Nova Scotia Community College Library Technician Diploma and Memorial’s Library Studies Certificate

TO:                 QEII Library Staff

 

FR:                   Su Cleyle, Associate University Librarian, QEII Library

 

RE:                   Nova Scotia Community College Library Technician Diploma and Memorial’s Library Studies Certificate

 

DATE:             July 30, 2003

 

 

The QEII Library is committed to providing staff with development opportunities and over the years numerous workshops and training opportunities have been offered. In addition, many staff have worked on their own staff development and taken academic courses here at Memorial, taken courses offered through Life Long Learning library studies certificate program or taken courses with the Nova Scotia Community College’s (NSCC) library technology diploma. Staff development provides people with the occasion to learn new skills which could serve them when applying for new positions or deciding on a career path within the library system. All of educations opportunities mentioned above are solid choices for skills acquisitions. The first two are supplemented entirely by Memorial. The library technician program at the Nova Scotia Community College is not.

 

The QEII library recognizes the NSCC’s program is a concrete program that offers students exposure to a variety of areas including public services, technical services, systems, records management and reference.  Staff who take courses or complete this diploma will have the opportunity to see libraries from a more global perspective and to learn about areas of the library where they currently do not work or have experience.

 

While the library studies program here at Memorial provides similar courses, it is not as in-depth as the program at the NSCC and it requires four academic programs and a work term.

 

The websites for each program are:

 

Memorial  (some courses are web-based and some are via correspondence)     http://www.mun.ca/lifelonglearning/programs/univ_cert/library_studies.php

 

NSCC (all courses are web-based)      http://www.nscc.ca/Learning_Programs/Programs/PlanDescr.aspx?prg=LBTN&pln=LIBINFTECHh

 

See Appendix A for program descriptions.

 

Though the program at the NSCC may be preferred, it may not be financially possible for some to pursue the NSCC where they would have to bear the financial responsibility for the entire program.  The QEII library would like to offer assistance to staff who may wish to pursue a NSCC diploma in two ways:

1.  The QEII library and Life Long Learning have worked with the NSCC to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  Staff can take library studies / record management courses here and transfer credits to the NSCC program thus diminishing the cost of a NSCC diploma.

 

With this agreement, a student could take a course with Memorial’s Library Studies certificate program and get compensated by Memorial for the full amount (textbooks not included).  Credit for this course could then be transferred to the NSCC Diploma program. This MOU also includes the four academic courses required by NSCC.  (Appendix B outlines the entire list of agreed to equivalencies).

 

This will diminish the number of courses a staff member would have to take directly with NSCC and thus lesson the financial burden of having to pay for the courses.  If all the equivalencies were taken at Memorial, then a student would only be required to take the following at the NSCC to obtain a Library Studies Diploma:

 

LIBR 1001 – Descriptive Cataloguing: Print Materials

LIBR 2003 – Information Services II

LIBR 3004 – Media Cataloguing

LIBR 2001 – Subject Cataloguing I

LIBR 3001 – Subject Cataloguing II

One module on stand-alone library systems from LIBR 2161 – Computer Applications in Libraries

One module on web page design offered from LIBR 2002 – Multimedia Services

 

2. Whether staff take the entire program at the NSCC (and only the four academic courses at Memorial) or transfer credits from the library studies certificate program, the QEII library has established a fund that would help supplement the cost of courses successfully completed at the NSCC.  

 

The scaled model for the fund is based on the number of courses a staff member needs to complete to obtain the Diploma, giving staff the option to take the entire program from NSCC or transfer credits.

 

# NSCC Courses required to obtain diploma                Subsidy paid      % of course cost

 

1 - 3                                                                             $325                100%

4 - 6                                                                             $240                  75%

7 – 10                                                                          $160                  50%

 

Payment for the courses would be provided to staff upon the successful completion of the NSCC course (submit a copy of the transcript to Library Administration). Payment would be viewed in the same manner as the compensation for Memorial courses – taxable income.

 

Questions about registration for these programs can be found on the websites mentioned above.

 

 

If you have any questions or concerns about this initiative, please feel free to contact me in person or via email.

 

 

Many thanks!


Appendix A

Comparison of courses

 

Memorial requires 10 courses to complete the certificate (6 core; 4 elective) while NSCC requires 14 courses (10 core; 4 academic).  The NSCC courses, which you will see from the list below, place more emphasis on technical services ( 5 courses), acquisitions and circulation (1 course) and records management (2 courses). Memorial only offers one tech services course, no courses in acquisitions, circulation or records management. Memorial offers more electives with a public services slant than the NSCC but less core courses in this area.

 

 

 Memorial Core(6 courses)

 

Library Studies 1601 – Intro to Libraries

 

Library Studies 1602 – Tech processing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Library Studies 1603 - Reference

 

 

 

 

Library Studies 1606 – Computers in Lib.

 

 

Library Studies 1609 – Managing Lib.

 

Business 2000 – Business Communications

 

 NSCC Core (10 courses)

 

Intro to Libraries & Info. Retrieval

 

Descriptive Cat. – Print Materials

Media Cataloguing

Records Management I

Records Management II

Subject Cataloguing I

Subject Cataloguing II

 

Information Services I

Multimedia Services

Information Services II

Popular Literature

 

Intro to Computers

Computer Applications in Libraries

 

Management & Marketing in Libraries

 

Business Communications in Lib.

 

Acquisitions and Circulation Procedures

 

 

Elective Courses (4 courses)

 

Library Studies 1604 – Adult Services

Library Studies 1605 – Children’s Services

Library Studies 2606 – Computer in Lib II

 

Library Studies 1611 – Multimedia operations in the Library Setting

 

Library Studies 1610 – Library Services for Business and Industry

 

Library Studies 3601-9 – Special Topic

 

Library Studies 3600 – Directed Research

 

 

 

Elective Courses (4 courses)

 

Academic courses

 

English 100

History of the Western Civilization

2 other courses – suggested that students take a language and a social science

 

 

 

Work Experience

 

Core – but waived if currently working in a library

 

 

 


Program Grid – Equivalencies accepted by NSCC

 

LIT Courses

MUN Equivalent

 

LIBR 1002:  Acquisitions and Circulation

Procedures

 

 

Library Studies 1602

 

COMM 1235:  Business Communications

in Libraries

 

 

Business 2000

 

LIBR 2161:  Computer Applications in

Libraries

 

 

Library Studies 1606/2606 (NSCC requires an additional module on stand-alone library systems, such as InMagic/DBTextworks)

 

 

LIBR 1001:  Descriptive Cataloguing-

Print Materials

 

 

 

LIBR 1003:  Information Services I

 

Library Studies 1603

 

 

LIBR 2003:  Information Services II

 

 

 

 

COMP 1161:  Introduction to Computers

 

Library Studies 1606

 

 

LIBR 1000:  Introduction to Libraries and Information Retrieval

 

 

Library Studies 1601

 

LIBR 2000:  Management & Marketing in

Libraries

 

 

Library Studies 1609

 

LIBR 3004:  Media Cataloguing

 

 


 

 

LIBR 2002:  Multimedia Services

 

Partial equivalent for Library Studies 1611

(NSCC would require a module on web page design)

 

ARTS 1062:  Popular Literature

 

Library studies 1604 and Library Studies

1605

 

OAIM 1001:  Records Management I

 

RECM 1000 and RECM 1001

 

 

OAIM 2001:  Records Management II

 

 

RECM 1100 and RECM 2000

 

LIBR 2001:  Subject Cataloguing I

 

 

 

LIBR 3001:  Subject Cataloguing II

 

 

 

 

 

+ 4 Academic Courses

ARTS 1060:  English Literature

ARTS 1040:  History of Western Civilization

 

And 2 of:

  • French
  • HUSV 1001:  Psychology or another social science  course
  • SCIE 1104:  Science and Information or a science course

 

MUN equivalent

 

Staff can take 4 academic courses of their choice including courses that may be directly applicable in some library departments e.g. geography, folklore, etc.

 

 

revised December 4, 2009
by Mary Hayes