serials management operations, services, and instruments. The skills
are related to fund management, selection and subscription aspects,
and operations, all receiving mean scores between 8 and 8.17.

We have been able to produce a core of foundation competencies
needed for the preparation of entry-level professionals of special li-
braries of the future. These include: placement of the library in the
organizational structure, definition of its role in relation to organiza-
tional context, establishing vitality of the information utility, man-
agement capabilities, and information technology applications in or-
ganization and provision of information service. Subject knowledge
and ability to analyze the information needs of the clientele are addi-
tional areas of expertise expected of these professionals.

The primary thrust for the future information professional is in
the information service competencies. Literature searching and provi-
sion of specialized services are most emphasized. They also require a
sound grounding in information resources in the area in which an or-
ganization has its operational focus and use of resource sharing and
networking capabilities.

It is somewhat revealing that basic cataloging competencies are
still given much importance. However, in other technical services of
acquisition and serials control, professionals are expected to have a
sound knowledge base whereas the conduct of operations at the skill
level may not be assigned to professionals. These results have indi-
cated the futuristic aspirations of the employers and it is now the re-
sponsibility of the designers of education and training programs to
reorient their activities along these lines. These results have also pro-
vided objective criteria for evaluation of existing education and
training programs.

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