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Demands and directions in Australian acquisitions education: Report of an Australian workshop, July 1989
Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Vol. 14, pp. 401-404, Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
1990 Copyright 0
0364-6408/90 $3.00 + .oo 1990 Pergamon Press plc
DEMANDS AND DIRECTIONS IN AUSTRALIAN ACQUISITIONS EDUCATION: REPORT OF AN AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOP, JULY 1989 PHILIP CSIRO
G. KENT
Information
Services Unit
P.O. Box 89 East Melbourne
3002, Australia
INTRODUCTION The training and ongoing education of acquisitions librarians and library technicians is a continual source of concern for both practitioners and educators. In 1984 the Acquisitions and Education for Librarianship (EDLIB) Sections of the Library Association of Australia, now the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), hosted a seminar on the place of orders work in librarianship curricula. As a result of the seminar and subsequent debate, Gary Gorman prepared the “Guidelines for Collection Development Courses in Australian Library Schools” [l]. Some five years later, the National Committees of the same ALIA Sections agreed that it was time to reassess the topic and to determine progress since the earlier seminar. Together with Gary Gorman, a subcommittee including representatives of both Committees planned a half-day workshop which was held at CSIRO East Melbourne on Friday, 21 July, 1989. The Demands and Directions theme had been successfully used by the EDLIB Section in the areas of management and cataloguing education during recent years. This paper summarizes the proceedings of the seminar and the subsequent recommendations.
ATTENDANCE Forty-three participants attended the workshop. Although the workshop was advertized widely, the subcommittee purposely invited a cross-section of participants from a variety of sectors to ensure broad representation. Participants included educators and students; librarians and paraprofessionals; staff from academic, special, public, and school libraries; and representatives from the library supply industry.
STANDING STILL OR MOVING FORWARD? This was the title of Gary Gorman’s introductory paper which explained the background to the topic and focused the attention of the workshop. (See Gorman’s paper in this issue.) 401
402
P. G. KENT
Gorman explained the purpose of the “Guidelines” (which were also distributed). Scrutiny of course outlines has confirmed that the guidelines have had minimal impact on the refocusing of curricula, although sometimes there are valid reasons, such as time constraints, the debatable impo~ance of some topics, and the coverage of aspects in a variety of courses rather than a discrete acquisitions subject. The “Guidelines” include additional considerations which Gorman commended to workshop participants for further consideration and possible solutions. These include the relationship between professional and paraprofessional duties, the content of acquisitions courses (including the mix of theoretical and practical topics), and the mode of delivery including continuing educations and postqualification activities. An agenda for small group work during the rest of the workshop was set and, in closing, Gorman suggested the establishment of a Working Party on Acquisitions Education.
GROUP DISCUSSIONS The workshop separated into four predetermined groups comprising a cross-section of participants. Groups were asked to consider the following topics and to report back to the total workshop: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
the length of acquisitions subjects within courses; the relationship of acquisitions subjects to other subjects in courses; the need for practical training; professional versus paraprofessional aspects; the role of continuing education.
The following points arose from the group discussions and were reported to the workshop: l
l
l
l
l
l
l
the poor image of acquisitions work in the eyes of students and the need to market acquisitions work as an attractive area of study; the possibility of vibrant practitioners speaking about their work to beginning students; the possible rofe of ALIA continuing education packages to cope with new graduates, staff that have worked in other areas of the profession and those who require updating of knowledge and skills in acquisitions work; courses or packages may include assessment and it is important that practitioners, perhaps via the Acquisitions and Edlib Sections, be involved in determining course components; the role of externa1 groups (such as library suppliers and automated system vendors) in developing and delivering these packages; associated groups such as the Victorian Association for Library Automation (VALA) could also be involved; the role of practicum and the possibility of restructuring this to allow longer time to acquire specific knowledge and skills in technical services areas; the need for professional librarians to acquire practical acquisitions skills in order to plan systems and manage and train library technicians in acquisitions work; the possibility of building acquisitions case histories into library management assignments as a means of increasing exposure to acquisitions functions;
Austraiian
Acquisitions
Education
403
the need for library educators to be brought up-to-date with new practices in acquisitions work and potential involvement of educators and library schools in teaching continuing education courses; * the relationship between acquisitions work and reference training and cataloguing skills; schools need to consider the scheduling of acquisitions courses to build upon these related skills; l the role of ALIA Regional Groups in areas remote from active Acquisitions and EDLIB groups; l the role of the ALIA Board of Education in endorsing continuing education programs. l
The following topics were suggested by the groups as important in planning continuing education activities in acquisitions: automated systems analysis and selection; acquisitions “basics” (as already developed by ALIA acquisitions); l business skills including basic accounting, dealing with foreign currencies, program budgeting; l acquisition of nonprint materials including software and CD-ROM; l book trade issues (needs constant updating because the trade changes); l copyright; * interrelationship between acquisitions staff and external groups (institutional administration, accounts office, library suppliers, publishers). l
l
Due to the constraints of time, the facilitator directed the final general session of the workshop into further exploration of the issue of continuing education. The following recommendations were framed during the final session: I. that there is a discernible need for general basic and advanced specific continuing education courses or packages in the area of library acquisitions work; 2. that the ALIA Acquisitions and EDLIB Sections have a significant role in continuing to develop and promote continuing education courses in acquisitions; 3. that packages of courses should be developed to include a variety of methods of delivery (e-g., seminar, workshop) and formats (e.g., print support material), and to include the options of formal or informal participation (e.g., assessment and nonassessment); 4. that seeding funds should be provided by ALIA to develop and package continuing education courses in acquisitions. Once developed, the courses would be self-funding through fees.
CONCLUSION In hindsight, while the workshop recommendations include concrete suggestions in the area of continuing education, some issues were not resolved. Little progress appears to have been made with the problem of improving the acquisitions component in undergraduate professional courses. This continues to be a cause for concern by practitioners. Workshops such as this are valuable in improving the liaison between practitioners, educators, students, and library suppliers. It is only through good liaison and regular dialogue
404
P. G. KENT
that long-term improvements will be achieved. It is also incumbent upon the professional groups, library schools, and prominent members of the profession to ensure that the workshop recommendations and other unresolved issues are not shelved for another five years. Through the activities of these stakeholders, the true impact of the workshop will be realized.
REFERENCE 1. Gorman, G.E. “Guidelines for Collection Development Courses in Australian Library Schools,” Education for Librarianship: Australia, 3, I (1986), 38-45.
1990 Copyright 0
0364-6408/90 $3.00 + .oo 1990 Pergamon Press plc
DEMANDS AND DIRECTIONS IN AUSTRALIAN ACQUISITIONS EDUCATION: REPORT OF AN AUSTRALIAN WORKSHOP, JULY 1989 PHILIP CSIRO
G. KENT
Information
Services Unit
P.O. Box 89 East Melbourne
3002, Australia
INTRODUCTION The training and ongoing education of acquisitions librarians and library technicians is a continual source of concern for both practitioners and educators. In 1984 the Acquisitions and Education for Librarianship (EDLIB) Sections of the Library Association of Australia, now the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), hosted a seminar on the place of orders work in librarianship curricula. As a result of the seminar and subsequent debate, Gary Gorman prepared the “Guidelines for Collection Development Courses in Australian Library Schools” [l]. Some five years later, the National Committees of the same ALIA Sections agreed that it was time to reassess the topic and to determine progress since the earlier seminar. Together with Gary Gorman, a subcommittee including representatives of both Committees planned a half-day workshop which was held at CSIRO East Melbourne on Friday, 21 July, 1989. The Demands and Directions theme had been successfully used by the EDLIB Section in the areas of management and cataloguing education during recent years. This paper summarizes the proceedings of the seminar and the subsequent recommendations.
ATTENDANCE Forty-three participants attended the workshop. Although the workshop was advertized widely, the subcommittee purposely invited a cross-section of participants from a variety of sectors to ensure broad representation. Participants included educators and students; librarians and paraprofessionals; staff from academic, special, public, and school libraries; and representatives from the library supply industry.
STANDING STILL OR MOVING FORWARD? This was the title of Gary Gorman’s introductory paper which explained the background to the topic and focused the attention of the workshop. (See Gorman’s paper in this issue.) 401
402
P. G. KENT
Gorman explained the purpose of the “Guidelines” (which were also distributed). Scrutiny of course outlines has confirmed that the guidelines have had minimal impact on the refocusing of curricula, although sometimes there are valid reasons, such as time constraints, the debatable impo~ance of some topics, and the coverage of aspects in a variety of courses rather than a discrete acquisitions subject. The “Guidelines” include additional considerations which Gorman commended to workshop participants for further consideration and possible solutions. These include the relationship between professional and paraprofessional duties, the content of acquisitions courses (including the mix of theoretical and practical topics), and the mode of delivery including continuing educations and postqualification activities. An agenda for small group work during the rest of the workshop was set and, in closing, Gorman suggested the establishment of a Working Party on Acquisitions Education.
GROUP DISCUSSIONS The workshop separated into four predetermined groups comprising a cross-section of participants. Groups were asked to consider the following topics and to report back to the total workshop: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
the length of acquisitions subjects within courses; the relationship of acquisitions subjects to other subjects in courses; the need for practical training; professional versus paraprofessional aspects; the role of continuing education.
The following points arose from the group discussions and were reported to the workshop: l
l
l
l
l
l
l
the poor image of acquisitions work in the eyes of students and the need to market acquisitions work as an attractive area of study; the possibility of vibrant practitioners speaking about their work to beginning students; the possible rofe of ALIA continuing education packages to cope with new graduates, staff that have worked in other areas of the profession and those who require updating of knowledge and skills in acquisitions work; courses or packages may include assessment and it is important that practitioners, perhaps via the Acquisitions and Edlib Sections, be involved in determining course components; the role of externa1 groups (such as library suppliers and automated system vendors) in developing and delivering these packages; associated groups such as the Victorian Association for Library Automation (VALA) could also be involved; the role of practicum and the possibility of restructuring this to allow longer time to acquire specific knowledge and skills in technical services areas; the need for professional librarians to acquire practical acquisitions skills in order to plan systems and manage and train library technicians in acquisitions work; the possibility of building acquisitions case histories into library management assignments as a means of increasing exposure to acquisitions functions;
Austraiian
Acquisitions
Education
403
the need for library educators to be brought up-to-date with new practices in acquisitions work and potential involvement of educators and library schools in teaching continuing education courses; * the relationship between acquisitions work and reference training and cataloguing skills; schools need to consider the scheduling of acquisitions courses to build upon these related skills; l the role of ALIA Regional Groups in areas remote from active Acquisitions and EDLIB groups; l the role of the ALIA Board of Education in endorsing continuing education programs. l
The following topics were suggested by the groups as important in planning continuing education activities in acquisitions: automated systems analysis and selection; acquisitions “basics” (as already developed by ALIA acquisitions); l business skills including basic accounting, dealing with foreign currencies, program budgeting; l acquisition of nonprint materials including software and CD-ROM; l book trade issues (needs constant updating because the trade changes); l copyright; * interrelationship between acquisitions staff and external groups (institutional administration, accounts office, library suppliers, publishers). l
l
Due to the constraints of time, the facilitator directed the final general session of the workshop into further exploration of the issue of continuing education. The following recommendations were framed during the final session: I. that there is a discernible need for general basic and advanced specific continuing education courses or packages in the area of library acquisitions work; 2. that the ALIA Acquisitions and EDLIB Sections have a significant role in continuing to develop and promote continuing education courses in acquisitions; 3. that packages of courses should be developed to include a variety of methods of delivery (e-g., seminar, workshop) and formats (e.g., print support material), and to include the options of formal or informal participation (e.g., assessment and nonassessment); 4. that seeding funds should be provided by ALIA to develop and package continuing education courses in acquisitions. Once developed, the courses would be self-funding through fees.
CONCLUSION In hindsight, while the workshop recommendations include concrete suggestions in the area of continuing education, some issues were not resolved. Little progress appears to have been made with the problem of improving the acquisitions component in undergraduate professional courses. This continues to be a cause for concern by practitioners. Workshops such as this are valuable in improving the liaison between practitioners, educators, students, and library suppliers. It is only through good liaison and regular dialogue
404
P. G. KENT
that long-term improvements will be achieved. It is also incumbent upon the professional groups, library schools, and prominent members of the profession to ensure that the workshop recommendations and other unresolved issues are not shelved for another five years. Through the activities of these stakeholders, the true impact of the workshop will be realized.
REFERENCE 1. Gorman, G.E. “Guidelines for Collection Development Courses in Australian Library Schools,” Education for Librarianship: Australia, 3, I (1986), 38-45.