Status of Digital Novice Academic Librarians’ Continuing Professional Development: A Case of University of the Punjab

Abstract

This paper aims at exploring the ways, through which the academic librarians engage themselves in continuing professional development (CPD) activities. It also identifies the sources that academic librarians feel helpful for their CPD. These librarians neither had any ICT training before nor educated during their Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) for the use of the latest technology, and are considered as digital novice. Librarians are required to keep them up to date to survive in this competitive information marketplace. They need to get familiarized with the latest technology and its applications for the libraries to minimize the gap between the information and its users. CPD allows receding from the traditional approach and muddling through the new digital arena. To get the vivid picture in the current scenario qualitative approach was used. Interviews were used as data collection technique. The population of this study was these digital immigrants librarian who got their MLIS degree before year 2001 and never had any formal ICT training before joining the profession and working in the University of the Punjab. Non probability purposive sampling technique was used to choose the sample of 12 respondents. The subsequent analysis will help librarian judge the present status of their CPD activities and to determine the ways to improve self-directed or organizational learning. It will be of assistance to the library schools, library management, library association and the policy makers to improve the existing training programs or to design the new programs to fulfill the requirements.