SET Bulletin

Section on Education and Training

Minutes of the Coordinating Board of SET 1st and 2nd Meetings, Bangkok, August 20 and 27th.

MINUTES of the Coordinating Board 1st meeting during IFLA Conference in Bangkok, Thaimaa, August 20, 1999

Particpating:

Section on Education and Training:

Judith Elkin (Chair)

Section on Library Theory and Research:

Lis Byberg (Chair)

Section on Reading:

John Cole (Chair), Adele Fasick (Secretary)

RT on Continuing Professional Education:

Patricia Oyler (Chair)

RT of Editors of Library Journals:

Ludmila Kozlova (Secretary)

RT of User Education:

Martin Kesselman (Chair), Jesus Lau (Secretary)

Observers:

Martha D. Castro, John F. Harvey, Ken Haycock, Susan Lazinger

1. Call to Order. Lis Byberg, Chair, called the meeting to order and welcomed participants.

2. Apologies. Mirja Iivonen, Aira Lepik, Maurice B. Line.

3. Agenda adopted unanimously.

4. Minutes of Amsterdam meetings approved.

5. Lis Byberg reported from the Professional Board Meeting:
   About 2000 are registered for the conference. The group was reminded that they must arrive early at the opening session. Also for the Council meeting people were asked to be there on time. If people want a cab to return to their hotels, they should call one through the transportation desk at the conference. Evaluation forms are available in several languages. People were reminded to tell new SC members about the orientation meetings on Sunday and Monday. There are two meetings for new officers. The divisional room is #221. This should be booked in advance. Lis would like reports of Section or RT activities in Jerusalem. The organising committee will try to encourage input from Islamic countries. Will issue a statement that IFLA does not imply that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. This year in Bangkok there will be a question about SI. Check with SC members to see whether paper handling is satisfactory.

6. Financial reports were given by each Section. Those sections that had administrative money left over were not given the full amount allocated. 730 NLG will be amount for next year. Project money is the same as last year. IFLA is going to try to raise more money by selling hats and umbrellas.

7. Reports from Sections and Round Tables about plans for Bangkok.

8. Project Proposals:
   Library journals project did not work out for last year and the money was returned. However, it is possible that it might go forward next year. Reading Section has tentative idea for project relating to literacy. Education and Training may develop a new project in cooperation with Marketing Section.

9. (Item postponed).

10. Election.

11. Medium Term Program.
    Action plans 2000-2001 must be prepared and presented. At the last CB meeting these will be shared.

12. Professional resolutions - none.

13. Other business:
    1. Name change for RT for editors of library journals.
    2. Listserv will be opene to all SC members. Chairs should bring list of members with their e-mail addresses to CB meeting on Friday.
    3. Pam Richards received the Jesse Shera Research award from the American Library Association.
    4. IFLA booth sessions have been assigned for each Section.
    5. Discussion of differences between workshops and program meetings. People said that workshops encourage discussion, small groups working on various topics, encourage people to participate. Workshops tend to have more stable audience.
    6. P. Oyler raised issue of having a search engine to search IFLA papers by subject.
    7. Information about election of officers has been distributed to all chairs.

For next CB meeting Items 8, 9, 10 will be handled.

Prepared by Adele Fasick (amfasick@crl.com), August 26, 1999)

MINUTES of the Coordinating Board 2nd meeting during IFLA Conference in Bangkok, Thaimaa, August 27, 1999, 12.30-14.25.

Particpating:

Section on Education and Training:

Ken Haycock (Chair), Andrew Kaniki (Secretary)

Section on Library Theory and Research:

Lis Byberg (Chair), Kerry Smith (Secretary), Mirja Iivonen (outgoing Secretary)

Section on Reading:

Adele Fasick (Secretary)

RT on Continuing Professional Education:

Blanche Woolls (Secretary), Patricia Oyler (outgoing Chair)

RT of Editors of Library Journals:

Ludmila Kozlova (Secretary)

RT of User Education:

Jesus Lau (Chair), Doriana Loof (Secretary), Marth D. Castro (Treasurer)

Observers:

Kari Christensen, John F. Harvey

1. Call to Order. Lis Byberg, Chair, called the meeting to order and welcomed participants.

2. Apologies. John Cole (Section on Reading).

3. Financial Reports. Lis Byberg reminded that outgoing officers are responsible for filing financial reports. All filed financial report forms should be sent to Lis Byberg before the 1st of October.

4. Reports from Sections and Round Tables. The officers of Sections and Round Tables reported the success of the programs they had in Bangkok conference.

5. Projects. Lis Byberg reported that the Division has 4200 NLG for small projects which do not take more than one year. Coordinated Board decided to give 600 NLG to Round Table of Library Journals for a project "Characteristics of the Good Key LIS-journals" and 1000 NLG to Section of Reading for a project "Workshop on Literacy Projects in Libraries." Coordinating Board decided also to support Section of Education and Training for the second year of their big project-related to the IFLA standards for library education. Coordinated Board emphasised that it is necessary to save some money for bigger projects but also some money is needed for small projects.

6. Plans For Future Conferences. The officers of Sections and Round Tables reported their plans for future conferences. Coordinated Board decided to recommend to the professional Board and Head Quarter that in the future conferences it would be possible for students of LIS to participate with a generous discount fee. Coordinating Board welcomed the suggestion by SET on an open discussion on the Division's listserv about the guidelines of the papers to be presented in IFLA conferences. Coordinating Board also wanted to encourage participants coming from various areas to work together and present common papers in IFLA conferences.

7. Elections.
   1. Lis Byberg (Library Theory and Research) was elected Division's chair.
   2. Kerry Smith (Library Theory and Research) was elected Divisions's secretary.
   3. Adele Fasick (Reading) was elected Division's information coordinator. It was pointed out that Division's listserv can be handled also by another person than an information coordinator. Coordinated Board also discussed about the possible advantages to have a chair and a secretary from various units of Division in the future.

8. Medium Term Program. The officers of Sections and Round Tables reported the changes they had made for their Action Plans. The revised Action Plans should be sent to Lis Byberg before the 1st of October.

9. Professional Resolutions. Coordinating Board discussed the differences between Sections, Round Tables and Discussion groups. Lis Byberg reported that the reorganisation of IFLA is under way. It was pointed out that professional resolutions should come from Sections. Routines regarding this should be sorted out quite clearly in a paper before the next conference. CB would specifically want to stress the need to make sure that the necessary signatures are written on the resolution.

10. Other Business.
    1. Round Table of Library Journals wanted to change it's name. The new name is Round Table of Library and Information Science Journals. The new name was approved by the Coordinating Board.
    2. Coordinating Board recommends to the Professional Board that keyword search possibilities be added into the IFLANET.
    3. Coordinating Board recommends to Professional Board that guidelines for IFLA Professional Report-series should be produced.
    4. Coordinating Board suggests to Professional Board that in the evaluation form it should be asked if participants read conference papers beforehand.
    5. The names and e-mail addresses of units' and round tables' standing committee members should be sent to Adele Fasick for the listserv before the 1st of October.
    6. RTs would like to have an extra business meeting during the conferences. CB recommended that the unites should try to find themselves time for informal meetings because the formal meetings might be difficult to be added to the official program because of the lack of rooms.

11. Closing the Meeting. Lis Byberg closed the meeting.

Section on Education and Training (SET) Officers Listing

The SET Bulletin is published twice a year in January and August. Please share your ideas and comments by sending your contributions or suggestions to John F. Harvey, PO Box 21363, 1507 Nicosia, Cyprus, Tel: (357-2) 664286, Fax: (357-2) 676061, e-mail: john.f.harvey@usa.net or Suite 1105, PMB-079, 82 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005-3682, USA, Fax: 212-968-7962. Secretariat: Janet Assadourian.

65th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 20-28, 1999, Bangkok

Felicite A. Fairer-Wessels (Library, Information and Knowledge Management, Dept. of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa)
"Striving for Balance: The Co-Existence of Multi- Inter- and Transdisciplinary Curricula in Information Management Education to Address Information Imbalances on Tertiary Level."

Abstract:

Within the South African context, the lack of awareness of information is exacerbated by the existence of two segments of society: a hi-tech literate segment, and a predominantly oral and largely illiterate segment. Those people which form the illiterate segment, also referred to, as the 'information poor/have-nots' are mainly within the agrarian and industrial spheres, and in general, are also information illiterate. People which form part of the first world segment of the economy, also referred to as the 'information rich/have's', are usually information literate, but not necessarily computer literate or effective managers of personal or company information. From a holistic perspective this information gap implies that many people do not have the necessary skills to access or manage information and need to rely on trained (library and) information managers/librarians to assist them. This implies the necessity of appropriate broad based education in information management.

Within the Southern African tertiary education context, information management is tutored from a variety of perspectives, ranging from Computer Science, Business Management, Informatics and Library and Information Science. Each discipline has its particular multidisciplinary focus dealing with the fundamentals particular to each discipline. After in-depth qualitative research into the field the existence of each multidisciplinary perspective can be argued. However, viewing the study domain from a wider interdisciplinary perspective, it can be argued that the core foci is information, secondly the management thereof, and thirdly the application of technology (as a tool) for its enhancement. For this reason, theco-existence of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to information management education is proposed (based on local and international trends), within a broader "school" of (library and) information science/studies. Today the dichotomy is that although the information age necessitates an integrated world order, most educational intstitutions are still following the industrial age paradigm of specialisation, producing students that are not able to operate effectively in the real world. Thus especially in the current climate of university rationalisation, it is imperative that an integrated approach be investigated from the broadest perspective in order to avoid pre-emptive fragmentation and overspecialisation among a multitude of disciplines. In conclusion it can be stated that the information age has led to a complex social and institutional structure in modern society. For global citizens to operate successfully within this society they need to be aware of information as well as accessing and managing it for the purposes of basic survival, let alone decision making and problem solving. Clearly certain information skills are required. The horizontal integration of information management education into information skills curricula at primary and secondary levels and an inter- and/or transdisciplinary approach at tertiary level appears to be the most appropriate means of providing the essential life coping skills which modern individuals require to function effectively in society.

Andrew M. Kaniki (Information Studies, University of Natal, Pietermartizburg, South Africa),
"Internet Use and Training Needs of Staff of the esAL Consortium, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Partnership Between Historically Disadvantaged and Advantaged Institutions (HDI's and HAI's)."

Pradeepa Wijetunge (University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka) and Jonathan Wilson (Department of Information and Communications, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK)
"Availability of Information to LIS curriculum developers and policy makers and the status of LIS Education System: The Case of an Information Poor Country."

Abstract:

This paper defines curriculum development and discusses the process of curriculum development. It emphasises a variety of information, which are essential for curriculum developers and the policy makers to perform their task satisfactorily. This information system required by the curriculum developers is poor in Sri Lanka due to a number of reasons. Poor information system has produced a weak LIS education system in the country. The paper finally make suggestions as remedial measures in order to strengthen the information system.

HIROYA TAKEUCHI (University of Shizuoka, Hamamatsu College, Shizuoka, Japan) and YONG WON KIM (Faculty of Cultural Information Resources, Surugadai University, Saitama, Japan)
Current issues in the library and information science profession and its education in Japan

Abstract:

More than 200 Japanese colleges and universities including junior colleges provide "20-credit librarianship courses" qualified under the Library Law and produce more than 10,000 "qualified" librarians annually. The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture governs qualifications and education of librarians and certifies the levels of librarian and assistant librarian as they meet the conditions indicated in the Library Law. There are 9 four-year universities with departments or sections specialized in library and information science and 8 master's and 4 doctoral programs in Japan. However it is recognized that the Library and Information Science(LIS) profession in Japan is still weak. In this paper the authors tried to analyze the elements affecting the weakness in terms of quality of education, employment system and career development of Japanese librarians.

Seonghee Kim (Faculty of Library and Information Science, Dongduk Women's University)
"The Roles of Knowledge Professionals for Knowledge Management."

Abstract:

Knowledge and Knowledge Management have emerged as a current 'hot issue' for many organizations. This paper starts by exploring the definition of knowledge and knowledge management. It then considers the partnership for knowledge management, and especially how librarians as knowledge professionals, users, and technology experts can contribute to effective knowledge management. It is concluded that knowledge professionals will have to move from the background to the center of the organizational stage, to jointly hold the reins of knowledge management.

Guidelines for Library Information Education

One of the most important goal-setting devices is the standard. National and international standards in health and human welfare have had a powerful impact on procedures and practices of governments, providers, and the general public. We believe the proposed standard for library and information professional programs can also prove useful in specifying some goals and directions for education for this increasingly important field.

The term "standard" appears to have at least three general meaning:

1. A standard may be a uniform measurement.
2. A standard may be a prevailing practice or average level of attainment.
3. A standard may be a goal or statement about what ought to be.
   We use the term in the latter sense.

One virtue of the standards approach is that it provides rules drawn from a larger framework and a larger pool of experts so that a local administration or community that may not have the time or competence to develop can use them. Standards are concrete and can provide a basis for comparison between different countries and different programs in the same country. In addition, standards tend to be relatively simple and straight-forward. Of course standards have disadvantages as well. They may include implicit value judgements on matters not essentially connected. They do not provide any basis for dealing with scarce or limited resources. Standards are often perceived to be inherently conservation and discouraging of innovation. And standards make no allowance for differences among countries and communities at the local level.

Because of the defects of standards, we have preferred to use the term "Guidelines" for the recommendations we offer here. The term, guidelines, suggests greater flexibility in application and permits the document to be offered as an information item rather than as a set of rigid requirements. This approach is compatible with IFLA's philosophy of providing assistance without authority. IFLA's Section on Education and Training has no plans or intention of setting up an approval or accreditation process such as sometimes occurs through national associations or governments within countries.

We anticipate that the proposed guidelines, once approved by members of SET and the Professional and Coordinating Boards of IFLA, will be offered to national governments planning library/information educational programs, to institutions of higher education who have such programs or who are planning them, to professional library and information associations advocating improved educational opportunities for practitioners, to faculty and administration of existing programs wishing to compare aspects of their program against the guidelines, and to librarians and information specialists who are interested in the quality of professional preparation programs in their field.

To prepare these guidelines, solicitations for national standards and guidelines were sent to contacts in many different countries. John Harvey solicited, collected, coordinated and forwarded to us the materials received in response and therefore deserves considerable credit for the international input to our efforts in revising these standards. However, although we received many helpful documents and responses (see appendix for a list of the nature of these responses), few constituted anything like a standard or guideline. Nonetheless, we were able to use material and comments from professional education programs, professional associations, and individuals in fashioning this draft.

Our plan is to disseminate the guideline (revised after this afternoon's discussion session) widely in draft form and to solicit comments and suggestions. We anticipate that a penultimate draft can be discussed in Jerusalem in 2000 for final approval by SET before submitting to the Professional and Coordinating Boards of IFLA.

GUIDELINESS FOR LIBRARY/INFORMATION EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
1999 - Draft, June 10, 1999

MISSION, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Locus.

The library/information educational program should be part of a degree-granting institution. Instruction should be at the university level. The description (name) and status (organizational level) of the program should be comparable to that of other programs in the country that are engaged in the education of professional personnel.

Mission.

The library/information educational program's mission and goals should be clearly stated in a publicly available formal document. The program's mission should be consistent with the needs of the country and the values of its parent institution.

Objectives.

The library/information educational program should identify specific objectives, derived from its goals, addressing philosophy, principles and methods of the program; areas of specialization; level of preparation provided; teaching, service and research values; and the perceived role of library and information services in society.

CURRICULUM

The curriculum should consist of a unified series of courses and other educational experiences based on the program's goals and objectives. It should provide students with a theoretical framework for practice in the library/information field. Opportunities to gain and demonstrate professional competencies should be a part of the educational program. An awareness of professional concerns should permeate the program.

General Education

(outside of library and information specific courses) should be a major component of the total education for the library/information specialist. The amount and quality of general education should be equivalent to that required for a baccalaureate degree.

Core library/information coursework.

Programs should refer to educational policy statements issued by professional associations that identify important knowledge and skill components. Examples of such statements include those issued by the Institute of Information Science (UK), the Library Association (UK), the Special Libraries Association (US), the Medical Library Association (US), the Association of Library Service to Children(US), the Australian Library and Information Association.

Core elements include:

• The Information Environment and Policy
• Information Generation, Communication and Use
• Management of Information Agencies
• Assessing Information Needs and Designing Responsive Services
• Information Resource Management
• Application of Information Technology to Organization and Retrieval of Information
• Research, Analysis and Interpretation
• Evaluation of Outcomes of Information and Library Use
• The Communication and Information Transfer Process

Continuing Education.

The program should either conduct suitable workshops and short courses for the benefit of practicing librarians and information specialists or partner with another agency in doing so.

FACULTY AND STAFF

Academic Staff.

The academic (teaching) staff should be sufficient to accomplish program objectives. The qualification of each full-time faculty member should include competence in the designated teaching areas, technological awareness, effectiveness in teaching, a sustained record of scholarship, and active participation in appropriate professional associations.
The educational program should have stated policies for appointment and promotion of full-time faculty equivalent to those in comparable units. All full-time faculty should hold advanced degrees from recognized academic institutions.
Part-time faculty should balance and complement the teaching competencies of full-time faculty.

Non-Academic Staff.

Non-academic (clerical, secretarial, technical) staff should have qualifications equivalent to those of persons in comparable units. The number and kind of staff should be adequate to support the faculty in the performance of their responsibilities.

STUDENTS

Policies.

Recruitment, admission, financial aid, placement, and other academic and administrative policies for students should be consistent with the mission, goals and objectives of the educational program. The policies should reflect the needs and values of the constituencies served by the program.
Policies should be publicly available.

Admission.

Selection of students should be based on clearly stated criteria. Interest, aptitude, intellectual and educational backgrounds should be addressed in the criteria. Standards for admission should be applied consistently.

Program of Study.

Students should have advisory assistance in constructing a coherent program of study to meet career aspirations consistent with the educational program's mission, goals and objectives. Evaluation of student achievement should be provided on a consistent and equitable basis.

Completion Requirements.

A clear statement of the requirements of the educational program should appear in a formal document that is available to students and prospective students. On completion of requirements, students should be awarded a degree, diploma, or certificate suitable to their level of study.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Organization.

The library/information educational program should occupy a distinct position in the administrative organization plan of the institution. It should have autonomy sufficient to ensure the intellectual integrity of the program is consistent with its goals and objectives.

Head of Program.

The head of the program should have status and authority comparable to heads of similar units in the parent institution. The head of the program should possess both academic qualifications comparable to those required of faculty and administrative ability and leadership skills.

Governance.

Decisions should be based on clearly defined and publicly stated policies. Faculty, staff and students' participation in governance should be encouraged. Major decisions and activities should be documented.

Financial Support.

The educational program should have adequate financial support to develop and maintain a library and information course of study consistent with the expectations of practice and comparable to similar programs elsewhere. An annual budget should be administered by the head of the program. The level of support should relate to the number of faculty, administrative and support staff, instructional resources and facilities.

Planning.

The program should have a clearly developed planning and evaluation process. The process should include an ongoing review of policies and procedures in light of anticipated changes in the library/information field and in the larger society. Faculty, staff, and students should be involved in the planning activity.

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES AND FACILITIES

Library Resources.

Library resources should be of sufficient depth and quantity to support the courses offered by the educational program and the research efforts of the faculty. A procedure for access to additional resources from other locations should be in place.

Internet Resources.

An adequate number of connections to the Internet should be available to ensure ready access to Internet resources for faculty and students.

Information Technology Resources.

Computer hardware and software and multimedia resources should be provided sufficient for the level of use required for coursework and faculty research.

Physical Facilities.

The educational program's physical facilities should provide adequate space for faculty, staff and students to accomplish it objectives.

"Educating Information Professionals for the Next Century - The Asia-Pacific Rim Perspective" by Robert D. Stueart

New information technologies are now beginning to offer an opportunity for the emerging

Fast-developing countries of Southeast Asia to use as a force in changing the way people communicate, learn, find and use information. There is a growing awareness in this Region, among educators, politicians and the private sector that information is key to thise development. It is a dramatic change in attitude. Consequently it is being recognised that effective management of information requires professionals who understand information, how it is created, organised, sought and used by people in both their work and personal lives and that this requires a core of qualified information professionals.

Until fairly recently education for librarianship and information work in Southeast Asia has focused upon recordable information and knowledge and the services and technologies to facilitate that media's management and use. Even now, in some of these countries, access to the Internet is limited or non-existent. Now international information policies and global economic and technological development on the one hand and societal demands on the other require professionals who know why, who, what and where and how to access information in all of its formats. Professionals are required who can think conceptually and reason logically, using both that knowledge and advanced technologies to deliver information services needed by society. Programs of library science, information studies or whatever the term might be of a specific program or country in the Region are now scrambling to enhance curricula, recruit qualified faculty, change degree designation and attract a wilder pool of potential information professionals. Educators here, just as in other areas of the world, have recognised their responsibility to act as change agents, to initiate curricula and design programs to meet future needs of information professionals, and to build a commitment to change that is constant. We all know that an educated, informed teaching staff is the most important single element in a program, since the faculty and its expertise is the curriculum. Educators are responsible not only for the transmission of knowledge but also for the creation of new knowledge. The quality of a program is reflected in the consulting, writing, speaking, research and other professional activities undertaken by a high educated faculty.

As we come to the end of the 20th Century, there is no greater evidence of change than is apparent here in Southeast Asia. These societies have rapidly developed three main characteristics: First, information is now being used as an economic resource; secondly, there is greater use of information among the general public, and finally, there is growing development of an information sector within the economy.1

With that in mind, one can understand why it is difficult to encapsulate library and information services education on this Region of the world. This change has come fast and furious, oftentimes aided by consultation from western experts and sometimes modelled or remodelled on western programs. Most of this development has taken place in the last ten years, with much of it within the last five. Still, there remains a definite uniqueness about programs in this Region. When I think about this uniqueness, I'm reminded of Lester Asheim's sage remarks over thirty years ago when he wrote about the parallels and contrasts of systems and services in developing countries in the world. I remember one example he used, drawing on an account in For Whom the Bell Tolls, when Ernest Hemingway set himself the impossible literary task of trying to describe, in words, the smell of death. Asheim remarks that it was a brilliant effort, but it failed. "You cannot - ever - get the sensation of an odour without actually smelling it."2 There are some experiences that can be truly felt on directly, never vicariously. On of those has to be education for the profession, the culture, mores, values and infrastructue of a country or region always paint a different picture, frame a different scenario, reflect a different image, no matter how subtle. Unless one experiences it first-hand, one does not know it, only knows about it.

However, it is not my intent to document those subtleties in this exotic Region of the globe, only to lay the general groundwork of programs within the Region, which will then allow us to consider and discus the specific country, our host - Thailand. Nuances vary somewhat from program to program, and country to country, but with the core curriculum for information professionals providing the same theory, principles, and practices that are required for the provision of good information services anywhere in the world. It addresses the nature of information placed in the larger PEST context of each society - those being the political, economic, social and technological factors. Cognate areas are sometimes recognised, though oftentimes politically not feasible to take advantage of, as very important in the context of. Bob Taylor sees it as a "science that investigates the properties and behaviour of information, the forces governing the flow of information, and the means of processing information for optimum accessibility and usability. The field is related to mathematics, logic, linguistics, psychology, computer technology, operations research, telecommunications, the graphic arts, computer science, management and several other fields."3 The possibilities of cross-disciplinary study seem to be much more restrictive than in some other Regions with which I am familiar.

In order to address those issues and criteria in a systematic and current way, I cite a set og guidelines that were recently developed through a lengthy process of discussion and consideration within the framework of UNESCO's ASTINFO Program. This process began in Beijing in 1995 at a workshop, which some of you may have attended, on information education strategies. After an interim meeting of experts in the Philippines, deliberations concluded here in Bangkok in 1997 with intense discussions and debate among educators and other professionals from several Asia-Pacific Rim countries - including Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. I took part, as a resource person, in those deliberations and had a hand in producing this booklet entitled: "A Curriculum for an Information Society - Educating and Training Information Professionals in the Asia-Pacific Region"4 which was published last year.

The reasons for a proposed curriculum for the future are:

1. A pressing need to educate and train a group of information professionals who will be able to make a real contribution to the emerging information studies throughout the Region.

2. There currently is a range of education and training institutions, many of which are poorly equipped, offering programs that appear to conform, in the main, to a core curriculum that was designed twenty or thirty years ago when conditions were different.

This curricular development initiative recognises the emergence of four complementary groups of information professionals and suggests curricular components necessary for each. These groups include:

1. Creators: those being the ones who can develop and produce information products and services. They will need to be able to understand the technology to the extent that they can exploit its potential. They will need to be able to make information systems work in the easiest possible way.

2. Collectors: those being the ones needed to build up collections of information. This is a traditional role of librarians, archivists and records managers. Their role is to build up collections of information in anticipation of some future use. Collections try to satisfy the current needs of their users but they are also trying to forecast the needs that will develop in the future and to collect the material that will satisfy that future demand.

3. Communicators: are needed, since information comes best when wrapped in a person. Those who claim that we will satisfy all our information needs through the networks misunderstand the nature of information needs and information-seeking behaviour. As our use of information becomes more sophisticated, we will need recourse to information specialists who can help find the answer to problems by tailoring the information provided for particular circumstances. The communicators will need a high level of inter-personal skills to be able to analyse people's requirements very quickly, distinguish between actual needs and expressed demands for information. They will have to analyse and select the information that is available. They also need to be able to find and retrieve the required information quickly and efficiently.

4. Consolidators: are the ones who will make sense of the world for managers. They will act as the filters and the researchers, working as part of a management team. The consolidators will need to be very adept at collecting information since they will be called upon to combine information from different sources to provide a richer picture of the world. This calls for a high level of skill in the analysis, synthesis and interpretation of the information in light of the circumstances. They will need to be able to present the results of their work effectively both orally or in writing. But above all else, this calls for the ability to reduce complexity without sacrificing accuracy.

Many of the programs in the Region are now addressing these points and detailed curriculum guidelines are being examined to see how they might articulate with their own programs. Clearly there are great differences among the countries of the Region. Some have highly developed library and information systems and, by any measure, would be classified as information-intensive societies. Others, for a variety of reasons, are at a much less developed stage. What is apparent, however, is that most countries within the Region are striving to develop into information societies, and some of the library and information studies programs already reflect that effort, while at the same time reflecting the social and cultural environments within which they operate. Of course the economic and political factors also play a major role in such considerations and any future developments. There are programs in some Southeast Asian countries that compare favourably with those offered in western countries. These include a few of the programs in Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Some of them have been modelled upon the western systems, primarily English and American, from the very beginning of their existence and many of their faculty members have been educated in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia. Almost twenty-five years ago Radha Rasmussen observed that "the curricula of virtually all the library schools in Southeast Asia were patterned on Western models, mainly American and British."5 Other programs in the Region are those in Vietnam, now beginning a new stage in the development of its programs; and Myanmar which has a struggling program, kept alive only by very committed yet aging faculty who received their education forty or so years ago. Indeed other countries in the area, those being Cambodia and Laos, have no programs at all. However, they do occasionally send students to Thailand for training at some universities or for short course education at AIT. Quite a few professionals from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia have completed the AIT 3 month training program, with support from the ALP program of IFLA.

While there is great diversity within this Region, it is possible to identify some common characteristics of the education and training system:

1. Nearly all the education and training of librarians and information professionals is carried out at the tertiary level in institutions of university status. Professionals are expected to have a first, or in some cases a master's degree, as their first professional qualification. The level at which the first professional qualification is taught varies. Some institutions provide a first professional qualification at undergraduate degree level; others provide one at the postgraduate diploma level while yet others offer first professional qualifications at master's level. A few diploma or certificate courses do exist, but most of those have now moved to full university degree programs. Those that remain are primarily for library assistants, para-professionals or technicians. In most countries with educational programs the governments have recognised librarianship as a profession and have passed acts or laws which lay down the educational and other necessary to perform in that role. For instance, the Indonesian government assigned status of profession in 1988 and the Philippines had already enacted a similar law in 1981. In some cases the library associations in Southeast Asian countries have input to the process, while in others there is none.

2. There is a concerted effort to raise the level of the first professional qualification, with an evolution from diploma to undergraduate to masters degree programs. There are no doctoral programs yet, except for the one at AIT, although several institutions have plans to introduce such a program. Some programs continue to offer qualifications at both the undergraduate level and the master's level. When I was here in Thailand in 1991-92, for example, I worked with three of the provincial universities in Thailand as they were upgrading their undergraduate programs to masters level programs. Still, the undergraduate programs continue to co-exist with the masters. Traditionally, library schools have been part of an arts, humanities, or education faculty. This is no longer universally true, since one now finds faculties associated with schools of social sciences, business and even independent schools or institutes.

3. Titles or the programs also vary, as in other parts of the world, from library science, library and information science, information science, library and information studies, librarianship, and just information studies, with degrees being BA (LS), MA (LS), MA (LIS), Med (LS), BED (LS), M Ed, and BLS.

4. There are a few programs being offered through distance learning, for instance here in Thailand both Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University and Ramkhamaeng University offering some sort of distance option. I cannot cite specific examples in other countries.

5. The employment market is becoming more diverse and so are the backgrounds and qualifications of information professionals. Several now have degrees in a subject area before they come into the information studies programs.

6. There is a concerted effort to increase the educational preparation of faculty, about fifteen percent of whom now have earned Ph.D degrees.

NOTES

1. A Curriculum for an Information Society, UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 1998, p. 9.

2. Lester Asheim, Librarianship in the Developing Countries, U. of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, 1969, p. 1.

3. Robert Taylor, Libraries in Post-Industrial Society, Oryx Press, Phoenix, AZ 1997, p.5

4. A Curriculum for an Information Society: Educating and Training Information Professionals in the Asia-Pacific Region. UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 1988.

5. Nadarajah, R., "Evaluation of graduate library education in and from the Southeast Asian countries" in Education and Training for Librarians in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Second Conference of Southeast Asian Librarians. Univ. of the Philippines, Library (1975), p. 98.

Programs at Master's Level in Southeast Asia

1. University of Indonesia. Faculty of Letters. Department of Library Science. Founded 1961 (when it became part of the university, before that in 1959 a three year program had been instituted, even before then, in 1952 the first courses were offered).
     (There are also a Certificate Program for School Librarianship; and two Diploma in Librarianship programs at other universities).

MALAYSIA

1. MARA Institute of Technology. School of Library and Information Studies. Founded 1968 (in 1997 began offering a masters degree in information studies).
     (There are other programs, both at MARA and at the International Islamic University).

PHILIPPINES

1. University of the Philippines, Diliman. Institute of Library Science. Founded 1961 (although the program for a bachelors degree began as early as 1916, though it was later abandoned). The institute offers special training in law librarianship and health sciences librarianship).
2. University of Santo Tomas (Master of Education and Master of Arts in Library Science).
     (There are bachelors degree programs at about ten universities, many of them Bachelor of Education).

SINGAPORE

1. Nanying Technological University (Masters in Information Studies). Founded 1993 (the degree is in information studies).

THAILAND Programs to be discussed by colleagues

VIETNAM

1. Cultural College of Hanoi. Faculty of Information and Library Higher Education. Founded 1961.
2. Cultural College of Ho Chi Minh City. Faculty of Library Science. Founded 1991.
     (These are other universities - 4 in all - offer bachelor's degrees)
     NOTE: Myanmar has an undergraduate program.

News…………………….

2000 GRADUATE RANKINGS - LIBRARY SCIENCE

Valdosta State MLIS Degree Offers Courses Via Internet

Special Directions in Library Education - Higher Education for Librarianship

1. Complementary training. This is a 3-year course, based on the curriculum of full-time students for those who already hold a teacher's diploma from a university or a librarian's degree obtained at a college. At the conclusion of the course, students take a "state examination" (this is a comprehensive examination required in Hungary in all types of higher education) and defend their theses.
2. Information science training. A one-year documentation course introduced in 1963 can be considered a precursor to the "information scientist training." In 1975 this course was expanded to two years. In 1989 it was offered not only to the employees of libraries and documentation institutions but also to the employees of other public collections. The curriculum extended with a greater emphasis on computer usage. The course was renamed "Information Management Studies." Methodology and information systems as well as questions related to the societal and organizational environments are now also included.
3. The history and museology of books. The goal of this course is to train specialists to work for large historical collections. An analysis of the topics of theses showed that 40% of them dealt with library history.

Students involved in the Information Science course prefer the automation of their own libraries as the subject of their theses.

The enrolment conditions of all three courses are identical: interviews designed to find out about the candidates' professional careers and general attitude, about their general knowledge, their knowledge of the history of libraries, of the history of the press and of information science issues. The tuition and grant aids are spent on hiring specialists as associate professors and on the development of the department's computer infrastructure. Abstract by K. Kovacs, translated by G. Mandy. Hungarian Library and Information Science Abstracts, Vol 27. No. 1, 1998

New Penn State Info Tech School Seeks Corporate Input, Support

More information can be found at the school's site http://www.ist.psu.edu whose opening page states, We've built our program from the ground up in collaboration with Fortune 500 corporate partners. They tell us tomorrow's high-demand jobs demand a new breed of information sciences professional - one with technical skills, plus the ability to solve complex problems, communicate ideas, work in teams, and effectively manage people, organisations and information."

Representatives from a number of corporations have produced both input and support in the development of PSU-IST, including Andersen Consulting, AT&T, Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, IBM, Keystone Medical Systems, Inc., Lockheed Martin, Lucent, and Microsoft, among others. Library Hotline, August 2, 1999, Vol. XXVIII, No. 30.

THE INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION SCIENTISTS