Is Management the “Tower of Babel” for Library and Information Science Programs?

ABSTRACT

Given the explosive growth of digital collections and the digital transformation of services in libraries, the need for management education in library and information science programs has grown. However, I contend in this article that confusion abounds like the “Tower of Babel” for LIS programs to accomplish this goal. A one size fits all approach does not work. Instead, management theory and principles need to be LIS-centric in accord with present day needs and conceptions. Management education also needs to be linked with scientific rigor to practice to meet the needs and expectations of LIS students. Rather than delivering management education that speaks the language of business, the content needs to resonate with the conditions for managing in the LIS context and to be supportive of the values of the LIS field. The article provides examples from research on management and innovation in libraries and other information-rich contexts. It also illustrates the types of issues that management education in LIS programs should address to deepen our understanding of the essential principles needed to manage information and knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• management
• LIS education
• strategy
• information and society
• libraries

Notes

1 The “Tower of Babel” is the biblical account recorded in Genesis 11:1–9 of God confounding speech into multiple languages to make it impossible to build a man-made tower to reach heaven.