Anjali Gulati and R.L Raina

Abstract: The paper justifies that information professionals will be better off to discharge their role as effective knowledge managers in today's knowledge era, provided they are equipped with professional competencies. Illustrating with suitable examples, the paper highlights a set of professional competencies that need to be developed by information professionals in their various areas of operation and service such as, knowledge capture, knowledge processing (and dissemination) and knowledge application.

1. Introduction

Past is an indication of future. Present connects the two. Given this, the 21 st century is all set to be a 'knowledge century' where it will neither be the 'labour' (as in the agricultural era) nor the 'capital' (as in the industrial era) but 'knowledge' and 'information' that will act as a critical resource for socio-economic development of a nation. This being so, generation (creation), processing and use/application of knowledge will be the hallmark of the new century. Professionals engaged in all these three primary tasks of the 'knowledge cycle' will be required to play a more pro-active role (rather than passive one) as equal partners/collaborators with the scholars. A closer understanding of the available skills/competencies of the professionals engaged in the information sector reveals that they have miles to go if they have to discharge their roles as expected of them. Course curricula imparted at all levels in the discipline of Library & Information Science need to undergo a sea change to incorporate newer approaches/concepts. Existing professionals need to be provided with state-of-the-art exposure in art and science of the profession through various in-service (continuing education) programmes. All, existing as well as upcoming professionals, will need to be groomed to take on the role of 'knowledge managers'.

2. Competencies of LIPs

To take up such a role, Library and Information Professionals (LIPs) will be better off, if they pay serious attention towards developing and enhancing their core competencies. Core competencies in the case of LIPs are: (i) Personal; and (ii) Professional.

Competencies have been defined as the interplay of knowledge, understanding skills and attitudes required to do a job effectively from the point of view of both the performer and the observer. The unique competencies of the librarian include in-depth knowledge of print and electronic information resources in management of information services that meet the strategic information needs of the individual or group being served. [1]

At the dawn of the 21 st century, LIPs are experiencing the consequences of three major paradigm shifts. These are [2]:

• The transition from paper to electronic media as the dominant form of information dissemination, storage and retrieval, is the first shift. Convergence of different media, such as text, graphics, and sound, into multimedia resources, has direct impact on this transition.
• Increasing demand for accountability, with focus on quality customer services, performance measurement, bench marking and continuous improvement, is the other shift. Shrinking financial resources for providing quality library and information support services have direct bearing on this shift.
• New forms of work organization such as end-user computing, work-teams, downsizing, re-engineering, outsourcing etc, is the result of the third shift.

Given this backdrop, LIPs can enhance the productivity of those engaged in knowledge creation and its dissemination by playing a more "proactive" role rather than "passive" one. In this changed dimension, LIPs will have to assume the role of analyzers, synthesizers and interpreters of knowledge/information, rather than be content with acquiring, organising and providing information when asked for. Further, the role of traditional librarianship is changing into cybrarianship to include the tasks of scanning, filtering, selecting, organizing and packaging the flood of information. In keeping with their changing role from 'gatekeepers' to gateways to 'information,' LIPs should be performing such tasks as information audits, training in information, literacy, information of best practices/competencies and helping their users to navigate through the world of information, more meaningfully.

2.1 Collection Development Skills

Collection development is a highly challenging task for information professionals. The situation demands that professionals entrusted with this task respond to this situation in such a manner that collections developed by them not only meet the current needs of their clients but also the future ones. To do so, LIPs must be groomed on the following lines to devise ways and means to constantly update the collections:

• Develop proper knowledge of the organisation, its mission, goals and objectives;
• Develop proper assessment of users' diverse needs;
• Have thorough knowledge of full range learning resources: documentary, non-documentary;
• Develop thorough knowledge about the library personnel: their job profiles, strengths / weaknesses, area of specialisation etc;
• Develop thorough understanding of the vendor profile;
• Be thorough with Web browsing i.e. relevant search engines, meta search engines, methods to find web resources, appropriate list servers, databases, directories and other E-information resources;
• Have subject degree relevant to the field of work;
• Devise ways and means to constantly update the collections.

2.2 Collection Processing Skills

Results of 'Knowledge Capture' will be effective if post capture steps are carried out as follows:

2.2.1 Knowledge Analyses

LIPs require information skills for analysing the quality of information. These skills comprise filtering out noise and focusing on special needs. Hence, LIPs should be able to:

• Understand that information differs in its level of quality;
• Apply evaluative criteria to both print and electronic resources, such as, author's credentials, peer review, and reputation of the publisher, to assess the authority of the source;
• Assess the relevancy of a source to an information need by examining publication date, purpose and intended audience;
• Recognize omission in the coverage of a topic;
• Recognize and evaluate documentation for the information source, such as research methodology, bibliography or footnotes;
• Distinguish between primary, secondary as well as tertiary sources (print & non-print) in the requisite discipline/s and evaluate their appropriateness to the information need. [3]

2.2.2 Knowledge Synthesis

Having selected and acquired the material, the next task is to organise and synthesize it and make it accessible for the users. The recent developments in the Internet and World Wide Web have brought new challenges to information professionals and consequently a number of researchers are now engaged in organising web-based information. Machine readable (on-line as well as off-line) public access catalogue has totally eliminated the tedious task of making 5-10 cards per document, being too much concerned with punctuation marks and other such parameters, and so on. Although the availability of large catalogue databases on-line and several classification schemes on CDs has provided much needed relief to the professionals, yet to accommodate local requirements, systematic recording of all local additions/updates/variations etc, for use by others in the system will be in order. Here also, constant interaction with the users of the system helps the professional concerned to develop a rich (and practical) knowledge base on the users' information seeking behaviour. LIPs should be able to organise, synthesize, integrate and apply the information in the following ways:

• Use appropriate documentation style to cite sources used;
• Summarise the information retrieved (e.g. write an abstract or construct an outline);
• Recognize and accept the ambiguity of multiple points of view;
• Organize the information in a logical and useful manner;
• Synthesize the ideas and concepts from the information sources collected;
• Determine the extent to which the information can be applied to the information need;
• Integrate the new information into the existing body of knowledge;
• Create a logical argument based on information retrieved. [4]

2.2.3 Knowledge Repackaging

Consolidators were filters who will make sense of the world for managers. Few managers have enough time to spend gathering, processing and interpreting all the information they need. The system has become more sophisticated, enabling people to process greater amounts of information. But the very process of development that enables the systems to become more sophisticated also has the effect of increasing the volume and complexity of the information available. For these reasons there will always be scope for division of labour and the creation of posts for information professionals to reduce the burden on managers. They should be very vibrant at collecting information by way of searching databases and other secondary sources. Further consolidators should be able to see the patterns and make the connections in the information they process. They should be able to interpret the information in the light of the circumstances faced by the organisation for which they work. [5] Also they should be able to develop specialised information products for use inside or outside the organisation or by individual clients.

Hence, to locate and retrieve relevant sources in a variety of formats from the global information environment; the consolidator should be able to:

• Understand the organization of materials in libraries and use locally produces location guides;
• Understand how to use classification systems and rationale for their existence;
• Use location information in the bibliographic record to retrieve locally owned resources;
• Use local resources to locate information sources in the global information environment;
• Understand that libraries have developed methods for locating and sharing resources not owned locally and use the appropriate resource sharing system, such as interlibrary loan or document delivery, to retrieve information;
• Understand that the Internet may be a useful resource for locating, retrieving and transferring information electronically.

2.2.4 Knowledge Retrieval

Retrieval support means assisting users in the proper use of information technology to access the available knowledge. Examples of tasks covered in this area of responsibility include the following:

• Identification of new and emerging technologies to be assimilated and integrated into the organisation to impart competitiveness.
• Develop manageable technological skills, i.e., know how to use available technology creatively in order to achieve the greatest benefit and pleasure from their work;
• Ability to train users to navigate the knowledge base competently themselves;
• Competency in search skills specifically for bibliographic databases, using various permutations and combinations of search terms with boolean operators;
• Competency in IT skills, which can be used for researching sources, accessing information, connecting to experts, communicating ideas and results and packaging the knowledge for reuse;
• Ability to develop user-focused/oriented service skills i.e., linking catalogue searching and other databases to document delivery service.

2.3 Collection Service skills

LIPs have been delivering a wide range of information products and services to meet the needs of their varying clientele. These range from simple issue/return services to most complex and value added information products and services, in both, on-line as well as off-line manner. What goes on in the planning and launch of these services is:

• Understanding the user i.e., information-seeking behaviour and information needs of the clientele, which is based on survey;
• Understand the library system i.e., resources, tools, techniques, service and people where resources include; Documentary and Non-documentary;
• Match between the two, i.e., in discharging his duties an effective information professional has to be equipped with thorough understanding of users and strength and weakness of the library/ system.

LIPs aim to provide the right information to the right user at the right time and at the right cost. Documenting each and every step in the planning as well as launch/implementation of each and every information product/service will go a long way towards not only standardizing and further improving upon these services, but preparing others concerned to shoulder such assignments, should an opportunity come their way. Hence, to deliver efficient, innovative and just-in-time services, LIPs will have to keep themselves updated in Internet and information technology skills.

2.4 User-education Skills

User education aims to equip users with the needed skills to enable them to make use of libraries and their resources in a use-friendly manner. User education often includes library orientation, induction and information skills training. Hence LIPs should:

• Use wide variety of methods to help users in information skills through lectures, practical 'hands-on' sessions, workbooks, printed guides, videos, and demonstrations;
• Adopt approaches to user education which can reach non traditional students such as part-time and distance learners through information technology support via computer mediated communication;
• Use the web for teaching through linking to ready-made training packages or developing in-house products;
• Use computer-assisted learning (CAL) and hypertext in creating flexible learning packages for developing web library guides. [6]

3. Education and Training of LIPs

Clearly, an aspiring professional in LIS needs to know the basics of IT, particularly in the area of computer, communication and networking technologies. The professional also needs to know the principles and techniques of how one structures and organizes information and knowledge so that the right information can be retrieved and so routed at the right time. This would include all the traditional core skills of library and information science, specifically indexing, cataloguing and authority control, and the creation of synthetic structures to reach the information. [7]

The Internet, in particular, as an information service/system will have a multiple impact on several areas of LIS as an educational program. Hence present curricula of LIS should specifically be updated with:

• The impact of the Internet on society and Libraries.
• The Internet as an information sources Channel of communication
• Organisation of information through Internet.
• Information retrieval through the Internet.
• Design of information services using the Internet
• Internet databases and interfacing
• Web page design and authoring
• Compilation of directories of subject documents on the Net.

4. Conclusion

From the above, it may be summed-up that LIPs equipped with the competencies as outlined in this paper will be fully geared to discharge their role, not only as gatekeepers of knowledge, but managers of the same. Thorough revision of course curricula as suggested will no doubt be instrumental in creating a breed of professionals with a positive mind-set in so far as their role in the knowledge cycle is concerned. To take care of existing (in-service) professionals, a need is felt to expose them to newer concepts/dimensions/approaches through the organisation of multi-tier short-term/continuing education, teaching and training programmes. Examples of such program can be found in plenty in India. In particular, present as well as prospective professionals need to be given thorough exposure to various information literacy skills. Need-based and tailor-made short-term training programs need to be developed for existing professionals, for honing their skills and developing their expertise.

References

1. "Competencies for Special Librarians of the 21 st Century:" Report Submitted to SLA Board of Directors by the special committee on Competencies for Special Librarians. Joanne Marshall, Chair; Bill Fisher; Lynda Moulton; and Roberta Piccoli: May 1996.

2. Raina, Roshan Lal. "Competency Development among Librarians and Information Professionals." Paper of XIX IASLIC Seminar / Bhopal, 2000: 211-216.

3. Information Literacy Competencies and Criteria for Academic Libraries in Wisconsin. http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/waal/infolit/ilcc.html

4. Ibid.

5. Moore, Nick. "The future demand for Information Professionals in Europe." Education for Information 16 , 1998, p. 191-208.

6. Rhodes, Helen; and Jaqueline Chelin. "Web-based User Education in UK University Libraries results of a survey." Program. 34-1 (Jan 2000): .59-73.

7. Koenig, Michael E.D. "Education for Knowledge Management." Information Service and Use. 19 (1999): 17-31.

About the Author

Anjali Gulati is Lecturer, Department of Library & Information Science, Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, India.
Email: anju70 [at] hotmail [dot] com

Roshan Lal Raina is Professor, Communications, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India.

© 2000 Anjali Gulati & Roshan Lal Raina

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