Curriculum development in lis education in usa,UK, Europe and India
1. Curriculum development in LIS
Education in USA, UK, Europe and
India
By Shazia Khan
DLIS, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
2. Curriculum: Development in LIS Education
“A curriculum is a fundamental part of any
education or training programmes largely
because it provides not only a list of courses or
modules offered in a programme, but it also gives
information on content, purpose, method, time /
duration, trainers and location or situation of a
programme or course all of which are essential in
a successful dispensation of manpower training
and education”.(Ocholla, 2003)
In Edegbo, W.O.(2011). Curriculum development in Library &
Information Science Education in Nigerian Universities: Issues
and Challenges. Retrieved July, 22, from
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/edegbo.pdf
3. According to Singh (n.d.) librarianship today has arrived at
the information age where the role of information is
increasingly emphasized as an economic resource, a
marketable commodity and as a social wealth. In this
content, the roles of librarians are of much importance. He
/ she will have to act as a facilitator, advisor, consultant,
instructor, navigator, searcher, researcher, evaluator,
organiser, preserver, promoter, communicator, technical
expert, as well as a manager, leader, entrepreneur and
visionary. And for the success library and information
centers as effective communication system, the
development of manpower to do such work is vital. One of
the important aspects of manpower development in this
connection is improved education system for library and
information science.
In Edegbo, W.O.(2011). Curriculum development in Library & Information Science
Education in Nigerian Universities: Issues and Challenges. Retrieved July, 22,
from http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/edegbo.pdf
The education and training of LIS professionals has to be
such that it empowers them to unleash their potential as
they endeavour to offer relevant and efficient services
within the current levels of technological sophistication
(Minishi ¨Majanja,2007)
4. Curriculum development in USA
“Since Dewey founded the first library school Dewey in
1887, the nature and content of LIS education has
received considerable criticism in scholarly literature,
particularly core course requirements and
corresponding emerging trends. Furthermore, with the
advent of the world wide web, the content and the
nature of the curricula as well as the mode of course
delivery have been challenged”.
Retrieved July 8, 2015, from
https://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/55.pdf)
With the advancement of technology the LIS education
has developed more in developed countries like USA,
UK and Europe
5. The courses offered in USA Universities and colleges in
LIS Undergraduate/Postgraduate degree/Certificate
programme mainly named as:
Library and information studies
Communication and Information Studies
Information Science
Library Science studies changed to Information studies
(technical jargon has changed with times to introduce
courses in library Science)
More emphasize on teaching and offering expertise to ICT
applications in Libraries along with artifacts and cultures in
librarianship (one of the paper to teach basics and
historical background of library science) e.g.
University of Illinois offers:
200 And 300 level courses as Social aspects of
Information Technology and The Design of Usable
Information Interfaces, Special topics in Information
Studies respectively.
6. 400 level courses as Systems Analysis and
Management
• Info Storage and Retrieval using
computers
• Introduction to databases……….
500 level course as : Reference and Info Services
Administration & Management of
Libraries and Information Centers]
etc……
Similarly University of Michigan offers courses in LIS as:
Bachelor of Science in Information Studies
Master of Science in Information Studies
Masters of Health Informatics
100 level courses Introduction to Information Studies
200 level courses Web development
300 level course Graphic design, special topics in
information, Data Manipulation etc
400 level course Online Communities: Analysis and Design
of Online Interaction (to develop online
7. Likewise The Catholic University of America offers
UG course in Library & Information Science
PG course in Library & Information Science
500 level course as Digital Content Creation and Management,
Actionable Intelligence, organization of information etc
600 level course as Digital Curation, some basic papers such as
603 level course Technical Services
606 Cataloguing and Classifications
616 Indexing, Abstracting
The University also offering various other aspects in its integrated
MLIS programme such as
641 collection Development
644 Information literacy and Instructional Design
646 Archives Management, etc….
670 History of Books
700 level course is media integration in the curriculum and its various
aspects
800 level course various types and other aspects of libraries such as
legal literature, rare book, music librarianship, health informatics,
etc…
8. ALA /CILIP Accredited Programs
“Educational accreditation is a type of quality
assurance process under which services and operations of
educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an
external body to determine if applicable standards are met.
If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the
appropriate agency”.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_accreditation)
The American Library Association (ALA) accredits master’s programs in library and
information studies across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Accreditation
is achieved through a review process conducted by an external review panel of
practitioners and academics that verifies that the program meets the Standards for
Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information
Studies.(http://www.ala.org/accreditedprograms/)
CILIP accredits degree programmes in library and information science at universities
in the UK, including Aberystwyth University, City University, London, Loughborough
University, the Manchester Metropolitan University, the Robert Gordon University,
the University of Sheffield and University College London. (http://www.cilip.org.uk/)
“It is to be noted that As of April 2012 there are 63 American Library
Association-accredited Library science programs in Canada and the United
States and as of July 2014, 16 UK institutions offering CILIP-accredited
programmes”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Library_Science_schools)
One can search the directory of ALA Accredited program on
9. CILIP has a reciprocal agreement with the
American Library Association (ALA) and the
Australian Library and Information Association
which means academic qualifications accredited
by those bodies are accepted in the UK. Masters
degrees accredited by CILIP will be recognised in
the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
10. Curriculum Development in UK
As UK is the land of Museums and Archives, hence
here more focus to Archives Management,
preservation and conservation of Archives specially
digital preservation and Digital Curation along with
information studies and basics of Librarianship.
Besides regular degree programs some institutes
also run distance learning online mode programs
University of Glasgow offers doctoral and master’s
program in the following areas:
Archive, Records and Information Management
Information Sciences
Digital Curation
Digital Heritage
Technology and Phenomenological Research
11. UG course in Digital Media and Information studies
MA in Digital Media and Information Studies
MSc/PgDip Information Management and
Preservation
MSc/PgDip Museum Studies
MSc/PgDip Information Technology (provided by
Computing Science)
MLitt/PgDip Collecting and Collections (provided by
History of Art)
On the contrary University of Sheffield
(http://www.sheffie
ld.ac.uk/is) offers courses as below at MA and MSc
level
14. Likewise University of Glasgow, City University London
(www.city.ac.uk) offers courses as
MSc Information Science
Course structure
Library & information science foundation, Digital information
technologies & architecture, Information resources
organization, Web applications development, etc…
MSc/MA Library Science
Course structure: 8 modules
Library & information science foundation, Digital libraries,
Libraries and publishing in the information society, etc….
Along with Some elective course such as Information law
and policy
*Some Universities offer Information law, Intellectual
Property Rights, Digital Rights Courses as elective
options………
PhD/MPhil Library and Information Science
15. Kings College London offers following courses
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ddh/study/pgt/madamm/index.aspx
MA digital Curation
MA in Digital Asset and Media Management
Total modules are to teach digital media
management:
16. Curriculum Development in Europe
Like USA, In European continent the more emphasis is on the ICT
Applications in LIS.
Specially the focus is to teach customer oriented services with the help of
ICT
As in Berlin School of Library and Information Science
(http://www.ibi.hu-berlin.de/de/studium)
Bachelor combination degree in Library and Information Science in
core subject, minor subject and minor subject - certified - recognized
ALA
Mono Bachelor Information Management & Information Technology
Master's Program in Library and Information Science - accredited -
recognized ALA
Joint Study Profiles "Information Science and Cultural
Communication"together with the Royal School of Library and
Information Science (RSLIS), Copenhagen (Master's program)
Joint Study Profile "Digital Curation" in cooperation with King's
College, London (Master's program)
Continuing Education Master's degree program in distance
learning - certified - recognized ALA
Modules studied like E-Publishing, ICT publications in Libraries, Digital
17. Cologne University of Applied Sciences
Germany (https://www.fh-koeln.de/en/homepage_26.php)
Offers
Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science
Bachelor’s Degree in Library b& Information Science
Course content
Customer-oriented development and mediation of information
resources
Long-term storage and provision of media and information
Application-oriented information retrieval
Development, design and evaluation of user-oriented information
services
Management of smaller information facilities or individual function
areas within larger facilities
Appropriate use of information technologies in libraries
Handling all media forms, from print media to digital online
publications
18. Indian Perspective of LIS Education
India is also having strong curriculum of LIS studies
Also more emphasis to Information Technology in
Libraries
With the efforts of UGC, excellent change has been
taken place in imparting LIS education in India
Programs offered Mainly
Bachelor Degree in Library and Information Science
Master Degree in Library and Information Science
Mphil/PhD. In Library and Information Science
UGC recently in 2014 has changed the nomenclature
of Degree programs as
B.L & I.Sc.
M.L & I.Sc.
19. University of Delhi (www.du.ac.in) Offering
B.L.I.Sc. in LIS
M.L.I.Sc. in LIS
Mphil/PhD. Program
Main Focus is to impart knowledge of ICT
applications in Libraries along with basics of
Librarianship and library services.
20. Aligarh Muslim University (www.amu.ac.in)
provides
B.L& I. Sc. (one year program 2 SEM)
M.L & I. Sc.(one year 2 SEM)
MA Lib. Sc. (Subsidiary level)
Course content: There is a semester system now
approved by UGC all over India at graduate and
postgraduate level
Basics of Librarianship such as fundamentals of
Library & Info. Science, Library Classification,
Cataloguing, Management etc are taught in I-SEM of
Bachelor degree program
Introduction to ICT is being taught at SEM-II
Mater’s program is somewhat advance and hands on
training on certain Library automation software
packages such as LIBSYS, SOUL, Alice for Windows
and GSDL digital Library software is given.
Online Searching and various databases are also
taught.
21. Banaras Hindu University
(http://www.bhu.ac.in/arts/lis/)
Courses offered in BHU are
MLIS (2 years program)
MA in Manuscriptology and Paleography (2
years): The course aims to provide education &
training of handling Manuscripts – its storage,
preservation, conservation, study & use.
PhD.
The curriculum has been thoroughly revised and all
the modern tools and techniques are adopted in
the curriculum of the Department. A balance
between traditional and modern librarianship can
be seen through the newly designed curricula of
Department.
23. The Curriculum development in USA and Europe is
more advanced . Here more emphases to teach use
of ICT in Library resources and services
The curricula in UK is more focused to Archive
Management and Digital Curation.
ALA and CILIP has standardised the LIS courses in
USA and UK respectively.
It is obvious that there are serious concerns for the
curricula of library and information science education
to meet the present digital society with respect to
library and information service
In this vein, the library and information science
curricula in India has been revisited and reviewed by
the various bodies concern. It has been found that the
curricula of Indian University Library and information
science schools are reasonably adequate in the
provision of ICT courses. However, the contents of
library and information science curricula are generally
lacking in the application of ICT
24. Also the curricula is good but there are a number of
limitations as observed to the implementation to make
the curriculum meaningful and produce the needed
results.
The content of each course should include the
application of ICT to its services. This must be given
both theoretical and practical emphasis.
ICT application is a key factor to relevance in the
scheme of things in the 21st century. For India to fit
properly in the digital age the library and information
science institutes whose code is to produce the right
caliber of professionals must revisited.
Our curricula must be renovated drastically if we want
to retain our identity in a rapidly developing
information society.
Along with the development of LIS curricula the
faculty should also be developed.
