Search results

This paper aims to review changes related to library and information science (LIS) education over the past 20 years.

The literature reviewed for this paper is obtained by internet and database searches and personal communication and is conducted to look for similarities and differences in LIS program changes. A time period for the review is set from 1997 to 2017, and is completed between January and October of 2017. The majority of the searches are conducted in English.

Numerous similarities in changes were evidenced in areas of LIS education, such as curriculum, identification of new training and skills, instructional methods, follow-up on graduates, research on the current job market and post-graduate training support. Differences were identified in areas of capability of program change due to country regulation and course change flexibility.

A review of global program changes is relevant for LIS programs to realize and maintain their value in today’s workforce. It is significant for LIS programs all over the globe to realize that their shifts in curricular and program changes are similar to other LIS programs or where differences can be equally important.

Advancements in technology have led to many changes in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). As global communications and technology continue to become more available and sophisticated, LIS programs need to prepare students for employment in rapidly changing and globalized LIS professions.

Data from a total of 63 programs from the American Library Association (ALA) and 32 programs from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) was collected through openly accessible websites of these programs. Areas explored include program name, name and level of the academic unit offering the program, credit hours, required courses, percentage of required courses and capstone measurements used within the different LIS programs.

A majority of programs still preserve the keyword “Library” in their name, but not the academic units offering them. Most programs in ALA and CILIP follow a semester-based program. Research methods, internships, practical experience, combined with traditional library core and information technology requirements were found to constitute the major subjects in general. Comprehensive exams were replaced by e-portfolios among ALA programs while a dissertation remains the preferred choice of capstone requirement for CILIP.

Scant studies compare accredited LIS programs worldwide, motivating the study of the similarities, differences and trends of LIS programs under the current globalized technology-driven knowledge economy. This paper seeks to fill the literature gap and promote a global discussion and understanding of LIS curricula in different regions of the world, guiding potential students to select their suitable LIS programs.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the status, trends and challenges of library and information education and training in Eastern and Southern Africa. It notes that library and information education and training in Africa is undergoing rapid change, with difficult challenges to be overcome. For example, during the past 20 years, the number of library schools has grown in some regions and declined in some, such as South Africa. Common LIS factors include amalgamation, re‐orientation, and curriculum review and revision.

The authors' extensive experience with and exposure to LIS education has been used together with observations and literature survey in the field to inform this paper.

It is evident that LIS schools have, to a greater or lesser extent, been redesigning their curricula to keep track of the latest developments in the information world and keep their teaching market‐related. New qualification programmes have been developed to provide opportunities for further specialization. In many cases departments have changed their names to reflect these new focus areas and extensions, and in many cases departments have realigned themselves within their universities. It is evident that LIS schools have taken the challenges of the changing information environment very seriously, and have adapted their curricula, their names and their institutional alignments to reflect these changes.

The paper raises fundamental issues concerning trends, challenges and opportunities for LIS education and training in eastern and southern Africa by largely drawing examples from the authors' experience and related African studies in the domain.

The paper provides useful current information to inform LIS educators, researchers, students and other stakeholders on the issues and challenges of LIS education in the region.

Information provided in this paper is of value for comparative studies on LIS education and training. The paper is current and largely informed by participant observation, participation and experiential knowledge that is fresh and well informed.

Libraries and librarians have long been early adopters of information technologies. For decades, librarians have applied computerization to library operations. Standardization and computerization of bibliographic records decades ago made possible automation of library systems, the creation and utilization of giant bibliographic utilities such as OCLC with its 52 million records. Collaborative adoption of information technologies decades ago brought shared cataloging, on-line public access catalogs, bibliographic databases, enhanced interlibrary loan and document delivery, and acquisition of information in digital formats, resulting in worldwide access to library resources. Nonetheless the revolution in information technologies that produced the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s hit the information profession of librarianship and the educational establishment like an earthquake.

Education in library and information science (LIS) in the first decade of the 21st century is reviewed and discussed in terms of changes, developments, and associated issues. Specifically, courses and concentrations newly added to the LIS curriculum are described along with a summary of what has been revised, including the core. Distance education in LIS is presented as a result of technology application while reposition, relocation, and closures of LIS schools are also examined. Of the organizational changes among LIS schools, the emergence of iSchools and related topics received particular coverage with data gathered recently. Issues persistent in LIS education (i.e., accreditation of LIS programs, library education crisis, and chasm between LIS education and practices) are revisited with analysis. The author believes on the basis of this review that the digital age has brought us in LIS education with opportunities greater than ever. LIS education will move forward and even thrive in this digital age when the field not only makes intelligent use of the technology but also changes in other dimensions as the society advances.

The paper seeks to present an analysis of the development of schools of librarianship and information science (LIS) in the European Union (EU) applicant states until 2004. It discusses the potential and actual changes in their organisation, notably their curriculum.

The comparative analysis of LIS programmes was performed. The model presented by T.D. Wilson in 2001 was selected as the model for analysing the data. The aim was to support the Wilson model with some empirical data from the specific countries.

The results show that the long history of traditional library education in these schools was not a great obstacle to adapting the curriculum to new professional and political standards. LIS schools have generally changed their curriculum towards those of modern LIS schools and have also embraced the EU outlines regarding higher education, especially the Bologna Declaration.

This study has its limitations as it is based only on the formal courses’ names and the formal content. Comparative analysis could also be accomplished through analysing courses' content, students and teaching staff.

The theoretical model of LIS courses analysis was tested on the LIS programmes in EU new member and applicant states. Testing the model shows its weaknesses and strengths. This could be developed in a simple but practical and useful tool for LIS programmes comparison and harmonisation, where necessary.

The central place that education has in the strength and well-being of any profession is widely accepted. Australia presents an interesting case study of a country where Library and Information Studies (LIS) education moved from being conducted by practitioners under the guidance of the professional association to being provided in institutions of higher education in 1959. The 50 years (1959–2008) saw substantial changes in Australian LIS education with a rapid proliferation of schools which was later followed by closures, mergers and changes of focus. This chapter charts LIS education during this period focusing on organizational and structural aspects of the placement of LIS education in tertiary institutions, on the academization of LIS educators who had in the early days mainly been drawn from practice, and on the development of LIS educators as academic researchers and authors as represented by their productivity and visibility in national and international databases. In addition to giving an account of these areas of LIS education over the 50 years, the chapter seeks to offer explanations for what has occurred and some views of strategies which may assist the development of LIS education in Australia and in other countries which possess similar characteristics.

Addressed to the audience of LIS educators at all levels, from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching in LIS programs, to librarians and library consultants delivering professional development training, to practitioners who work with readers in all types of libraries, this article makes a case for replacing the term “readers' advisory” with the term “Reading Experience (RE) librarianship” as a designator of the current professional practice.

Using historical and discursive analysis based on the extensive literature review, this article argues that a number of factors call for the change in terminology: changes in the human factor (i.e., changes in readers and reading behavior; and changes in relationships between readers and librarians) and changes in the library environment (the rise of “experience” in libraries; a greater commitment to outreach and community engagement; and the fact that librarians are already practicing RE librarianship without recognizing it as such). It also examines the role of LIS educators in fostering and supporting RE librarianship.

On the one hand, the new terminology will be more reflective of the work that reader service librarians currently do, thus doing justice to a wide range of activities and expanded roles of librarians; on the other hand, it will serve as an imperative and a motivator to further transform reader services from in-house interactions with and programs for avid readers into a true community engagement, with much broader goals, scope and reach.

The article stands to coin a new professional term for the transformed library practice, thus recording a radical change in longstanding professional activities and encouraging new community-oriented thinking about the expanded role of librarians in promoting reading in diverse social environments.

Archival studies have long been a critical part of information education around the world. This paper attempts to provide a worldwide overview of archival education among main information schools worldwide and find out their similarity and differences to suggest measures for the development of archival education.

Quantitative research is conducted including ten elements of the iSchools' archival education which are (1) geographical distribution, (2) names of degrees, (3) names of concentration/specialization, (4) names of academic units offering the programs, (5) levels of academic units offering the programs, (6) study mode, (7) credit requirement for program completion, (8) percentage of required credits, (9) capstone requirements and (10) other accreditations. Programs among different regions are compared.

The study found that 43 out of 96 iSchool members from 13 countries/regions offer a total of 45 master's level archival education, and most of them are from North America. Both similarities and differences among the schools are identified and discussed.

This study’s findings suggest that iSchools may explore the possibility of organizing more conferences and forums to exchange ideas on archival studies and education issues. The iSchool community could contribute to this traditional field by attracting more members worldwide and cooperating with other accreditation organizations of archival education.

Most research on archival education focuses on just regional or country-based issues, and scant research explores a global view.

There are many differences in, and various opinions on, naming library education institutions around the world. In a number of countries, this diversity has increased a powerful trend among library professionals to discuss and to challenge the problem of naming schools in which they are studying the discipline and the programs by which they are being taught. The present study, in response to this trend, aims to find out an adequate answer to this problem based on the real state of the librarianship's educational institutions on the World Wide Web.

After an introductory note, various opinions are classified into two categories. The diversity in interpretation of renaming schools is reviewed chronologically. The survey was done and a sufficient conclusion was presented.

More than 98.5 percent of the schools have renewed their titles, while fewer than 45 percent have changed their titles completely from the traditional forms to the newer ones.

Relativeness of the industrialization concept is too much. Therefore, conceptualization for such research would usually be a big problem.

It was not possible to discover whether the titles of the schools were being changed when the survey was being done or not.

The results of this survey can solve the paradox of renaming schools.