comparative LIS education

Background. Library and information science (LIS) education has been around for decades to train LIS professions to provide services to people of all kinds. But there are challenges to LIS education as the society advances.

Objectives. To identify major challenges LIS education faces and to suggest corresponding measures for meeting them in order to better LIS education.
Methods. Performed quantitative and qualitative content analyses of data collected about LIS education in China and the USA.

Results. Four categories of challenges in LIS education are identified that include 1) identity and accreditation, 2) survival and thriving, 3) curriculum update and enhancement, and 4) course delivery format and content. The challenges each country encounters in LIS, as expected, are not the same although some appear similar. All the challenges are discussed and contrasted in the context of each country’s characteristics in LIS education. Some suggestions are also made regarding how to successfully meet the challenges this study has explored.

Contributions. The findings of this study would help all constituencies (i.e., educators, practitioners and students) to better understand the challenges LIS education in China and the USA so that feasible measures could be developed to address them. In addition, each country can benefit from this study by learning from what its counterpart has done in LIS education with regard to barriers and challenges.

Background. Library and information science (LIS) education faces many challenges in today’s society, and one of which is how to infuse information technology (IT) into its curriculum.

Objectives. To explore and compare the penetration and coverage of IT courses in LIS education in different countries in order to shed light on the extent of IT challenges as reflected in the LIS curriculum.

Methods. Curricular data were collected from 155 LIS schools in five continents. Two indexes, the Penetration Index (PI) and Coverage Index (CI) of IT courses were created. More than 10,000 courses extracted from the curricular data set were also coded using a scheme of 194 categories in 15 classes. All the data were analysed by country/region, program level and course type.

Results. More IT courses with a wider range of subjects are covered in LIS education overall although differences exist with regard to countries/region, program levels and course types. LIS schools in five continents have been adopting an open and proactive approach to infusing IT courses, greater in number and variety, into their LIS curricula. The penetration and coverage of IT courses in LIS education depend on not only the good will of LIS educators but also to a large extent the IT development status in the home country/region of LIS schools. The latter actually is a prerequisite for the former to take place. Other parameters such as program level and course type also play a role in determining the impact of IT courses on LIS education.

Contributions. A new technique using the PI and CI indexes is developed in this research to explore the penetration and coverage of IT courses in LIS education. This study also analyses and compares the impact of IT courses on LIS education with data collected from LIS schools in five continents, a scale few prior studies ever attempted. In addition, the findings of this research would help LIS educators, professionals and administrators to be better positioned and prepared in meeting the IT challenges in LIS education.