develop a practical curriculum that can

strengthen the professionalism of librarians.

This study suggested potential courses that emphasize applicabil-

ity to practice and can be offered in Library and Information Science

degree curricula, as well as an operational curriculum model. This

study is based on the following research questions:

RQ 1: How do Library and Information Science departments select

courses for curriculum operation?

RQ2: What are the courses that have already been created in Library

and Information Science departments?

RQ3: Which courses among the available ones do students usually

take and complete?

RQ4: Which courses among the available ones do field librarians

show high degrees of demand for?

RQ5: Which currently unavailable courses are field librarians

showing demand for?

RQ6: How are the courses changing?

The research questions above will be answered through a research

process consisting of 5 steps with additional research on changes in

courses, which analyzed data for the last 20 years.

350 The Journal of Academic Librarianship


4/17

RESEARCHDESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Research Procedure

During the process of finding answers to the research questions

mentioned above, research was carried out step by step to achieve the

research purpose. The research contents and methodology in each

step were as follows:

Step 1: Understanding the background of why current courses in

Library and Information Science curriculum are offered

(interview)This study performed simple interviews with faculty in the

field to understand how the Library and Information Science

departments select and launch courses for curriculum

operation. The interviewees were selected randomly and 3

faculty members from near Seoul and 3 faculty members

from other regions were chosen.

Step 2: Identifying the courses in Library and Information Science

currently available (homepage search and phone interview)

This study identified courses currently available in Library

and Information Science departments nationwide and

carried out homepage searches of 34 universities (from

May to August 2011). In cases of homepages not being

updated so that there is no recent data available, the courses

search was done through phone requests, and in fact, morethan 80% of the data was collected by email through phone

requests.

Step 3: Identifying the courses that students have actually completed

among the available ones (literature and resource research)

This study identified which courses students have actually

completed among those available. The scope of the study

was intended for departments of Library and Information

Science nationwide; however, the investigation was carried

out in 10 universities(29.41%) for thelast three years'course

completion status under agreement with faculty and

students due to confidentiality issues.

Step 4: Evaluation of the practicality of the available courses by field

librarians (survey)

This study conducted a survey of field librarians to evaluatethe practicality of the specialist courses. In the questionnaire,

the courses currently available (which were found in Step 2)

were listed anddesignedto be evaluatedusing5-point Likert

scales. Based on the results, this study was able to determine

the courses with the highest degree of demand.

Step 5: Exploring the demand for new courses (survey)

The survey of the demand for new courses used the same

method and targeted the same respondents as the survey

explained above, but the list of courses was different. These

courses consisted of the ones that have been set up in 28

Library and Information Science departments in four

countries including the US, the UK, and Australia, but have

not yet been launched in Korean Library and Information

Science departments. There was also enough space in thequestionnaire for suggestions of new courses.

In addition, this study also analyzed the process of changes

in the courses by investigating the curriculum over the last

20 years. Fortunately, there were some precedent studies

such as Chung,22 Kim,23 and Noh and Choi,24 and they were

appropriate for comparative analysis of changes in the

curriculum. This study analyzed the curriculum changes in

the unit of 67 years by adding investigation of 2011's

curriculum.

Fig. 1 demonstrates each step's research content, method, and

procedure described above. The horizontal axis represents research

methodology while the vertical axis represents research contents. At

the top far right, the potential final outcome and expected effect

resulting from this study are illustrated.

Sampling Method and Data Collection Process

The population for the survey on the perception of current

librarians was librarians from every kind of Korean library. These

libraries were chosen from the registered libraries in the2010 Library

Yearbook, by library type. The numbers of libraries and their librarians

registered in the library yearbook are as follows: 651 university

libraries (including 225 branch libraries) and their 2121 librarians;

10,927 school libraries and their 682 librarians; 703 public libraries

and their 3502 librarians; and 584 special libraries and their 618

librarians. In addition, librarians from national libraries such as the

National Library of Korea (including administration and the National

Children and Youth Library), the National Assembly Library (legisla-

tion), the Supreme Court Library of Korea (jurisdiction), and those that

belong to other library associations and the Committee on Library and

Information Policy are also included in the population.

Fifteen to 20% of the population from each group was the sample

size and 1200 questionnaires were distributed; 42.33% of them were

returned.Table 1demonstrates this in detail.

The number of respondents in total was 508, with 25%maleand 75%

female respondents. Although the current gender ratio differs in

different kinds of libraries, it is 30:70 or 40:60, in general, which

implies that the gender ratio in this survey was appropriate. Regarding

the age distribution of respondents, librarians in their twenties were

23.03%, thirties were 29.92%,forties were 31.98%, fiftieswere14.96% and

sixties were 0.2% of the sample,respectively. The resultsof the survey of

respondents' education level reveal that more than 60% of the samples

have completed a Bachelor's degree, and19.13% and 3.75% of thesample

possess a Master's degree and PhD degrees, respectively. In addition,

both junior college graduates and the graduates of librarian training

programs consist of 7.69% of the sample alike. This survey asked for

respondents' work experience in libraries, finding the percentage of the

sample as follows: less than 5 years: 28.94%; 510 years: 21.26%; 10

15 years: 14.17%, 2025 years:15.94%;more than25 years:10.63%, and

1520 years of work experience: 9.06%. Regarding the kind of library to

which respondents belong, 38.98% of the sample was from universitylibraries, 23.82% from public libraries, 14.17% from special libraries,

12.4% from school libraries, and 9.84% from national libraries. The

subject areas these libraries service are listed in order as follows: all

subject areas were serviced by 69.94%, the highest percentage of

libraries; followed by Humanities & Social Sciences at 10.82% and

Science Technology & Natural Science at 5.41%. Overall, it can be said

that the distribution of the service course area of the respondents'

libraries was dispersed. In terms of the job role in which respondents

have the most experience, respondents could choose a maximum of 2

areas. The results show that 23.4% of respondents have the most

experience in acquisition work, 37.6% in classification and listing, 33.3%

in browsing and loans, 21.5% in reference, and 12.4% in both serial

managementand management planning work respectively. Overall, the

job roles for which respondents are responsible were evenly dispersed.

The Contents of Questionnaire and Composition ofQuestions

The questionnaire used in this study consisted of questions to

achieve the research purpose of this study, particularly the ones from

research Steps 3 and 4.

First and foremost, the survey was mainly aimed at identifying

appropriate courses. Thecourses listed in the surveywere selected from

the curriculum survey of Korean Library and Information Science

departments.25 They were chosen from each area by analyzing the

courses in nationwide Library and Information Science departments on

351


5/17

the whole,and thesurveywas designed so that thenecessary degree for

each course would be marked on a Likert scale (5-point scale). The

course areas were consistently as follows: General Library and

Information Science, Information Organization, Library and Information

Center Management, Information Services, Information Science, Bibli-

ography, and Archival Science.

Second, the survey investigated the opinions of librarians on core

courses by asking them to mark courses which they consider core(primary) courses in the list.

Third, to determine demand for new courses required for the

digital age, this research team discussed and selected courses, which

have not been launched in Korean Library and Information Science

departments but are thought to be required today or for the future,

from 28 courses in Library and Information Science departments in

the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. These courses were categorized

and listed following each area, and respondents were asked to mark

the necessity degree of each course on a Likert scale as well as the

courses they consider to be core (primary) ones.

The questionnaire was developed based on preceding studies

related to the purpose of this survey and included questions on

personal information of respondents. The final questionnaire con-

sisted of 5 survey areas and 14 survey contents. Table 2summarizes

the contents and questions of the questionnaire.

Grouping of Areas of Specialization in Library andInformation Science

This study analyzed LIS curriculum across the last 20 years to

explore changes in courses, and analyzed approximately 4000 coursesfrom 1991, 1997, 2004, and 2011. Researchers of this study decided

that it would be more effectiveto analyze courses as a group following

areas of specialization in Library and Information Science than to

individually investigate the changes in courses, the trend of launching

new courses, and curriculum composition. The courses were grouped

into seven areas of specialization: General Library and Information

Science, Information Organization, Library and Information Center

Management, Information Services, Information Science, Bibliogra-

phy, and Archival Science.

Forthe categorization andconceptualization of study areas in Library

and Information Science, this study drew from precedent studies26,23

and from the Introduction of Library and Information Science.27 However,

Table 1

Distributed questionnaires and the return rate

Survey area Public library Academic library School library Special library National library Others Total

Surveys distributed 500 300 140 120 140 0 1200

Surveys returned 121 198 63 72 50 4 508

Return rate (%) 24.20 66.00 45.00 60.00 35.71 42.33

Figure 1Diagram of each step's research content, method and procedure.

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/image%20of


6/17

assigning each course to one of the seven areas mentioned above

depended on each researcher's decision, and it can be problematic to

categorize courses with complex characters into one area. It was also

difficult to decide which area the newly developed courses should be

categorized into. Therefore, it was desirable to use the grouping of areas

of specialization as a basic resource for understanding the general

picture. That is, it was easier to analyze the trend of curricula following

certain criteria ratherthan to analyze each courseamongapproximately

1000 newly launched courses. Therefore, this study progressed

consistently by setting up and following the category and scope of

areas of specialization.

RESULTS

The results of this study can be grouped into 6 areas as follows: 1) the

background of launching a course, 2) Library and Information Science

curriculum courses, 3) the courses that have actually been taken,

4) evaluation of course practicality, 5) newly demanded courses, and

6) trends in changes in Library and Information Science curriculum.

The Background of Launching a Course

To investigate how Library and Information Science departments

choose their courses for curriculum operation, simple interviews were

conducted with active faculty. It was revealed that the launching of

courses in each department is absolutely influenced by its faculty. For

example, in the case of Y university, more than 70% of courses are on

Information Science as there are only Information Science faculty, while

in the case of C university, where the majority of faculty specialize in

Bibliography, more than 40% of the courses are on Bibliography.

Particularly, C university is facing problems because it is not able to

launchdifferent courses dueto thelargenumber of Bibliography faculty,

despite the high demand among students for curriculum changes

appropriate to changing circumstances in the LIS field.

The Analysis of Current Courses in Library andInformation Science Departments and Changes in

Those Courses

Universities are making a great effort to be competitive in the

knowledge and information society by changing faculty titles and

launching appropriate curricula. Universities organize curricula

independently based on their own background and resources, while

seeking specialization for differentiation from other universities. In

this context, Library and Information Science departments have also

developed and changed their curricula reflecting the changes in the

knowledge and information society and developments in information

technology. In fact, the cycle of curriculum change and renewal has

been shortened to 23 years.

The scope of this study is curriculum changes in Korean Library

and Information Science departments from 1991 to 2011. In Korean

universities, there have been two systems in which students declare

their majors. Until 1996, every university in South Korea was using

Table 2

Survey area and survey contents

Survey area Survey contents Questions

Necessity of revision in courses Whether it is necessary to revise courses in Library and Information Science departments 1

Degree of necessity of eachcourse

General Library and Information Science (Cultural History of Information, Introductionto Library and Information Science)

2

Information Organization (Cataloging and classification of Information Resources, Metadata) 2

Information Services (Theory of Information Services, Subject's information resources,Information User study)

2

Library and Information Center Management (Library Management, Management ofDifferent Kinds of Libraries)

2

Information Science (Introduction to Information Science, Information Retrieval,Indexing and Abstracting)

2

Bibliography (Introduction to Bibliography, Korean Bibliography, Chinese Bibliography) 2

Archival Science (Archives Management, Reservation of Archives) 2

Degree of satisfaction with thecurriculum

The most effective teaching method in the Library and Information Science Department 3

How much and in which job abilities the degree curriculum has been helpful 4

The area where the degree curriculum was helpful and how satisfactory the help was 5

Important factors for advancement in Library and Information Science curriculumand how important they are

6

Necessary new course coursesrequired in the digital age

Suggestion of new courses and their necessity degree, whether to appoint them as corecourses in seven areas of Library and Information Science

7

Personal background Gender 10

Age 11

Education 12

Work experience in library 13

Employed library 14

Main service subject area of the employed library 15

The most experienced job role of respondent (choose first two) 16

353


7/17

the departmental system; it required that students declare a major as

part of theadmissions process. Fora period of time from 1997 through

2011, some universities adopted the faculty system in which students

were admitted without declaring a major. Students took classes

during their first year from a variety of departments. Then, after thefirst year, students declared a major. By 2011, most universities

returned to the department system. This study found that the most

prominent changing factors in characteristics during the study period

were the alterations between the department and faculty systems,

andFig. 2shows which system was in place for the years curriculum

was analyzed in this study.

The Changes in the Number of Courses in Curricula of Libraryand Information Science Departments Nationally

This study tried to analyze the changes in courses by investigating

the curriculum of Library and Information Science over the last

20 years. For the analysis of the last 20 years' curriculum in Library

and Information Science departments across the country, this study

intensively re-analyzed Chung,

22

Kim,

23

The Curriculum of KoreanLibrary and Information Science, which has been published since 2004,

and additional resources from 2011.

First and foremost, the total number of courses increased by 137

from 899 in 1991 to 1038 in 1997 as can be seen in Table 3.Although,

the number decreased by 42 to 996 in 2004 compared to 1997, the

number increased again by 162 in 2011. Among them, 77 courses

were added due to two newly launched Library and Information

Science departments in 2009. The percentages in parentheses show

the ratio of the number of newly launched courses in each area to the

total number of courses.

The Trend of Launching of New Courses

This study analyzed the trend of launching new courses in Korean

Library and Information Science from 1991 to 2011 in units of 6

7 years. This analysis was done following the categorization of study

areas of Library and Information Science chosen by this study, and the

details of analysis are in the following paragraphs.

In the General Library and Information Science area, there have

been changes in the title of courses such as The Library and Society to

Information Society and again to Information Society and the Library as

the terms referring to society have changed. Newly launched courses in

thisarea arethe onesregardingwebpublishingandelectronicpublishing,

copyright and intellectual property rights, and concepts of information

ethics. Moreover, reflecting the universities' policies for strengtheningcompetitiveness in job markets, it was observed that courses on career

counseling have also been set up.

In the Information Organization area, there has been no notable

change for the last 20 years from 1991 to 2011; the major courses in

this area are courses on classification and cataloging information. A

Figure 2Periodic characteristics shown when analyzing LIS curriculum.

Table 3

The changes in the number of courses in curricula of LIS departments (1991, 1997, 2004, 2011)

Year Area Foundational Core (compulsory) Intensified (optional)

Year Number of coursesand universities

Number ofcourses

Number ofuniversities

Number ofcourses


Number ofcourses


1991 899 35(3.89%)

10 255(28.36%)

29 609(67.74%)

29

1997 1038 60(5.78%)

17 183(17.63%)

25 796(76.69%)

32

2004 996 60(6.02%)

14 68(6.83%)

11 868(87.15%)

32

2011 1158 64(5.53%)

13 119(10.28%)

19 971(83.85%)

34



8/17

Table 4

Completed courses

Area Course KonkukUniversity

KyonggiUniversity

KonjuUniversity

ChonbukUniversity

SangmyungUniversity

ChungnamUniversity

Total

General Library andInformationScience

Introduction to Library andInformation Science

30 59 30 30 30 179

Cultural History of Information 27 19 22 26 94

Field Work 15 25 25 17 82

Texts and Teaching 30 30

Teaching Method in Libraryand Information Science

30 30

Research Method in Libraryand Information Science

20 20

Seminars and AdvancedStudies in Library andInformation Science

16 16

InformationOrganization

Classification 30 29 30 28 27 30 174

Cataloging 29 29 30 30 18 30 166

Non-book Material and

Multimedia Organization

22 22

KOMARC Practice 22 22

Cataloging Practice 19 19

Metadata Fundamentals 15 15

InformationServices

Information Services 26 26 30 30 25 30 167

Reading Guidance 18 24 30 18 90

Subject Information Sources 41 20 61

Children and YouthInformation

28 24 52

Information Sources inHumanities and Social Science

25 25 50

Information Media 22 22Subject Information Service 19 19

Literature of Science andTechnology

18 18

Studies in Information Users 16 16

Non-book Material 15 15

Internet Resources 15 15

Library andInformationCenterManagement

Library Management 21 23 19 22 30 115

Management of School Library 19 22 30 24 95

Management of Public Library 27 18 17 62

Management of DifferentKinds of Libraries

19 33 52

Media Center Management 23 24 47

Non-book Material andMultimedia management

27 15 42

Collection Development 19 21 40

Management of AcademicLibraries

25 25

Building Information MediaCollections

20 20

Collection Management 17 17

(continued on next page)

355


9/17

couple of items to note are that Machine Readable Cataloging and

Metadata concepts were introduced in 2004 and 2011, and the names

of courses are more specific and diverse. The number of courses on

organization of old books has decreased, while new names such as

Organizing Special Materials or Multimedia Organization haveappeared.

Courses in theInformationServicesarea canbe largely divided into

Theories and Practices in Information Services, Subject Bibliography

(Subject Information Sources), Reading Education, Education and

Practices in Information Utilization (User Education) and Information

User Study. The title of Theories and Practices in Information Services

has changed to Reference Service Theory, Information Service Theory,

and Information Services. Subject Information Source courses used to

be divided into Humanities, Social, and Natural Science, but later on,

the courses were divided into more specific categories such as

Internet Source, Digital Information Source, and Studies in Local

Information. In particular, the number of Reading Guidance courses

has increased from 20 in 1991 to 39 in 2011, and recently, new

courses such as Bibliotherapy and Bibliotherapy to the Disabled aswell as Reading Guidance for General Users have been launched and

the number of such courses is also growing.

The major courses in Library and Information Center Management

are Library Management, Management of Academic, Public, and Special

Libraries, Study of Collection Development, Collection Management,

Library Policy Study, Non-Book Material Study, and Management of

Serials. The number of Library Management courses, the core and

foundationalcourses in the Library and Information center Management

area, is continuously growing. Courses on Management of Different

Kinds of Libraries deal with more than two kinds of libraries, and it was

observed that the number of courses on integrating different kinds of

libraries is decreasing, while the number of courses that clearly target a

certain kind of library is increasing. There are many cases in which the

name Materials Selection was changed to Collection Development, and

thenumberof coursesin Collection Management, which teaches how to

manage selected and developed collections, has risen greatly. In the

2000s, the courses in this area are becoming more diversified,and it wasfound that new courses such as Library Evaluation, Library Statistics,

Information Market, Information Flow, Library Building and Facilities,

Library Marketing, Library Movement, and Library Network have

been created, reflecting issues, development, and current trends in the

2000s.

The major courses in Information Science are Introduction to

Information Science, Automated Systems of Libraries, Digital Libraries,

Information Storage and Retrieval, Index and Abstracting, Database

Management, and Information Systems. Introduction to Information

Science, considered a core and primary course in Information Science,

has been offered in 20 or so universities over the last 20 years.

Automated Systems of Libraries seems to have been set up in most of

the Library and Information Science departments, but the name was

changed to Digital Libraries in 2004, and since then, this course hasdealt with automated systems of libraries, including digital libraries.

Many new courses have been launched in the 2000s, and these are

Knowledge Management System, Library Information Network, Multi-

media Structure, Organization, Application Service, Digital Contents,

User Interface Design, Semantic Web Systems, and Introduction to the

Semantic Web.

In the case of Bibliography, there are not many courses, and the

names of the courses have not been changed much either. Introduction

to Bibliography is available in most universities, and there are some

universities that provide more specific Bibliography courses such as

Oriental Bibliography, Chinese Bibliographies, Korean Bibliography, and

Western Bibliography. However, there is an observable tendency for the

Table 4 (continued)

Area Course KonkukUniversity

KyonggiUniversity

KonjuUniversity

ChonbukUniversity

SangmyungUniversity

ChungnamUniversity

Total

Information Science Information Retrieval 17 19 24 30 27 30 147

Digital Library 17 25 19 26 17 104

Information Processing 28 15 24 67

Database Management 16 17 25 58

Indexing and Abstracting 19 27 46Library & InformationNetwork

21 24 45

Automated Systems ofLibraries

19 21 40

Multimedia 26 26

Information System Analysisand Design

22 22

Internet Service Engineering 20 20

Library Information SystemManagement

15 15

Current Status of InformationTechnology

15 15

Bibliography Introduction to Bibliography 27 24 16 67

Oriental Bibliography 16 16

ArchiveManagement

Archive Management 17 27 44



10/17

Table 5

Evaluation of relevance of courses from the Library and Information Science area

Area Courses Mean Standarddeviation

Whether to bea core course

Frequency %

General Library andInformation Science

Field Work 4.392 0.725 143 28.1

Introduction to Library and Information Science 4.113 0.740 198 39

Library and Copyright 4.014 0.802 84 16.5

Information Society and Library 3.769 0.744 44 8.7

Cultural History of Information 3.602 0.798 81 15.9

Research Method in Library and Information Science 3.581 0.786 54 10.6

Ethics & Security in Information Management 3.560 0.824 29 5.7

Seminars and Advanced Studies in Library and Information Science 3.499 0.807 22 4.3

Teacher Librarian system and Teaching Method 3.491 0.783 22 4.3

World Libraries 3.466 0.742 19 3.7

Library and Publication 3.460 0.801 11 2.2

Library and Information Science and Teaching Method 3.427 0.789 34 6.7

Educational Media 3.327 0.775 5 1Text and Teaching 3.233 0.814 10 2

Information Organization Classification 4.399 0.715 223 43.9

Cataloging 4.384 0.763 228 44.9

Classification Practice 4.360 0.762 158 31.1

Cataloging Practice 4.344 0.746 135 26.6

KOMARC Practice 4.222 0.799 117 23

Non-Book Material and Multimedia Organization 4.002 0.751 93 18.3

Metadata Fundamentals 3.953 0.820 80 15.7

Classification and Cataloging of Rare Books 3.388 0.848 36 7.1

Information Services Information Services (Reference and Information Services) 4.271 0.722 166 32.7

Internet Resource Utilization 4.111 0.738 72 14.2

Subject Information Resources 4.080 0.713 115 22.6

Academic Information Utilization 4.051 0.740 76 15

Information Literacy (Information Literacy Instruction) 3.961 0.777 60 11.8

Non-bookMaterialUtilization (DigitalInformationResources Utilization) 3.953 0.754 47 9.3

Information User Study 3.931 0.771 63 12.4

Reading Guidance 3.899 0.866 77 15.2

Bibliotherapy 3.714 0.902 41 8.1

Children's and Young Adult's Librarianship 3.690 0.791 28 5.5

Information Sources in Humanities and Social Science 3.687 0.718 27 5.3

Literature of Science and Technology 3.679 0.739 27 5.3

Children and Young People's Literature and Related Materials 3.661 0.760 24 4.7

Information Resources in Medicine 3.484 0.742 13 2.6

Scholarly Communication 3.382 0.768 15 3

Oriental Bibliography 3.294 0.744 9 1.8

Book Review 3.269 0.811 8 1.6

Library and Information CenterManagement

Library Management 4.035 0.809 169 33.3

Collection Development 4.020 0.794 137 27

Library Marketing 3.980 0.812 73 14.4


357


11/17

Table 5 (continued)



Frequency %

Library and Information CenterManagement

Management of Different Kinds of Libraries (including Public, Academic,School Libraries)

3.912 0.748 97 19.1

Non-book Materialand Multimedia Management(ContentsManagement) 3.854 0.723 49 9.6

Management of Serials 3.823 0.727 64 12.6

Library Cultural Program 3.794 0.848 62 12.2

Evaluation of Library and Library Service (Information Statistics andAnalysis)

3.694 0.796 52 10.2

Library Information Cooperator 3.460 0.728 20 3.9

Information Entrepreneurship (Information Market) 3.298 0.752 9 1.8

Evaluation for Technical Science DB 3.280 0.741 10 2

Studies in Library Buildings 3.241 0.781 19 3.7

Business Information Management 3.115 0.712 2 0.4

Seminar in Library Movement 2.992 0.764 8 1.6

Information Science Information Retrieval 4.091 0.755 124 24.4

Digital Library 4.070 0.725 95 18.7

Automated System of Library 3.992 0.744 88 17.3

Understanding of Information Science 3.906 0.778 132 26

Library Information System Management 3.849 0.753 50 9.8

Information Processing 3.848 0.776 53 10.4

Library Information Network 3.764 0.803 38 7.5

Digital Contents 3.760 0.733 34 6.7

Indexing and Abstracting 3.740 0.800 64 12.6

Database Management (Web DB Management) 3.740 0.820 47 9.3

User Interface 3.691 0.808 28 5.5

Management of E-journal Databases 3.683 0.817 36 7.1

Internet Service engineering (Web DB engineering) 3.675 0.828 33 6.5Multimedia 3.657 0.763 23 4.5

Library and Internet Technologies 3.603 0.855 32 6.5

Current Status of Information Technology 3.576 0.821 21 4.1

Information System Analysis and Design 3.554 0.802 25 4.9

Knowledge Management System 3.548 0.728 16 3.1

Information Standards 3.465 0.800 17 3.3

Semantic Web System 3.283 0.810 8 1.6

Knowledge Structure 3.264 0.763 6 1.2

Programming Language 3.178 0.877 10 2

Informetrix 3.143 0.817 12 2.4

Electronic Commerce for Information 3.117 0.812 5 1

Bibliography Introduction to Bibliography 3.731 0.880 154 30.3

Korean Bibliography 3.388 0.809 44 8.7

The Comprehension of Ancient material 3.331 0.814 35 6.9

The Law of Classic Arrangement 3.215 0.893 27 5.3

Oriental Bibliography 3.088 0.762 13 2.6

Western Bibliography 3.067 0.775 10 2

Chinese Bibliography 3.051 0.754 4 0.8




12/17

course titles to becomemore specific and there area growing number of

new courses such as The Law of Classic Judgment and Utilization of

Ancient Material, which emphasize practicality.The primary or core course in Archival Science is Introduction to

Archives Management. It was available in nine universities in 2004,

but 27 Library and Information Science departments in 2011. The

courses in this area include Archival Management Systems, Records

and Archives Management, Organization of Archives & Records,

Archive & Record system, Archive & Record Service, Theories in

Appraisal and Selection of Archives, Government Information Sources,

and in 2011, new courses such as Archives and Humankind, Systems

of Archival Management, and Record Management &Information

Media have been created.

Completion of Courses

This paragraph analyzes the completion of major courses by

graduates who have degrees in Library and Information Science andwho have applied for librarian qualification in the last three years to

discover what courses Library and Information Science students are

actually taking. The process and method of the survey is as follows.

First of all, this study did not target all universities related to Library

and Information Science in the whole country, but selected univer-

sities which have the faculty system and the department system of

Library and Information Science, and aim to foster teacher librarians.

The following is the detailed list.

Universities with the faculty system: Konkuk University, Kyonggi

University

Universities with the department system: Sangmyung University,

Chonbuk University, Chungnam University

Universities for fostering teacher librarians: Kongju University.

Second, this study collectedlistsof courses which were completed by

10 LIS graduates from each of the universities above every year for last

three years (2009, 2010, 2011).

Third, this study wrote up lists of all courses which were completed

by 30 LIS graduates per universityand made tables consisting of courses

completed by more than 15 of them.

Based on these tables of completed courses for each area, this study

analyzed which courses were most chosen and taken by students in

Korean Library and Information Science curricula.

The most completed course in General Library and Information

Science area was Introduction to Library and Information Science

followed by Cultural History of Information and Field Work, in that

order. In particular, Introduction to Library and Information Science is a

compulsory course in four universities.The most completed courses in the Information Organization area

were Classification of Information Resources and Organization of

Information Resources (Cataloging of Information Materials), which

are compulsory courses in most of the universities.

In the Information Services area, Information Services was the

most completed course followed by Reading Guidance and Subject

Information Resources in order. Among them, Information Services is

a compulsory course in all of the universities selected for survey.

In the Library and Information Center Management area, Library

Management was completed the most followed by Management of

Different Kinds of Libraries, Public Library Management, and Manage-

ment of School Libraryin thatorder. LibraryManagement is a compulsory

course in five universities.

In the Information Science area, Information Retrieval wascompleted most, followed by Digital Library and Information Process,

in that order. Information Retrieval is a compulsory course in five

universities. In the area of Bibliography, Introduction to Bibliography

is available in three universities, and in the area of Archival

Management, Introduction to Archival Management is available in

two universities, but no university has chosen either of these two

courses as a compulsory course (Table 4).

Practicality Evaluation of Courses

This study selected 90 courses from approximately 1000 currently

available (investigated in Step 2) through several meetings of this

research team,attemptingunification of similar courses and considering

the number of courses being launched in order to evaluate the

practicality of courses from a field librarian's perspective. Table 5summarizes the courses chosen and the results of the survey. These 90

courses were divided into areas and their necessity in the field was

evaluatedby a Likertscale. Based on theresults, this study highlights the

courses with the highest degree of demand.

As can be seen inTable 5, the course with the highest demand in

the necessity evaluation from General Library and Information

Science area is Field Work (practical experience in an actual working

library such as during an internship) (4.392), followed by Introduc-

tion to Library and Information Science (4.113), Library and Copyright

(4.014), and Information Society and Library (3.769), in that order,

and the degree of necessity for most of these courses was more than

the average. At the same time, the perceived degree of necessity of

Table 5 (continued)



Frequency %

Bibliography Utilization of Ancient Material 3.031 0.866 10 2

Physical Bibliography Guidance 3.008 0.834 6 1.2

Archival Science Archive Management 3.794 0.82 123 24.2

Archives Management System 3.613 0.797 33 6.5Organization of Archives & Records (Archival Practice) 3.596 0.846 40 7.9

Document Management and Archives 3.589 0.804 36 7.1

Preservation Management 3.561 0.812 37 7.3

Government Publications (Government Information Resources,Official Information)

3.515 0.781 20 3.9

Selection and Acquisition of Archival Documents 3.505 0.78 16 3.1

359


13/17

courses such as Educational Media or Texts and Teaching appears to

be relatively low, and it seems that this is because these courses are

focusing on fostering teacher librarians. Moreover, respondents were

asked to mark the courses they thought were core or primary ones on

the list. Among them, Introduction to Library and Information Science

was chosen by 39% of the respondents (198) and Field Work by 28.1%

(143), with a relatively high rate of respondents choosing them as

core or primary courses.In the Information Organization area, most of the courses except

Classification and Cataloging of Rare Books scored more than a 4.0

necessity degree. Among them, Classification of Information Sources(4.399), Cataloging of Information Sources (4.384), Classification

Practices (4.36), Cataloging Practices (4.344), and KOMARC Practice

(4.222) were chosen as the most necessary courses with a relatively

higher number of points than courses in the General Library and

Information Science area. Respondents were asked to mark which

courses they thought were core or primary ones in the list, and 44.9%

chose Cataloging of Information Sources, 43.9% chose Classification of

Information Sources, 31.1% chose Classification Practices, and 26.6%

chose Cataloging Practices.

In the Information Services area, Information Services (4.271),

Internet Resources (4.111), Subject Information Sources (4.08), and

Academic InformationResources(4.051) gainedmore than4.0 points of

necessity degree and are followed by Information Literacy (3.961),

Non-book Materials Utilization (Digital Information Resource Utiliza-tion, 3.953), and Information User Study (3.931), in thatorder.Based on

these results, it can be assumed that the courses that field librarians

think necessary mainly concern the understanding of information

sources (Subject Information Sources) and users (Information User

Study), or the ones which can provide appropriate information sources

(Information Literacy). In addition, there was an observably strong

opinion that the courses regarding utilization of Internet information

resources or digital information resources are necessary. Respondents

were asked to mark the courses they think are core or primary ones in

the list and Information Services was chosen by 32.7% of respondents to

be a core course, followed by Subject Information Sources, which was

chosen by 22.6% of the respondents.

In the perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the

Library and Information Center Managementarea, Library Managementand Collection Development were given relatively high points of 4.035

and 4.020, respectively, and were followed by Library Marketing with

3.980 points, Management of Different Kinds of Libraries with 3.912

points. Library Movement received the lowest points with 2.992.

Respondents were asked to markwhichcourses they thoughtwere core

or primary ones in the list, and Library Management (33.3%) and

Collection Development (27%) were chosen as core courses by

respondents. Regarding the rest of the courses, a comparatively low

percentage of respondents think that they are necessary core courses.


Information Science area, Information Retrieval (4.091), Digital Library

(4.07), Automated Systems of Libraries (3.992), Understanding Infor-

mation Science (3.906) gained the highest number of points in that

order. On the other hand, the points given to Programming Languageand Informatics were relatively low with 3.178 and 3.143, respectively.

In particular, thelow points of Informaticsare understandable becauseit

is academically relevant in postgraduate courses rather than useful in

the field. Respondents were also asked to mark the courses they

considered core or primary ones in the list. Understanding Information

Science was chosen by 26% of respondents, followed by Information

Retrieval by 24.4%, Digital Library by 18.7% and Automated Systems of

Libraries by 17.3%.


Bibliography area, there is no course with a mean value of more than

4.0. Most of the courses had a necessity degree of less than 3.5 points

except Introductionto Bibliography with 3.731, thehighest numberof

points. Nevertheless, there was a librarian who chose the maximum

value 5; this area shows one of the highest standard deviation values

compared to other areas.Respondentswere asked to mark the courses

they thought were core or primary ones in the list, and only

Introduction to Bibliography was chosen by 30.3% of respondents,

while other courses were chosen by less than 10% of respondents,

which is a very low percentage.

The perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the

Archive Management area had results similar to the Bibliography area

with a rather low mean value, but it is still higher than the

Bibliography area's courses. Among them, Archive Management, theprimary course of this area, shows the highest degree of points with

3.794.

Demands for New Courses

To investigate demands for new courses required for the digital age,

this study analyzed courses in 28 Library and Information Science

departments in the US, the UK, Canada, and Singapore, and suggested

courses that have not been launched in Korean Library and Information

Science curriculum, but are likely to be required either today or in the

future. They were divided into the relevant area so that respondents

could evaluate the degree of necessity using a Likert scale and mark

whether they considered each course to be a core (primary) one.

First and foremost, the results of the question on courses required

in the digital age using a Likert scale were: Practicum in Organizingand Managing Web Resources (4.207), the highest degree of demand

among the 30 courses, followed by Library Planning, Marketing, and

Assessment (4.139), Understanding Information Technology for

Managing Digital Collections (4.097) and Information and Communi-

cation in a Digital Age (4.05), in that order.

Regarding the question concerning whether each course needs to

be appointed as a core one, the most respondents, 23.2%, chose

Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources;19.1% of the

respondents chose Library Planning, Marketing, and Assess-

ment;17.3% opted for Understanding Information Technology for

Managing Digital Collections; and 16.5% selected Information and

Communication in a Digital Age. As the numbers given to this question

were very low, it seems that respondents were skeptical about these

courses being core courses.However, the degree of demand for new courses required in the

digital age and the one asking whether to appoint a course as a core

course are almost the same. Therefore, courses like Practicum in

Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing,

and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing

Digital Collections and Information and Communication in a Digital Age

need to be considered for becoming core courses (Table 6).

DISCUSSION AND FUTURERESEARCH

Discussion

This research project wascarried out with support from theLibrary

Research Institute in the National Library of Korea, to develop courses

for producing competent librarians appropriate for the information

age. This study diagnosed and analyzed the practicality degree of

courses from various angles and the results can be summarized as

follows.

First of all, in Korea's case, decisions on launching courses are

completely influenced by faculty in the Library and InformationScience

department as there are no criteria for courses suggested by library

associationsor meetings foreach type of library. However, it is necessary

for library associations or meetings for each kind of library to suggest

and recommend standardized curricula to be launched to foster future

librarians qualified and equipped with competence. A proposal for

minimal standard courses for librarian qualificationis also necessary for

the specialization of each university.



14/17

Second, in the analysis of launching trends of new courses, four

major cases were observed: 1) cases where the course titles were

changed to ones more appropriate for the current time, 2) cases

where courses that were not appropriate for the current time were

dropped, 3) cases where one course was divided into several courses,

and 4) cases where new courses were launched (e.g. Metadata,

Library Marketing). On the whole, the number of courses is growing,

and courses are becoming more specific and diversified.

Third, from the results of analyzing the reality of student course

selection in 10 universities in the last 3 years,it wasrevealedthat only

50% of the courses were taken by students from the 90 available

courses. Among them, courses such as Introduction to Library and

Information Science, Cultural History of Information, Field Work,

Classification, Cataloging, Theories and Practices in Information

Services, Reading Guidance, Library Management, Management of

Different Kinds of Libraries, Information Retrieval, and Digital Library

have been taken the most. It can be interpreted that these courses are

in high demand among future librarians.

Fourth, in thesurveyof field librarians regarding an evaluation of the

necessity of 90 courses on the list, the courses with demand degree of

Table 6

New courses required for the digital age

Order Course Mean Standarddeviation

Max Min Whether tobe a corecourse

Freq %

1 Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources 4.207 0.697 5 1 118 23.2

2 Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment 4.139 0.732 5 1 97 19.1

3 Understanding Information Technology for ManagingDigital Collections

4.097 0.689 5 2 88 17.3

4 Information and Communication in a Digital Age 4.050 0.735 5 1 84 16.5

5 Electronic Records Management 3.957 0.780 5 2 72 14.2

6 Information Policy 3.885 0.709 5 2 56 11

7 Web Archiving 3.872 0.803 5 2 54 10.6

8 Information Services in Culturally Diverse Communities 3.857 0.765 5 1 43 8.5

9 Resources and Services for People with Disabilities 3.837 0.753 5 1 59 11.6

10 Special Topics in Organization of Information andResources

3.789 0.742 5 1 27 5.3

11 Web 2.0/Web 3.0/eCommunities 3.766 0.832 5 1 47 9.312 E-learning: Social and Technical Issues 3.726 0.800 5 1 35 6.9

13 Digital Humanities 3.718 0.745 5 1 55 10.8

14 Information Consulting 3.696 0.758 5 2 57 11.2

15 International Librarianship: Issues and Innovations 3.676 0.746 5 1 38 7.5

16 Web Content Reliability 3.669 0.77 5 1 16 3.1

17 Digital Divides and Information Professionals:Developing a Critical Practice

3.630 0.744 5 1 21 4.1

18 User-Generated Contents 3.550 0.763 5 1 27 5.3

19 Modern Archives Administration 3.546 0.777 5 1 17 3.3

20 Knowledge Representation and Formal Ontology 3.522 0.753 5 1 14 2.8

21 Informatics 3.513 0.754 5 1 15 3

22 Economics of Information 3.490 0.720 5 1 12 2.4

23 Accountability, Democracy and Ethics in RecordKeeping

3.478 0.757 5 1 14 2.8

24 Rare Books and Special Collections Librarianship 3.418 0.848 5 1 30 5.9

25 Ecological Information Systems 3.370 0.729 5 1 7 1.4

26 Legal Resources 3.321 0.711 5 1 9 1.8

27 Information Sources for Business and Industry 3.268 0.714 5 1 9 1.8

28 Competitive intelligence 3.228 0.658 5 1 6 1.2

29 Music Librarianship 3.212 0.712 5 1 3 0.6

30 Health Sciences Info Services and Resources 3.089 0.696 5 1 3 0.6

361


15/17

more than 4 points in a 5-point scale are as follows: 3 courses from the

General Library and Information Science area (Field Work, Introduction

to Library and Information Science, Library and Copyright); 6 courses

from the Information Organization area (Classification, Cataloging,

Classification Practice, Cataloging Practice, KOMARC, Non-book Mate-

rial, and Multimedia Organization); 4 courses from the Information

Services area (Theories and Practices in Information Service, Internet

Resources, Subject Information Resources, and Academic Information

Utilization); 2 courses from the Library and Information Center

Management area (Library Management and Collection Development),

and 2 courses from Information Science (Information Retrieval and

Digital Library).

Figure 3Agreement between the most completed courses by students and practicality evaluation for courses.



16/17

In both the Bibliography and Archive Management areas, demand

for courses was less than 4 points. Regarding these results, faculty

need to consider which courses librarians designated as necessary

based on their fieldwork experience. Demand for courses in the

resource organization area is particularly relevant as they argue that

even education of classification and cataloging practices for each

medium is necessary.

Fifth, this study investigated the demand for courses that have not

been launched in Korean Library and Information Science depart-

ments. From 28 universities abroad, 30 courses that have not been

launched in Korea yet were put on the list for the demand survey.Among them, Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources,

Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Infor-

mation Technology for Managing Digital Collections, and Information

and Communication in a Digital Age received a demand degree of

more than 4 points. These courses were designed to facilitate

management capacity for rapidly increasing digital information

resources and information technology capacity to deal with such

resources. They are also related to big issues in the library industry,

and the demand for them has been getting higherin the field recently.

Fig. 3 demonstrates the results of the study explained above,

diagramming the courses that were completed the most and had high

field demand.

As can be seen in Fig. 3, a high agreement between the most

completed courses by students and practicality evaluation for courseswas observed. There were 19 courses that were both preferred by

students and have high demand from the field. The correlation

coefficient between courses that have actually been taken and have a

high degreeof demand for in the practicality evaluation is 0.0053, and

the one between the orders of courses in the rank is 0.0042, with a

significance level of 0.05 for both coefficients. Therefore, the high

agreement is statistically significant.

It can be concluded that there is a need to consider the 19 courses

mentioned above as core or compulsory courses. Based on the results of

analyzing foreign curricula,28 these 19 courses are frequently offered in

foreign curricula.

Future Research

This study was carried out in Korea where the LIS Bachelor'sdegree is fundamental. Although courses for Master's or PhD degrees

are available in the majority of Library and Information Science

departments, this study focused on the curricula for the Bachelor's

degree. In the case of the US, there are universities that have recently

launched or are planning to launch Library and Information Science

courses for a Bachelor's degree, and the situation in China and Japan is

similar to Korea's. Therefore, this study will contribute to curriculum

studies all over the world, and it is necessary to conduct other such

studies in other countries.

During the research process, this study analyzed the case of Kent

University in the US. This university suggests courses appropriate for

each career. In other words, students in this university are recom-

mended to take specific core and optional courses provided for each

careerarea.Studies on andsuggestions of this kind of curriculum system

need to be conducted both inside and outside Korea.

At the same time, appropriate courses need to be identified by

using a job analysis method. The job analysis method is a method to

develop a curriculum focusing on capability by analyzing the jobs of

field librarians and identifying constantly changing demands from

society and workplaces in a scientific way. In Korea, some researchers

have done job analyses, but these are limited because they have not

been used to develop curricula. Studies need to be done that can

suggest specific courses for different kinds of libraries by conducting

job analysis for each kind of libraries using SCID technique.

Finally, this study analyzed the changes in courses over the last

20 years. It is necessary to conduct studies on course changes in more

depth from a historical perspective not only in Korea but also in other

countries. These studies will be helpful to predict demand for future

courses as well as have meaning in Archival Science.

CONCLUSIONS

This study analyzed the process of changes in the courses and

curriculum of Library and Information Science departments, evaluated

the practicality of courses based on perspective analysis of field

librarians and analyzed the degree of demand for new courses found

from the analysis of other countries' courses. This study also analyzed

which Library and Information Science courses students have taken themost, and the trend of launching new courses in the last 20 years.

The analysis results reveal that there are a total of 19 courses that

are preferred by students and have a high degree of demand. Among

them, the courses having a high degree of demand from both sides are

as follows: Introduction to Library and Information Science, Cultural

History of Information, and Field Work in the General Library and

Information Science area; Classification, Cataloging, KOMARC Practice

and Cataloging Practice in the Information Organization area;

Information Services and Internet Resources in the Information

Services area; Library Management, Management of Different Kinds

of Libraries, Non-book Material and Multimedia Management, and

Collection Development in the Information Services area; Information

Retrieval, Digital Library, Automated Systems of Libraries and Seminar

in Library Information System Management in the InformationScience area; Introduction to Bibliography in Bibliography area; and

Archive Management in the Archive Management area.

These courses should be considered for appointment as core or

compulsory courses andthe results are similar in Libraryand Information

Science departments worldwide.

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the ResearchInstitute in Korean National Library (KLA). Any opinions, findings, and

conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of

the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the KLA. The

author thanks Tsultrim Datso and Patricia Ladd for editing this article

into fluent American English.

REFERENCES

1. Bon-Young Koo & Mi-Young Park, A curricular study on AI & ES in

Library and Information Science, Journal of the Korean Society for

Library and Information Science 32 (2) (1998): 211235.

2. Bock-Hee Hahn, A study on the curriculum of the Library and

Information Science education programs prepared for the changing

environment, Journal of Korean Library and Information Science

Society30 (2) (1999): 179198.

3. Jae-Whoan Lee, Ki-Myung Lee, Jung-Ho Kim, You-Ra Youn, & Eun-Ju

Lee, Evaluation and requirement of librarians on LIS Education,

Journalof the Korean Society for Libraryand Information Science 39(4)

(2005): 4569.

4. Bon-Young Koo, Curriculum of Library & Information Science in

digital information environment,Journal of the Korean Society for

Information Management17 (3) (2000): 93108.

5. Jerry Saye, The organization of electronic resources in the library

and information science curriculum,OCLC Systems and Services17

(2) (2011): 7178.

6. Paul Jaeger,Building e-government into the Library and Information

Science curriculum: The future of government information and

services,Journal of Education for Library and Information Science49

(3) (2008): 167179.

7. Carol Tenopir, I never learned about that in library school:

Curriculum changes in LIS,Online24 (2) (2000): 4246.

8. David Bawden, Information seeking and information retrieval:

The core of the information curriculum?, Journal of Education for

Library and Information Science48 (2) (2007): 125138.

363


17/17

9. Primoz Juznic & Branka Badovinac, Toward library and informa-

tion science education in the European Union: A comparative

analysis of library and information science programmes of study

for new members and other applicant countries to the European

Union,New Library World106 (3/4) (2005): 173186.

10. Joseph Kavulya, Training of library and information science (LIS)

professionals in Kenya: A needs assessment, Library Review 56 (3)

(2007): 208223.

11. OECD, Computer, Internet and telecommunication,.OECD FACT-

BOOK 2011(2011):192193.

12.Younghee Noh, A study on development and utilization ofspecialized programs in curriculum of Library and Information

Science, Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information

Science39 (1) (2005): 3964.

13. Young-Ai Um, The changes in the curricula of the departments of

Library and Information Science, Journal of Korean Library and

Information Science Society40 (2) (2009): 409427.

14. Younghee Noh & In-Ja Ahn, A study on analyzing the translation of

curriculum in Library & Information Science of Korea,Journalof Korean

Library and Information Science Society 40 (2) (2009): 429450.

15. Afsaneh Hazeri, Bill Martin, & Maryam Sarrafzadeh,Integration of

knowledge management with the Library and Information Science

curriculum: Some professional perspectives, Journal of Education

for Library and Information Science 50 (3) (2009): 152163.

16. David Robins, Information architecture in library and informationscience curricula, Bulletin of the American Society for Information

Science and Technology28 (2) (2002): 2022.

17.Cecelia Brown & LeeR. Krumholz, Integrating information literacy

into the science curriculum, College & Research Libraries 63 (2)

(2002): 111123.

18. Sultan Al-Daihani, ICT education in library and information

science programs,Library Review60 (9) (2011): 773788.

19. T. Wilson, Mapping the curriculum in information studies,New

Library World102 (11/12) (2001): 436442.

20. Emmanuel Baro, A survey of information literacy education in

library schools in Africa,Library Review60 (3) (2011): 202217.

21. Taghreed Alqudsi-Ghabra & Hussain Al-Ansari, Education for

library and information science at Kuwait University, Education

for Information16 (2) (1998): 145152.

22. Jin-Sik Chung, Developing the model based on analyzing LIS

curriculum,National Assembly Library Review28 (6) (1991): 363( h t t p : / / n a v e r .n a n e t . g o . k r / S ea r c h D e t a i l Vi e w . d o ? c n =

KINX1991042328&sysid=nhn).

23. S.S. Kim, A research on the LIS curriculum based on education

purpose,Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society

Summer Conference(1998): 4080.

24. Younghee Noh & Won-Tae Choi, Korea Library Information and

Science Curriculum(Seoul: Gumi, 2004).

25. Younghee Noh,In-Ja Ahn, & Won-TaeChoi, Korea LibraryInformation

and Science Curriculum.(Paju: Korean's Studies Information, 2009).

26.Myung Ok Kim, The education direction of the Library and

Information Science, Journal of the Korean Society for Library and

Information Science31 (2) (1997): 7242.

27. Korean Society for Library and Information Science, Introduction of

Library and Information Science. (Seoul: Korean Library Association,2008).

28. Sang-Ki Choi, In-Ja Ahn, Younghee Noh,& Ju-Sup Kim, An analysis of

library and information science curriculum in North America:

Focusing on subject modules, Journal of the Korean Biblia Society

for Library and Information Science22 (4) (2011): 120.

http://naver.nanet.go.kr/SearchDetailView.do?cn=KINX1991042328&sysid=nhnhttp://naver.nanet.go.kr/SearchDetailView.do?cn=KINX1991042328&sysid=nhnhttp://naver.nanet.go.kr/SearchDetailView.do?cn=KINX1991042328&sysid=nhnhttp://naver.nanet.go.kr/SearchDetailView.do?cn=KINX1991042328&sysid=nhn