Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the self-perception of early career Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates’ Information and Communications Technology (ICT) competencies with the expectations of senior Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals’ in Pakistan. A quantitative research approach based on a survey was used in the study. Purposive sampling technique was employed to collect data from 100 early career LIS graduates and 100 LIS professionals having more than five years’ experience through a questionnaire. The researcher received 89 questionnaires from senior LIS professionals and 91 from early-career Department of Information Management (DoIM) graduates resulting in a 89% and 91% response rate respectively. The results of the study indicate that there is a gap between the expectations of senior LIS professionals’ and the perceptions of early career LIS graduates’ regarding their ICT competencies. Senior LIS professionals expected that early-career LIS graduates would have a working knowledge of Microsoft Office, computer operating systems, computer hardware and functions, social networking sites, electronic database searching, and institutional repository software. Senior LIS professionals also expected that early career LIS graduates should be familiar with research management tools such as Endnote, Mendeley and Zotero, integrated library systems and plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin and SafeAssign. The early career LIS graduates reported that they were expected to have knowledge of above-said expertise and that iy was considered essential for their future jobs. The findings of the study would be beneficial for the faculty of library schools and policymakers to make changes in the curriculum so as to minimize the gap between academia and the industry.

摘要

本研究的目的是比较早期职业图书馆和信息科学 (LIS) 毕业生的信息和通信技术 (ICT) 能力的自我认知与巴基斯坦高级图书馆和信息科学 (LIS) 专业人员的期望。研究中使用了基于调查的定量研究方法。采用有目的的抽样技术，通过问卷收集了 100 名早期职业 LIS 毕业生和 100 名具有五年以上经验的 LIS 专业人士的数据。研究人员收到了来自高级 LIS 专业人士的 89 份问卷和来自信息管理系 (DoIM) 职业生涯早期毕业生的 91 份问卷，回复率分别为 89% 和 91%。研究结果表明，高级 LIS 专业人员的期望与早期职业 LIS 毕业生对其 ICT 能力的看法之间存在差距。高级 LIS 专业人士期望早期职业 LIS 毕业生将具备 Microsoft Office、计算机操作系统、计算机硬件和功能、社交网站、电子数据库搜索和机构存储库软件的工作知识。高级 LIS 专业人士还希望，早期职业 LIS 毕业生应该熟悉 Endnote、Mendeley 和 Zotero 等研究管理工具、集成图书馆系统以及 Turnitin 和 SafeAssign 等抄袭检测软件。早期职业 LIS 毕业生报告说，他们应该具备上述专业知识，并且被认为对他们未来的工作至关重要。该研究的结果将有利于图书馆学校的教职员工和政策制定者对课程进行更改，以尽量减少学术界和行业之间的差距。