Education and continuing professional development for Indonesian academic librarians

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to report base‐line data on the current levels of education, skills, and knowledge of Indonesian academic librarians, and provides an insight into their continuing professional development. The paper also seeks to report: the current level of qualifications of librarians working in Indonesian academic libraries; and the current level and type of continuing professional development and work place training in Indonesian academic libraries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper includes the results of a questionnaire delivered to all librarians working in Indonesian public universities. The survey instrument was based on that used in the NEXUS survey distributed to Australian library and information studies (LIS) professionals in 2006. The paper includes a comparison of survey results on key indicators for Indonesian and Australian library and information staff.FindingsThe research reports comparative shortcomings in the level and standard of education available to Indonesian academic librarians. The issue of continuing professional development is more complex, with quite high levels of participation in some types of training reported by the Indonesian respondents, but generally lower levels of satisfaction with that training than reported by their Australian counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsSome of the conclusions made comparing the situations in Indonesia and Australia are tentative due to the different understandings of key terms and concepts in the two countries. The data reported in the paper are quantitative and comprehensive findings require further qualitative research.Practical implicationsThe results have implications for the future development of library education in Indonesia, and workplace training for Indonesian academic librarians.Originality/valueThe research reported is the first to collect large‐scale data relating to LIS workforce education and continuing professional development from a developing country.