Abstract

This study takes the old myth of objectivity in the media discourse to one of the most relevant and unperceived actors of the process of its construction: the mass media information scientist or documentalist. Accepting the subjective presence of the documentalist in his/her productions, this article opts for the recognition and explicit statement of it through two actions: first, the review of the training process of mass media documentalists in public higher education institutions in such a way that technical training and critical training are combined. For this, we analyze the subjects in the syllabi of the their education programs in order to detect the deficiencies according to the objectives of the study. Finally, we propose alternative lines of training that can contribute to the transversal inclusion of critical training of mass media documentalists in those programs.

Abstract

The article presents a survey research in 10 documentation centres of Spanish television stations. The authors analyze first the current situation of television documentation tasks after digitization, and the emergence of journalists participation in some of these tasks. Second, we analyze the implementation level, typology and problems of developing documentary products in the documentation centres. For the first time we report a map of the implementation of documentary products in the Spanish television stations. Other results found were: journalists perform the selection of the original materials in 8 of the 10 television stations studied; few documentary products combine text and audiovisual information, and these are usually created for internal use in the news room and not for the audience.

Abstract

New technologies require an upgrade of LIS professionals’ skills. This study analyzes changes in the field and suggests guidelines to improve LIS curriculum. We have carried out a content analysis of 20 curricula from LIS educational programs to identify terms associated with technological skills. In addition, we identified terms related to new competences from 735 job openings published on generic web sites and 170 on specific web sites. These terms include marketing, management, and content management, mainly related to web applications. The results confirm a positive trend in the demand for technological skills related to LIS. Nevertheless, there is a need to increase awareness about the competences and abilities of LIS professionals, because many relevant job openings are listed in other job categories. Therefore, we have collected a list of key technological skills. In conclusion, it is clear that computer science and the Internet are bringing new opportunities to LIS professionals.

Abstract

Numerous studies have analyzed the reading habits of university students, demonstrating the benefits of voluntary reading for academic performance. It is thus paradoxical that a large fraction of university students only read instrumentally and are far from adopting stable reading habits. This general situation is repeated among future professionals in the education field, whose personal reading experiences have been proven to have a decisive influence on their training and professional practice. Students on information and documentation degree courses are among the group of future professionals who are strongly linked to reading and who must attain competence in reading and comprehension. The main aim of this study is to use a sample of 214 students on information and documentation degree courses at five Spanish universities to analyze the professional profiles of most interest to them and their relationship with reading, both at a global level and depending on their chosen profile. The results reveal that many students have not identified a clearly defined professional profile. We also confirm findings from other studies on reading habits and behaviors, where it is evident that voluntary reading is not part of their lifestyle, albeit with some differences here between students depending on the professional profile selected. These results support the idea that, although some of these competences do not seem to have a strictly information or documentation nature, given the importance given to them in professional opportunities related to these studies, their reinforcement should be considered in future revisions of such degrees.