Page 271 - DLIS001_FOUNDATION_OF_LIBRARY_AND_INFORMATION_SCIENCE

Foundation of Library and Information Science

Notes among library and information professionals, about what they actually do. The Association
produced a report in two sections, one aimed at employers, and the other aimed at professionals.
The section for employers provided a brief guide to the special skills that library and information
professionals have and how they apply them. It included a note on professional qualifications,
a description of professional skills and activities and gave the following definition: “Professional
librarians formulate; plan, direct and deliver library and information services by identifying the needs and
demands of actual and potential users; collecting, retrieving and organising knowledge and ideas in a
variety of forms; from books and manuscripts to computerised databases; and disseminating and marketing
library and information services to clients.”
In modern usage, professions tend to have certain qualities in common. A profession is always
held by a person, and it is generally that person’s way of generating income. Dalton E. McFarland
in “Management Functions and Practices” mentions some characteristics of a profession. Along
with the characteristics, necessary arguments are given below to justify whether librarianship is
a profession or not.

Entrance is Competitive: All professions maintain rigid rules and high standard of
qualification for the new entrants into the profession. As entrance into professions is
highly competitive an entrant typically has to have above-average mental skills.
Did u know? When we consider the employment aspect in libraries, at junior professional
level, the entry is direct, but even before that proper orientation into the system, service
and professional ethics is provided in many organizations. At the senior professional
level, the entry is by selection among the experienced professionals.

Body of Specialized Knowledge and Technical Skill: A specialized knowledge of the
concerned field is needed by the professional. Those persons who are engaged in a library
should have the required academic background although; some of them may not possess
a LIS degree. To practise librarianship also requires extensive knowledge and technical
skill such as an extensive knowledge of classification or cataloguing without which one
may find it difficult to run a library.

Formal Training and Experience: Professions also require rigorous training and schooling
beyond a basic college degree for acquiring the needed skill and methods to put the
knowledge into work. Nowadays, there is a large body of growing literature on library
and information science for training and educating the professionals to acquire specialized
knowledge and skill in the field of library science. Specialized journals have also started
coming out in recent years. It has also its own indexing and abstracting services.

An Ethical Code or Standard of Conduct: A set of principles, a social code or ethics is
needed for the professional. Many organizations have codified their conduct, often
designated “code of ethics”, and what they require for entry into their organization and
how to remain in good standing. Some of these codes are quite detailed and make strong
emphasis on their particular area or expertise; for example, journalists emphasize the use
of credible sources and protecting their identities, psychologists emphasize privacy of the
patient and communications with other psychologists, anthropologists emphasize rules
on intrusions into a culture being studied. Most of the codes do show an overlap in such
concepts as, “do no harm”, “be honest”, “do not use your position for private gain”, etc.

Notes In different parts of the world different professional bodies of Library and
Information Science codified such rules. In India also Indian Association of Special Libraries
and Information Centre (IASLIC) has evolved a code of conduct and ethics for special
librarians in India.

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