A Study of Changes in the Library and Information Science Curriculum with Evaluation of Its Practicality

by Younghee Noh, In-Ja Ahn and Sang-Ki Choi

Available online

Purpose This study analyzed the process of changes in Korean Library and Information Science curriculum and evaluated the courses currently available by using a perception survey of librarians in the field. It also explored a possible demand for new courses, while suggesting compulsory, core, and optional courses for Bachelor's degree curriculum in Library and Information Science worldwide including Korea and the US. Design/Methodology/Approach This study progressed through a total of 5 steps as follows: investigating the background of why current courses of Library and Information Science were offered (interview), finding out the current courses in Library and Information Science (homepage search and phone interview), finding out which courses students have actually completed among those available (literature and resource research), evaluating the practicality of the available courses by librarians in the field (survey), and exploring the demand for new courses (survey). In addition, this study analyzed the process of change in the courses offered by investigating the curriculum over the last 20 years. Findings First and foremost, it was found that the decision of which course will be offered is strongly influenced by faculty. Second, in the analysis of the process of opening up new courses, it was revealed that the number of courses is growing and the

courses are becoming more diversified and more specific. Third, the survey results of the completion of curriculum for the last three years in 10 universities demonstrate that only 50% of the available courses are being completed. Fourth, in the survey of which courses the librarians in the field think are necessary among the 90 courses suggested, 21 courses scored more than 4 points in a 5-point Likert scale regarding the demand for new courses. Fifth, the new courses which scored high levels of demand points were: Practice in Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections, and Information and Communication in a Digital Age. Sixth, this study shows that there is a high level of agreement between courses completed by students and those which gained high levels of demand points in the practicality evaluation. Limitations/Implications As this study was performed in Korea where the Bachelor's degree course is fundamental, it will contribute valuable information to countries where universities have recently opened or are trying to open programs for Bachelor's degrees in Library and Information Science such as the US, or to curriculum study in countries such as China and Japan which have educational environments similar to Korea. However, similar studies need to be performed in different countries.

348 The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 38, Number 6, pages 348-364

Originality/Value This study has great significance as it has analyzed not only the curriculum of the last 20 years but also discovered how many of the newly created courses have actually been completed by students and the opinions of librarians in the field on these courses; there has not been such an encompassing study as this either inside or outside of Korea.

Keywords: Library and Information Science; Curriculum; Courses; Evaluation; Taken courses; Librarians' perception

INTRODUCTION
This study began from a research question regarding how Library and Information Science departments all over the world have developed and are currently operating their curricula. In Korea's case, there have been tremendous changes in the curriculum since 1950, when the Library and Information Science course of study was launched in Korea. Particularly, as traditional libraries are changing into highly modernized ones such as semantic libraries, semantic digital libraries and libraries 3.0, the need for transformation in Library And Information Science curricula to foster librarians who are able to manage such libraries and provide appropriate user services is more intense than ever. Many researchers have argued that Library and Information Science curricula need to be changed and new courses created to reflect the changes in libraries and information centers. Moreover, as time passes and information technology develops, the contents of courses suggested by researchers have also changed. Koo and Park1 suggested a direction for improvement in curricula to foster appropriate information specialists for changes in information technology and system environments. Through a survey, Hahn2 evaluated whether the courses available at that time were appropriate for developing the right professional librarians for the changing environment, and there have been similar studies performed repeatedly since.3 Koo4 tried to analyze whether it is helpful to benchmark curricula from developed countries. In the US also, several researchers have conducted studies arguing that it is necessary to open up new courses adaptable to environmental changes in the Library and Information Science curriculum57 and there are many researchers who have conducted studies in similar contexts all over the world, including Europe8,9 and Kenya.10 This study analyzed the process of changes in the curriculum of Korean Library and Information Science departments, evaluated the courses currently available by using a perception survey of librarians in the field, and discovered possible demand for new courses, while suggesting compulsory, core, and optional courses by referring to the curricula of Library and Information Science departments all over the world including Korea and the US. In the case of the US, the UK, France, and Germany, Library and Information Science courses have only been available and managed for Master's degrees, so one needs to obtain at least a Master's degree to be a professional librarian. However, Library and Information Science courses have recently started to be launched for Bachelor's degrees in the US, and countries such as China and Japan have similar educational environments to Korea's. Therefore, it can be concluded that the results of this study can be referred to for curriculum development in these countries as well. In other words, this study, which investigated the Korean Library and Information Science curriculum that has been available as a Bachelor's degree ever since the course of study was launched in Korea for the first time in the 1950s, will be helpful for many universities that have recently started or are planning to launch a Library and Information Science program at the Bachelor's degree level. Particularly, the survey results of demand for new curricula will be of great help. Furthermore, Korea is well known for its strength in IT as the whole population is accessing the Internet and its own information technology is developing very quickly.11 Korean libraries are also adopting new technologies for themselves and their information centers. Therefore, this course development study for fostering future librarians who have a high level of adaptability and ability in technology applications will have significant implications for Library and Information Science areas all over the world.

Younghee Noh, Department of Library & Information Science, Konkuk University, 322 Danwol-Dong, Chungju-Si, Chungcheongbuk-Do, 380-701, South Korea Tel.: +82 43 3364; fax: +82 43 851 9325. <irs4u@kku.ac.kr>; In-Ja Ahn, Department of Library & Information Science, Donwon University, South Korea <ijahn@tw.ac.kr>; Sang-Ki Choi, Department of Library & Information Science, Donwon University, South Korea <choisk@jbnu.ac.kr>.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies advocating changes in curriculum start from the logic that curricula should be changed constantly to produce future librarians

349

who can adapt to changes in the external environment as the librarian environment changes due to information technology development. First of all, there are studies reviewing curricula in Library and Information Science and suggesting the ways to foster information specialists who can adapt to radical changes in the information technology environment. Koo and Park1 investigated the contents of Library and Information Science education to produce information specialists equipped for the environmental changes in technologies and systems they are facing. For this, they analyzed and suggested which educational contents of artificial intelligence and expert systems should be introduced into Library and Information Science. Hahn2 investigated changes in social and library environments following the introduction of information technology through a literature review, and also conducted a survey of librarians in an information society regarding librarian requirements and education for information specialists. In addition, Hahn2 tried to diagnose whether the current curriculum of Library and Information Science is appropriate for fostering specialists who are highly adaptable in the situation where libraries are rapidly changing from traditional to digital environments. Studying the transformed curriculum in the US, Koo4 contemplated the introduction of the digital information environment and technology and the influence of the introduced technology on the library environment, and suggested an ideal curriculum model suitable for the digital information environment. Juznic and Badovinac9 stated that the EU Library and Information Science curriculum has been constantly changing and there was no great difficulty in raising specialists adaptable to the changing times. There is also a study which argues for strengthening competitiveness through the specialization of each university. Noh12 explained that in a knowledge and information society, experts who are specialized in a certain area are being highly evaluated and that there are a growing number of universities and departments that design their educational goals and directions to raise specialized experts. Noh12 also suggested education programs that are specialized in certain areas, considering the circumstances and situation universities are facing. There is another study which evaluated courses available in Library and Information Science based on a survey of librarians in the field. Lee3 investigated problems in current Library and Information Science education and suggested desirable remedies from the perspectives of the librarians surveyed. In other words, the study shows how field librarians evaluate the curricula and contents of current Library and Information Science, what kinds of abilities they think librarians should possess, and what educational contents are needed for Library and Information Science to foster librarians who possess these abilities required in the field. Meanwhile, there is a study arguing for the standardization of Library and Information Science curricula, which means that for the improvement of librarians' specialization, common compulsory, core and optional courses should be recommended to Library and Information Science departments nationwide so that librarians of guaranteed quality can be produced.13 There are some related studies such as an analysis study of changes in the curricula of Korean Library and Information Science and a study on the development of standard curriculum for Korean Library and Information Science education.14 Although it is not regarding standardization, there is a study insisting on designating core courses: Bawden8 suggests Knowledge Organization and Information Literacy as core courses after analyzing Library and Information Science curricula across Europe. With a more specific approach, there are studies insisting that new courses or new areas should be introduced to the Library and Information Science curriculum. For example, Hazeri, Martin, and Sarrafzadeh15 argued that there is a growing emphasis on the importance of knowledge management and that it should therefore be included in Library and Information Science curricula, stating that, in fact, 30% of US Library and Information Science faculties are offering knowledge management courses and have great interest in this course, according to the results

of an investigation of Library and Information Science curricula. Saye5 argued that Organization of Information Resources needs to be included in Library and Information Science curricula, suggesting the relevance of this course to existing courses including classification and cataloging courses, while Jaeger6 argued that it is necessary to include courses related to e-Government, as this course plays an important role in public library users' accessing e-Government information. Robins16 suggested education, experience, knowledge, and responsibilities for fostering information professionals, and based on this recommended Information Architecture as one of the courses to educate information professionals. This course includes the concepts of web development and information technology. Brown and Krumholz17 suggested a model integrating information literacy courses and a tool evaluating information literacy, and Al-Daihani18 insisted that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) education should be included in LIS curriculum to meet the requirements from the constantly changing field. Wilson19 proposed a model based on four foundational fields (information content, information systems, people, and organizations) that may assist the process of curriculum development and related activities in LIS education. Tenopir7 analyzed studies on reeducation for information professionals. She pointed out that professional institutions do not believe that LIS curriculum is teaching state-of-the-art information technology for fostering information professionals, while arguing that there are still many LIS departments that are providing a rather wide range of knowledge through continuing education programs in order to prepare librarians for a constantly changing information environment. She also analyzed the education programs of the Special Libraries Association, Association for Library and Information Science Education, Medical Library Association, and American Library Association, noting the results as the evidence for his argument. Considering that studies on curricula are constantly being carried out in Africa as a whole,20 Kenya,10 Kuwait21 and so forth, in addition to the precedent studies conducted in Europe, US, and Canada as reviewed above, the results of this study will have a great worldwide influence.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
As specialist education will be applied as practical knowledge several years after it is completed, emphasis lies on its future applicability according to evaluations of its practicality and analysis of demands from those already in the field. Therefore, it is necessary to examine Korean Library and Information Science curriculum courses, which are offered depending on faculty composition. It is also necessary to create a standardized basic model to facilitate professionalism. Furthermore, it is urgent to develop a practical curriculum that can strengthen the professionalism of librarians. This study suggested potential courses that emphasize applicability to practice and can be offered in Library and Information Science degree curricula, as well as an operational curriculum model. This study is based on the following research questions: RQ 1: How do Library and Information Science departments select courses for curriculum operation? RQ2: What are the courses that have already been created in Library and Information Science departments? RQ3: Which courses among the available ones do students usually take and complete? RQ4: Which courses among the available ones do field librarians show high degrees of demand for? RQ5: Which currently unavailable courses are field librarians showing demand for? RQ6: How are the courses changing? The research questions above will be answered through a research process consisting of 5 steps with additional research on changes in courses, which analyzed data for the last 20 years.

350 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

RESEARCH DESIGN

AND

METHODOLOGY

Research Procedure
During the process of finding answers to the research questions mentioned above, research was carried out step by step to achieve the research purpose. The research contents and methodology in each step were as follows: Step 1: Understanding the background of why current courses in Library and Information Science curriculum are offered (interview) This study performed simple interviews with faculty in the field to understand how the Library and Information Science departments select and launch courses for curriculum operation. The interviewees were selected randomly and 3 faculty members from near Seoul and 3 faculty members from other regions were chosen. Step 2: Identifying the courses in Library and Information Science currently available (homepage search and phone interview) This study identified courses currently available in Library and Information Science departments nationwide and carried out homepage searches of 34 universities (from May to August 2011). In cases of homepages not being updated so that there is no recent data available, the courses search was done through phone requests, and in fact, more than 80% of the data was collected by email through phone requests. Step 3: Identifying the courses that students have actually completed among the available ones (literature and resource research) This study identified which courses students have actually completed among those available. The scope of the study was intended for departments of Library and Information Science nationwide; however, the investigation was carried out in 10 universities (29.41%) for the last three years' course completion status under agreement with faculty and students due to confidentiality issues. Step 4: Evaluation of the practicality of the available courses by field librarians (survey) This study conducted a survey of field librarians to evaluate the practicality of the specialist courses. In the questionnaire, the courses currently available (which were found in Step 2) were listed and designed to be evaluated using 5-point Likert scales. Based on the results, this study was able to determine the courses with the highest degree of demand. Step 5: Exploring the demand for new courses (survey) The survey of the demand for new courses used the same method and targeted the same respondents as the survey explained above, but the list of courses was different. These courses consisted of the ones that have been set up in 28 Library and Information Science departments in four countries including the US, the UK, and Australia, but have not yet been launched in Korean Library and Information Science departments. There was also enough space in the questionnaire for suggestions of new courses. In addition, this study also analyzed the process of changes in the courses by investigating the curriculum over the last 20 years. Fortunately, there were some precedent studies such as Chung,22 Kim,23 and Noh and Choi,24 and they were appropriate for comparative analysis of changes in the curriculum. This study analyzed the curriculum changes in the unit of 67 years by adding investigation of 2011's curriculum. Fig. 1 demonstrates each step's research content, method, and procedure described above. The horizontal axis represents research

methodology while the vertical axis represents research contents. At the top far right, the potential final outcome and expected effect resulting from this study are illustrated.

Sampling Method and Data Collection Process

The population for the survey on the perception of current librarians was librarians from every kind of Korean library. These libraries were chosen from the registered libraries in the 2010 Library Yearbook, by library type. The numbers of libraries and their librarians registered in the library yearbook are as follows: 651 university libraries (including 225 branch libraries) and their 2121 librarians; 10,927 school libraries and their 682 librarians; 703 public libraries and their 3502 librarians; and 584 special libraries and their 618 librarians. In addition, librarians from national libraries such as the National Library of Korea (including administration and the National Children and Youth Library), the National Assembly Library (legislation), the Supreme Court Library of Korea (jurisdiction), and those that belong to other library associations and the Committee on Library and Information Policy are also included in the population. Fifteen to 20% of the population from each group was the sample size and 1200 questionnaires were distributed; 42.33% of them were returned. Table 1 demonstrates this in detail. The number of respondents in total was 508, with 25% male and 75% female respondents. Although the current gender ratio differs in different kinds of libraries, it is 30:70 or 40:60, in general, which implies that the gender ratio in this survey was appropriate. Regarding the age distribution of respondents, librarians in their twenties were 23.03%, thirties were 29.92%, forties were 31.98%, fifties were 14.96% and sixties were 0.2% of the sample, respectively. The results of the survey of respondents' education level reveal that more than 60% of the samples have completed a Bachelor's degree, and 19.13% and 3.75% of the sample possess a Master's degree and PhD degrees, respectively. In addition, both junior college graduates and the graduates of librarian training programs consist of 7.69% of the sample alike. This survey asked for respondents' work experience in libraries, finding the percentage of the sample as follows: less than 5 years: 28.94%; 510 years: 21.26%; 10 15 years: 14.17%, 2025 years: 15.94%; more than 25 years: 10.63%, and 1520 years of work experience: 9.06%. Regarding the kind of library to which respondents belong, 38.98% of the sample was from university libraries, 23.82% from public libraries, 14.17% from special libraries, 12.4% from school libraries, and 9.84% from national libraries. The subject areas these libraries service are listed in order as follows: all subject areas were serviced by 69.94%, the highest percentage of libraries; followed by Humanities & Social Sciences at 10.82% and Science Technology & Natural Science at 5.41%. Overall, it can be said that the distribution of the service course area of the respondents' libraries was dispersed. In terms of the job role in which respondents have the most experience, respondents could choose a maximum of 2 areas. The results show that 23.4% of respondents have the most experience in acquisition work, 37.6% in classification and listing, 33.3% in browsing and loans, 21.5% in reference, and 12.4% in both serial management and management planning work respectively. Overall, the job roles for which respondents are responsible were evenly dispersed.

The Contents of Questionnaire and Composition of Questions

The questionnaire used in this study consisted of questions to achieve the research purpose of this study, particularly the ones from research Steps 3 and 4. First and foremost, the survey was mainly aimed at identifying appropriate courses. The courses listed in the survey were selected from the curriculum survey of Korean Library and Information Science departments.25 They were chosen from each area by analyzing the courses in nationwide Library and Information Science departments on

351

Figure 1 Diagram of each step's research content, method and procedure.

the whole, and the survey was designed so that the necessary degree for each course would be marked on a Likert scale (5-point scale). The course areas were consistently as follows: General Library and Information Science, Information Organization, Library and Information Center Management, Information Services, Information Science, Bibliography, and Archival Science. Second, the survey investigated the opinions of librarians on core courses by asking them to mark courses which they consider core (primary) courses in the list. Third, to determine demand for new courses required for the digital age, this research team discussed and selected courses, which have not been launched in Korean Library and Information Science departments but are thought to be required today or for the future, from 28 courses in Library and Information Science departments in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. These courses were categorized and listed following each area, and respondents were asked to mark the necessity degree of each course on a Likert scale as well as the courses they consider to be core (primary) ones. The questionnaire was developed based on preceding studies related to the purpose of this survey and included questions on

personal information of respondents. The final questionnaire consisted of 5 survey areas and 14 survey contents. Table 2 summarizes the contents and questions of the questionnaire.

Grouping of Areas of Specialization in Library and Information Science

This study analyzed LIS curriculum across the last 20 years to explore changes in courses, and analyzed approximately 4000 courses from 1991, 1997, 2004, and 2011. Researchers of this study decided that it would be more effective to analyze courses as a group following areas of specialization in Library and Information Science than to individually investigate the changes in courses, the trend of launching new courses, and curriculum composition. The courses were grouped into seven areas of specialization: General Library and Information Science, Information Organization, Library and Information Center Management, Information Services, Information Science, Bibliography, and Archival Science. For the categorization and conceptualization of study areas in Library and Information Science, this study drew from precedent studies26,23 and from the Introduction of Library and Information Science.27 However,

Table 1 Distributed questionnaires and the return rate

Survey area
Surveys distributed Surveys returned Return rate (%)

Public library
500 121 24.20

Academic library
300 198 66.00

School library
140 63 45.00

Special library
120 72 60.00

National library
140 50 35.71

Others
0 4

Total
1200 508 42.33

352 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

Table 2 Survey area and survey contents

Survey area
Necessity of revision in courses Degree of necessity of each course

Survey contents
Whether it is necessary to revise courses in Library and Information Science departments General Library and Information Science (Cultural History of Information, Introduction to Library and Information Science) Information Organization (Cataloging and classification of Information Resources, Metadata) Information Services (Theory of Information Services, Subject's information resources, Information User study) Library and Information Center Management (Library Management, Management of Different Kinds of Libraries) Information Science (Introduction to Information Science, Information Retrieval, Indexing and Abstracting) Bibliography (Introduction to Bibliography, Korean Bibliography, Chinese Bibliography) Archival Science (Archives Management, Reservation of Archives)

Questions
1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Degree of satisfaction with the curriculum

The most effective teaching method in the Library and Information Science Department How much and in which job abilities the degree curriculum has been helpful The area where the degree curriculum was helpful and how satisfactory the help was Important factors for advancement in Library and Information Science curriculum and how important they are

Necessary new course courses required in the digital age Personal background

Suggestion of new courses and their necessity degree, whether to appoint them as core courses in seven areas of Library and Information Science Gender Age Education Work experience in library Employed library Main service subject area of the employed library The most experienced job role of respondent (choose first two)

assigning each course to one of the seven areas mentioned above depended on each researcher's decision, and it can be problematic to categorize courses with complex characters into one area. It was also difficult to decide which area the newly developed courses should be categorized into. Therefore, it was desirable to use the grouping of areas of specialization as a basic resource for understanding the general picture. That is, it was easier to analyze the trend of curricula following certain criteria rather than to analyze each course among approximately 1000 newly launched courses. Therefore, this study progressed consistently by setting up and following the category and scope of areas of specialization.

Information Science as there are only Information Science faculty, while in the case of C university, where the majority of faculty specialize in Bibliography, more than 40% of the courses are on Bibliography. Particularly, C university is facing problems because it is not able to launch different courses due to the large number of Bibliography faculty, despite the high demand among students for curriculum changes appropriate to changing circumstances in the LIS field.

The Analysis of Current Courses in Library and Information Science Departments and Changes in Those Courses
Universities are making a great effort to be competitive in the knowledge and information society by changing faculty titles and launching appropriate curricula. Universities organize curricula independently based on their own background and resources, while seeking specialization for differentiation from other universities. In this context, Library and Information Science departments have also developed and changed their curricula reflecting the changes in the knowledge and information society and developments in information technology. In fact, the cycle of curriculum change and renewal has been shortened to 23 years. The scope of this study is curriculum changes in Korean Library and Information Science departments from 1991 to 2011. In Korean universities, there have been two systems in which students declare their majors. Until 1996, every university in South Korea was using

RESULTS
The results of this study can be grouped into 6 areas as follows: 1) the background of launching a course, 2) Library and Information Science curriculum courses, 3) the courses that have actually been taken, 4) evaluation of course practicality, 5) newly demanded courses, and 6) trends in changes in Library and Information Science curriculum.

The Background of Launching a Course

To investigate how Library and Information Science departments choose their courses for curriculum operation, simple interviews were conducted with active faculty. It was revealed that the launching of courses in each department is absolutely influenced by its faculty. For example, in the case of Y university, more than 70% of courses are on

353

Figure 2 Periodic characteristics shown when analyzing LIS curriculum.

the departmental system; it required that students declare a major as part of the admissions process. For a period of time from 1997 through 2011, some universities adopted the faculty system in which students were admitted without declaring a major. Students took classes during their first year from a variety of departments. Then, after the first year, students declared a major. By 2011, most universities returned to the department system. This study found that the most prominent changing factors in characteristics during the study period were the alterations between the department and faculty systems, and Fig. 2 shows which system was in place for the years curriculum was analyzed in this study.

number increased again by 162 in 2011. Among them, 77 courses were added due to two newly launched Library and Information Science departments in 2009. The percentages in parentheses show the ratio of the number of newly launched courses in each area to the total number of courses.

The Trend of Launching of New Courses

This study analyzed the trend of launching new courses in Korean Library and Information Science from 1991 to 2011 in units of 6 7 years. This analysis was done following the categorization of study areas of Library and Information Science chosen by this study, and the details of analysis are in the following paragraphs. In the General Library and Information Science area, there have been changes in the title of courses such as The Library and Society to Information Society and again to Information Society and the Library as the terms referring to society have changed. Newly launched courses in this area are the ones regarding web publishing and electronic publishing, copyright and intellectual property rights, and concepts of information ethics. Moreover, reflecting the universities' policies for strengthening competitiveness in job markets, it was observed that courses on career counseling have also been set up. In the Information Organization area, there has been no notable change for the last 20 years from 1991 to 2011; the major courses in this area are courses on classification and cataloging information. A

The Changes in the Number of Courses in Curricula of Library and Information Science Departments Nationally
This study tried to analyze the changes in courses by investigating the curriculum of Library and Information Science over the last 20 years. For the analysis of the last 20 years' curriculum in Library and Information Science departments across the country, this study intensively re-analyzed Chung,22 Kim,23 The Curriculum of Korean Library and Information Science, which has been published since 2004, and additional resources from 2011. First and foremost, the total number of courses increased by 137 from 899 in 1991 to 1038 in 1997 as can be seen in Table 3. Although, the number decreased by 42 to 996 in 2004 compared to 1997, the

Table 3 The changes in the number of courses in curricula of LIS departments (1991, 1997, 2004, 2011)
Year Year
1991 1997 2004 2011

Area Number of courses and universities

899 1038 996 1158

Foundational Number of courses

35 (3.89%) 60 (5.78%) 60 (6.02%) 64 (5.53%)

Core (compulsory) Number of universities

10 17 14 13

Intensified (optional) Number of courses

609 (67.74%) 796 (76.69%) 868 (87.15%) 971 (83.85%)

Number of courses
255 (28.36%) 183 (17.63%) 68 (6.83%) 119 (10.28%)

Number of universities
29 25 11 19

Number of universities
29 32 32 34

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Table 4 Completed courses

Area Course Konkuk Kyonggi Konju Chonbuk Sangmyung Chungnam Total University University University University University University
59 19 25 30 30 20 16 30 30 22 25 26 17 30 179 94 82 30 30 20 16

General Library and Introduction to Library and 30 Information Information Science Science Cultural History of Information 27 Field Work Texts and Teaching Teaching Method in Library and Information Science Research Method in Library and Information Science Seminars and Advanced Studies in Library and Information Science Information Organization Classification Cataloging Non-book Material and Multimedia Organization KOMARC Practice Cataloging Practice Metadata Fundamentals Information Services Information Services Reading Guidance Subject Information Sources Children and Youth Information 28 26 18 30 29 15

29 29

30 30

28 30 22

27 18

30 30

174 166 22 22

22 19 15 26 24 30 30 41 30 18 20 24 25 22 19 18 16 15 15 21 23 22 27 19 23 27 19 25 20 17 24 15 21 30 18 19 24 17 33 22 30 25 30

19 15 167 90 61 52 50 22 19 18 16 15 15 115 95 62 52 47 42 40 25 20 17 (continued on next page) 355

Information Sources in 25 Humanities and Social Science Information Media Subject Information Service Literature of Science and Technology Studies in Information Users Non-book Material Internet Resources Library and Information Center Management Library Management

Management of School Library 19 Management of Public Library Management of Different Kinds of Libraries Media Center Management Non-book Material and Multimedia management Collection Development Management of Academic Libraries Building Information Media Collections Collection Management

Table 4 (continued)

Area

Course

Konkuk Kyonggi Konju Chonbuk Sangmyung Chungnam Total University University University University University University
17 17 28 16 19 21 19 21 26 22 20 15 15 27 24 16 17 27 16 17 27 24 19 25 24 19 30 26 15 25 27 30 17 24 147 104 67 58 46 45 40 26 22 20 15 15 67 16 44

Information Science Information Retrieval Digital Library Information Processing Database Management Indexing and Abstracting Library & Information Network Automated Systems of Libraries Multimedia Information System Analysis and Design Internet Service Engineering Library Information System Management Current Status of Information Technology Bibliography Introduction to Bibliography Oriental Bibliography Archive Management Archive Management

couple of items to note are that Machine Readable Cataloging and Metadata concepts were introduced in 2004 and 2011, and the names of courses are more specific and diverse. The number of courses on organization of old books has decreased, while new names such as Organizing Special Materials or Multimedia Organization have appeared. Courses in the Information Services area can be largely divided into Theories and Practices in Information Services, Subject Bibliography (Subject Information Sources), Reading Education, Education and Practices in Information Utilization (User Education) and Information User Study. The title of Theories and Practices in Information Services has changed to Reference Service Theory, Information Service Theory, and Information Services. Subject Information Source courses used to be divided into Humanities, Social, and Natural Science, but later on, the courses were divided into more specific categories such as Internet Source, Digital Information Source, and Studies in Local Information. In particular, the number of Reading Guidance courses has increased from 20 in 1991 to 39 in 2011, and recently, new courses such as Bibliotherapy and Bibliotherapy to the Disabled as well as Reading Guidance for General Users have been launched and the number of such courses is also growing. The major courses in Library and Information Center Management are Library Management, Management of Academic, Public, and Special Libraries, Study of Collection Development, Collection Management, Library Policy Study, Non-Book Material Study, and Management of Serials. The number of Library Management courses, the core and foundational courses in the Library and Information center Management area, is continuously growing. Courses on Management of Different Kinds of Libraries deal with more than two kinds of libraries, and it was observed that the number of courses on integrating different kinds of libraries is decreasing, while the number of courses that clearly target a

certain kind of library is increasing. There are many cases in which the name Materials Selection was changed to Collection Development, and the number of courses in Collection Management, which teaches how to manage selected and developed collections, has risen greatly. In the 2000s, the courses in this area are becoming more diversified, and it was found that new courses such as Library Evaluation, Library Statistics, Information Market, Information Flow, Library Building and Facilities, Library Marketing, Library Movement, and Library Network have been created, reflecting issues, development, and current trends in the 2000s. The major courses in Information Science are Introduction to Information Science, Automated Systems of Libraries, Digital Libraries, Information Storage and Retrieval, Index and Abstracting, Database Management, and Information Systems. Introduction to Information Science, considered a core and primary course in Information Science, has been offered in 20 or so universities over the last 20 years. Automated Systems of Libraries seems to have been set up in most of the Library and Information Science departments, but the name was changed to Digital Libraries in 2004, and since then, this course has dealt with automated systems of libraries, including digital libraries. Many new courses have been launched in the 2000s, and these are Knowledge Management System, Library Information Network, Multimedia Structure, Organization, Application Service, Digital Contents, User Interface Design, Semantic Web Systems, and Introduction to the Semantic Web. In the case of Bibliography, there are not many courses, and the names of the courses have not been changed much either. Introduction to Bibliography is available in most universities, and there are some universities that provide more specific Bibliography courses such as Oriental Bibliography, Chinese Bibliographies, Korean Bibliography, and Western Bibliography. However, there is an observable tendency for the

356 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

Table 5 Evaluation of relevance of courses from the Library and Information Science area
Area Courses Mean Standard Whether to be deviation a core course Frequency %
General Library and Information Science Field Work Introduction to Library and Information Science Library and Copyright Information Society and Library Cultural History of Information Research Method in Library and Information Science Ethics & Security in Information Management Seminars and Advanced Studies in Library and Information Science Teacher Librarian system and Teaching Method World Libraries Library and Publication Library and Information Science and Teaching Method Educational Media Text and Teaching Information Organization Classification Cataloging Classification Practice Cataloging Practice KOMARC Practice Non-Book Material and Multimedia Organization Metadata Fundamentals Classification and Cataloging of Rare Books Information Services Information Services (Reference and Information Services) Internet Resource Utilization Subject Information Resources Academic Information Utilization Information Literacy (Information Literacy Instruction) 4.392 4.113 4.014 3.769 3.602 3.581 3.560 3.499 3.491 3.466 3.460 3.427 3.327 3.233 4.399 4.384 4.360 4.344 4.222 4.002 3.953 3.388 4.271 4.111 4.080 4.051 3.961 0.725 0.740 0.802 0.744 0.798 0.786 0.824 0.807 0.783 0.742 0.801 0.789 0.775 0.814 0.715 0.763 0.762 0.746 0.799 0.751 0.820 0.848 0.722 0.738 0.713 0.740 0.777 0.754 0.771 0.866 0.902 0.791 0.718 0.739 0.760 0.742 0.768 0.744 0.811 0.809 0.794 0.812 143 198 84 44 81 54 29 22 22 19 11 34 5 10 223 228 158 135 117 93 80 36 166 72 115 76 60 47 63 77 41 28 27 27 24 13 15 9 8 169 137 73 28.1 39 16.5 8.7 15.9 10.6 5.7 4.3 4.3 3.7 2.2 6.7 1 2 43.9 44.9 31.1 26.6 23 18.3 15.7 7.1 32.7 14.2 22.6 15 11.8 9.3 12.4 15.2 8.1 5.5 5.3 5.3 4.7 2.6 3 1.8 1.6 33.3 27 14.4

Non-book Material Utilization (Digital Information Resources Utilization) 3.953 Information User Study Reading Guidance Bibliotherapy Children's and Young Adult's Librarianship Information Sources in Humanities and Social Science Literature of Science and Technology Children and Young People's Literature and Related Materials Information Resources in Medicine Scholarly Communication Oriental Bibliography Book Review Library and Information Center Library Management Management Collection Development Library Marketing 3.931 3.899 3.714 3.690 3.687 3.679 3.661 3.484 3.382 3.294 3.269 4.035 4.020 3.980

(continued on next page)

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Table 5 (continued)

Area

Courses

Mean Standard Whether to be deviation a core course Frequency %

0.748 0.723 0.727 0.848 0.796 0.728 0.752 0.741 0.781 0.712 0.764 0.755 0.725 0.744 0.778 0.753 0.776 0.803 0.733 0.800 0.820 0.808 0.817 0.828 0.763 0.855 0.821 0.802 0.728 0.800 0.810 0.763 0.877 0.817 0.812 0.880 0.809 0.814 0.893 0.762 0.775 0.754 97 49 64 62 52 20 9 10 19 2 8 124 95 88 132 50 53 38 34 64 47 28 36 33 23 32 21 25 16 17 8 6 10 12 5 154 44 35 27 13 10 4 19.1 9.6 12.6 12.2 10.2 3.9 1.8 2 3.7 0.4 1.6 24.4 18.7 17.3 26 9.8 10.4 7.5 6.7 12.6 9.3 5.5 7.1 6.5 4.5 6.5 4.1 4.9 3.1 3.3 1.6 1.2 2 2.4 1 30.3 8.7 6.9 5.3 2.6 2 0.8

Library and Information Center Management of Different Kinds of Libraries (including Public, Academic, 3.912 Management School Libraries) Non-book Material and Multimedia Management (Contents Management) 3.854 Management of Serials Library Cultural Program Evaluation of Library and Library Service (Information Statistics and Analysis) Library Information Cooperator Information Entrepreneurship (Information Market) Evaluation for Technical Science DB Studies in Library Buildings Business Information Management Seminar in Library Movement Information Science Information Retrieval Digital Library Automated System of Library Understanding of Information Science Library Information System Management Information Processing Library Information Network Digital Contents Indexing and Abstracting Database Management (Web DB Management) User Interface Management of E-journal Databases Internet Service engineering (Web DB engineering) Multimedia Library and Internet Technologies Current Status of Information Technology Information System Analysis and Design Knowledge Management System Information Standards Semantic Web System Knowledge Structure Programming Language Informetrix Electronic Commerce for Information Bibliography Introduction to Bibliography Korean Bibliography The Comprehension of Ancient material The Law of Classic Arrangement Oriental Bibliography Western Bibliography Chinese Bibliography 3.823 3.794 3.694 3.460 3.298 3.280 3.241 3.115 2.992 4.091 4.070 3.992 3.906 3.849 3.848 3.764 3.760 3.740 3.740 3.691 3.683 3.675 3.657 3.603 3.576 3.554 3.548 3.465 3.283 3.264 3.178 3.143 3.117 3.731 3.388 3.331 3.215 3.088 3.067 3.051

(continued on next page)

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Table 5 (continued)

Area

Courses

Mean Standard Whether to be deviation a core course Frequency %

3.031 3.008 3.794 3.613 3.596 3.589 3.561 3.515 3.505 0.866 0.834 0.82 0.797 0.846 0.804 0.812 0.781 0.78 10 6 123 33 40 36 37 20 16 2 1.2 24.2 6.5 7.9 7.1 7.3 3.9 3.1

Bibliography

Utilization of Ancient Material Physical Bibliography Guidance

Archival Science

Archive Management Archives Management System Organization of Archives & Records (Archival Practice) Document Management and Archives Preservation Management Government Publications (Government Information Resources, Official Information) Selection and Acquisition of Archival Documents

course titles to become more specific and there are a growing number of new courses such as The Law of Classic Judgment and Utilization of Ancient Material, which emphasize practicality. The primary or core course in Archival Science is Introduction to Archives Management. It was available in nine universities in 2004, but 27 Library and Information Science departments in 2011. The courses in this area include Archival Management Systems, Records and Archives Management, Organization of Archives & Records, Archive & Record system, Archive & Record Service, Theories in Appraisal and Selection of Archives, Government Information Sources, and in 2011, new courses such as Archives and Humankind, Systems of Archival Management, and Record Management &Information Media have been created.

Completion of Courses
This paragraph analyzes the completion of major courses by graduates who have degrees in Library and Information Science and who have applied for librarian qualification in the last three years to discover what courses Library and Information Science students are actually taking. The process and method of the survey is as follows. First of all, this study did not target all universities related to Library and Information Science in the whole country, but selected universities which have the faculty system and the department system of Library and Information Science, and aim to foster teacher librarians. The following is the detailed list. Universities with the faculty system: Konkuk University, Kyonggi University Universities with the department system: Sangmyung University, Chonbuk University, Chungnam University Universities for fostering teacher librarians: Kongju University. Second, this study collected lists of courses which were completed by 10 LIS graduates from each of the universities above every year for last three years (2009, 2010, 2011). Third, this study wrote up lists of all courses which were completed by 30 LIS graduates per university and made tables consisting of courses completed by more than 15 of them. Based on these tables of completed courses for each area, this study analyzed which courses were most chosen and taken by students in Korean Library and Information Science curricula. The most completed course in General Library and Information Science area was Introduction to Library and Information Science

followed by Cultural History of Information and Field Work, in that order. In particular, Introduction to Library and Information Science is a compulsory course in four universities. The most completed courses in the Information Organization area were Classification of Information Resources and Organization of Information Resources (Cataloging of Information Materials), which are compulsory courses in most of the universities. In the Information Services area, Information Services was the most completed course followed by Reading Guidance and Subject Information Resources in order. Among them, Information Services is a compulsory course in all of the universities selected for survey. In the Library and Information Center Management area, Library Management was completed the most followed by Management of Different Kinds of Libraries, Public Library Management, and Management of School Library in that order. Library Management is a compulsory course in five universities. In the Information Science area, Information Retrieval was completed most, followed by Digital Library and Information Process, in that order. Information Retrieval is a compulsory course in five universities. In the area of Bibliography, Introduction to Bibliography is available in three universities, and in the area of Archival Management, Introduction to Archival Management is available in two universities, but no university has chosen either of these two courses as a compulsory course (Table 4).

Practicality Evaluation of Courses

This study selected 90 courses from approximately 1000 currently available (investigated in Step 2) through several meetings of this research team, attempting unification of similar courses and considering the number of courses being launched in order to evaluate the practicality of courses from a field librarian's perspective. Table 5 summarizes the courses chosen and the results of the survey. These 90 courses were divided into areas and their necessity in the field was evaluated by a Likert scale. Based on the results, this study highlights the courses with the highest degree of demand. As can be seen in Table 5, the course with the highest demand in the necessity evaluation from General Library and Information Science area is Field Work (practical experience in an actual working library such as during an internship) (4.392), followed by Introduction to Library and Information Science (4.113), Library and Copyright (4.014), and Information Society and Library (3.769), in that order, and the degree of necessity for most of these courses was more than the average. At the same time, the perceived degree of necessity of

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courses such as Educational Media or Texts and Teaching appears to be relatively low, and it seems that this is because these courses are focusing on fostering teacher librarians. Moreover, respondents were asked to mark the courses they thought were core or primary ones on the list. Among them, Introduction to Library and Information Science was chosen by 39% of the respondents (198) and Field Work by 28.1% (143), with a relatively high rate of respondents choosing them as core or primary courses. In the Information Organization area, most of the courses except Classification and Cataloging of Rare Books scored more than a 4.0 necessity degree. Among them, Classification of Information Sources (4.399), Cataloging of Information Sources (4.384), Classification Practices (4.36), Cataloging Practices (4.344), and KOMARC Practice (4.222) were chosen as the most necessary courses with a relatively higher number of points than courses in the General Library and Information Science area. Respondents were asked to mark which courses they thought were core or primary ones in the list, and 44.9% chose Cataloging of Information Sources, 43.9% chose Classification of Information Sources, 31.1% chose Classification Practices, and 26.6% chose Cataloging Practices. In the Information Services area, Information Services (4.271), Internet Resources (4.111), Subject Information Sources (4.08), and Academic Information Resources (4.051) gained more than 4.0 points of necessity degree and are followed by Information Literacy (3.961), Non-book Materials Utilization (Digital Information Resource Utilization, 3.953), and Information User Study (3.931), in that order. Based on these results, it can be assumed that the courses that field librarians think necessary mainly concern the understanding of information sources (Subject Information Sources) and users (Information User Study), or the ones which can provide appropriate information sources (Information Literacy). In addition, there was an observably strong opinion that the courses regarding utilization of Internet information resources or digital information resources are necessary. Respondents were asked to mark the courses they think are core or primary ones in the list and Information Services was chosen by 32.7% of respondents to be a core course, followed by Subject Information Sources, which was chosen by 22.6% of the respondents. In the perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the Library and Information Center Management area, Library Management and Collection Development were given relatively high points of 4.035 and 4.020, respectively, and were followed by Library Marketing with 3.980 points, Management of Different Kinds of Libraries with 3.912 points. Library Movement received the lowest points with 2.992. Respondents were asked to mark which courses they thought were core or primary ones in the list, and Library Management (33.3%) and Collection Development (27%) were chosen as core courses by respondents. Regarding the rest of the courses, a comparatively low percentage of respondents think that they are necessary core courses. In the perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the Information Science area, Information Retrieval (4.091), Digital Library (4.07), Automated Systems of Libraries (3.992), Understanding Information Science (3.906) gained the highest number of points in that order. On the other hand, the points given to Programming Language and Informatics were relatively low with 3.178 and 3.143, respectively. In particular, the low points of Informatics are understandable because it is academically relevant in postgraduate courses rather than useful in the field. Respondents were also asked to mark the courses they considered core or primary ones in the list. Understanding Information Science was chosen by 26% of respondents, followed by Information Retrieval by 24.4%, Digital Library by 18.7% and Automated Systems of Libraries by 17.3%. In the perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the Bibliography area, there is no course with a mean value of more than 4.0. Most of the courses had a necessity degree of less than 3.5 points except Introduction to Bibliography with 3.731, the highest number of

points. Nevertheless, there was a librarian who chose the maximum value 5; this area shows one of the highest standard deviation values compared to other areas. Respondents were asked to mark the courses they thought were core or primary ones in the list, and only Introduction to Bibliography was chosen by 30.3% of respondents, while other courses were chosen by less than 10% of respondents, which is a very low percentage. The perception survey regarding the necessity of courses in the Archive Management area had results similar to the Bibliography area with a rather low mean value, but it is still higher than the Bibliography area's courses. Among them, Archive Management, the primary course of this area, shows the highest degree of points with 3.794.

Demands for New Courses

To investigate demands for new courses required for the digital age, this study analyzed courses in 28 Library and Information Science departments in the US, the UK, Canada, and Singapore, and suggested courses that have not been launched in Korean Library and Information Science curriculum, but are likely to be required either today or in the future. They were divided into the relevant area so that respondents could evaluate the degree of necessity using a Likert scale and mark whether they considered each course to be a core (primary) one. First and foremost, the results of the question on courses required in the digital age using a Likert scale were: Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources (4.207), the highest degree of demand among the 30 courses, followed by Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment (4.139), Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections (4.097) and Information and Communication in a Digital Age (4.05), in that order. Regarding the question concerning whether each course needs to be appointed as a core one, the most respondents, 23.2%, chose Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources;19.1% of the respondents chose Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment;17.3% opted for Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections; and 16.5% selected Information and Communication in a Digital Age. As the numbers given to this question were very low, it seems that respondents were skeptical about these courses being core courses. However, the degree of demand for new courses required in the digital age and the one asking whether to appoint a course as a core course are almost the same. Therefore, courses like Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections and Information and Communication in a Digital Age need to be considered for becoming core courses (Table 6).

DISCUSSION

AND

FUTURE RESEARCH

Discussion
This research project was carried out with support from the Library Research Institute in the National Library of Korea, to develop courses for producing competent librarians appropriate for the information age. This study diagnosed and analyzed the practicality degree of courses from various angles and the results can be summarized as follows. First of all, in Korea's case, decisions on launching courses are completely influenced by faculty in the Library and Information Science department as there are no criteria for courses suggested by library associations or meetings for each type of library. However, it is necessary for library associations or meetings for each kind of library to suggest and recommend standardized curricula to be launched to foster future librarians qualified and equipped with competence. A proposal for minimal standard courses for librarian qualification is also necessary for the specialization of each university.

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Table 6 New courses required for the digital age

Order Course Mean Standard deviation Max Min Whether to be a core course Freq
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections Information and Communication in a Digital Age Electronic Records Management Information Policy Web Archiving Information Services in Culturally Diverse Communities Resources and Services for People with Disabilities Special Topics in Organization of Information and Resources Web 2.0/Web 3.0/eCommunities E-learning: Social and Technical Issues Digital Humanities Information Consulting International Librarianship: Issues and Innovations Web Content Reliability Digital Divides and Information Professionals: Developing a Critical Practice User-Generated Contents Modern Archives Administration Knowledge Representation and Formal Ontology Informatics Economics of Information Accountability, Democracy and Ethics in Record Keeping Rare Books and Special Collections Librarianship Ecological Information Systems Legal Resources Information Sources for Business and Industry Competitive intelligence Music Librarianship Health Sciences Info Services and Resources 4.207 4.139 4.097 4.050 3.957 3.885 3.872 3.857 3.837 3.789 3.766 3.726 3.718 3.696 3.676 3.669 3.630 3.550 3.546 3.522 3.513 3.490 3.478 3.418 3.370 3.321 3.268 3.228 3.212 3.089 0.697 0.732 0.689 0.735 0.780 0.709 0.803 0.765 0.753 0.742 0.832 0.800 0.745 0.758 0.746 0.77 0.744 0.763 0.777 0.753 0.754 0.720 0.757 0.848 0.729 0.711 0.714 0.658 0.712 0.696 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 118 97 88 84 72 56 54 43 59 27 47 35 55 57 38 16 21 27 17 14 15 12 14 30 7 9 9 6 3 3

%
23.2 19.1 17.3 16.5 14.2 11 10.6 8.5 11.6 5.3 9.3 6.9 10.8 11.2 7.5 3.1 4.1 5.3 3.3 2.8 3 2.4 2.8 5.9 1.4 1.8 1.8 1.2 0.6 0.6

Second, in the analysis of launching trends of new courses, four major cases were observed: 1) cases where the course titles were changed to ones more appropriate for the current time, 2) cases where courses that were not appropriate for the current time were dropped, 3) cases where one course was divided into several courses, and 4) cases where new courses were launched (e.g. Metadata, Library Marketing). On the whole, the number of courses is growing, and courses are becoming more specific and diversified. Third, from the results of analyzing the reality of student course selection in 10 universities in the last 3 years, it was revealed that only

50% of the courses were taken by students from the 90 available courses. Among them, courses such as Introduction to Library and Information Science, Cultural History of Information, Field Work, Classification, Cataloging, Theories and Practices in Information Services, Reading Guidance, Library Management, Management of Different Kinds of Libraries, Information Retrieval, and Digital Library have been taken the most. It can be interpreted that these courses are in high demand among future librarians. Fourth, in the survey of field librarians regarding an evaluation of the necessity of 90 courses on the list, the courses with demand degree of

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more than 4 points in a 5-point scale are as follows: 3 courses from the General Library and Information Science area (Field Work, Introduction to Library and Information Science, Library and Copyright); 6 courses from the Information Organization area (Classification, Cataloging, Classification Practice, Cataloging Practice, KOMARC, Non-book Material, and Multimedia Organization); 4 courses from the Information

Services area (Theories and Practices in Information Service, Internet Resources, Subject Information Resources, and Academic Information Utilization); 2 courses from the Library and Information Center Management area (Library Management and Collection Development), and 2 courses from Information Science (Information Retrieval and Digital Library).

Figure 3 Agreement between the most completed courses by students and practicality evaluation for courses.

362 The Journal of Academic Librarianship

In both the Bibliography and Archive Management areas, demand for courses was less than 4 points. Regarding these results, faculty need to consider which courses librarians designated as necessary based on their fieldwork experience. Demand for courses in the resource organization area is particularly relevant as they argue that even education of classification and cataloging practices for each medium is necessary. Fifth, this study investigated the demand for courses that have not been launched in Korean Library and Information Science departments. From 28 universities abroad, 30 courses that have not been launched in Korea yet were put on the list for the demand survey. Among them, Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections, and Information and Communication in a Digital Age received a demand degree of more than 4 points. These courses were designed to facilitate management capacity for rapidly increasing digital information resources and information technology capacity to deal with such resources. They are also related to big issues in the library industry, and the demand for them has been getting higher in the field recently. Fig. 3 demonstrates the results of the study explained above, diagramming the courses that were completed the most and had high field demand. As can be seen in Fig. 3, a high agreement between the most completed courses by students and practicality evaluation for courses was observed. There were 19 courses that were both preferred by students and have high demand from the field. The correlation coefficient between courses that have actually been taken and have a high degree of demand for in the practicality evaluation is 0.0053, and the one between the orders of courses in the rank is 0.0042, with a significance level of 0.05 for both coefficients. Therefore, the high agreement is statistically significant. It can be concluded that there is a need to consider the 19 courses mentioned above as core or compulsory courses. Based on the results of analyzing foreign curricula,28 these 19 courses are frequently offered in foreign curricula.

depth from a historical perspective not only in Korea but also in other countries. These studies will be helpful to predict demand for future courses as well as have meaning in Archival Science.

CONCLUSIONS
This study analyzed the process of changes in the courses and curriculum of Library and Information Science departments, evaluated the practicality of courses based on perspective analysis of field librarians and analyzed the degree of demand for new courses found from the analysis of other countries' courses. This study also analyzed which Library and Information Science courses students have taken the most, and the trend of launching new courses in the last 20 years. The analysis results reveal that there are a total of 19 courses that are preferred by students and have a high degree of demand. Among them, the courses having a high degree of demand from both sides are as follows: Introduction to Library and Information Science, Cultural History of Information, and Field Work in the General Library and Information Science area; Classification, Cataloging, KOMARC Practice and Cataloging Practice in the Information Organization area; Information Services and Internet Resources in the Information Services area; Library Management, Management of Different Kinds of Libraries, Non-book Material and Multimedia Management, and Collection Development in the Information Services area; Information Retrieval, Digital Library, Automated Systems of Libraries and Seminar in Library Information System Management in the Information Science area; Introduction to Bibliography in Bibliography area; and Archive Management in the Archive Management area. These courses should be considered for appointment as core or compulsory courses and the results are similar in Library and Information Science departments worldwide.

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the Research

Institute in Korean National Library (KLA). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the KLA. The author thanks Tsultrim Datso and Patricia Ladd for editing this article into fluent American English.

Future Research
This study was carried out in Korea where the LIS Bachelor's degree is fundamental. Although courses for Master's or PhD degrees are available in the majority of Library and Information Science departments, this study focused on the curricula for the Bachelor's degree. In the case of the US, there are universities that have recently launched or are planning to launch Library and Information Science courses for a Bachelor's degree, and the situation in China and Japan is similar to Korea's. Therefore, this study will contribute to curriculum studies all over the world, and it is necessary to conduct other such studies in other countries. During the research process, this study analyzed the case of Kent University in the US. This university suggests courses appropriate for each career. In other words, students in this university are recommended to take specific core and optional courses provided for each career area. Studies on and suggestions of this kind of curriculum system need to be conducted both inside and outside Korea. At the same time, appropriate courses need to be identified by using a job analysis method. The job analysis method is a method to develop a curriculum focusing on capability by analyzing the jobs of field librarians and identifying constantly changing demands from society and workplaces in a scientific way. In Korea, some researchers have done job analyses, but these are limited because they have not been used to develop curricula. Studies need to be done that can suggest specific courses for different kinds of libraries by conducting job analysis for each kind of libraries using SCID technique. Finally, this study analyzed the changes in courses over the last 20 years. It is necessary to conduct studies on course changes in more

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