Losing the Quality Battle in Australian Education for Librarianship (Essay‪)‬

The author asserts that something is wrong with university-based education for librarianship in Australia. Librarianship does not have a clear disciplinary identity in universities. The lack of differentiation between the roles of technicians and professionals clouds the issue. For these and other reasons, education for librarianship in Australia is suffering. Comparisons are made with the United States and Canada. Some suggestions for improving the quality of university-based education for librarianship, based on increased cooperation among departments of information studies, are made. What's amiss with education for librarianship in Australia? Discussions with colleagues and my own observations and reflections suggest that something's amiss with university-based education for librarianship in Australia. The situation may be so grave as to be fatal. Three key issues must be addressed if we are to confirm the diagnosis and find a cure: