the voice of the young: attitudes and perceptions of filipino lis students and young professionals towards professional library associations in the philippines

Abstract

英文摘要 Professional library associations promote lifelong learning through the conduct of continuing professional development (CPD) programs. Membership in professional associations influences one’s professional identification. In anticipating the upcoming Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) integration, how confident are the professional library associations in the Philippines in engaging its young professionals to actively participate and involve in its activities and programs? This paper would like to investigate: a) the level of awareness of the senior undergraduate students in Library and Information Science (LIS) and licensed young professionals who are 20-30 years old regarding the numerous professional library associations established in the country; and b) the perceptions and attitudes of the young professionals in choosing which professional library association they would like to affiliate themselves with. An online survey using Google Forms was used as the instrument to gather data. Over the course of four weeks from December 10, 2014 – January 12, 2015, 82 responses have been recorded. The survey contains questions that collected demographic data (i.e. age, sex and region) as well as questions designed for undergraduate students and young professional librarians respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that majority of the students (38%) felt that professional development is the most important aspect they will gain if they join a professional association. Similarly, young professionals (58%) think that professional development is the most important reason for joining professional association. Results would tell that students and young professionals would consider joining professional associations to keep them connected to the field.