The study reported in this paper is part of a larger program of studies designed to review and renew the curricula of Library and Information Science (LIS) and the broader Information Management (IM) courses. This paper analysed job advertisements as readily accessible indicators of the knowledge, skills, and competencies required of IPs by employers and potential available roles. It presents current findings and compares them with trends identified in earlier Australian job advertisement content analyses based on data collected in 2004. The information revealed by the study may be utilised by educators to inform curriculum review and renewal. Current advertisements were collected from web-based sources; ALIA's employment web pages and two national web job-boards, Seek and MyCareer.com. Text from job advertisements was analysed using a content analysis software package. The data revealed an increasing demand for IPs with records management skills, and skills in business content management, web management and other information management systems, indicating an increasing overlap with the field of information systems. The "move to the generic" identified as an emerging trend in 2004 has solidified. T his study examines the structure and nature of the Australian job market for Library and Information Professionals (IPs), using content analysis of Australian job advertisements. The study reported in this paper is part of a larger program of studies designed to review and renew the curricula for LIS (Library and Information Science) / IM (Information Management) studies (QUT 2009). Job advertisements were searched for current and future potential employers of IPs and analysed to identify which skills employers are seeking. This paper's findings are contextualised in longer-term trends in information professional work, through comparative analysis with earlier Australian job advertisement content analyses based on data collected in (Kennan et al., 2006, 2006cMarion et al., 2005).The planning of education curricula for a 21 st century IP workforce must consider an information world characterised by rapid change and sometimes shortlived trends, driven by new information delivery technologies and converging workplace practices. By comparing results with earlier studies, this study aims to identify which trends are continuing, whether skills perceived as emergent six years ago have become assumed competencies, and what skills currently appear to be emergent.Thus, the study reported in this paper investigates job advertisements for information professionals. It analyses the knowledge and skills employers advertise for in roles that are suitable for information professionals. While not claiming to throw light on all aspects of the employment market, job advertisements are an easily available indicator of the short to mid-term direction of workplace demands for particular knowledge, skills, and competencies (Cullen, 2004;Kennan et al., 2006). The analysis of advertisements provides a window to what is currently wanted (requi...
No abstract
This secondary analysis of an LIS workforce survey uses Foucault's concept of ethos as 'care of self' to examine how practitioners construct professional identity and ethos through their reflections on practice. It explores tensions arising in LIS discourses (community engagement, information management/ use/practice, professional advocacy) and broader discourses (managerialism, enterprise). It finds that many respondents are reflective practitioners, however workplace cultures don't always value or support critical reflective practice. This professional activity needs support, since it is crucial to practitioners' capacity to appreciate difference in knowledge practices and accommodate the situated meaningmaking of others.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text and to make commercial use of the text providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.