A Study of the Education of Information Specialists

정보학 교육의 개혁방안 연구

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the information science education provided by the undergraduate courses of the departments of library science of the Korean universities by looking at major topics included in the syllabi distributed to students in the past three years. It is important to determine the evaluation of the professional education for information specialists by the graduates of the departments of library science who have acquired a critical appreciation of their professional studies and speak from experience about the relavance of the programme to their work and careers, and by the managers of information service units where the graduates would eventually make their careers. Specifically, the study addresses the following four questions. (a) To what excent do the information science curricula contribute to advancement of theory and practice of the information profession? (b) To what extent do the information science curricula contribute to students in acquiring the knowledge and skills required of the information specialist? (c) To what extent are the employers' concerns reflected in the information science curricula? (d) What reforms are needed to bring the current information science curricula closer to the present and future needs of the information profession? To answer these questions, the study is conducted in two main parts: an in-depth subject analysis of the articles of three important journals in the field of information science published during the past ten years and of the syllabi used for information science subjects taught in the departments of library science during the past three years and an extensive survey of the graduates of departments of library science and their principal employers. The major findings are as follows. The average number of 4.1 subjects of information science is offered in departments of library science, and the most common subjects offered are introduction to information science, information storage and retrieval, and library automation. Approximately two thirds of the total output of research and development in the field of information science are taught at one or more departments of library science in Korea. Majority of the graduates of the departments of library science comment that their professional education did not offer to them systematic orientation to the specifics of the first job. The employers of the graduates believe that departments of library science should provide sufficient practicums to enable students to understand and apply the theory.