Library and Information Science Education in the Indian Job Market. A Study of Indian Universities and Corporate Libraries

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2014 in the subject Library Science, Information- / Documentation Science, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: This study examines the Information Science Eduacation of Indian Universities and Corportate Libraries, with a specific focus on how the criteria of the Indian job Market are met within the context of this education. The Library and Information Science curriculum needs to adapt to the changes in today¿s job market requirement. The job market demands much more competencies, including information and communication skills. However, various studies reported a lacuna in the profession in terms of being fully compatible to the job requirement or in other words the profession fails to meet the expectations of the job market. Here, the enquiry arises as to who is accountable? Are the LIS curricula in the universities offering Library and Information Science courses not up to date and practical oriented or not at par with the job descriptions for LIS professionals in different sectors? This big question is affecting the whole profession globally, but steps have been taken in some developing countries to streamline the curricula with diverse job requirements. When we talk in terms of India, a lot has been discussed and talked about the current library and information science professionals in the context of the emerging Indian job market. But steps to modify, remodel and implement the curricula as per national and global necessities are yet to be done. This is the main problem in statement. There are two major concerns- firstly, the inclusion of ICT and non ICT course contents in the curricula and secondly the job requirements of corporate and university libraries. The critical examination of the specific needs of the corporate employees should be given due consideration in redesigning the curricula. The non-lucrativeness of jobs for the LIS professionals could also be an issue that concerns the fraternity that can be solved by dealing first with the course contents. The rationale behind this study is not only to critically examine the curriculum of the post graduate levels currently followed in India and study the job requirements of university and corporate libraries, but also to identify the discrepancies and thereby come up with some concrete measures. A review of the results on earlier empirical studies carried out in India indicates that the variables in the study (curriculum and job requirement) are examined from different perspectives of narrower scales but no studies of the intended magnitude and landscape are done so far.