Education for serials librarianship: what are the not so obvious basic components?

Abstract

Four basic components that should be stressed in education for serials librarianship, and that are frequently not part of a core curriculum, are delineated. They are: knowledge of the capabilities of computers and telecommunications systems, particularly the trends in technological capability; knowledge of scholarly communications, the mechanisms and social dynamics of the creation and dissemination of information; complementary quantitative skills for decision making; and knowledge of basic economic principles. Other components of library education are, of course, appropriate for serials librarianship – cataloguing and data retrieval techniques, for example – but it is argued that the above components are particularly appropriate to serials librarianship, and generally are inadequately stressed in library education.