This book is for those who need to appreciate the fundamental issues associated with translating perceptions of desirable competencies for the information professional into relevant academic models, programmes and curricula. It is likely to be of particular interest to educators and professional bodies. And, further, and possibly more significantly, it has value as a case study of a profession with a strong sense of international identity, and for which the impact of knowledge‐based economies and societies is fundamental. The particularly interesting characteristic of this book is the attempt to provide an international perspective. The book is impressive in the authority with which it draws on models of information education from around the world.
Chapter 1 explores the issues associated with eliciting, interpreting and responding to employer perceptions about the preparation of future professionals. Chapters 2 and 3 explore problems of reliability and validity of earlier work in this area, and also present alternative methodological strategies, and a model for competency definition and validation. Next, sets of knowledge and skills for future information professionals in a variety of operational and institutional settings are identified. Chapter 4 provides a conceptual framework and competency statements for the operational settings of foundation, cataloguing, access, information service, collection development and serials control operations. Chapters 5‐7 present these results for the institutional setting of academic, public and special libraries. Chapter 8 focuses specifically on undergraduate education, and notes the difference between the developed and developing nations. Most of the undergraduate programmes in the developing nations produce paraprofessionals. Proposals are offered for mutually complementary criteria for both professionals and paraprofessionals in the future information workforce. The final chapter, Chapter 9, in seeking strategic directions for the future, compares the North American model, the UK/Australian model, and models from developing nations (Pakistan, Gulf States, and Malaysia and Singapore).
The book is well written and easy to read, and has a clear, underlying structure. Additionally, tables that summarised the different models in different parts of the world might have sharpened the comparisons, but the points are clearly made in the text.
I have only two reservations with respect to this book. First it is posited on the competency‐based approach to education. The author defines competency‐based education as: “Competency‐based education tends to be a form of education that derives a curriculum from an analysis of a perspective or actual role in modern society, and that attempts to certify progress on the basis of demonstrated performance in some or all aspects of that role” (p. 20). It has to be acknowledged that this is only one approach to the construction of information education curricula, and a discussion of alternative approaches would have been welcome. In addition, one of the very real problems facing the profession at the moment is the difficulty in formulating models of future roles for information professionals. And this leads neatly to my second reservation. The author does not take sufficient account of the impact that information technology and digital and electronic libraries are likely to have on the future role, and therefore desirable competencies of the information professional. Mine may be a minority view, but I believe that there is a developing overlap between information professionals, information technology professionals, knowledge professionals and, in higher education, education developers. Whilst these groups may continue to have distinct roles, there will be overlaps in the competences required of specific individuals, depending on the environment in which they work, and the extent to which they work in teams, and are multi‐skilled. This book deals with the information professional in splendid isolation.
Despite the two limitations outlined above, this book offers the type of international perspective on information education that is rarely achieved, and proceeds to identify challenges for the future for different countries and types of library. The book deserves attention.
