This presentation and discussion with Institute participants will look at how education for information professionals is changing to meet the challenges of the new century. We will look at various new models and analyze how these approaches will change the formal education process, as well as the degree accrediting process. We will consider the new educational role that professional associations, employers and vendors will have as these relate to what will be learned in traditional (degree oriented) settings. Finally, we will review US Department of Commerce guidelines for professional skill sets in light of the WORKFORCE 2020 initiative and the US competitive-edge (or not!) in an information-based global economy.

Coordinates

roberta@sla.org

Roberta I. Shaffer was appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin in August, 1999. For the eight years preceding her post at Texas, Roberta was the Director of Research Information Services at the Washington-based, international law firm of Covington & Burling.

Roberta has worked in the nation's capital at George Washington University Law School and at the Law Library of Congress. At the University of Houston (Texas) Law Center, she was the Director of the Research and Writing Program, and the Assistant Director of the Law & Technology Center. In 1987-88, Roberta Shaffer was a Senior Fulbright Researcher in Israel and Portugal. In both posts, she was involved in government-sponsored projects dealing with constitutional reform and legislative drafting.

Ms. Shaffer has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Vassar, her law degree is from Tulane, and she received her master's in librarianship from Emory. Roberta is admitted to the D.C., Texas and U.S. Supreme Court bars.

From 1991 to 1999, Roberta was the Coordinator of the Law Libraries program at the Catholic University School of Library and Information Science. She has written numerous articles, and edited a book (with Raisch) on law libraries and legal research. She regularly lectures at bar and library association conferences on topics dealing with intellectual property, knowledge capitalization, and other technology-driven issues that affect information.

For several years, Ms. Shaffer has been active as a volunteer lawyer and advocate for the arts, and holds a graduate certificate in Arts Management from American University (D.C.). In the late 1980's, Roberta worked for the Washington Project for the Arts during its controversial exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs. She has been a frequent presenter at the Foundation Center (Washington, D.C.) on nonprofit organization management and external relations.

Ms. Shaffer is now serving a three-year term as Vice-President of the International Association of Law Libraries. This affords her the opportunity to pursue some of her favorite pastimes-foreign travel and archaeology. Roberta is also a Master swimmer, and teaches drownproofing for children under one year of age, and water safety to mentally retarded adults. Roberta and her mother collaborate as jewelry designers under the name "Cornelia's Jewels" (after the children's story).

Executive Director
The Special Libraries Association
1700 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009-2514
Work phone: (202) 234-4700
Fax: (202) 265-9317