International Conferenece on
Libraries (ICOL) 2007
Producing library professionals :
the MLIS programme
N.N. Edzan, A.N. Zainab and Diljit Singh
Library and Information Science Unit
Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology
University of Malaya
Overview

Introduction

Programme and Curriculum Review

2006 Curriculum Review

Recommendations of the 10 April
2007 Review
Introduction

First started in 1987 but suspended due to lack of qualified
teaching staff

1993 - Ministry of Education wanted the programme to be
revived

1995 - classes started with 25 students

Now – offered every semester, intake of 10 – 15 students
per semester

Now – 120 students within the system, 206 has graduated

Working in various libraries, information centers, Ministry of
Education and library management system vendors
Introduction


Now – a Professor, a visiting Professor from India, 2
Associate Professors, 2 lecturers, a visiting lecturer from
the Philippines and a SLAB scholar
We teach, write, conduct research, supervise and publish
MJLIS

Generally – ok

But – emerging trends & roles within the profession

We need to relook at our programme

How??????
Curriculum Review




Various opinions on the need for curriculum review
Curriculum review takes into account the opinions
of stakeholders – existing students, potential
students, existing employers, potential employers,
academics, financing organisation, etc. – helps
determine state –of-the-art requirements,
expectations, emerging roles, emerging trends
Has to be supplemented by a tracer study of
graduates – helps determine employability, future
directions, relevance
Should be able to see local emerging trends within
the profession
MLIS Programme Review &
Curriculum Review

1997 – programme of study and entry
requirements

2001 – entry requirements


2000 – curriculum review – basic LIS
courses retained as core & more IT related
courses introduced as electives
2006 – curriculum review on 28 February
2006 with stakeholders
2006 CURRICULUM
REVIEW
MLIS Programme Structure - retain
1
Coursework 6 core courses (6 x 3 = 18 credit
hours)
6 elective courses (6 x 3 = 18
credit hours)
Total = 36 credit hours
2
Coursework Part A : 6 core courses (6 x 3 =
&
18 credit hours)
Dissertation Part B : A dissertation = 12 credit
hours
Total = 36 credit hours
3
Dissertation 100% research
Total = 36 credits
We Need to Change Because We Need To …..
Be on the same level with similar programmes in
other countries
Be sensitive to the requirements of the profession
Meet the requirements of employers
Provide specialization within LIS
Build upon our strengths and address our
weaknesses
Support the vision and mission of the University
and the Faculty
Make optimun use of the physical and human
resources available
We …..





Re-look at our own program objectives
Took into consideration changes in educational
environment (e.g. the increasing number of
universities and university colleges, emplacement of
full-time teacher-librarians in schools)
Examined curricula of other top ranking universities
Took into consideration students comments about the
program
Took into consideration our strengths ( eg. strong
research output) and weaknesses (e.g. technology
electives from MIT were unpopular)
Learning Outcomes : replaced programme objectives;
student-centred and not instructor-centred
1.
2.
3.
4.
Develop, evaluate, manage
and preserve collections of
information sources
Organize and represent
information resources
Apply management and
leadership skills necessary
to effectively and efficiently
manage information
services in a variety of
library and information
settings
Analyze and identify
information needs and
educate users of libraries
information environments
5.
6.
7.
Demonstrate technical
expertise of modern
technology in libraries and
information environment
Conduct, analyze and apply
research methods to
investigate acquisitions,
representation, organization,
use and / or disseminate of
information
Approach professional issues
with an understanding of the
social, political, and legal
aspects of information
creation, access, and
ownership
We Benchmark Against …..

Universities in the US
and UK rated 5 or 4
+ MLIS programmes
offered in Australia &
New Zealand
(19 universities)



UK = University of Sheffield
(5), Loughborough University
(5), City University (5),
University College London (4),
University of Strathclyde (4)
USA = University of Illinois,
University of North Carolina,
Syracuse University,
University of Pittsburg,
Indiana University, Drexel
University, UCLA
Australia = Charles Sturt
University, Curtin University
of Technology, Edith Cowan
University, Queensland
University of Technology,
University of South Australia
New Zealand = Victoria
University, University of
Wellington
We Found That …..

Our Core courses are similar to the core
course offered at the 19 universities
Core Courses
Management of information
environment
Information sources and services
Organization of information
Research Methods in LIS
Technologies for information
management
Information retrieval
N %
18 95
16
16
7
10
84
84
37
74
14 53
We Retain and Add…..
We retain 5 of the core courses out
of which rename 2, move 1 core
(Information retrieval) to elective
Add 1 new core offered by most of
the 19 universities as a core subject
= Libraries, information and society offered by 14 (74%) of the 19
universities and recommended by
February 2006 review
Core : We Changed …..
Current
Management of
information environment
Proposed
Management of
information services
*
Information sources and Information sources and
services
services
Organization of
Organization of
information
information
Research Methods in LIS Research foundations for
LIS *
Technologies for
Technologies for
information management information management
Information retrieval »
Libraries and society +
» moved to elective
* Rename & reorganise
+ New
Electives : We Retain & Add…..
We retain 12, remove 6 (all MIT
courses), convert 1 core to elective,
add 12 new courses + group
electives into tracks
Justification : The 19 universities
offer specialization tracks but retains
modularity by allowing students to
choose subjects from any track if
they so wish
Electives
Retained
Removed
Legal issues in information
science
Human aspects of information
systems design
Information systems,
fundamentals, procurement
and operational issues
User needs and behaviour
Visual programming: concepts
and application
Development of information
collection
Information systems
management
Indexing, abstracting and
thesaurus construction
Knowledge management
Electronic publishing
Special topics in LIS
Directed individual study
Practicum in Library &
information services
Management of Internet
resources
Digital libraries
Dissertations
Multimedia system
development
Enterprise reengineering and
restructuring
All these are MIT courses
which had previously
contributed to the IT
related options for the
MLIS programme
Electives
Retained
Legal issues in information
science
Human aspects of information
systems design
Added
Malaysiana information resources
Knowledge management for
information professionals
User education
User needs and behaviour
Information entrepreneurship
Development of information
collection
Web publishing
Indexing, abstracting and
thesaurus construction
Electronic publishing
System analysis and design for
information professionals
Information retrieval
Statistical methods for LIS
Special topics in LIS
Qualitative research for LIS
Directed individual study
Project paper
Practicum in Library &
information services
Resources and services for
children and youn adults
Management of Internet
resources
Educational roles of teacher
libarians
Digital libraries
Information literacy
Dissertations
IT for school libraries
Regroup Electives into 5 Tracks
Information
Resources &
Services
Information
Science &
Technology
Track
Research Track
School Resource
Center
Management
Track
Legal issues in information
science
Human aspects of
information systems
design
Statistical methods in LIS
Resources & services for
children and young adults
Malaysiana information
resources
Development of
information collection
Knowledge management
for information
professionals
Indexing, abstracting and
thesaurus construction
User education
Electronic publishing
Management of internet
resources
Digital libraries
Qualitative research for
LIS
Directed individual study
Project paper
Dissertation
Educational roles of teacher
librarians
Information literacy
IT for school libraries
System analysis and
design for information
professionals
Information retrieval
Information
entrepreneurship
User needs and behaviour
Special topic in LIS I; Special topic in LIS II; Practicum
Big Picture
Core
Management
of
information
services
Information
sources
and
services
Organization
of
information
Research
foundation
in LIS
Technologies
for
information
management
Libraries,
information
and
society
Electives
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Information
resources &
Services
Information
science and
technology
Research
School
resource
center
management
Track 5 :
Special topic I / Special topic II / Practicum
Our Rationale …..

Balance between core library science and IT and
information science courses

Include school library track to meet the needs of
MOE – they send their teachers to us

To maintain our strength in academic research obtained substantial funding for research and
about 20 PhD candidates for LIS
• MyAIS (Malaysian abstracting and indexing services)
• CREMM (Collaborative repository of Malay manuscripts)
• MyUNILITT (Malaysian univeristies information literacy
instructional teaching tool)
• COREDEV (Collaborative repository digital library –
history, science and mathematics)
• Institutional repositories (Greenstone & DSpace), LIS
What Happened Next …

Presented at a WORKSHOP ON IMPROVING THE QUALITY
OF THE LIS PROGRAMME on 10 April 2007 to stakeholders
To review the revised curriculum of the MLIS program
To ensure the revision meets the needs of industry and
stakeholders
To ensure the revision meets the needs of the university’s
academic standard


Recommendations made at the forum reflected the
emerging trends of the LIS profession
No recent reports on emerging trends of the profession or
the emerging role of the professionals – the Malaysian
scenario
Recommendations Which May Reflect
Emerging Trends in LIS in Malaysia






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
Incorporation of more ICT-based literacy
Knowledge management to be made a core
course – emerging field in Malaysia
Content of Organization of information – to
include metadata and organization of nonstructured information
Content of management of information services –
to include marketing
To introduce a course related to acquisition and
collection development as a core
To include a course on preservation and
conservation of resources and disaster planning
as an elective
Need for soft skills – presentation and
communication skills
To place greater emphasis on information literacy
Thank you