Benefits and challenges for special librarians

Information Outlook, Oct, 1997 by Katherine Cveljo

* world problems have become interconnected;

* every single aspect of mankind's activities, concerns, and crises is presently considered in a global sense, a perspective that is expected to increase in the future;

* an emerging globally integrated society is demanding increased utilization of technology and information obtained through technology;

* information has become the most important ingredient in decision-making anywhere in the world;

* the exchange of information worldwide has become imperative;

* sweeping changes in technology, increase in worldwide communications, and a growing competition in the global marketplace require global knowledge and education and training in all types of information technology and communications;

* in an increasingly interdependent society information services will increase in the need for networking across national boundaries and across oceans.[9]

It is thus logical to conclude that if information professionals both in America and worldwide are going to participate in international data flow and exchanges, it will require a greater degree of international knowledge and professional sophistication. Thus, attention to international professional LIS education has become a mandatory issue. In this respect, it should be emphasized that contrary to the belief that every innovation and change requires monetary investment, internationalizing LIS programs requires no increase in the LIS schools budget. What it does require is an attitude and an initiative on the part of LIS school's administration and faculty and the involvement of the total student body - American and international.[10]

To create the most effective means of internationalizing LIS programs in order to be beneficial to both LIS schools and the international and American students, we may consider:

(1) involvement of international students in curriculum planning with information on their home country information needs; (2) study of global issues in appropriate courses; and (3) creation of specialized courses dealing with specific international subject matter. LIS schools would expand their programs in a positive way by including information on international students' home country information needs and relevant global issues into certain aspects of the curriculum; international students would gain from a more appropriate education to adapt their acquired knowledge and skills to the needs of their home countries; and American students would have a better knowledge of the world and the workings of the information profession worldwide. All students stand to develop a better understanding of global affairs and world cultures and the universality of librarianship, be motivated by this experience and eventually be more involved in international exchanges, and develop an awareness that actions of one nation deeply affect the rest of the world.

Challenges and benefits from internationalizing LIS programs are thus numerous. International students would have the opportunity to participate in the design of certain aspects of the program more appropriate to the needs of their home countries. American students, on the other hand, would benefit from additional courses designed from an international perspective and from the integration of foreign countries' professional issues into the contents of appropriate courses.