Educators shaping Australia’s library profession through tertiary level study face changing demands from the rapidly evolving skill sets required by the information industry. The networked digital environment combined with evolutions in both software and mobile technologies present new behaviours in information access and use. An ageing profession is matched by ageing educators, with both sectors facing challenges in recruitment. How can balance be found between the prioritisation of research for academic funding and the imperative of quality teaching for a sustainable professional future?

With its Education and Workforce Summit (scheduled for March 2008) ALIA is responding to the need for an engaged discussion around education for the profession. As Australia’s largest provider of library education, Charles Sturt University’s School of Information Studies is piloting a course towards the future through workshops with industry leaders, and community and business focus groups which will run through the first half of 2008. With a view to encouraging continued debate with conference participants (and the wider profession beyond), this paper builds on this work by identifying and acknowledging the problems in current approaches to library education, whilst presenting a vision for a sustainable and successful professional future.