Higher educational institutions face an increasing demand for developing a renewed set of competencies of college students who will live in the knowledge-based society. However, relatively little is known about what constitutes the core competencies that college students need to develop and how we can improve them. Nine categories of core competencies required for college graduates were drawn from the previous research and examples of core competencies developed by other institutions. They are analytic thinking skills, problem-solving skills, communicating skills, collaborative working skills, and etc. A reading guidance course for strengthening core competencies, developed based on the teaching and learning methods was adapted to students of LIS for one semester. Implications of these and related findings are discussed.