Educating library and information professionals for the future

A new impetus for change in Library and Information Science (LIS) education has been stimulating a debate about the discipline, with a tension between Information Science and traditional Library Science and a perceived gap between academics and professionals. The LIS schools have adopted different strategies: convergence vs. competition with other subjects; specialisation in some niche area of the library sector vs. the broadening out of information professions; adopting an entrepreneurial approach. The internationalisation of LIS education is an important trend and the IFLA Section Education and Training (SET) is leading the discussion towards the improvement of quality of LIS education and recognition of qualifications.