Knowledge Organization Content in ALA in Library Information Science Programs.

Knowledge Organization (KO) is one of the eight Core Competencies of Librarianship (CCL) established by the American Library Association (ALA). ALA-accredited Library and Information Science (LIS) programs are expected to provide course content which satisfies the ALA's CCL. A review of literature looks at emerging KO educational trends, and suggests that LIS employers, graduates, and students are unsatisfied with KO coverage in LIS core courses due to a shift from specific to general content. This study examines core and elective courses in ALA-accredited LIS curricula to determine KO topics and specificity. Core and elective course titles and descriptions were accessed through university websites and scanned for KO topics from an established list; qualifying topics were recorded, tallied, and arranged for data analysis. Information organization was found to be the most common - and most broad - topic within the LIS core, followed by Cataloging & classification, and Metadata. ithin elective courses, the most frequently covered topic was Semantic web, superseded by Digital library, and Metadata. Not surprisingly, emerging topics such as Folksonomies and Social tagging have very little presence in LIS curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]