The Australian Library Journal
volume 50 issue 1

Challenging the boundaries of graduate education for information professionals in Australia: Real world learning for a virtual information world

Developments in Australia over the last ten years have challenged traditional approaches to the delivery of graduate education for the professions. The recent focus on lifelong learning, flexible learning, work-based learning, situated learning, constructivist and contextualised learning have created rich opportunities to rethink the boundaries of time, place, space, approach and means to learning, and the roles of students in relation to these opportunities. This paper examines the dynamics of shared responsibility for learning in the provision of graduate education for the library and information sector, as realised through a strategic collaboration between the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney.

Manuscript received June 2000

This is a refereed article

Introduction
For many years, the provision of higher education in Australia has been characterised primarily by mode of delivery of instruction. On the one hand there has been onsite, face-to-face delivery through a prevailing chalk-and-talk stereotype and dependent on lectures, tutorials, laboratory sessions and workshops, and on the other, off-campus distance learning based on the provision of print-based learning packages and resources, supported by communication technologies and/or intensive residential programs. These modes of instruction have primarily centred on the university, with links to professional practice and industry established typically through practicums, work-experience, organisational case studies, and professional projects. The emergence of contemporary approaches to learning, centring on lifelong learning, flexible learning, situated learning, constructivist and contextualised learning, coupled with rapid advances in information technology, are dramatically altering this traditional learning landscape, and blurring the internal/external and local/international divide. Against this backdrop, Cunningham et al (1998:17) posits the notion of 'borderless' education, where the responsibility for student learning is shared using the collective wisdom and understanding of the academy and the collective experience and reflection of the professional work environment in richer collaborations to deepen student learning.

Given the rapid nature of the movement towards collaborative and 'borderless' education, coupled with forces of technological change and internationalisation, no comprehensive nor cumulative theoretical frameworks have been developed to significantly contribute to our understanding of the nature of these shared learning environments, and how learners, educators, professional practitioners and courseware developers can best structure the learning environment in a coherent and systematic pedagogical manner (Coppola, Rana, & Bieber, 1997). In the recent White Paper on research and research training, Dr Kemp highlights the need for a more holistic conception of learning, where the links between theory and practice, the academy and professional practice, are less demarcated, and where the lifelong learning continuum is borderless, cumulative, and integrated. Kemp claims there is need to focus on 'the development of an appropriately entrepreneurial culture in which researchers and the various institutions collaborate amongst themselves, across the world and with other players in the innovation system. Collaboration should encompass the sharing of knowledge, technique, expertise ...' (Kemp, 1999, p 7).

Underpinning such developments are assumptions about learning which provide the basis for development and action. The paper 'Powerful partnerships: A shared responsibility for learning' cogently sums up these principles, and these have guided the collaborative approach to shared learning explicated in this paper. These are:

1. Learning is fundamentally about making and maintaining connections, experientially through interaction between the mind and the environment, self and other, generality and context, deliberation and action;
   
   
2. Learning is enhanced by taking place in the context of a compelling situation that balances challenge and opportunity, and the need for contemplation and reflection upon experiences;
   
   
3. Learning is an active search for meaning by the learner - engaging, constructive, and transformational - where prior knowledge and experience are transformed into new and deeper understandings;
   
   
4. Learning is a developmental and cumulative process, implying both a holistic and temporal perspective on the learning process;
   
   
5. Learning is a social activity, where human differences, personal histories, varied experiences can interact to create powerful learning opportunities;
   
   
6. Learning is strongly affected by the educational climate in which it takes place;
   
   
7. Learning requires frequent feedback if it is to be sustained, practice if it is to be nourished, and opportunities to use what has been learned;
   
   
8. Much learning takes place informally and incidentally;
   
   
9. Learning is grounded in particular contexts and individual experiences;
   
   
10. Learning involves the ability of individuals to monitor their own learning. (Joint Task Force on Student Learning, 1998)

Professional information work
In the context of education for the information profession, these principles, derived from considerable research and practice, provide unparalleled opportunities for the academy and the profession to work collaboratively to create a shared learning environment for deep student learning. The challenge is even more complex in the context of the rapidly changing and increasingly global nature of professional information work, particularly in relation to the integration of networked information technology, and the delivery of borderless digital information resources, collections and services. Such changes call for information professionals who not only have the knowledge and skills to practice in the industry, and who demonstrate theoretical and professional rigour and intellectual critique, but who are also able to work transformatively and creatively in a wide range of dynamic information contexts.

Leading professionals in the information industry will:

1. Understand contemporary issues, trends, innovations and forces for change in the information environment, as well as the broader political, policy and technological contexts, and be able to respond to these is adaptable, flexible and creative ways;
   
   
2. Have a coherent body of knowledge and skills related to information utilisation and understand how individuals and organisations create, access and utilise both public/private recorded information, as well as tacit/explicit knowledge, and how these can be valued, captured, structured and shared for effective use;
   
   
3. Be aware of the interconnectedness between local, national and global issues which represent opportunities and obligations for Australia in an increasingly globalised information environment;
   
   
4. Understand how various information and communication technologies may be utilised in the creation and documentation of information, as well as facilitating the exchange and ongoing creation and renewal of information;
   
   
5. Understand ethical information practice, and operate with integrity, rigour, self-reliance and co-operation in professional contexts;
   
   
6. Possess creative, critical, reflective problem-solving capabilities in the context of their professional roles;
   
   
7. Be able to communicate effectively with colleagues, clients and publics, and be able to identify, access, analyse, organise and present materials in both written and oral formats;
   
   
8. Be able to work with, manage and lead others in ways which value their diversity and equality, and which facilitate their contribution to organisations and/or groups;
   
   
9. Value autonomous, lifelong learning as central to one's capacity to realise professional and personal potential, and
   
   
10. Possess sophisticated information-handling skills appropriate for professional practice in an electronic environment.

The educative context for implementing the shared approach to learning is the four graduate courses in information studies offered by the Department of Information Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney. These courses are the Graduate Diploma in Information, the Graduate Diploma in Electronic Information Management, the Graduate Diploma in Knowledge Management, and the Master of Arts in Information. The courses examine people and information processes in a rapidly changing information environment, and the increasing role of technology in transforming the creation, storage, organisation, assess and retrieval of information. While each course has a particular professional orientation, central to learning in all courses is understanding how individuals and groups interact with and utilise information, and how information can be utilised for personal development or strategic advantage. In order to achieve these learning outcomes, five aspects are given emphasis in the courses:

1. Lifelong learning: the provision of opportunities for the development of information professionals as exemplars and facilitators of lifelong, autonomous learning; professionals who are creative, adaptable problems solvers and able to translate theory into effective practice in a variety of contexts;
   
   
2. Flexible learning: the provision of choices in learning - location, time, medium, approach, learning pathway, rate, and assessment strategy;
   
   
3. Situated learning: embedding learning in authentic activity of information work, and understanding and addressing real issues, problems, and developments;
   
   
4. Collaborative, shared learning partnerships: the development of partnerships with leading professionals and exemplary information provision contexts to provide opportunities for students to situate their theoretical learning in practice in meaningful ways, and to provide opportunities for deep learning; and
   
   
5. Learning support structures: infrastructure support such as student administrative services, library resources, expert educators and mentors, and networked technology support.

This paper focuses on the creation of a shared learning environment, developed through a collaboration between the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney, formally signed as a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions in May 1999. Given the clear professional focus on the development of digital libraries, it was determined that the key feature of this collaboration would be the joint development and implementation of the graduate subject 'Virtual Information Collections, Resources and Services', delivered on site at the State Library of New South Wales, and where the learning environment was synonymous with the professional practice environment. For the nearly 20 staff from both institutions who were involved in the initiative, and the 23 students who were enrolled, this collaboration offered an exciting opportunity to embark on a new and rewarding shared learning experience. In essence, the ten learning principles identified above, provided the guiding framework for its development, implementation and evaluation. Developments in the digital information world and how these were shaping professional information work provided the practice context for the learning environment, and the focus of the content to be covered. The State Library of New South Wales provided the real 'virtual library' in which this learning could take place.

Virtual libraries: concept and practice
Today, any Internet search engine searching for the phrase 'virtual libraries' returns close to 100 000 hits. It becomes evident when scanning these sites that the number of virtual library projects currently underway around the world is astounding. Virtual library research and development, to say nothing of virtual library service delivery, is rich with projects like Electronic Beowulf, Digital Scriptorium, the James Fairfax Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive, the Internet Public Library and SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resource Access Network). It is clear that the professional collection and provision of information is no longer constrained by time and place, and that networked information technology and the development and management of digital collections and information services is challenging and reshaping the way libraries do almost everything they do.

The collaborative development and delivery of the post-graduate subject 'Virtual Information Collections, Resources and Services' was grounded in the assumption that the management of virtual information has unique concerns, that it is not the same as the management of traditional information services. This does not mean that traditional information management practices are ignored as information professionals embrace the dynamic new world of virtual information; indeed, the theoretical foundations for the study of the subject were firmly embedded in the extensive literature of information collection development and management. Underpinning the conceptualisation of the subject, however was the view that:

'the concept of a 'digital library' is not merely equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is rather an environment to bring together collections, services, and people in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use, and preservation of data, information, and knowledge' (Atkins & Duguid, 1997).

This holistic view of information management in the virtual context shaped the content, delivery and student engagement in their learning. As Richard E Lucier, founding university librarian and exectuive director of the University of California Digital Library notes, 'What is critical with the digital library is to look at what people's information needs are, and how we might use technology in order to solve those problems.' He asserts that if libraries only 'automate traditional functions, then we're not going to be very successful. ...A key challenge we face will be how we integrate the digital library and the continuing paper-based library' (Frielander, 1998) The virtual information world may be a new one, but the old one hasn't gone away. The key is in seeing things differently.

According to Maxine Brodie, Director, Information Technology and Collection Management at the State Library, the examination of the virtual information environment embraces four dimensions:

• Context: Complex and fluid, understanding the context in which information professionals work provides an answer to why the information industry is embracing the virtual information world;
  
  
• Clients: The community of users is the who of the virtual information world, and are thus central to the study;
  
  
• Collections: Information resources and the information life cycle are the what of the virtual information world;
  
  
• Collaborations: New relationships with creators, publishers and other institutions provide the how of the virtual information world (Brodie, 1999).

Against the context of Brody's key dimensions, Lorcan Dempsey, Director of the UK Office for Library and Information Networking (UKOLN), has identified four significant challenges for the development of digital information services:

• The challenge of serving the active user: Users want 'resources bundled in terms of their own interests and needs, not determined by the constraints of media, the capabilities of the supplier, or by arbitrary historical practices';
  
  
• The challenge of living with the radically new: 'Fluidity replaces fixity as a dominant characteristic of resource creation and use. [Data] can be shared, reused, analysed; can be adapted, reconfigured, copied and newly combined in ways which were not possible before';
  
  
• The challenge of planning for the radically unpredictable: 'Not only is change rapid, it is unpredictable';
  
  
• The challenge of institution building: 'We are only beginning to sense how institutions will be built and modified in digital spaces'.

Noting that the digital medium is radically new, Dempsey asserts that unless cultural institutions undertake a thorough examination of roles and practices in order to address these challenges, 'the cultural and intellectual legacy to future generations [will be] entrusted to a house of cards built on a million web sites' (Dempsey, 2000). And it is one thing for an information agency to meet these challenges, it is another thing to educate the next generation of professionals to meet not only these challenges, but also the next wave of what Dempsey calls the 'radically unpredictable'.

A collaborative, shared approach to the education of information professionals, deliberately situating their learning in the dynamic of a dramatically changing and unpredictable information environment, was seen to provide a way forward. From both institutions, the collaboration brought together a wealth of knowledge and experience: curriculum development, theoretical knowledge, experienced practitioners-as-educators, a functioning virtual library for authentic and deep learning, and real problems as a foundation for developing knowledge, skills and experiences.

The State Library of New South Wales: a leading digital library
The choice of the State Library of New South Wales as the learning context was based on the recognition that it is an acknowledged leader in the provision of digital library services in Australia. The State Library traces its origins back to 1826. It is the proud custodian of the first Australian newspaper (the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 5 March 1803), the oldest surviving Australian photograph (Daguerreotype of Dr William Bland, 14 January 1845) and original accounts of the great explorers, Abel Tasman, James Cook, Bass and Flinders, and William Bligh and nine of the 11 known journals of the First Fleet. With a mission to 'inspire, educate, inform and entertain, by providing quality library and information programs to support the cultural, research, and educational needs of our clients', the Library is forward- looking. It has a significant presence on the web, as noted in the Library Council of New South Wales Annual Report 1999: 'The Library's website is regularly listed in the top 20 used by Australians for educational reference purposes and the top 40 in the government and community category. Website hits have increased more than 100% from 5 million to 14 million over the past year.' (p 20) In line with NSW government policy, the Library is committed to delivering appropriate services online by 2001.

The Library's Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Program draws together a number of initiatives designed to enable it to share its collections, expertise and buildings with the people of NSW and beyond, and to affirm its physical and digital identity. Among these initiatives are the James Fairfax Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive; the online version of the Library's HSC resource service, Infocus; the expansion of ILANET, which provides client-centred electronic services to small and medium sized libraries; a number of pilot projects in electronic archiving and the development of PICMAN, the Library's integrated database of pictorial and manuscript material. The Library is also involved in numerous collaborative projects with other institutions, such as the Australian Literary Manuscripts Project with the universities of Western Australia and Queensland, the National Library and the Australian Defence Force Academy; PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia, a National Library initiative), and SETIS (Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service, with the University of Sydney).

The Library has been involved in the development of digital service delivery for more than 20 years, and has gathered considerable expertise. But it also recognises that there is still much to learn. It has long been committed to professional leadership and has provided diverse education and training opportunities for the profession for many years, through its Education Program. The opportunity to be formally involved in the delivery of university-based professional education has enabled the Library to integrate its rich theoretical understanding of virtual information management, ever-increasing practical know-how and educational expertise to created a formal learning experience situated in the real world of the information professional, thereby providing rich opportunities for deep learning. In turn, it was also recognised that the experience would return benefits to the State Library, as well as to the university and the students involved.

The learning experience: 'Virtual Information Collections, Sources and Services'
Niki Kallenberger, Education Programs Co-ordinator at the State Library, coordinated the Library's role in developing and delivering the subject while Dr. Ross Todd, Head, Department of Information Studies, University of Technology, Sydney, provided co-ordination from the university, including situating the subject within the graduate program, its objectives and learning outcomes, and the theoretical knowledge and skills to be developed. While Niki had the educational competence required from the Library's perspective, content expertise was vested in a number of staff members. In consultation with Maxine Brodie, Director, Information Technology and Collection Management, and Wilma Norris, Acting General Manager, Education and Client Liaison, a subject coordination group was formed to advise and assist Niki on all aspects of the subject. The group finalised subject documentation and planned each session. They also helped identify other staff to participate in subject delivery. In all 15 State Library staff contributed to the delivery of the subject.

In response to the emerging digital information environment as elaborated above, the subject sought to enable graduates, as leading information professionals, to:

• understand and apply client-centred concepts and principles in the management of traditional and digital information resources and services;
  
  
• analyse policies, practices, and standards related to collection development and management in traditional and digital environments;
  
  
• identify and apply principles of service design for virtual information environments;
  
  
• critically evaluate contemporary issues in information provision and their implications for collection development and management;
  
  
• understand key aspects and trends of the information technology infrastructure and their implications for collection building and management;
  
  
• carry out needs assessment and evaluation of virtual information collections, resources and services.

In order to situate learning in the practical context of a digital information environment, the subject was delivered on site at the State Library on five Saturdays, from 9:00am to 4:00pm. A case study approach was adopted, providing real world experiences of virtual library management but at the same time elucidating the underpinning theories and principles of virtual information resources, services and their management. Nine content areas provided a focus for the sessions. These were: Making the virtual library happen; Collection development; Information design for the virtual library; Enablers and barriers; Technology choices; Funding and resourcing; Communication; Quality/evaluation/sustainability; and Possible futures.

The subject learning centred on active engagement with a number of digital library services, including: Infocus, the Library's HSC resource service currently making the transition from paper-based to full electronic delivery; ILANETWEB, a Library enterprise which provides client-centred electronic services to small and medium sized libraries; the James Fairfax Matthew Flinders Electronic Archive; and the New Australia Project, a component of the Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS), a collaborative undertaking with the University of Sydney Library to provide electronic access to records of the New Australia Cooperative Settlement Association.

Learning strategies included interactive lectures, workshops, discussions, readings, and group investigations, enabling students to engage actively in the case studies to develop key theoretical frameworks, explore practice realities, and to identify key issues, trends, problems and solutions. Three assessment tasks were specified: the compilation of a collection development policy for a virtual information service or agency; a team-based investigation and presentation that centred on a real issue in the virtual information environment; and a learning log, which gave students an opportunity to reflect on their learning, as well as explore in more depth areas of particular interest. The open-ended nature of the assessment tasks allowed students to explore areas of individual interest within the digital information environment, but assessment criteria for each task rested on the demonstration of in depth conceptual and practice-based understandings of the area being explored, and the ways in which these might work in the construction of effective virtual library services.

Of the three assessment tasks, the team-based investigation and presentation perhaps gave students the best taste of the reality of the management of virtual information. The State Library's experience is very much that this is a team undertaking, and a project-based approach has been adopted in the Library's Electronic Service Delivery Program. The task was presented to students in this way:

A team of no more than five students will work with a mentor from the State Library to undertake an investigation related to digital information services. This might focus on:

1. an exploration of a contemporary issue and its application and/or implications for the delivery of a virtual information service and collection;

2. the design of a new virtual information service for an industry client;

3. the evaluation of a virtual information service.

Students will also have an opportunity to identify other scenarios for investigation. Each team will investigate the chosen project and prepare a report on its findings. The report should be prepared in a form appropriate to the nature of the task undertaken, and should clearly demonstrate how the applicable subject objectives have been met. Each team will also have twenty minutes to present its findings to the whole group on the final meeting day of the subject, 6 November.

Each presentation will be followed by a ten-minute period for questions and discussion, which should be initiated by the presenting team. An executive summary of no more than two A4 pages must be prepared for distribution to the whole group in advance of the presentation. The executive summary should also indicate the roles and responsibilities of each team member.

A mentor will be appointed to work with each team, appropriate to the project undertaken. The mentor will act as a guide and sounding board. Some time will be available during scheduled sessions for team meetings. However, it is likely a team will have to meet on additional occasions in order to complete its task.

Teams will be assessed in terms of:

1. Demonstrated ability to link chosen issue to an understanding of theories, concepts, and principles relevant to management of the virtual information collection, resources or service

2. Demonstrated ability to analyse, synthesise and evaluate a range of viewpoints and arguments

3. Realistic assessment of the practical implications of the theoretical underpinnings of the task

4. Appropriateness of report and presentation to project chosen

5. Quality of the delivery of the presentation.

Students were subsequently offered the opportunity to suggest project ideas, and a list of eight options, with brief descriptions, was drawn up The five topics chosen by the students, and described below, are indicative of the diversity of content typical in the world of virtual information management:

1. Mitchell Library Small Pictures File

Eight thousand of the most valuable, popular and unique photographic images from the Mitchell Library's Small Pictures File (SPF) are currently not available to library clients because their value is too great to be left in open access files and overuse is threatening their survival. Digitising them can ensure survival and improve access.

• How might State Library clients best be provided with effective access to these digital images?
  
  
• What are the key issues to consider in the design process, and how might these issues be addressed?
  
  
• You may wish to think about: the technical challenges of large file sizes; preservation issues; e-commerce requirements; copyright issues; intelligent navigational assistance; universal access requirements.
  
  

2. Censorship and the Internet

• Government control or individual responsibility?
  
  
• Child safety versus learning to be a discriminating reader/viewer/ consumer?
  
  
• Rating, blocking and labeling schemes: real solutions or cop-outs?
  
  
• Legislation: Australia and the rest of the world?
  
  
• What are the key issues and the implications of each for effective management of a virtual information agency?
  
  
• How can managers keep up to date?
  
  

3. Discovering government information resources on the Internet.

Governments are increasingly using the Internet to disseminate information and to provide access to their services. ServiceNSW is the NSW government's Internet entry point, and will be the focus of this research.

• What metadata standards for government information exist, both in Australia and overseas?
  
  
• What subject description schemes are being used by various government sectors, such as business, culture, health, education, the environment or law?
  
  
• Both members of the general public and specialist researchers use government sites. How well do existing practices, including the subject retrieval strategies currently in place, meet their needs?
  
  

4. Use of virtual information: implications for existing and future services.

• What is known about how people use virtual information services?
  
  
• What are their needs, their preferences, their likes and dislikes?
  
  
• How can we use this information to improve the design and marketing of virtual information services?
  
  
• How can this assist us to anticipate client demands as we plan future services?
  
  

Existing or emerging State Library virtual information services such as Infocus or ILANET may be useful case studies.

5. Online lodgement of building applications

NSW.net has been asked to design a web-based service for lodging building applications which can be used in all NSW local government areas. Putting a form on the web is easy, but this service needs to do more. How can the service be designed to ensure it offers 'value-added' features, such as:

• Intelligent navigation assistance?
  
  
• Universal access?
  
  
• Relevant and current information?
  
  

This service, of course, has to meet the needs of clients as well as local authorities. With an appropriate State Library staff member assigned as a mentor, each group began by scoping and planning their task as any project group does as a project is initiated.

Six weeks later, each team presented its findings to the student group and a number of State Library staff. The results were impressive; a view confirmed when the subject coordinator and mentors met a few days later to consider the written reports. Teams showed that they could link their chosen issue to relevant theory; that they could analyse, synthesise and evaluate a range of viewpoints and arguments and assess, in a realistic way, the practical implications of their chosen project. Combined with high quality written and oral presentations, these learning outcomes provided strong evidence that the task had clearly achieved its aim of giving students a 'real' experience of working in the virtual information world.

Evaluation data to assess the success of the shared learning venture were gathered in two ways: a survey was distributed to all students enrolled in the subject, and a focus group of all Library staff involved in the planning and presentation of the subject was conducted by a member of the Library's Planning and Evaluation Branch. As well, informal information was collected from both students and staff. State Library staff were positive about their roles in subject planning and delivery. They generally agreed that, given this was a new experience for everyone, the first running of this subject went very well. All participants indicated they were happy to contribute if the subject was run again and felt that they had learned a lot from their involvement; however, all participants could think of ways to improve their own presentation/involvement.

The value to the Library as a whole of an undertaking such as this is difficult to measure. Staff agreed that the need to articulate the whys and wherefores of what one does, and to locate this process within broader theoretical and professional frameworks rather than just 'doing' had many benefits. In some cases, involvement in the subject provided a welcome opportunity to rethink the whys and wherefores. The interchange of ideas, the chance for staff who do not normally interact to work together, the questions and feedback from students all contributed to the intangible benefits of the Library's involvement. Another benefit to the Library was the opportunity to interact with those new to the profession. As one staff member said, 'I think it's good from our institutional point of view that we're involved with people who may or may not work here but will probably have some connection to us somehow further down the track.' The provision of the subject was very much in keeping with the Library's corporate priority to 'provide strong leadership in library and information services through excellence in our own activities'.

Feedback from the students about all aspects of the subject was very positive. The majority of students believed all subject objectives were 'fully' or 'mostly' met, and all students agreed that the subject was well planned, the issues were important, the strategies used were effective and that overall, the subject was successful. Students valued learning 'in the real world' and having the opportunity to see first hand practical, working examples of what they were learning about. Perhaps more importantly, they acknowledged that the opportunity to engage in real-world contexts where they could apply their theoretical understandings to significant professional experiences, and at the same time deal with the issues in reflective and evaluative ways, were immensely valuable. The leadership of the group mentors in this learning process was identified seen as particularly valuable. For the students, learning was both a shared and iterative experience, one of active and ongoing engagement between the world of ideas and the world of practice.

Conclusion
The separation between theory and practice, between ideas and applications, and between the academy and the profession and between 'know what' and 'know how' has long been a vexed issue in higher education. We believe that the shared initiative between the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney has provided students with unparalleled opportunities to grapple with the complexities of providing and managing digital information environments. This shared learning approach does not consider knowledge as an island, as 'an integral, self-sufficient substance, theoretically independent of the situations in which it is learned and used, as decontextualized formal concepts' (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1995: 1). Rather, robust knowledge is inextricably a product of the activity, situations and negotiations in which it is used. Knowledge undergoes construction and transformation in use. Learning is thus seen as a cumulative process that results from life-long applying of knowledge and acting in situations. According to Brown, Collins & Duguid, (1995: 3), concept, activity and domain culture are interdependent, and the role of authentic learning activities to provide opportunity to use a domain's conceptual tools in authentic, meaningful and purposeful ways is a central feature of context-based learning.

In professional education, the iterative relationship between theory and practice is critical, and the importance of embedding learning in authentic professional practices is considered essential. The experience for both the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney in achieving this has been an extremely positive one. The opportunity to share responsibility for learning has been important, not just in creating a powerful learning environment, but also in creating a broader learning community for students where theoretical knowledge and skills, professional practice, experience, critique and reflection are nourished, and professional linkages established. It is hoped that this learning community has also provided opportunities for modelling engagement, interaction and learning how to learn. This is the essence of lifelong learning.

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Dr Ross Todd is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication, Media Arts and Information at the University of Technology, Sydney. His research and teaching focus on information seeking behaviour, information literacy, knowledge management, and learning in virtual environments. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University, New Jersey USA. E-mail rtodd@scils.rutgers.edu.nospam (please remove '.nospam' from address)

The authors express their thanks to Professor Joyce Kirk for input into their original manuscript on learning approaches.