Some issues on LIS Education and collaboration in Latin America ALISE Boston-2005 Sergio Chaparro-Univazo Assistant Professor GSLIS SIMMONS COLLEGE

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 2 Why collaboration? Interest in enhancing the quality of the LIS classroom Interest in enhancing the learning process of the LIS student and professional Increasing interest in professional development Recognition of the negative consequences of isolation

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 3 Why cooperating with Latin American Library Schools? Spanish speaking presence in modern USA library world Strong history of academic/teaching/sponsored programs and relations in several other fields American Academic libraries’ foreign language materials and collections Increasing role of information in R&D

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 4 Why cooperating with Latin American Library Schools? LIS Graduate and post graduate education opportunities in USA not available in Latin America (The ticket factor) LIS education in USA offers a wide range of professional development and supplemental training Cost

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 5 Why cooperating with Latin American Library Schools? Enhancement of the interaction between academic worlds Testing of LIS teaching methods Testing and promoting new models of Library education scholarship and scientific cooperation (Licea & Arenas 2000)

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 6 Why cooperating with Latin American Library Schools? Archives and preservation (Digitization) Management of information (Efficiency and planning) IT (research and development) Information policy (Expanding the role of LIS) Human Information Behavior (Library instruction)

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 7 Mutual Collaboration I Online education offers a wide array of possibilities for enhancing the collaboration process. Online education requires IT infrastructure not available, or limited, in some nations. Library education in Latin America needs to address and recognize online education as a real possibility for professional development.

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 8 Mutual collaboration II Spanish and/or Portuguese and English proficiency is a must. English skills required prior to the academic experience. Testing needs to be done, and pilot experiences with online classrooms are necessary.

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 9 Mutual collaboration III Equity of access, cost, copyright, changing roles of the departmental staff, pressures on educational structures (Tyler 2000) Limitations of the educational tool need to be explicitly stated on syllabi.

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 10 Where should we start? I Agencies and international organizations that promote cooperation The Usual Suspects (e.g. IFLA/ALISE/) The Unusual Suspects (e.g. OAS, Academic Networks, College-College) One example: The Educational Portal of the Americas

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 11 Where should we start? II Dialogue College to College (e.g. Austin-TEC) Promotion and marketing Reaching out to prospective students Browsing the field of LIS academic research and professional development (continuing education ) (Tannuri de Oliveira, 2004)

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 12 Why should we be careful? Dancing with Elephants (Hazen, 2000) What is good for one school might not be for another one (Johnson et al., 2001) The culture or lack of culture of syllabi The culture of LIS education in Latin America (Tanurri de Oliveira, 2004) Lack of outcome measures

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 13 Why should we be careful? Some classes may not “appeal” to students What should students do after turning off the computer? Support and resources for LIS student research (Where is the library collection?) Success depends on constant adequate planning and evaluation (Feria & Machuca, 2004)

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 14 Collaboration requires planning Before After

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 15 Let’s remember: Library education is what is taught (Gorman, 2004) What is taught depends on multiple factors. Let’s consider them thoroughly. Sometimes it is more important to teach others to teach, let’s also plan for that.

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 16 Some Bibliography Da Silva (2002). A formacao profissional no seculo XXI: desafios e dilemas. Ciencia da Informacao, 31 (3), Feria, L.B., & Machuca, P. (2004). The digital library of Iberoamerica and the Caribbean: humanizing technological resources. International Information and Library Review, 36,

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 17 (cont.) Gorman, M. (2004). What ails library education? Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30 (2), Hallmark, J., & Gonzalez, M. (2002). Latin- American initiatives in library science education: Three models. The Electronic Library, 20 (5),

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 18 (cont.) Hitch, L. (2004) Aren’t we judging virtual universities by outdated standards? Journal of Academic Librarianship, 26 (1), Howze, P. C. & Moore, D. M. (2003). Measuring international students’ understanding of concepts related to the use of library based technology. Research Strategies, 19,

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 19 (cont.) Johnson, I., Fuertes, A., & Herrera, L. (2001). Management education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Education for Information, 19, Licea, J., & Arenas, M. (2000). La formacion de comunidades cientificas en bibliotecologia y ciencia de la informacion. Anales de Documentacion, 3,

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 20 (cont.) Liu, Z., & Yang, Z. Y. (2004). Factors influencing distance-education graduate students’ use of information sources: A user study. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 30 (1), Tannuri, E.F., & Chaves, J.A. (2004). Library professionals education in the Mercosur countries. Education for Information, 22,

Sergio Chaparro- Univazo/Simmons College 21 (cont.) Tyler, A. (2001). A survey of distance learning library and information science course delivered via the Internet. Education for Information, 19,