Standards on Competency of Information Officers in Vietnam in the New Era

1.2. Standards on capacity of information officers in Vietnam in the new period

In the knowledge economy, knowledge management is very important and information officers must become a team of knowledge managers. Previously, information officers were considered a supporting and auxiliary part of an agency or organization, often working silently in the background, providing a foundation for other activities, not directly participating in the essential activities of the organization. Today, they will become knowledge managers, playing a new and more important role.

Within the framework of the research program on education and training of library and information staff in the Asia-Pacific region chaired by UNESCO with funding from the Government of Japan, consultants have determined that in the coming time, it will be possible to form 4 groups of information staff, which can be called 4Cs including:

- C1: Group of staff creating information (Creators),

- C2: Information collection staff group (Collector),

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- C3: Communication staff group (Communcators),

- C4: Consolidators.

+ The group of information creators (C1) are those who are capable of developing and creating information products and services. They need to have the ability to understand information technology and professional knowledge to exploit the full potential of technology effectively. They need to have the capacity to build friendly, easy-to-use information systems with diverse and useful services.

+ The group of information collection officers (C2) are those who are responsible for collecting, organizing and creating information collections ready for service. Although this is a job considered traditional, the strong development of electronic information sources such as electronic magazines... requires them to innovate in their approach, in the use of tools and in improving their understanding.

+ The group of communication officers (C3) are the ones who will ensure a close connection, acting as a bridge between information sources, information providers and information users. Although the trend of providing information is increasingly complex, it requires information officers to be teams of officers with the capacity to help information users or create products designed specifically according to requirements.

+ The group of information packaging/compression staff (C4) are those who process and analyze information, supporting managers and decision makers. They ensure the implementation of information selection, research, analysis and information packaging activities. Therefore, they can be considered as a part, a component of management work.

For each group of staff, there are certain requirements for qualifications and professional capacity. However, no matter which group an information officer belongs to in any of the four groups above, they need to be trained and fostered well in three basic skill groups: Professional knowledge; knowledge and skills in IT and communications; and management and executive capacity.

1.2.1. Professional knowledge and skills

Professional and technical knowledge and skills include:

- Understanding information users : Information users are the objects of information activities, the customers of all information services. Therefore, information workers must first of all be able to analyze and understand information needs of information users, know their information habits, and at the same time help them have good information habits to make the best use of existing information sources, especially familiarizing themselves with modern information processing means.

- Understanding the position and role of the information profession : The information profession has a certain position in society and operates in a legal environment in relation to many other activities of society. Information workers must determine the position, functions, tasks, and organizational system of the information profession in society; understand the basic principles related to information policy.

and information economics; have knowledge of legal regulations related to information activities, laws related to intellectual property, especially copyright law, know how to apply national and international standards related to information activities.

- Identify and evaluate information sources: All information activities must be based on information sources and documents. Information officers must know how to detect and evaluate information, documents and their sources. Specifically, they must know how to use manual and modern search tools such as catalogs, directories, databases, and search engines to detect and find information; Master the criteria for selecting documents; Know how to check the quality of sources, documents and information according to the data instructions; Master the tools and methods to obtain such information and documents. These are tasks related to the selection and supplementation of documents.

- Managing document capital and warehouse: To meet the information needs of information users, information officers must grasp and evaluate the quantity and quality, structure and value of the unit's document capital; Identify the shortcomings of the document capital based on the level of satisfaction of information users' information needs; Identify and apply criteria for selecting or eliminating documents; Know how to organize a document arrangement system that allows documents to be located conveniently for searching; have knowledge of the principles and techniques of document preservation (traditional documents, electronic documents, audiovisual documents, etc.)

- Analyzing and presenting information: Information officers must know how to analyze documents and present that information in an appropriate form. These are tasks related to processing the form and content of documents. Specifically: Identifying data that represent the formal characteristics of documents and recording them on descriptive forms according to established regulations and standards; Classifying documents according to a selected classification framework; Identifying the main topic of the document; Creating an index for the document with a set of keywords or standard words that summarize the content and concepts that the document refers to; Condensing the content of the document in a summary, at a higher level than the officer.

Information must also know how to edit news and topical summaries.

- Information storage and search engine organization: This is the work of organizing and structuring data related to the description of the information unit's documents to put them into the system's memory. Therefore, information officers must know how to build databases, set up information entry forms, identify information search signs, and create presentation formats for data output on the screen or on the printer.

- Searching for information: Searching for information is a general term for finding documents or sources of documents, as well as information about data and events that those documents provide. This is the basic task of information activities to meet the needs of information users. Information officers must know how to handle information requests and develop an appropriate information search strategy, identifying all information sources that can answer the information requests of information users. In addition to being proficient in using manual search tools, information officers must know how to use modern search tools; search for information on databases or on the network, especially the Internet, and know how to exploit information in electronic libraries - digital libraries. In addition, they must also be able to synthesize, package search results and transfer them to information users, and evaluate the relevance and value of information depending on the requirements of information users.

- Exploiting and disseminating information: Processed information needs to be exploited and easily used through the provision of information products and services. Information officers not only know how to disseminate information through regular information services such as question-and-answer information services, document provision services, on-demand information provision services (selective information dissemination), but also need to know how to deploy online information services based on modern IT. In addition, they must also know how to orient information users to the best information products and services to help them receive them in appropriate forms, and expand cooperation with domestic and foreign organizations in the strategy of accessing and disseminating information.

1.2.2. Knowledge and skills in IT and communications

Knowledge and skills in IT and communications include:

- Computer skills: In addition to basic knowledge and skills in computer science, using office computers, information officers today must know how to use document software to store, search for documents and create bibliographic information products, and know how to use an integrated software to manage electronic libraries. Have the necessary knowledge of electronic document sources, understand the digitalization of documents, process information in the form of sound and images, and multimedia information. At a higher level, specialized officers need to know how to install and maintain systems, and know how to use programming languages to write programs for simple applications.

- Knowledge of communication: In the context of the IT and communication explosion, information officers must have basic knowledge of computer information networks, know how to manage and exploit a local network, know how to use file transfer services... At a higher level, specialized officers must be able to create websites using markup languages, build and manage websites.

- Foreign language ability: In today's global information exchange environment, to do their job well, regardless of their position, information officers must practice at least one foreign language, especially English, to use in communication, in selecting, searching and processing documents, as well as in dealing with computer programs.

1.2.3. Management and executive capacity

Management and operation capacity of information officers, especially information officers doing management work, is shown in the following aspects:

- Professional and technical management: Ability to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of professional activities, of TT products and services and propose solutions to improve their quality; Provide a system of indicators to evaluate the quality of professional work and TT products and services.

- Marketing: Nowadays, information becomes a commodity, information activities are increasingly service and economic in nature. Information officers must know how to establish and maintain relationships with customers and partners to promote and develop

develop information products and services; Be able to analyze requirements and markets, evaluate the current state of operations and competitive environment and propose solutions to dominate the information market with its information products and services.

- Planning and financial management: Ability to implement and check the implementation of a plan or a project; Have knowledge of finance and accounting to manage the budget well and bring economic benefits to TT products and services.

- Management of facilities and equipment: Equipment used in information activities is increasingly modern. Information officers must know how to select and effectively use modern information processing equipment such as computers, printers, scanners, reading devices, network equipment, specialized software, etc.

- Human resource management and development: In information activities, the human factor holds the most important position. Therefore, it is necessary to know how to manage and promote the professional capacity of professional staff; Use the right people for the right job and specialize for each job position; Regularly organize professional training, update knowledge for staff in many flexible and effective training forms, and encourage self-study .

1.3. Experience from some information staff training models in some countries around the world

1.3.1. Information staff training in some countries around the world

In the world, in the field of library information, people are divided into two types of training:

- Vocational training

- Professional training.

The distinguishing feature of vocational training from professional training is the legality of the diploma awarded after the course. Therefore, vocational training courses are also called courses without degrees, while professional training is the type of training accompanied by a diploma. Students who complete these courses are awarded a diploma confirming a level.

corresponding courses. Therefore, professional training courses are also called degree courses.

Training is an important form of training that is of great interest to countries around the world. In the library and information industry, the type of non-degree training that people often call training (basic or advanced knowledge) is of particular importance. IFLA has established a subcommittee to monitor training. Training is also known as continuing education. This subcommittee is responsible for encouraging and promoting international training programs in library and information science, helping information workers around the world to exchange information, develop professional skills, and promote continuing education. Up to now, IFLA has organized 5 international conferences on training.

For developed countries, the concept synonymous with this type of training is continuing education. The issue of continuing education is now becoming the leading measure of new educational technology. The IFLA and UNESCO national library and information associations have long been interested in this issue and these organizations have considered it one of the main means to develop library information resources and continuously improve the quality of staff working in this field.

Regarding professional training, in the current system of training human resources in the library and information industry in the world, there are three levels: Bachelor, Master and Doctor. Currently, in most developed countries, all three levels of training are provided. In the United States, training for master's and doctoral degrees in library profession has appeared since the 1950s. In other developed countries such as France, England, Russia, Australia, Japan... postgraduate training has both levels: master's and doctorate.

In 1971, IFLA held its 37th session in Liverpool. The theme was "Organization of the library profession" in which the most attention was paid to the issue of training librarians. Since 1977, the Subcommittee on Library Schools and

IFLA's library training program has conducted a research program called "Equivalence of Library Training".

The purpose of this program is to adopt international standards in the field of training library information staff. The picture of training library information staff in the world in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century was very rich and diverse. Although UNESCO and IFLA made efforts to propose a unified training method in training library information staff, in reality, there was no real unity in training institutions due to many different reasons: the development of the socio-economy of different countries, the professional characteristics of the education system, the ideological foundation of the organization of the library career, different views on the profession and even the trends of professional development could not be uniform in all countries in the world. The UNESCO Declaration on Public Libraries in 1972 set out the requirements for compulsory professional training for library staff. UNESCO then published the book "A Guide to Library and Information Schools in the World". In its 1985 edition, the book listed more than 600 library schools training library and information staff in 92 countries. Today, this number does not stop there.

According to statistics in the "Encyclopedia of Library Information Organizations", more than 70 library science education programs applied in schools in the United States and Canada have been developed by the American Library Association (ALA), and the convergence of the library profession with information science has been reflected through the training programs.

In Canada, training programs focus heavily on technical aspects of library and information work. To become a librarian, one must complete one of seven programs established by the American Library Association. The first library training course was conducted at Mc.Gill University in 1904. Graduate training programs began in 1931. In the 1990s, many schools changed their names due to the development of information science.

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