Information management

: A contemporary study of the discipline and the profession

Abstract

This investigation aims to delineate a contemporary profile of IM within the UK through the comparison of content analyses of IM course curricula and IM job advertisements. The objectives of the investigation were, to determine: what is recognised as the discipline of IM through the consideration of what components are taught within UK Higher Education (HE) IM degree curricula; whether a profession of IM can be identified, and defined, through the analysis of IM job advertisements from the UK. A sample of UK IM courses available in the 2007- 2008 academic year was retrieved through the UCAS and Prospects’ university listings. A systematic sample of contemporary job advertisements was taken between 2007- 2008 from job listings within the Library & Information Gazette, and The Guardian and Jinfo websites. Data from the content analyses of the two document types were recorded within two separate coding schedules devised. The results were analysed by both univariate and bivariate analysis. Only three topics and subjects were found to be covered within all of the courses. However, a number of other topics were covered by a large percentage. Within the job advertisement analysis, none of the identified categories of duties or skills were stated or requested within the majority of the advertisements. The comparison of categories from the course and advertisement content analysis demonstrated no consistency. It was concluded from this study that although a number of identifiers for an IM discipline existed it may not be a discipline within its own right. No evidence was found that IM could be considered as a profession. A set of topics were identified that could represent a body of knowledge for the IM discipline. However, no topics could be identified that represented a body of knowledge for the practice of IM

Date of Award	2009
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Aberystwyth University
Supervisor	Judy Broady-Preston (Supervisor)