Benefits and challenges for special librarians

Information Outlook, Oct, 1997 by Katherine Cveljo

Among the main reasons for this situation are absence of an adequate infrastructure for information storage and processing; absence of an adequate infrastructure for information retrieval, dissemination, and use; and economic, technological, and quite often cultural barriers to an adequate information flow.[13]

It should also be emphasized that the solutions the LDCs adopt are often inappropriate. For example, before fully reaching the age of print and literacy, numerous LDCs have to face the age of computers and satellites. High levels of illiteracy among the majority of the people are contrasted with high levels of education for a few of the elite who are fled to global information and power networks. Here we have the information-poor - the illiterate majority contrasted with the information-rich - the elite minority, and this gap is narrowing slowly, if at all. In this respect, it should be emphasized that the information needs of diverse user communities in the LDCs should constitute some of the guiding factors in determining the type of LIS education and training to be undertaken by international students from most LDCs and education programs abroad should take such needs into consideration.[14] A well-known African library professional leader, Ogundipe, calls for preparation to meet the information needs of the few elite; however in particular, to promote literacy, educate for change, articulate the wants of the rural communities, increase productivity, and improve the quality of life - especially in the rural areas where most of the population in developing countries live.[15]

With all these points in mind, we can easily see that the challenge of attracting and educating information professionals for the New Millennium - both for the developed and the developing countries - has become one of the critical issues of the remaining years of the 1990's. The American LIS degree programs have a special role and an increasing challenge and responsibility in the education of information professionals worldwide. Although these programs have received acclaim worldwide, there is a need for new ways and ideas to make the education experience for international students more meaningful and transferable upon returning home. Thus, the LIS faculty needs to realize that international students are an invaluable resource. With their input of information regarding their home countries into the LIS curriculum, as well as other changes suggested recently in professional literature and during meetings at professional conferences, the American education experience for all students - international and American - might become a more meaningful one entering the 21st century.[16] The groundwork for the development of future international network contacts - professional partnerships - would indeed be enhanced when international students return to their home countries. Endless opportunities would open up with communicating globally - colleague to colleague. What better place to begin with this "partnership" then in the library and information science classroom situation?