Library and Information Professionalism:Itsstatusin Nepal

Abstract

Thethesis"Library and informationprofessionalism: its statusin Nepal"is carried outto examine the current status and scenario of the library and information professionalsin Nepal.Many LIS personalities who are still continuing their career in this field cannot proudly advocate on LIS profession. Because socially LIS profession is lesscounted and young.We often talk about LIS profession as a least developed andpracticed profession due to various reasons. The main reason is thepoorstudy cultureamong Nepalese.The study has three objectives. The first is to find the exact status ofthe professionals,second is to find out the promoting and hindering factors in thisprofession in Nepalese settingand third is to provide recommendations for furtheravenues in LIS professionalism.This studyis carried out focusing the professionalism aspect in various libraries. Thesubject libraries are selected purposively to in order to know various aspects andproblems of the professionals. The focused libraries are Tribhuvan University CentralLibrary, Kathmandu University Central Library, Nepal National Library, KaiserLibrary, Parliament Secretariat Library, Society for Kathmandu Valley PublicLibrary,andSocial Science Baha.The researcher has primarily used questionnaire as his main tool to collect data. Intotal 25 questions were asked to 31 respondents.The major findings show that,on the basis of the study,Library and InformationProfessionalism is an aspiring profession in Nepal. It has notyet been developed as afull profession like medicine, engineering, and law.The other findings areOut of totalthe 20% human resource has worked in the field without training or academicqualification. The largest no (36.66%) of human resource have got level III training inLIS, 23.33% human resource have got Master’s and 20% human resource have gotbachelor’s degree in LIS. All the human resources are full time staff in the field ofLIS. It is good for profession.50% of the respondents have served in LIS profession for below 5 years, 26.66% ofrespondents have served in LIS profession for 5 to 10 years, 3.33%of the respondentshave served in LIS profession for 11 to 15 years, 6.66% of the respondents haveserved in LIS profession for 16 to 20 years and 13.34% of the respondents haveserved in LIS profession for above 20 years.80%of the respondents work only for one place, butrests of the 20% workers are alsobusy inservingdifferent places except their regular (full time) joband23.33% of the v professional workers are also joined in other job, not related to LIS. They work inother places.In order to develop LIS as a healthyprofessionTraining and education shouldbeprovided for library workers who have received neither training nor education on LIS.Library workers should be competent at their respective responsibilities. Libraryprofessional should think about service not about on their individual interest. EveryLIS workers should be associated with the professional association. Marketing of LISprofession, services and man power should be promoted. Traditional working styleshould be replaced with modern ones. Professional culture should be developed.There should be legal provision about library and Information service. There shouldbe mutual cooperation among various professional organizations as well asprofessionals themselves. As many libraries as possible should be started with anefficient librarian in various educational institutes, I/NGOs for example one villageone library.