Convergence or divergence in education for the information professions: An opinion paper

For the information professions between unification (convergence) and specialization (divergence), a long-standing tension exists in education. Some persistent issues and unresolved questions in the education of information professionals, issues that can be characterized collectively under the broad rubric of Convergence or Divergence in professional education, are presented. Forces within the field that tend to bring educational programs together are identified, by contrast with forces that tend to separate academic programs leading to different information careers, or at least to information careers with different job titles. Even at best, this continuing tension can never be fully resolved. However, such tensions, if controlled, can serve to improve the quality of educational programs. By contrast, uncontrolled tension will result only in further fragmentation and weakening of both academic programs and of the profession itself.