iSchools building on the strengths found in the convergence of librarianship, archival, and museum studies to improve the education of managing digital collections.

Abstract

In many iSchools, the convergence of professional education for Librarianship, Archival, and Museum (LAM) Studies is becoming relevant to the discussion of improving and expanding the iSchool curricula related to the management of digital collections in these cultural institutions. This paper is a summary of the highlights of the emerging issues identified from the discussion in the February, 2013 workshop on how iSchools participate in research and education relevant to the skills needed of information professionals in libraries, archives, and museums relevant to the application and access to the digital collections held by these institutions. The six workshop presentations and resulting discussions indicated a disparity in the curricula not only among institutions in a given country or region, but as well around the globe. During the discussion, there was a general agreement about the inclusion in the core curriculum of general introductory or intermediate-level information technology courses, but there was disagreement about the specifics and the level of details to be desired. Keywords: Digital collections, iSchools education, Libraries, Archives, Museums, convergence