GSLIS Faculty Research Colloquium

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GSLIS Faculty Research Colloquium

• Why do we need to teach International
  Librarianship? A discussion

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Why do we need to teach International
Librarianship?

• 1)Perhaps we dont need to
• 2)Yes, we do.
• 3)Correction International Information
• It is absolutely necessary to understand foreign
  structures, methods, and practices of
  librarianship and information because our
  problems are not unique, they are addressed and
  confronted by other information cultures and
  societies.

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Why do we need to teach International
Librarianship?

• Kesselman and Weintraub (2004) offer three
  reasons global interdependency of information,
  problem solving possibilities, and transformation
  of libraries into gateways of information.
• Exploration of other information cultures
  problems may perhaps save us a lot of energy and
  efforts.

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Some examples

• Brazil (RD and Academic libraries)
• Government support, research and development
  goals, academic environments.
• UK (E-government)
• Government support, information services to the
  citizens, infrastructure.
• Finland (Public Libraries)
• Government investment, local support, literacy.
• Peru (Information Networks and creative solutions
  to funding)
• The Peruvian Scientific Network (RCP) and the
  pool(?) at the brand new national library.

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Some Requirements

• History (evolution of the information structures
  of a nation or culture)
• Geography (understanding of the electronic
  information infrastructure and the challenges of
  its design and planning, borders bring on new
  users of information)
• Political Science (understanding of the way that
  information policies are designed, discussed, and
  enacted)
• Linguistics ( development of collections and
  information services for groups of users,
  scholarly communication and translations)
• Management (managerial techniques and methods
  used in other countries to solve commons
  problems).

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Maps

• Your typical map would help you understand your
  users.
• Borders matter because they may limit access to
  information
• Asia Maps - Perry-Castañeda Map Collection - UT
  Library Online
• National Geographic GeoSpy Geography Game (For
  Kids)
• There is a reason for the strong development of
  ILL in Canada
• Map of Europe/EU efforts at dealing with 36
  different languages.

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The European Library

• Provide a more comprehensive and more easily
  searchable pan - European collection of top
  quality information resources covering all
  subject areas of interest to the research
  community.
• The European Library - v1.1
• Will be multilingual German, French, English
  but is looking to create translation tables for
  the website itself so tabs etc in 37 languages

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NUC

• Caidi (2004) National Union catalogs are
  ideological tools and expressions of culture.

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The Strange case of the Peruvian Scientific
Network

• Nakuy - Development Gateway

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Some useful information

• http//www.uta.fi/laitokset/kirjasto/oppimiskeskus
  /verkkoaineisto/inf/makinen.pdf (Finland)
• Scientific Communication in History. By Bryan C.
  Vickery. Lanham, Md. Scarecrow Press, 2000.
• Bednarz, R. S. (2004).Geography education The
  glass is half full and it's getting fuller. The
  Professional Geographer, 56 (1), 22-27.
• http//www.kf.vu.lt/site_files_doc/LIS_Bologna.pdf
  (European Curriculum reflections on LIS
  education)

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More useful information

• Caidi, N. (2004). The politics of library
  artifacts The national union catalog. Library
  Quarterly, 74 (3), 337-369.
• Rassmussen, C. et al. (2003). Strategies for
  Public libraries in the 21st century.
  International Journal of Cultural policy, 9 (1),
  83-93.
• Vitiello, G. (2001). National Libraries the
  concept and the practice, 1700-2000. Alexandria,
  13 (3), 139-151.