Articles Information
International Journal of Education and Information Technology, Vol.1, No.3, Aug. 2015, Pub. Date: Jun. 30, 2015
Professionalism in Librarianship: Librarians’ Functions, Challenges and the Way Forward
Pages: 70-79 Views: 4103 Downloads: 6224
Authors
[01]
Japheth Abdulazeez Yaya, J. C. Pool Library, Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
[02]
Kikelomo Adeeko, University Library, Mcpherson University, Seriki Sotayo village, Abeokuta Ogun State, Nigeria.
Abstract
Every profession in the human history has its origin, prospects and challenges; it is the desire of every member of the professional body to seek for solutions to the problems militating against their successful journey in the society. Thus, this paper discusses Professionalism in librarianship with emphasis on the prospects, challenges and it suggests some factors that could help in resolving the problems of librarianship profession in Nigeria; several issues were also discussed. Thus, the practitioners of this laudable profession must possess some characteristics that would make them more effective in providing the much needed information to an individual, organizations and the general populace. The paper concludes by suggesting the following steps as the way forward from the problems militating against the librarianship profession in Nigeria: The activities and programmes of the librarianship profession should be given a wide publicity; People should have a right attitude towards printed educational materials and give due recognition to the Nigerian Library Association (NLA) as being done to other notable associations in Nigeria; Membership of the NLA should be financially committed to their association as done by membership of other associations; Government officials should have positive attitude towards library and the association that represent the interest of librarians in the land; and librarians should know that they are in the highly contested profession. Hence, the library management should act fast and provide all the modern facilities and technologies that are needed to enable library to effectively compete with other organizations that are offering similar services to the general public.
Keywords
Professionalism, Librarianship, Librarians, Library Profession, Librarians’ Functions, Librarianship Challenges
References
[01]
American Library Association. (2009). B.1 Core Values, Ethics, and Core Competencies. In Policy Manual. American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/policymanual/updatedpolicymanual/section2/40corevalues on 19/10/14.
[02]
Beeghley, L. (2004). The structure of social stratification in the United States. Boston: Allyn Bacon.
[03]
Blanke, H. T. (1989). Librarianship and Political Values: Neutrality or Commitment? Library Journal, 39-43.
[04]
Brussels, D.P. (2007). Common Values of the Liberal Professions in the European Union, European Council of the Liberal Professions. Available online at: www.ceplis.org/en/values.phf
[05]
Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century. Retrieved on 23/10/14 from http: www.liasa.org.za/sites/de...librarianship/2003.
[06]
Crow, R. (2006). The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper. Discussion Paper. Scholarly Publication and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington, D.C.
[07]
Eichar, D. (1989). Occupation and Class Consciouness in America. Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press.
[08]
Ehrenreich, B. (1989). Fear of Falling: the Inner Life of the Middle Class. New York: Harper Perennial.
[09]
Finks, L. W. (1989). Values without shame. American Libraries, 20: 352–356.
[10]
Gardner, H. and Shulman, L. S. (2005). The Professions in America Today: Crucial but Fragile. Daedalus.
[11]
Gilbert, D. (1998). The American class structure: In an age of growing inequality. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
[12]
Gorman, M. (1995). Five New Laws of Librarianship. American Libraries, 26: 784-785.
[13]
Gorman, M. (2000). Our Enduring Values: Librarianship in the 21st Century. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
[14]
Harnad, S. (2005). The Implementation of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access. D-lib Magazine, 11(3).
[15]
Harvey, L.; Mason, S. and Ward, R. (1995). Role of Professional Bodies in Higher Education Quality Monitoring. Birmingham: Quality in Higher Education Project.
[16]
Itsekor, V.O. (2013). The Role of Librarians in the Development of Education in Nigeria. Retrieved from http://www.victoria.itsekor@covenantuniversity.edu.ng on 07/10/14.
[17]
Lester, S. (2010). On Professions and Being Professional. Retrieved from http: www.devmts.co.uk on 07/10/14.
[18]
Lynch, Clifford (n.d). "Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age".Retrieved from http://www.arl.org on 23/10/14.
[19]
Magali, S. L. (1977). The rise of professionalism: a sociological analysis. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.
[20]
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1998). Home and Office edition. Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Incorporated.
[21]
Ranganathan, S. R. (1963). The Five Laws of Library Science. Bombay, New York: Asia Pub. House.
[22]
Sager, D. (2001). The Search for Librarianship's Core Values. Public Libraries, 40(3):149-153.
[23]
Sullivan, W. M. (2005). Work and Integrity: The Crisis and Promise of Professionalism in America, (2nd ed.). Jossey Bass.
[24]
Wikibooks (2013). Introduction to Library and Information Science/Ethics and Values in the Information Professions. Retrieved from http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php on 19/10/14.
[25]
Wikipedia (2014). Institutional repository. Retrieved from http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/institutional_repository.pdf on 23/10/14.
[26]
Yaya, J.A., Achonna, A.U. & Osisanwo, T. (2013). Censorship and the Challenges of Library Services Delivery in Nigeria. International Journal of Library Philosophy and Practice. Published online: http//unlib.unl.edu/LPP
[27]
Yaya, J.A., Achonna, A.U. & Osisanwo, T. (2014). Competitive Intelligence: A tool for effective Job Performance in Academic Library. Sky Journal of Educational Research, 2 (4): 20 – 27. Available online http://www.skyjournals.org/SJER.