Alignment of competencies as identified by library and information science educators and practitioners: A case study of database management

Library and Information Science (LIS) education must equip its graduates with the level of competence commensurate with the demands of entry-level positions available in the field. This is more so in the area of information technology (IT) that is widely acknowledged to be rapidly evolving thereby offering unique job specifications and or positions in LIS. This exploratory research investigates the extent of alignment between the level of competence proposed in learning objectives by LIS educators, and the level of competence required from LIS graduates by practitioners in the field.;Content analysis was applied to original learning objectives obtained from both groups of respondents. A modified database life circle (MDBLC) designed in this study provided 5 DBM work processes namely: Database planning; Database design; Database implementation; Database operation; and Database maintenance. The level of competence expectations of LIS educators and practitioners were compared within the work processes, as well as in DBM overall.;Findings from this study show that although the most emphasized competence level in DBM by educators and practitioners are Understand/Procedural Knowledge, and Understand/Conceptual Knowledge, respectively, there is no significant difference in the levels of competence proposed by educators and expected of LIS graduates at entry-level positions by practitioners. The study concluded that there is alignment between LIS education and practitioner expectation of LIS graduates in DBM. It therefore recommended that for LIS education to be relevant to practitioner expectations of LIS graduates, educators must ensure that their learning objectives reflect the levels of competence expected from LIS graduates by employers. The framework presented in this study for the analysis of learning will be helpful in the alignment of educational objectives, particularly in LIS, to job requirements. A statistically significant difference was recorded between educators and practitioners in the competence levels obtained in one of the work processes in DBM - Database Planning. In this work process, educators emphasize Understand in their learning objectives, while practitioners emphasize Analyze. LIS DBM educators should review their learning objectives in this area to meet the competence level expectation of practitioners which is at the Analyze level.;The study focuses specifically on cognitive competence, and in the domain of database management (DBM) within LIS education in US and Canada. The Taxonomy Table (IT) designed by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) was used as a conceptual framework, to analyze learning objectives obtained from DBM educators and practitioners to determine the levels of competence proposed by educator and practitioners in DBM. The levels of competence derived from educators and practitioners were then compared to determine the extent of alignment between the levels of competence offered by LIS educators, and the levels of competence expectations of LIS practitioners from graduates in DBM.