Best of Core at ALA Annual Conference: Dialogues in Metadata; Bridging the Gap Between LIS Education and Metadata in Practice

What are the key roles and core competencies demanded of metadata professionals in the current and future library environment? And what knowledge and skill sets are cultivated in the modern Library and Information Science (LIS) metadata curricula? Is there a gap between LIS education and expectations of entry-level metadata practitioners and how to strike a balance between the theory and practice? And how could graduate students be well prepared to step into a real metadata profession? More importantly, is equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) reflected in LIS education and metadata curricula and how? This panel session invites four panelists (LIS educator, graduate student, and metadata managers) to discuss these questions. Attendees will gain a better understanding of the current metadata curricula and LIS education transformation, core competencies required for entry-level metadata librarians, and the embedding of EDI in metadata education and practice. Attendees will leave the session with more insight and strategies to bridge the gap between LIS education and metadata in practice. Graduate students could be more prepared for a pursuit of metadata careers.

Learning Outcomes: 

Who Should Attend: LIS educators, MLIS students, metadata librarians, metadata managers, and metadata enthusiasts.

Presenters:

Dr. Karen M. Wickett is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois. Her research areas include information organization, metadata, knowledge organization, and data modeling. Dr. Wickett is most interested in the analysis of common concepts and data models in information systems. Examining the assumptions and models behind these systems and artifacts can reveal bias and help us understand the role of information systems in societal oppression.

Myung-Ja (MJ) K. Han is a Professor and Head of Acquisitions and Cataloging Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Her research interests include interoperability of metadata, relationships between collection description and item-level metadata, issues on bibliographic control in the digital library environment, and semantic web and linked data.

Stephanie Luke (she/her) is Assistant Professor-Metadata Librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She received an MA in English and a MLS with a specialization in rare books and manuscript librarianship, both from Indiana University-Bloomington. She has worked in libraries for seven years.

Sarah Rebecca Gaglio is a MS student in Library and Information Science at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is on CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois) Building Diversity Program and works as a graduate assistant at the Loyola University Chicago (Spring '23) and University of Illinois Chicago (Fall '22).

Tech Requirements