Information Management Challenges

Information management challenges

Organizations are confronted with many information management problems and issues. In many ways, the growth of electronic information (rather than paper) has only worsened these issues over the last decade or two.

Common information management problems include:

- Large number of disparate information management systems.

-Little integration or coordination between information systems.

-Range of legacy systems requiring upgrading or replacement.

-Direct competition between information management systems.

-No clear strategic direction for the overall technology environment.

-Limited and patchy adoption of existing information systems by staff.

-Poor quality of information, including lack of consistency, duplication, and out-of-date information.

-Little recognition and support of information management by senior management.

-Limited resources for deploying, managing or improving information systems.

-Lack of enterprise-wide definitions for information types and values (no corporate-wide taxonomy).

-Large number of diverse business needs and issues to be addressed.

-Lack of clarity around broader organisational strategies and directions.

-Difficulties in changing working practices and processes of staff.

-Internal politics impacting on the ability to coordinate activities enterprise-wide.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE

Library and Information Science (LIS) is an interdisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information. The libraries being the repositories of knowledge and information, their importance has increased. In this situation, the librarianship has attained the status of a separate discipline. Librarians are the custodians of libraries and they organize, maintain, and store books in the libraries. They help people to find information and use it effectively in their personal and professional lives. The traditional libraries which contained only books now have periodicals, journals, micro-films, audio-videos, cassettes and slides for various purposes such as education, research, reference and pleasure.

      Historically, library science has also included archival science. This includes how information resources are organized to serve the needs of select user groups, how people interact with classification systems and technology, how information is acquired, evaluated and applied by people in and outside of libraries as well as cross-culturally, how people are trained and educated for careers in libraries, the ethics that guide library service and organization, the legal status of libraries and information resources, and the applied science of computer technology used in documentation and records management.

      The career in library includes areas like library and information systems management, classification/cataloguing systems, bibliography, documentation, preservation and conservation of manuscript, collection management, information systems and technology, research methodology, computer applications, reference, statistics and management, information processing, archives management, indexing, library planning, etc. Library science is constantly evolving, incorporating new topics like database management, information architecture and knowledge management, among others. It is an interesting subject and provides a great opportunity to have the knowledge of wide variety of information sources.

A Day in a LIS Professional’s Life 

      

On a typical day a librarian might perform some of the following duties:-

1. ranalyse users’ needs and provide the information they need;
2. show users how to efficiently search for information on the Internet and in other online resources;
3. select and purchase materials and prepare those materials by classifying them according to subject matter;
4. supervise assistants who prepare cards, computer records, or other access tools that direct users to resources;
5. collect and organize books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and other materials in a specific field, such as rare books, genealogy, or music;
6. coordinate programs such as storytelling for children, and literacy skills and book talks for adults;
7. conduct classes as per need for junior professionals;
8. publicize services;

Eligibility 

      The first school for library science was founded by Melvil Dewey at Columbia University in 1887. The minimum qualification required to take up a course in Library Science is XII standard. Graduates from any stream can go for Bachelors degree in library science the duration of which is one year/ two semesters. After that, students can go for Masters Degree in library science, which is of one-year duration/two semesters course. Advanced studies in Library & Information Science include M. Phil and Ph.D. Besides, there are also diploma and certificate courses. Basically, a good librarian should have keen interest in books as well as a variety of topics, excellent communication skills, customer service attitude, methodical approach, high organizing ability/skills, and ability of understanding user needs.

Employment outlook and opportunities  

      According to one report, library and information science has been ranked as one of the “Best Careers of 2008.” As India is moving towards a knowledge society with proliferation of learning and research institutes the demand and importance of library science is growing rapidly. Consequently, job opportunities for librarians are on the upswing. Nevertheless, with the advent of information technology and computers the traditional concept of is being redesigned to include not only books and other printed materials but also new tools of information like CD-ROM, internet, virtual libraries etc. There is a lot of scope for a career in library science and the person in this field can find employment opportunities in the following areas.

1.   Public/Government libraries

2.   Universities/collages/schools and other academic institutions

3.   News agencies and organisations

4.   Private organisations and special libraries

5.   Foreign embassies

6.   Photo/film/radio/television libraries

7.   Information centres/documentation centers

8.   Companies and organisations with large information handling requirements

9.   Museums and galleries, which have reading rooms and research facilities

 10. Law library/Special library, etc.

Types of library-science professionals: 

Some of the career options are as given below:

1. Library Attendant
2. Library Assistant
3. Semi-Professional Assistant
4. Junior Librarian/Professional Assistant
5. Assistant Librarian
6. Deputy Librarian
7. Librarian/Chief Librarian
8. Researcher/Scientists/Application Specialist
9. Consultant/Reference Librarian
10. Cataloguer/Technical Assistant/Records Manager
11. Director/Head Of Information Centre
12. Senior Information Analyst
13. Junior Information Analyst
14. Senior Library Information Assistant
15. Law Librarian
16. Indexer
17. Information architect
18. Archivist

      LIS professionals can also aspire to get a job in private publishing houses and other private companies handling with voluminous information.

The Call Numbers

      

[ Example of the Call Number ]

          A library classification is a system of documents, library materials or any information (books, serials, audiovisual materials, computer files, maps, manuscripts, realia) according to their subject and allocating a call number  to that information resource. Bibliographic classification systems group entities together that are relevant the same subject, typically arranged in a hierarchical tree structure (like classification systems used in biology). A different kind of classification system, called a faceted classification system, is also widely used which allows the assignment of multiple classifications to an object, enabling the classifications to be ordered in multiple ways.

Rules & Manual In Doing a Cataloguing

Materials resource center to be cataloged according to the rules Catalog 

cataloging, AACR (Anglo American Cataloguing Rules 2nd Ed.)

An ingredient in the resource center before cataloged need some access points 

or referred to as an entry. Entry is a record in the catalog. Among the types of entries 

you've ever seen is the author and title entries. 

Among the three types of entries we have to choose one of them for an entry 

key. Other entries we call the additional entries. habitually 

we select the top entry is the name of the author.

Cataloging Manual [AACR] Get It NOW !

Types Of Library

>Academic libraries serve colleges and universities, their students, staff and faculty. Larger institutions may have several libraries on their campuses dedicated to serving particular schools such as law and science libraries. Many academic librarians become specialists in an area of knowledge and can have faculty status. 


>Public libraries serve communities of all sizes and types. Wherever you live, there's bound to be a local public library nearby! As the name implies, public libraries serve the general public, "from cradle to grave" as more than one public librarian has been heard to say. Public libraries often have departments that focus on areas of service, such as youth, teens and adults. 



>School libraries are usually part of a school system, and serve students between Kindergarten and grade 12. Many are called media centers, and librarians are often required to have a second degree in education or a certificate in school media. 



> Special libraries offer unique opportunities to work in a specialized environment of interest, such as     corporations, hospitals, the military, museums, private businesses, and the government. Special libraries can serve particular populations, such as the blind and physically handicapped, while others are dedicated to special collections, such as the Library of Congress or a presidential library. 

The Citation that being use in Library Science

Even though WOLS may be very helpful in automating the process of creating and formatting citations, it's still important that students understand how to cite sources "the old-fashioned way." Knowing the rules and guidelines that each style guide outlines is an important part of writing a paper and compiling a bibliography. Using our "Citation Guide", you can look up the formatting guidelines and rules for all the source types we support for the MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian style guides. By learning these guidelines, you will understand just what exactly WOLS is doing when it is creating your bibliography - and then, you can use WOLS not only as a helpful tool, but as a hands-on learning resource, as well!

To start using the "Citation Guide" and look up specific formatting guidelines, use the left-hand panel to select your desired guide. First, select the formatting style (e.g. MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian) and then the type of source you are referencing.

The guidelines on this page adhere to the following editions of the style manuals:

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Tips For You to be a Good Cataloger [Library Science]

1.       Be consistent. This is the cataloger’s mantra but it is often the most difficult to follow, especially if the new cataloger isn’t familiar with the metadata standards professionals learn in school. While it might be difficult to get a full grasp of guidelines as they were established before your time, accept that they were established for a good reason. Don’t fight them too quickly, try to follow the rules, ask questions, give yourself time to learn (and make mistakes). Eventually, cataloging will become second-nature.

2.       Be interested. The more intellectually curious you are in the item you are cataloging, the easier it will be to focus and accept the length of time high-level cataloging can take. As you go along, you may start to see patterns amongst the items you are cataloging and this can give you a rare insight into certain areas of scholarship that you wouldn’t catch through traditional forms of research.

3.       Be reasonable. Don’t get discouraged if you are not cataloging 100 items a day. Set daily goals for yourself, such as 5 items a day, or schedule an hour block of time to catalog every day. Even if you only catalog 5 items a day for 30 days, that is 150 items that are in the database this month that were not last month. External pressures may exists that compel you to work fast, but try to strike a balance between speedy data entry and complete and accurate cataloging; you can’t always have both.

4.       Be relaxed. Playing music while you catalog is a good way to keep your energy and spirits up. Cataloging with another person and talking through each item can also enliven the activity. If you are working in an environment that discourages music playing or talking while cataloging, quit. The bad associations that come with cataloging are largely because people feel tired, bored, and alone. Do what you can to make the process less of these things for you and others and it will go a long way to a more productive workflow. Cookies help.

5.       Be efficient. Let’s face it, there are some items in an archive that just don’t deserve a full-on catalog record. This might be because there is next to no information on the item to begin with. It might be because the work is commercially produced and not unique. It might be because a supervisor needs all the titles online in a short amount of time. The decision on how much or little a series of records contains should be discussed with the archive coordinator, but streamlining the workflow is as much a part of the cataloging process as entering complete records, it just depends on the situation. If you do cut corners, make sure you are doing so for the benefit of the big picture and not because you don’t want to catalog.

6.       Be proactive.  Become familiar with the features of the software you are using that will allow you to work faster. For example, in Filemaker Pro you can create a new record by duplicating a similar record and changing the key areas where the two records are different (i.e. title, ID). Most db applications have similar features. If there is existing data in electronic form, such as a spreadsheet, you may be able to import the data en masse. Always remember, Google is your friend, use it to find the answers to technical questions and see what others are doing with the software. In short, the  more familiar you are with the software you are using, its benefits and limitations, the more efficient your cataloging will be. But you will need to self-motivate yourself to learn as there might not be anyone around to teach you.

Book that related to Library Science field :)

#1 Reference and Information Services: An Introduction (Library and Information Science Text Series)

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#2 Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, Third Edition

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#3 Connecting Young Adults and Libraries: A How-To-Do-It Manual, 4th Edition (How-to-Do-It Manuals)

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#4 Library and Information Center Management (Library and Information Science Text Series)

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4 key benefits of Library Science Majors ^_^

With the huge increase in technology in the last decade, earning a library science degree provides you with many exciting career paths. A master’s degree in library science, or Online MLIS, can give you the communications and research tools that you need to not just work in a library, but as a research analyst or a data miner for a large corporation.

Some of the key benefits of a library science degree in the 21st century include the following:

#1 Multiple New Specializations Available

As the world and technology change, it has been necessary for library science programs to change as well. Many top ranking library science programs now offer many types of specializations, some of which are strongly focused on the evolution of technology in the 21st century.

For example, the University of Pittsburgh offers the following specializations: Archives and Information Science; Academic Libraries; Health; Reference; Youth; and Digital Libraries.

The Digital Libraries specialization is a common addition in many library science programs around the country. This specialization provides you the knowledge and skills that you need to have a rewarding career in digital libraries, with a focus on information technology, information organization and end user needs.

Digital libraries are growing rapidly around the US and there are many job opportunities in this area. This specialization will prepare you to become an information specialist who can design, develop and manage digital libraries. You also will be able to work as a digital content manager, a digital curator and information architect.

#2 More MLIS Degree Programs Online

There has been a major shift in recent years towards online education, and the library science field is no exception. There are now many master’s in library science degree programs that you can complete fully online. For example, the MLIS degree at Drexel University can be finished in two years online, and it is currently ranked by US News and World Report as one of the best graduate schools in the US. At Drexel, you can specialize in many areas, including Information Systems, Digital Librarianship and Health Librarianship.

#3 Evolving Program Emphasis

As the Internet and other forms of technology have grown, we have seen the focus of library science programs shift.More library science programs have started to focus more on the information gathering and analysis aspect of such a degree. These days, a master’s degree in library science can provide you with a skill set that will not limit you to merely working in a library. Having the ability to manage and navigate information can make you well qualified for many positions, including research, documentation specialist or even creative project manager.

#4 Growing Demand in Other Information-Related Fields

While it is true that the demand for librarians is not as strong as other fields, there are many other positions for which you can be very well suited with this degree. Someone with strong research and analytical skills can find strong employment possibilities in other fields, including market research and computer system management.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the demand for computer and information systems managers is going to grow by 18% by 2020, which is faster than average when compared to other positions. Growth in this field is being fueled by organizations that are improving their information technology, and they need strong managers of data and information to lead these projects.

Introduction Of Library Science

Greetings ! ^_^

Library science  is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information.Historically, library science has also included archival science. This includes how information resources are organized to serve the needs of select user group, how people interact with classification systems and technology, how information is acquired, evaluated and applied by people in and outside of libraries as well as cross-culturally, how people are trained and educated for careers in libraries, the ethics that guide library service and organization, the legal status of libraries and information resources, and the applied science of computer technology used in documentation and records management.