Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T21:10:12.548Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

41 - Education for librarianship

from Part Seven - The Trade and its Tools: Librarians and Libraries in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Dave Muddiman
Edited by
Alistair Black  and
Peter Hoare
Get access

Summary

1850–1939: The Establishment of Professional Control

When they surveyed the late nineteenth-century scene of triaining and education in the expanding victorian library, the founding members of the Library Association (LA) perceived an eclectic mix of written manuals, ad hoc classes of instruction and apprenticeship arrangements. Some practising librarians claimed that these arrangements worked well. However, others argued that they failed to provide any guarantee of the competence of librarians and presented a somewhat chaotic and amateur impression of the profession to the outside world. Most senior members of the newly formed association agreed with Henry Tedder, at the annual meeting of 1882, when he urged that the LA needed to embark on a quest for status, respectability and professionalism. For this, he claimed, ‘some form of preparatory examination is obligatory… many other bodies of professional men have taken steps in the like direction’.

The association swiftly set about the erection of such an examination system. A committee on library training was established, and it soon developed a series of examinations with three levels of award. The initial preliminary examination in 1885 tempted only three candidates. However, modifications gradually attracted more, especially those of 1904, which established the intermediate level of award as the benchmark for a professional librarian. By 1906 entry levels stood at ninety-eight and by 1914 at 302. In essence, despite changes of syllabus in 1920 and 1933, this system of examinations continued until World War II as the main measure of competence in the emerging library profession.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland , pp. 534 - 542
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, A.The system of professions (Chicago, 1988).Google Scholar
Arundale, J.Getting your S/NVQ: a guide for candidates in the information and library sector (London, 1996).Google Scholar
Baker, E. A. ‘Education of the librarian: advanced stage’, Library Association Record 8 (1906).Google Scholar
Bramley, G.Apprentice to graduate: a history of library education in the United Kingdom (London, 1981).Google Scholar
Butler, P.An introduction to library science (Chicago, 1933).Google Scholar
Cornelius, I.Meaning and method in information studies (Norwood, NJ, 1996).Google Scholar
Cronin, B., and Davenport, E.. Post professionalism: transforming the information heartland (London, 1988).Google Scholar
Dean, J. ‘Policies and programmes in library and information studies at University College, Dublin’, An Leabharlann 7 (1978).Google Scholar
Doubleday, W. E. (ed.). A primer of librarianship (London, 1931).Google Scholar
Edwards, R. J.In service training in British libraries: its development and present practice (London, 1977).Google Scholar
Greenwood, T.Public libraries: a history of the movement and a manual for the organization and management of rate-supported libraries, 4th edn (London, 1891).Google Scholar
Irwin, R.Librarianship: essays on applied bibliography (London, 1949).Google Scholar
Jackson, J. A. (ed.). Professions and professionalisation (Cambridge, 1970).Google Scholar
Jast, L. S., and Sayers, W. C. B.. ‘The registration of librarians: a criticism and a suggestion’, Library Association Record 9 (1908).Google Scholar
Johnson, I. ‘Challenges in developing professionals for the “information society” and some responses by British schools of librarianship and information studies’, Library Review 47 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenig, M. ‘Educational requirements for a library oriented career in information management’, Library Trends 42 (1993).Google Scholar
Martin, S. W. ‘The A. A. L. correspondence courses 1924–1955’, Assistant Librarian 68 (1967), Education Supplement I–III.Google Scholar
Martin, W. J. ‘From library studies to information science’, Education for Information 5 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, P., and Burton, P.. ‘Information technology in the library and information studies curriculum’, in Elkin, J. and Wilson, T. (eds.), The education of library and information professionals (London, 1997).Google Scholar
McKee, B. ‘Information studies: towards an academic discipline’, Library Association Record 88 (1986).Google Scholar
Moore, N.The emerging markets for library and information workers, British Library Research Report 56 (London, 1987).Google Scholar
Muddiman, D. ‘Innovation or instrumental drift? The new vocationalism and information and library education in the United Kingdom’, Education for Information 12 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muddiman, D. ‘Towards a postmodern context for information and library education’ Education for Information 17 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tedder, H. R. ‘Librarianship as a profession’, in Transactions and Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth Annual Meetings of the Library Association of the United Kingdom held at London… 1881 and Cambridge… 1882 (London, 1884).Google Scholar
Webber, N. ‘The first library school in the United Kingdom: the London School of Economics, 1900–1919’, Library History 12 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willison, T. ‘Research and research strategies in schools and departments of library and information studies’, in Elkin, J. and Wilson, T. (eds.), The education of library and information professionals (London, 1997).Google Scholar
Wood, K. ‘Professional education: historical review’ in Elkin, J. and Wilson, T. (eds.), The education of information and library professionals in the United Kingdom (London, 1997).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×