ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 174 / C&R L News The K ing Report: New d irections in library a n d in fo rm a tio n scien ce education By Law rence W.S. Auld Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign A close look at a controversial study. I t is fitting that New Directions in Library and In- form ation Science E ducation1 should have ap­ peared in 1986, the 100th anniversary of the begin­ ning of formal education for librarianship. This major curriculum study, often referred to as the King Report and sponsored by the United States Departm ent of Education, Center for Libraries and Educational Improvement, was controversial from its beginning because of the apparent m anner of its award (there seemed in the eyes of some to have been a prior decision to give it to a private vendor) and because the initial presentations failed to persuade the professional community that the research methods to be employed would produce valid results. However, on reading the final report, several who were critical at the outset now consider it to be worthy of serious study and consideration. The King Report is lengthy, and the reader can easily become bogged down in detail. This review provides an overview of the report and summarizes some of the more im portant points. However, this 1José-Marie Griffiths and Donald W. King, New Directions in Library and Information Science E d­ ucation (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge Industry Publications, In c., for the American Society for In­ formation Science, 1986). 465p. $45. review is not intended to be a substitute for reading the report. Background Among the previous studies of education for li­ brarianship, the two by Williamson and Conant deserve particular mention. C . C . Williamson’s report was completed in 1921 and published in 1923 w ith the title, Training fo r Library Service. It was sponsored by the Carnegie C o r p o r a tio n , w h ich h a v in g d o n a te d over $50,000,000 to communities in the United States and the United Kingdom to build libraries, hired Williamson to study why these libraries had not flourished as expected. The report prom pted our current system of accreditation of programs in in­ stitutions of higher education by the ALA Com mit­ tee on Accreditation. Two other major recommen­ dations rem ain as unfinished business: a thorough distinction between professional and clerical tasks and the certification of librarians. Sixty-four years after it was published, W illiamson’s report remains the single most im portant and influential docu­ m ent on education for librarianship (and inform a­ tion science). In the early 1970s the American Library Associa- We Are Professionals We at EBS a re d e d ic a te d to providing libraries with th e f a s te s t service, the best d is c o u n ts , b u t a b o v e all, th e accuracy a library demands. With all this in your favor you owe it to y o u rse lf to try us … 176 / C&RL News tion felt that it was tim e for a “new ” Williamson report. Ralph W . Conant was selected, and he be­ gan the project in 1973. He addressed three princi­ pal questions: 1) W hat is the function and responsi­ bility of professional education to the profession it serves, to the students it admits into its form al pro­ grams, and to society at large? 2) How does the present system of library education m easure up to “Competency-based education is a valid approach.” accepted functions and responsibilities of profes­ sional education? 3) W hat reforms are needed to improve library education and to bring it closer to accepted standards of professional education? The final report was “received” but not published by ALA. W hen The Conant Report: A Study o f the Education of Librarians was published by MIT in 1980, it was largely ignored because it was seen as lacking rigor in d ata collection, analysis, and re­ porting. In contrast w ith the W illiamson Report, its impact has been negligible. Objectives The King Report began w ith two highly ideal­ ized objectives: “the listing, description and valida­ tion of the competencies required at several profes­ sional levels a n d w ith in sev eral areas of professional specialization in the library and infor­ mation science field; and the discussion and exami­ nation of present and future education require­ ments necessary to achieve the discrete levels of competencies by professional level and specialty.” (P-19) Lacking the time and resources for such an am ­ bitious project, these were prom ptly scaled down to a more reasonable set of five m ain objectives: 1) Set forth an idealized fram ew ork th at can be used Research methodology Are you using interviews or observation to gather information for library service? Con­ stance A. Mellon, who is w riting a book on the use of qualitative methods and anthropological techniques for research, evaluation, and teach­ ing in librarianship, is soliciting short case stud­ ies of such work to include in her book. You m ay contact her at the D epartm ent of Library and Inform ation Studies, East C arolina Uni­ versity, Greenville, NC 27834. by th e in fo rm atio n professional com m unity to strive continually for achieving future required competencies. 2) D eterm ine a first set of inform a­ tion professional competencies which are validated in the workplace to some extent. 3) Establish initial education and training requirem ents for the fu­ tu re. 4) I n itia te a process for com m unication among the principal inform ation professional p a r­ ticipants which can, hopefully, be continued after the project ends. 5) Describe steps th at can be taken in the future to ensure continuation of the compe­ tency achievement cycle, (p.29) Assumptions A critical step in reading any report is to identify the underlying assumptions. This is especially im ­ p o rta n t in reading this study, because these as­ sumptions are the most im portant p a rt of the re­ p o rt, even m ore im p o rta n t th a n th e results or c on clu sio n s. T h e re a re six a ssu m p tio n s: 1) Com petency-based education is a valid approach to determ ining a suitable curriculum for library and inform ation science education. 2) We are m ov­ ing “from an industrial and m anufacturing econ­ omy to one based increasingly on inform ation ser­ vices and products.” (p. 245 and elsewhere). 3) The topic of this report is Inform ation Professionals, the vast m ajority of whom w ork outside of libraries; li­ brarians are one small subset of the larger group of Inform ation Professionals. 4) Inform ation agencies (including libraries) are businesses! 5) L ibrary and inform ation science education should be in profes­ sional rather than academ ic (graduate) program s of instruction (see page 250, bottom of page, and elsewhere). 6) Personnel are m ore im portant than the collection. These assumptions are the underlying founda­ tion of this study. Competency-based education, open to attack for being too lim ited in its goals, is nevertheless a useful approach for evaluating some types of educational results. No one who has read a recent newspaper can doubt th at the industrial and m anufacturing components of our economy are de­ clining and th at inform ation services and products are becoming more im portant. Nor are all infor­ m ation professionals employed in libraries or de­ scribed as librarians. An obvious corollary is an ad­ herence to business practices in the operation of inform ation agencies (including libraries). The assumption th at education for librarianship and inform ation science should be professionally based is particularly interesting at a tim e when m any of the schools of library and inform ation sci­ ence seem to be moving in the opposite direction to­ w ard academic and research program s which dis­ p lay little or no co nsideration for professional m atters. The traditional yardstick by which libraries are m easured and rated is by size of collection, a logical measure of certain inform ation services provided w ithin the library; however, this is not a logical m easure of inform ation services provided outside April 1987 / 177 the library. This assumption is applied to libraries and is expressed several times as in the following statements repeated here because of their impor­ tance. “Libraries and other information organizations utilize m any resource components including peo­ ple, information materials, equipm ent, facilities, supplies, etc. Libraries, in p articular, are per­ ceived by many people in terms of the information materials stored and made available to patrons. Yet the keystone of an information organization is actually the organization’s staff who ensure acqui­ sition of useful and relevant information materials; organize and control the information so th at one can gain access to it; search, identify and retrieve information from data bases which describe mil­ lions of recorded information items found in the li­ braries or elsewhere; and gain access to, analyze and turn over useful information to users. Not only are information organizations highly labor inten­ sive (i.e., labor costs tend to dom inate organization budgets) but the staff also require substantial capa­ bilities to perform at the high level that is both nec­ essary and expected. The basis for such a high level of performance is the competence of the profes­ sional staff. Competencies of information profes­ sionals can be defined in terms of three compo­ n ents: know led g e, skill an d a ttitu d e s . . . ” (PP.72-73) “The ultimate effect of the librarians’ and infor­ mation professionals’ work is the contribution that is m ade to the value of information from the per­ spective of users and of society in general.” (p.60) “The value of the information profession to the organizations served by it and to society is depen­ dent on the capabilities of its professionals.” (p.60) “Probably the most im portant information re­ source component is personnel and the most essen­ tial characteristics of these people are their compe­ tencies. The reason for this is th at inform ation service performance (e.g., measured in terms of quantities produced, quality and timeliness) is highly dependent on the competencies of inform a­ tion professionals. The performance in turn affects the effectiveness of the information service in such terms as user satisfaction, repeated use and total amount of use. The purposes and amount of infor­ mation use determine the value of the information (hence, the added value of the information services and products) and produce higher order effects such as an informed public, improved institutions and better education.” (pp.61-62) While these assumptions may seem self-evident to persons in business-oriented information center settings, each represents a major departure from the thinking of some librarians who abhor a busi­ ness approach, love books, and regard the collec­ tion of books as their ultimate function. Thus, it is im portant to evaluate this report in the light of these assumptions and to recognize th at the point of view they represent is widely held in the informa­ tion community and is gaining in support. Both the competencies identified and the conclusions of the report are based solidly on these assumptions. Competencies Griffiths and King amassed a wide range of in­ form ation professional competencies and orga­ nized them by level, by function, and by work set- “On-the-job training is essential. ” ting. W ithin this hierarchy, the competencies are described in terms of knowledge, skills, and atti­ tudes. A selected hierarchical set of representative competencies is included in the report to serve as an example, while the rem ainder of the competencies are available in twelve(!) separately published sup­ plementary volumes. The first level of competencies is a general set which extends across all functions and all work set­ tings: 1. Knowledge a. Knowledge related to literacy, num eracy, communications, etc. 2. Skills a. Literacy, num eracy, cognitive, analytical, communications, etc. b. Com municate well by w ritten, verbal and non-verbal means. c. Manage tim e effectively. 3. Attitudes a. Respect for the work unit. b. Willingness to draw upon and share knowl­ edge and experience w ith others. c. Alertness. d. Dependability. e. Organization. f . Willingness to take/accept responsibility. g. Willingness to ask questions. h. Responsiveness to tim e constraints. i. Accuracy. j. Desire to follow through. The example for the next level is a set of compe­ tencies which are generic across all library work settings and library functions. Note th at these are in addition to the first level. (There are also other second-level competencies for nonlibrary work set­ tings and nonlibrary functions in the supplemen­ tary volumes.) The competencies generic across all library work settings and library functions are listed below to illustrate the content of one set of competencies. 178 / C &R L News 1. Knowledge a. Knowledge of the costs associated w ith library resources (materials, personnel, space, etc.) b. Knowledge of m ethods of resource allocation. c. Knowledge of standards, measures and m eth­ ods for evaluating personnel. 2. Skills a. Make effective, timely, and well-informed de­ cisions. 3. Attitudes a. Respect users. b . Respect co-workers. c. Desire to learn/try. d. Desire to work to best of ability. e. Positive attitude tow ard job. At the next level are a set of competencies generic across all functions within the academic library set­ ting and then a series of specific competencies for acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, collection m aintenance, interlibrary loan, serials, and refer­ ence across all work settings. In each case the com­ petencies from the previous levels of the hierarchy are to be included. Conclusions The authors of the King Report point to two con­ clusions. First, th at newly graduated professionals must be given a period of on-the-job training be­ fore they can be expected to become productive members of the organization: “One of the clearest results of the project is th at, in considering inform ation professional competen­ cies required in the workplace, there are some com­ petencies th at can be acquired through form al pro­ grams of education, some th a t can be acquired through continuing education, some th at can be acquired through training and yet others th at can only be acquired on the job. This m ay seem obvi­ ous, yet it is an im portant point. Too often employ­ ers complain th at librarians and inform ation pro­ fessionals (and in p articu la r those who w ork in libraries) are not prepared upon starting work to perform the required tasks. This attitude or expec­ tation th at professionals w ho have completed their education should be able to w alk ‘cold’ into an or­ ganization and start to work effectively and pro­ ductively is perhaps a residual from the days when professionals were apprenticed to an organization. In other professions recent graduates—physicists, chemists, statisticians, e tc.—are not expected to perform as full-fledged professionals. There is a pe­ riod of orientation and training th at occurs on the job and w ithout which professionals cannot per­ form effectively.” (p.246) Second, because inform ation professional skills are transferable throughout the inform ation environ­ ment, “ … . i t appears th at specializations should be functionally oriented rath er th an oriented tow ard the type of organization w ithin which the work is conducted. I t is interesting to consider th at most courses organized by work setting (i.e., m edical li- b rarian sh ip , records m an ag em en t, etc.) m ust cover all the functions th at will be perform ed in those settings, if they are to prepare professionals to perform well in those settings. It is our contention th at specialization by function is the w ay program s should develop. In so doing, graduates can be p re­ pared to apply their competencies in a w ide range of work settings and increasingly in non-library set­ tings, the inform ation employm ent sector generat­ ing the greatest dem and at present.” (pp.249-50) Thus, they argue against both program s designed to produce graduates who can begin productive work the first day on the job and courses oriented tow ard only one kind of library (e.g., academ ic or public). They argue for professional on-the-job training after graduation and courses th at are ori­ ented tow ard p articular functions (e.g., reference or cataloging). O ur professional literature contains frequent complaints th at recent graduates are u n ­ able to step into new positions and im m ediately be­ gin productive work. Academic and special librari­ ans, among others, share a long history of w anting courses specific to their particular work settings, courses which often ignore other types of librarian- ship. Impact The King Report can be expected to have an im ­ pact in two areas. First, it can be usefully applied to th e design and redesign of instructional p ro ­ grams in library and inform ation science. (Actu­ ally, m any of the competencies identified by G rif­ fith s a n d K ing a re a lr e a d y in l ib r a r y a n d inform ation science instructional program s.) Nev­ ertheless, curricula should be examined in term s of the competencies graduates (as inform ation profes­ sionals) should be prepared to perform , the work settings graduates (as inform ation professionals) O W L alert Ohio W om en L ib ra ria n s (OW L) has re ­ cently been established “to educate w om en candidates for adm inistrative positions, to ad­ vocate prom otion of qualified wom en into ad­ m inistrative positions, and to provide m utual support for wom en in adm inistrative positions in Ohio public libraries.” Form ed in m id-1986, O W L ’s m em bership represents w om en m anagers in public, aca­ demic, and special libraries throughout Ohio. Since O W L ’s inception, wom en have been ap­ pointed to five top-level adm inistrative posi­ tions, four of w hich were previously held by men. Membership is $7 per year. For m ore infor­ m ation, contact V irginia Low ell, P .O . Box 513, Northfield, OH 44067. April 1987 / 179 should be prepared to work in, and the structure (functional vs. work setting) of the curricula. Second, the report can be useful in the adminis­ tration of libraries and information centers. Specif­ ically, the competencies developed in the report can be used for designing job descriptions, prepar­ ing position announcements, selecting employees from among applicants, assigning responsibilities to employees, evaluating work of employees, re­ viewing recommendations for promotion and ten­ ure, and term inating employees. In other words, the King Report has the poten­ tial for leading us to a rethinking of the work of li­ brarians (who are only one type of information professional) and a concurrent reexamination of our professional curricula in which librarians are prepared. W hether New Directions in Library and Information Science Education is the new W il­ liamson Report remains to be seen. Bibliography Readers w anting further background in educa­ tion for library and information science may find the following selected references useful. American Library Association. Com mittee on Accreditation. Standards fo r Accreditation, 1972. Chicago: American L ibrary Association, Com mit­ tee on Accreditation, 1972. Association for L ibrary and Inform ation Science Education. Library and Information Science E du­ cation Statistical Report. 1980- (annual). Church well, Charles D. The Shaping o f A m eri­ can Library Education. ACRL Publications in Li- brarianship, no.36. Chicago: American Library Association, 1975. “Current and F uture Trends in Library and In ­ form ation Science E ducation.” Library Trends 34 (Spring 1986). D avis, D o n ald G o rdon. The A ssociation o f American Library Schools, 1915-1968: A n A nalyt­ ical History. M etuchen, N .J.: Scarecrow Press, 1974. “History of L ibrary and Inform ation Science Education.” Library Trends 34 (Winter 1986). New Options fo r Librarians: Finding a Job in a Related Field, edited by Betty-Carol Sellen and Dim ity S. Berkner. New York: Neal-Schuman Pub­ lishers, 1984. Shera, Jesse H. The Foundations o f Education fo r Librarianship. New York: Becker and Hayes, 1972. Vann, Sarah K. Training fo r Librarianship be­ fore 1923: Education fo r Librarianship Prior to the Publication o f W illiam sons Report on “Training fo r Library Service. ” Chicago: American Library Association, 1961. W hite, Carl M. A Historical Introduction to L i­ brary Education: Problems and Progress to 1951. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976. W illiamson, Charles C. The W illiamson R e­ ports o f 1921 and 1923 Including “Training fo r L i­ brary W ork” (1921) and “Trainingfo r Library Ser­ vice” (1923). M etuchen, N .J.: Scarecrow Press, 1971. ■ ■