Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies

To provide those wishing to work at a professional level in the domain of library and information science a first professional qualification appropriate to the initial stages of a professional career.

Recognition of Prior Learning(RPL)

Recognition of Prior Learning (e.g. work or field experience (if applicable). Non-graduates who have shown by examination or a record of appropriate training that they have reached the required level in the discipline will be permitted to register for the Diploma.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• A Bachelor Degree/Bachelor of Social Science/Bachelor of Bible.

Or

• Relevant Diploma.

N/A

1. Undertake management tasks appropriate to the initial stages in a professional career.
2. Be able to plan and control small-scale projects.
3. Coordinate small task teams and work with members of a user community in order to develop information service.
4. Equipped with proficiency in knowledge of the theory of library and information science sufficient.
5. Ability to organise a collection of information for efficient access, assess and respond to user needs.
6. Locate and search sources of information, and critically assess the results of such searching.
7. Conduct searches for manual, advanced literature searches and computerised information systems using advanced searching techniques.
8. Develop strategies and plan for the development of library and information services.
9. Prepare reports and to communicate with other professionals and user groups.
10. Analyse and critique local policies with respect to the development of libraries and information services.
11. Communicate verbally and orally with professional audiences and with users.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcomes

1. Apply skills and knowledge of the structure of information domains to discipline based problems in locating information.
2. Appreciate the ethical issues associated with the supply of information.
3. Familiar with contemporary philosophical and theoretical issues in library and information science.
4. Appreciate the impacts of the development of information technology on the delivery of information.
5. Able to develop a database and a classification scheme.
6. Trace significant developments in the theory of library and information science.
7. Able to use the standard bibliographic tools for subject description and organization.
8. Able to use the tools of information technology and to appreciate their significance for the supply and organisation of information.

Integrated Assessment

The integration of skills learnt in the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Science is assessed by means of a research paper not exceeding 5 000 words. Competence in the following areas, all of which are assessed in the examination of the paper.

1. Coherent statement of the problem or issue.
2. Familiarity with and integration of the specialised literature that informs the problem or issue.
3. Appropriate depth of discussion and comparison of information.
4. Appreciation of the limitations of the study.
5. Use of the publication and style conventions of the discipline.