N.N. Edzan, A.N. Zainab and Diljit Singh Library and Information Science Unit

1. International Conferenece on Libraries (ICOL) 2007Producing library professionals : the MLIS programme N.N. Edzan, A.N. Zainab and Diljit Singh Library and Information Science Unit Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology University of Malaya

2. Overview • Introduction • Programme and Curriculum Review • 2006 Curriculum Review • Recommendations of the 10 April 2007 Review

3. Introduction • First started in 1987 but suspended due to lack of qualified teaching staff • 1993 - Ministry of Education wanted the programme to be revived • 1995 - classes started with 25 students • Now – offered every semester, intake of 10 – 15 students per semester • Now – 120 students within the system, 206 has graduated • Working in various libraries, information centers, Ministry of Education and library management system vendors

4. Introduction • Now – a Professor, a visiting Professor from India, 2 Associate Professors, 2 lecturers, a visiting lecturer from the Philippines and a SLAB scholar • We teach, write, conduct research, supervise and publish MJLIS • Generally – ok • But – emerging trends & roles within the profession • We need to relook at our programme • How??????

5. Curriculum Review • Various opinions on the need for curriculum review • Curriculum review takes into account the opinions of stakeholders – existing students, potential students, existing employers, potential employers, academics, financing organisation, etc. – helps determine state –of-the-art requirements, expectations, emerging roles, emerging trends • Has to be supplemented by a tracer study of graduates – helps determine employability, future directions, relevance • Should be able to see local emerging trends within the profession

6. MLIS Programme Review & Curriculum Review • 1997 – programme of study and entry requirements • 2001 – entry requirements • 2000 – curriculum review – basic LIS courses retained as core & more IT related courses introduced as electives • 2006 – curriculum review on 28 February 2006 with stakeholders

7. 2006 CURRICULUM REVIEW

8. MLIS Programme Structure - retain

9. We Need to Change Because We Need To ….. • Be on the same level with similar programmes in other countries • Be sensitive to the requirements of the profession • Meet the requirements of employers • Provide specialization within LIS • Build upon our strengths and address our weaknesses • Support the vision and mission of the University and the Faculty • Make optimun use of the physical and human resources available

10. We ….. • Re-look at our own program objectives • Took into consideration changes in educational environment (e.g. the increasing number of universities and university colleges, emplacement of full-time teacher-librarians in schools) • Examined curricula of other top ranking universities • Took into consideration students comments about the program • Took into consideration our strengths ( eg. strong research output) and weaknesses (e.g. technology electives from MIT were unpopular)

11. Develop, evaluate, manage and preserve collections of information sources Organize and represent information resources Apply management and leadership skills necessary to effectively and efficiently manage information services in a variety of library and information settings Analyze and identify information needs and educate users of libraries information environments Demonstrate technical expertise of modern technology in libraries and information environment Conduct, analyze and apply research methods to investigate acquisitions, representation, organization, use and / or disseminate of information Approach professional issues with an understanding of the social, political, and legal aspects of information creation, access, and ownership Learning Outcomes : replaced programme objectives; student-centred and not instructor-centred

12. Universities in the US and UK rated 5 or 4 + MLIS programmes offered in Australia & New Zealand (19 universities) UK = University of Sheffield (5), Loughborough University (5), City University (5), University College London (4), University of Strathclyde (4) USA = University of Illinois, University of North Carolina, Syracuse University, University of Pittsburg, Indiana University, Drexel University, UCLA Australia = Charles Sturt University, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University, Queensland University of Technology, University of South Australia New Zealand = Victoria University, University of Wellington We Benchmark Against …..

13. We Found That ….. • Our Core courses are similar to the core course offered at the 19 universities

14. We Retain and Add….. • We retain 5 of the core courses out of which rename 2, move 1 core (Information retrieval) to elective • Add 1 new core offered by most of the 19 universities as a core subject = Libraries, information and society - offered by 14 (74%) of the 19 universities and recommended by February 2006 review

15. Core : We Changed ….. * Rename & reorganise + New » moved to elective

16. Electives : We Retain & Add….. • We retain 12, remove 6 (all MIT courses), convert 1 core to elective, add 12 new courses + group electives into tracks • Justification : The 19 universities offer specialization tracks but retains modularity by allowing students to choose subjects from any track if they so wish

17. Legal issues in information science Human aspects of information systems design User needs and behaviour Development of information collection Indexing, abstracting and thesaurus construction Electronic publishing Special topics in LIS Directed individual study Practicum in Library & information services Management of Internet resources Digital libraries Dissertations Information systems, fundamentals, procurement and operational issues Visual programming: concepts and application Information systems management Knowledge management Multimedia system development Enterprise reengineering and restructuring All these are MIT courses which had previously contributed to the IT related options for the MLIS programme Electives Retained Removed

18. Legal issues in information science Human aspects of information systems design User needs and behaviour Development of information collection Indexing, abstracting and thesaurus construction Electronic publishing Special topics in LIS Directed individual study Practicum in Library & information services Management of Internet resources Digital libraries Dissertations Malaysiana information resources Knowledge management for information professionals User education Information entrepreneurship Web publishing System analysis and design for information professionals Information retrieval Statistical methods for LIS Qualitative research for LIS Project paper Resources and services for children and youn adults Educational roles of teacher libarians Information literacy IT for school libraries Electives Retained Added

19. Regroup Electives into 5 Tracks Special topic in LIS I; Special topic in LIS II; Practicum

20. Big Picture Core Management of information services Information sources and services Organization of information Research foundation in LIS Technologies for information management Libraries, information and society Electives Track 5 : Special topic I / Special topic II / Practicum

21. Our Rationale ….. • Balance between core library science and IT and information science courses • Include school library track to meet the needs of MOE – they send their teachers to us • To maintain our strength in academic research - obtained substantial funding for research and about 20 PhD candidates for LIS • MyAIS (Malaysian abstracting and indexing services) • CREMM (Collaborative repository of Malay manuscripts) • MyUNILITT (Malaysian univeristies information literacy instructional teaching tool) • COREDEV (Collaborative repository digital library – history, science and mathematics) • Institutional repositories (Greenstone & DSpace), LIS

22. What Happened Next … • Presented at a WORKSHOP ON IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF THE LIS PROGRAMME on 10 April 2007 to stakeholders • To review the revised curriculum of the MLIS program • To ensure the revision meets the needs of industry and stakeholders • To ensure the revision meets the needs of the university’s academic standard • Recommendations made at the forum reflected the emerging trends of the LIS profession • No recent reports on emerging trends of the profession or the emerging role of the professionals – the Malaysian scenario

23. Recommendations Which May Reflect Emerging Trends in LIS in Malaysia • Incorporation of more ICT-based literacy • Knowledge management to be made a core course – emerging field in Malaysia • Content of Organization of information – to include metadata and organization of non-structured information • Content of management of information services – to include marketing • To introduce a course related to acquisition and collection development as a core • To include a course on preservation andconservation of resources and disaster planning as an elective • Need for soft skills – presentation and communication skills • To place greater emphasis on information literacy

24. Thank you