A profession in transition: towards development and implementation of standards for visual resources management. Part B - the professional's perspective and beyond

• Hemalata Iyer
• Information Research

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13 December 2009As a result of expanding employment opportunities, there has been a marked increase in the required skill levels and the technical expertise expected of visual resources professionals.

The results of a survey of visual resources professionals, the core competencies revealed and the next phases of the project are discussed in this paper, which complements Part A in which a content analysis of job listings was reported.

Method. A survey of visual resources professionals was conducted to gather opinions on status, recruitment, training and skills needed in the visual resources field.

Analysis. Two sets of the categories were employed for content analysis. The first category was the information environments within which the jobs existed. The sub-categories that emerged were academic, archives, museums, library and private information environments. The second category was for specifying the qualifying requirements for the jobs. The sub-categories included academic background, experience and skills and knowledge.

Results. Image processing, digital imaging, visual literacy, communication, data asset management and cataloguing emerged as desired skill areas.

Conclusion. Visual resources is an emerging, increasingly complex field experiencing the impact of digital technologies and the many environments of practice. These include museums, archives, private organizations and libraries. A graduate degree in Library and Information Science supplemented with the week-long non-certified Summer Educational Institute in Visual Resources and Image Management course is suggested to prepare future professionals for the field.

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A profession in transition: towards development and implementation of standards for visual resources management. Part A - the organization's perspective