Library School Fieldwork Placements: Problems and Practice

Abstract

This brief survey looks at library school fieldwork placements and the current problems and constraints. It does not approach the subject from a theoretical viewpoint, but looks at the practicalities of the situation, as they are experienced by placement tutors/liaison officers, host librarians and students. No attempt is made to review the considerable literature originating on both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere. The emphasis is on current views and all material was collected between October 1985 and February 1986. Comments on library school practices have deliberately been kept brief, as their point is not to inform academics, who are well aware of the position, but to promote understanding. All too often there is a communication gap, and many librarians, and indeed many students, may not realise the parameters within which a school is operating. Similarly tutors and students may not fully understand the constraints affecting librarians/information officers in a vast range of institutions. Tutors and librarians may lose sight of the students' needs and the heavy demands that placement can make on them.

Citation

Hall, A.W. (1986), "Library School Fieldwork Placements: Problems and Practice", Library Management, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 2-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054883