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The Council for National Academic Awards could be said to have been fathered by SPUTNIK I, the first space satellite launched in 1957 by the USSR. This signal achievement, a great shock to Western democracies hitherto convinced of their technical and cultural superiority, induced national soul searching particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. Inevitably such soul searching turned upon the higher education system. If SPUTNIK I was the progenitor of CNAA, Lord Robbins was its midwife. The so called Robbins Report, which examined the structure of higher education in the United Kingdom, concluded that there was need to expand significantly the cadres of qualified manpower available by the expansion of opportunities for university level education. It was recognised by Lord Robbins' Committee of Enquiry that in the areas of professional and specifically vocational higher education the United Kingdom had failed seriously to furnish itself appropriately by its existing patterns of higher education provision.

This progress report attempts to chart the main trends in professional education during the 1970s and to identify the major problems facing curriculum planners for the rest of this decade—and beyond. Although the work is based on United Kingdom educational practice, developments in other countries are noted whenever it is felt that a helpful comparison may be made. The citations do not represent a bibliography of professional education: such a compilation has already been accomplished in the researches of Burrell, and to a lesser extent in Clough. Writings on professional education in librarianship and information science tend to date rather quickly; especially if they deal with information technology or technical services. Theoretical problems remain more durable and usually reappear in different guises. Both information science and librarianship are bracketed together whenever they interrelate or overlap, or whenever logic and common sense dictate. In no way is it implied that they are both one and the same thing; the terms denote different areas of professional application and activity.

Library assistants were originally considered to be professional librarians in the making, and were trained accordingly. With the expansion of libraries and librarianship, Britain's “apprenticeship” system of qualification gave way to formal library school education, and a new category of “non‐professional staff” was created, of people who were unwilling or unable to proceed to graduate‐level qualification. The development of non‐professional certificates of competence in the UK is described against parallel developments in the US, Canada and Australia; the COMLA training modules are also examined. The theoretical and practical issues surrounding training are discussed, training schemes and qualifications in the four countries analysed, and the relative merits of in‐house training and external certificate programmes argued.

To record and evaluate the impact of the American contribution to Iranian librarianship education.

Describes how American support created modern librarianship in Iran, thanks to a range of initiatives such as the American development foundations and programs, and the Fulbright Program, which helped the country to renovate its higher education. Reviews the advantages and disadvantages of the American model of education for librarianship, which was implemented by a number of Iranian universities. This paper also describes how American library educators were influential in the creation of some major professional library organizations such as the Tehran Book Processing Centre (TEBROC), the Iranian Documentation Centre (IRANDOC) and the Iranian Library Association (ILA).

Concludes that, despite the fact that modern librarianship in Iran came to life after the Second World War due to American assistance, the major shortcomings of the American model of library education in Iran led to lack of creativity in Iranian students, lack of independent research capability, and lack of integration between what students learned and what the Iranian library profession actually needed.

Establishes the context of influence behind the growth of Iranian library science education, which can inform further research on such cultural impacts.

Since many other countries have based LIS education on an American model, they may find some similarities in the discussions in this paper with their own case.

This paper documents an important period of growth and development in the history of Iranian librarianship.

Asheim concluded by noting that the need for change was the thread that connected almost all discussions of library education during the decade; change was not just accepted but anticipated, encouraged, and even instigated at an increasing pace. The accompanying effect on professional education was that “… the stress in education … fell upon education-for-change rather than upon the history, the heritage, the tradition.”(1975, p. 178) Wisely, perhaps, Asheim declined to predict whether or not this particular stress on change would continue, but he did raise the possibility of a respite, a period when change would be placed to the side in favor of reaction and retrenchment. Thirty years later his words sound almost wistful:The next few years may be a period of synthesis following the antithesis of the past decade—not a complete return to an earlier and more leisurely past, but not so violent a wrench as was feared by some, and sought by others (1975, p. 178).

This paper reviews formal librarianship education and training in Vietnam’s five library schools. The discussion for each focuses on the following aspects: historical background, aims, course content, academic staff, admission requirements, teaching methods, course duration, assessment, enrolment and curriculum. Using Hanoi Cultural University as a case study, it concentrates on changes that have occurred in the decade 1985‐1995 and concludes with an assessment of the areas in need of change if the profession in Vietnam is to meet user requirements into the future.

ALTHOUGH the first Public Libraries (Scotland) Act was placed on the Statute Book in 1853, it was not until 1899 that the Corporation of the City of Glasgow was empowered to establish and maintain public libraries throughout the city. Between 1876 and 1897 four attempts were made to secure public approval for the adoption of the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, but when all these efforts proved unsuccessful, the Corporation decided in June, 1888 to include in a Local Bill for submission to Parliament, certain clauses conferring upon themselves the power to become a library authority. Promoted in 1899, the Bill became known as the Glasgow Corporation (Tramways, Libraries, etc.) Act 1899, and the library clauses passed through Parliament without opposition and received Royal Assent on 1st August, 1899. The powers conferred by this Local Act empowered the Corporation:

The problems of One‐Man‐Bands (OMBs) began to be taken seriously in the early 1980s when the Aslib OMB group was formed. The group received considerable attention in the professional press, and became the object of a study by Judith Collins and Janet Shuter who identified them as “information professionals working in isolation”. Many of the problems identified in the Collins/Shuter study remain — not least of these being the further education and training needs of OMBs. These needs are studied in this report. The author has firstly done an extensive survey of the literature to find what has been written about this branch of the profession. Then by means of a questionnaire sent to the Aslib OMB group and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (INVOG), training and education needs have been pinpointed. Some of these needs have then been explored in greater detail by means of case studies. The author found that the most common deterrents to continuing education and training were time, cost, location, finding suitable courses to cover the large variety of skills needed and lastly, lack of encouragement from employers. The author has concluded by recommending areas where further research is needed, and suggesting some solutions to the problems discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the political position of academic librarianship in the context of recent changes in English Higher Education. The neoliberalisation of academic librarianship, both as an academic discipline and profession, is considered. The emergence of the Radical Librarians Collective is examined as a potential site through which to counter these developments and foster radical alternatives.

The paper draws upon Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony and praxis, and post-structural critiques of neoliberalism, as a theoretical framework to guide data collection and analysis, and observe developments within academic librarianship vis-à-vis broader processes of neoliberalisation. Empirical data collected through interviews and participant observation are analysed using thematic and critical discourse analysis.

The research finds that academic librarianship as a discipline and practice is undergoing a process of neoliberalisation. An umbrella organisation of activist librarians, Radical Librarians Collective, is found to be resisting these developments and has some potential to become a space through which radical alternatives to neoliberal hegemony can be explored and fostered.

The research demonstrates the utility of a Gramscian theoretical framework as a lens through which to observe developments in the field of library and information studies (LIS). Further empirical work would deepen the authors’ understanding of such developments across a range of institutions and locales.

The research makes an original contribution to critical research on the struggles around the neoliberalisation of academic librarianship in the UK. The theoretically informed analysis provides original insights into these processes, and makes a methodological contribution to LIS research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.

The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.

Information about each source is provided. The paper discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.

The information in the paper may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.