Keith Swigger, Dean
School of Library and Information Studies
Texas Woman's University
Denton TX 76204
Phone: 817-898-2602
Fax: 817-898-2611
E-mail: a_swigger@twu.edu

An Alternative Model for the Core Curriculum for Library and Information Studies Education

Poster Session, Thursday, February 13, 1997, 7:30pm - 9:00pm

An education for librarianship is based on lists of competencies, primarily those developed by the professional associations, which are deemed essential knowledge, skills, and abilities for librarians. As librarianship has become more complex and diversified, and as the breadth of professions for which library and information studies programs prepare students has grown, this model has become problematic.

An alternative model views the "core" as a platform for a broad range of electives chosen by the student to meet a personal plan for professional preparation. In the alternative model, the purpose of the core is to assure that students are adequately prepared to succeed in their elective courses. Rather than attempting to load the core with an immense list of professional competencies, in the platform model students acquire the common knowledge, skills, and abilities that faculty want to be able to assume their students have to enter elective courses.

In the alternative model, the core is shaped by the particular specialties offered at a particular school, as designed by the faculty.

The platform model of the core is consistent with a platform model of professional degrees. A first professional degree is not the culmination of professional education but rather one of many steps that cumulate throughout a professional career.

This presentation describes the platform model in contrast to the "essential competencies" model, it describes a process for defining the platform core, it addresses issues of evaluation and evolution, and it discusses implications for the accreditation process.

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