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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Pat Gannon-Leary
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While information and library services are female-dominated, the roles occupied by women employed in the sector are frequently those of library assistants rather than those at a higher lvel. Reasons for this are many including: career breaks, family commitments and reduced working hours. However, skills and qualifications remain an important element and any further education embarked upon by women needs to be flexible to fit in with both their public and private lives. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) were introduced in Great Britain in the 1980s as a means of increasing the skills of the workforce. They are based on occupational competence and are assessed in the workplace, which is an ideal pattern for many women. Might NVQs in Library and Information Services not only redress the U.K. skills imbalance as compared to other developed countries (another aim of their introduction) but also redress the balance of males: females in the higher echelons of the profession? This paper considers this question in the light of findings of the INSIST project, a one-year Government funded project conducted at the University of Northumbria, which investigated the benefits of the qualification.
Author(s): Gannon-Leary P; Parker S
Editor(s): Siitonen, L.
Publication type: Book Chapter
Publication status: Published
Book Title: Women's Issues at IFLA: Equality, Gender and Information on Agenda
Year: 2003
Pages: 170-175
Series Title: IFLA publications
Publisher: Saur
Place Published: Munchen
Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item
ISBN: 9783598218361