Education Delivery for the Information Disciplines

The National Library of Australia has issued a general invitation to a free talk in Canberra on "New Models of Education Provision and Delivery for the Information Disciplines" by Professor David Fenske, Drexel University, 28 July 2008.

I have appended the details of the forum. Normally I would provide a link to the web site for the initiative, but in this case I could not find one. Given that this is supposed to be an open "conversation" among information professionals hosted by UNSW, it is odd that I could not find details of it at the UNSW web site, or anywhere else.

New Models of Education Provision and Delivery for the Information Disciplines

Monday, 28 July 2008 at 11.00am

National Library of Australia Theatre

Professor David Fenske is the Isaac L. Auerbach Professor and Dean, The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia

Professor Fenske is visiting Australia to provide the keynote address at the I-Forum 3, a collaborative or open “conversation” among information professionals, educators and practitioners hosted by the University of New South Wales.

The I-Forums have been established to address a number of issues such as:

• Productivity and innovation in the Information Sector is hampered by less than optimal educational offerings in many locations.
• Divided efforts in many institutions with insufficient critical mass of researchers and educators means that Australia is not getting the best innovative minds to
• converge on problems that could affect Australia’s economic capability;
• Volatility in student enrolments and student retention patterns;
• Current administrative arrangements inhibit cross-disciplinary fertilization of ideas across all information fields;
• Rapidly changing industry requirements.

Professor Fenske will describe the route taken in some universities in the United States to resolve some of the problems identified above. In describing the experience of establishing the iSchool strategy, he will challenge us to to look at Australian education for information from the outside, unfettered by the confines of our everyday work or institutional affiliations.

You do not need to register for this event.

Please feel free to pass this notice on to other colleagues/divisions/organisations you think might be interested.

Dale Forrest | Assistant to Jan Fullerton, Director-General | National Library of Australia | Canberra ACT 2600