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Information Management Programme in Sweden Introduction There are eleven LIS schools in the Nordic countries. Four of them are in Sweden. All Nordic LIS schools award degrees in Library and Information Studies. In most of the schools, one can find a course in Information Management as an integrated part of LIS. Only Swedish School of Library and Information Studies (SSLIS) at Borås University College offers a separate programme in Information Management as an optional perspective of studies. Changes of the overall library education in Sweden and the new requirements for information professionals in Europe since 1993 had the impact on study programmes in SSLIS. This paper offers a review of the first results of a newly introduced route of Information Management in the programme of Library and Information Studies. The last changes in curriculum happened in SSLIS in 1997/1998. The first group of students will complete the programme and the first Master's thesis in Information Management will be defended in spring 2001. The author concentrates on the issues of the programme structure, development of courses, organisation of the programme development and teaching process, perspectives of the programme. She uses her own experience of work in SSLIS, the analyses of the curriculum documents, and the questionnaires for the students and future employers. Information Management as Study Area The content and scope of information management has been under close scrutiny by researchers and practitioners from several fields (business and management, organisation research, information systems, information and communication technology, public administration, communication, library and information studies) for a long time. Lately, authors trying to draw a line between information and knowledge management renewed the discussions (Rowley, 1998; Kirk, 1999; Davenport and Prusak, 1998). The change of the profession under the impact of new technology, globalisation of markets, and increasing social and economic pressures is evident in the writings of LIS professionals, but it is expressed also by the representatives of business and computer fields. The LIS representatives advocate stronger orientation towards the perspective of management in new flexible organisations and use of technology in them. In the business field information management is seen as a higher management level function, especially when it is labelled as knowledge management. It is normal to find information management programmes in business and management schools. Moreover, computer professionals, information systems (IS) designers, and information technology (IT) specialists for businesses start worrying more about the necessity to study how managers utilise information, thinking about information "content, organising and utilising data, and adapting to the knowledge world by incorporating new responsibilities for strategic thinking" (Korn/Ferry, 2000). There are only few authors who discussed information management curriculum. Most of them present reflections on the subject and note the confusion over the educational base of information management as well as the distinct differences from the traditional LIS and information science education (Andertone, 1986; Lytle, 1988; Wilson, 1989). Fairer-Wessels (1997) comes to the conclusion that the present paradigm of information management is an "over-specialisation" that has resulted in a fragmented approach towards information management with various focuses on one or another component: information processing, management information systems, or managing IT. She argues for a more holistic paradigm in information management education to reflect the inter-disciplinarity of the field. Lithuanian author's look into the composition of different information management related study programmes in Lithuania and defend the idea of differentiation of education, but urge for co-operation among the representatives of different fields to satisfy the needs of the market (Brazaitiene and Brazaitis, 1997). There are numerous attempts to define the framework for information management. The concepts largely depend on the contents put into the words "Information Management". It is not only the concepts of "information" as such, but the multiple meanings of the phrase, emphasis of its elements, or the word order as well as the scientific perspective. The phrase may mean something different from "information management", i. e., it is used as an abbreviation for: IT management, IS management, management information, information resource management, etc. However, the newest literature, though still full of different concepts of IM, presents some coherence of the opinions, especially of the authors who work outside IT and computer sciences and have LIS or managerial background. Rowley (1998) proposes four different levels of information management: information retrieval, information systems, information contexts, and information environments. Effective information management needs to address issues at all of these levels. Choo (1998) defines "information management as a cycle of processes that support the organisation's learning activities: identifying information needs, acquiring information, organising and storing information, developing information products and services, distributing information, and using information". Kirk (1999) summarises the main IM roles based on Braman's (1989) concepts of information developed in the area of information policy studies. These include the following: IT management; information content management, information management for building a competitive advantage of an organisation; and integration of strategy formation and information. Wilson (2001) suggests that "information studies" (including IM) may be seen as resulting from the interactions among four fields, described here as foundation fields, which are:
The management of information content is the traditional function of libraries and infor- mation services, although it was more often called 'information resources'. The term information content is now used mainly because of the impact of the Internet and the World Wide Web, in which environment 'content providers' are much more diverse than the publishers who provided most of the information resources in the days when information supply was dominated by print on paper. The LIS curriculum continues to cover this area to a greater extent than other study programmes. Information systems exist as a separate field of study, sometimes independently but more often as a part of computer science departments or business schools. Its orientation as a discipline is towards information in organizational settings and in this context, information systems, is used to identify not only the technology, but also the human systems through which information sources and resources may be organized and managed. It includes, therefore, the communication and information technologies that are now used in the organization of information content. People's area covers both information users and information providers, in the sense of those who manage information systems and services, and it also covers those who manage the information providing organizations and organizations that have information systems and services within them. Finally, organizations are publishers that produce information content; libraries and other information agencies that have traditionally managed information content; and organizations in which information is managed and within which people use information (Wilson, 2001) Despite the common features that can be identified in different concepts, many different study programmes can be built on them. DESCRIPTION OF SSLIS STUDY PROGRAMME FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Structure of the study programme at SSLIS SSLIS general study programme has been recently analysed by Staffan Lööf (1999). Therefore, I will only mention the main structure, which is important for this particular topic. The students are admitted to SSLIS and can aim to study for getting a Bachelor's or Master's degree. Both possibilities are offered essentially through the same study programme, which can be completed in four semesters. The programme includes:
After the first semester the students of SSLIS are offered a choice out of four possible study perspectives:
The Information Management perspective is under the development for three years. A team of teachers and researchers work in so called Collegium (sector) IV. They are working on introduction of the new concepts in general context and policy of the school, relating these new concepts to the other programmes of study that are based on longer traditions in library education or other areas (e.g., business studies). The major efforts are directed at achieving coherence of the offered study programme and courses, creation of the educational resources for students pursuing new direction of studies. The teachers and researchers are working together with the students and try to engage into the process of programme development the prospective employers of information managers. Information Management perspective in the programme The concept used in building an IM perspective in SSLIS is reflected in its official title: Organisation, management, strategic planning and development within libraries and other information mediating activities. The idea of information management as an activity that strengthens the competitive position of any organisation may be traced in the structure of the programme. The concept underlying the programme is closest to the one adopted by Choo. It was also influenced by the ideas of Wilson who worked as a visiting professor in Boras at the time of curriculum design. The main emphasis of the curriculum is on the courses of organisational theory and information resources management. The authors of the programme have put equal weight on information management for libraries and information management for business organisations. The programme develops understanding of the value of information, the role of information professional in various settings, the responsibility to communities, moral and social values that information managers have to embrace in performing key functions in information society. The students choose the route after the first foundation semester. They have courses in:
Students take courses common for all the routes in Research methods (levels B and C) and Essay writing (level B). A close look into the contents of the compulsory courses reveals attempts to build up the later courses on the foundations of knowledge received on the lower levels and to relate theoretical material to the real life practice. Thus, on B level, the course in Organisational theory, which covers the development of the concepts of an organisation and introduces main managerial categories, is followed by the course in Service provision. This one is based on the complex case studies in a library and other organisational setting. On the C level, IRM course concentrates on the role of information for the management of an organisation in a competitive market (environmental scanning) and information management tools (information and communication audits, information mapping, etc.). This is an attempt to develop a view of any organisation as an information user, an information producer, and a potential information provider not only for its internal but also for an external environment. The course is followed by Practical application of IRM that should make the students to draw on previously acquired knowledge and their own experience, It includes a broad range of new topics covered in lectures: library automation, business information, project management, methods of data collection, user's survey, etc. One of the entirely new topics is the ethics of an information professional, confidentiality issues, legal problems of intellectual property. Responsibility to users and communities, loyalty to n employer, and others. Besides, every project requires to deepen knowledge in a particular area of IRM and to search for additional information on a subject and an organisation that accepts students. In ten weeks student carry out two projects. The first one is designed to solve a complex problem of library management related to library automation. The project includes close acquaintance with the literature of the field and a survey of several libraries to gather data about the impact of automated systems on library management. Students carry out the second project in a business organisation. The teachers negotiate the project with the members of an organisation beforehand. It should fit the contents of the course and be useful to the receiving organisation. The members of the organisation define the aims of the project, help students to collect information, and evaluate the process and the results of the work from their perspective. Apart from educational purposes this co-operation allows to introduce the concept of an information professional to business people and to explore the demand for specific information management competencies. In 2000, SSLIS students carried out six projects in four organisations: a research institute, a bank, a mailing order company, and a producer of the equipment for textile industry. In three projects the students had to design a way to collect continually information about the major competitors and potential customers. Two teams aimed to plan changes or improvements of information services for internal users or customers, including usage of intranets and World Wide Web. One team had to evaluate the reporting system in an organisation. First results of teaching Information Management The evaluation of the completed study programme was conducted on three levels:
The teachers of the team in general have positively evaluated their experience with the first group of students and first run of the programme. This satisfaction is based on the students development and understanding of what should be done further:
The satisfaction of the teachers with the results of their work and finding what changes have to be made to improve the programme further is confirmed by the students. The students have compared the Information Management to other options of studies. They have praised the broader perspective and scope of the route. No one, completing the programme, would have chosen another perspective and everyone is going to seek a job outside the library field as information professionals. The quality of the courses was very good, though required high tempo and hard work. Students have noted the lack of coherence of the B level (directed to educate library managers) and the C level (information management for businesses). Some of them have felt that this perspective would be more attractive if developed into an independent three or four years study programme (Nowe, 2000). It is difficult to make conclusions about the needs of the organisations as only four took part in the programme in 2000. Seven people have commented about students' work on the projects and all of them were very positive about the co-operation. Three of four organisations are going to continue the practice of working with the students of Information Management. One is undergoing some major change and could not answer the question. One organisation has a special policy for co-operation with universities. The overall impression from the contacts with business organisations is that they have found out about the possibilities of information managers and realised their need for this special competence only through the contacts with SSLIS students. This is a surprising discovery, because three of four organisations have jobs with titles "information manager", "information specialist", or "information officer". In one of them the information manager is a member of the top management team. However, these jobs are mainly in the marketing or intranet implementation areas. The contacts with potential employers within programme development area give additional opportunity for raising their awareness and widening tha labour market for information professionals in general. Conclusions The work with the first group of Information Management students at SSLIS allows establish the ways to develop and improve the study programme. The first changes to fill in the gaps are already made: the course of Service Provision is changed into a course of Information Support; two elective courses in Value-adding Information Work and Information Strategy are offered to the new students. The team of the teachers and the SSLIS management are looking for possibilities to develop a full Master's programme (180 points) in Information management and a route for Library management. The contacts with business and public organisations allow to state that a need for information management competence exists in a latent form in Swedish enterprises. The supply of educated professionals may enhance this need and create a conscious awareness of it on the market as has happened in other countries. The students of Information management at SSLIS are the most important participants of the education. They maintain contacts with the teachers, the members of different organisations, among themselves, and with the new students. Their participation in the development of the programme and promotional as well as professional activity within organisations and communities is a key success factor for building a modern and influential educational programme for Swedish information society. References
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