Finally, the LIS Curriculum

I have finally in my hands a copy of CHED Memo No. 08 Series of 2005 otherwise known as the Policies and Standards of Library and Information Science (BLIS) Program.

I'll skip articles 1 & 2 and go right down to Section 5 of Article III - Program Specifications. Sections 3 & 4 deals with the title of the degree and program description and general objectives respectively.

Section 5. Career Opportunities in Librarianship

A Library and Information Science graduate can be employed as:

• Director of Libraries
• Chief/Head Librarian
• Abstractor
• Archivist
• Acquisitions Librarian
• Bibliographer
• Cataloger
• College or University Librarian
• Community Outreach Librarian
• Bookmobile Librarian
• Documentalist
• Indexer
• Information Scientist
• Information Specialist
• Law Librarian
• Library Science Faculty/Educator
• Library Technician
• Media or Audio-Visual Specialist
• Medical Librarian
• Public Librarian
• Researcher
• School Librarian
• Special Librarian
• Teacher Librarian

During the forum I attended back in July sponsored by PATLS (Phil. Assoc. of Teachers of Library and Information Science), Dean Vallejo noted the inclusion of Library Technician which according to her should be removed from the list as this is more for non-professionals. She likewise noted that graduates do not get employed right away as Director of Libraries or Chief/Head Librarians. I agree with Dean Vallejo on the removal of Library Technician I'm having second thoughts about removing the other two because for me seeing the title is like a motivator to follow a career path and aim for the position.

Reference Librarian is conspicuously missing. Could it be that those who drafted the policy forgot about it? How could they have forgotten such an important position? Circulation Librarian is not in the list either. Me thinks the list needs to be revised. And why such a short list? Surely there are other titles besides those on the list. The Task Force should have exerted effort to provide a longer list so that prospective enrollees can have a broader picture of the employment possibilities of graduating with a BLIS degree.


I think I have to find out the composition of the Task Force.


BTW, thank you Zarah, Arnold, Liz, and Von for the support. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot from you guys.

Tomorrow the curriculum.