[Traducción automática al español]
Ragnar Audunson
President de l’EUCLID
Professor de Biblioteconomia i Documentació, Oslo University College
First, I would like to congratulate the Library and Information Science (LIS) Faculty at the University of Barcelona on its 90th anniversary. The fact that you are celebrating this anniversary makes Barcelona one of the pioneers of European LIS-education. The Faculty is still playing a vital role on the European scene of LIS-education: it has played an active role in EUCLID and its board since the establishment of the organization; one of the two “B’s” in BOBCATSSS stands for Barcelona, indicating that the LIS Faculty in Barcelona was one of the signature institutions in 1994, when BOBCATSSS was transformed into a major European undertaking.
The fact that the LIS Faculty at the University of Barcelona is a vital institution when embarking upon its 91st year hopefully indicates that library and information science in itself represents a vital scientific and educational undertaking.
In Norway in 2001 I edited a book presenting research on the role of public libraries in the digital and multicultural society of today.1 We gave that book the title The civilized information society. I believe that title also captures the role and importance of library and information science. Library and information science is simultaneously firmly rooted in the sphere of information technology and in the sphere of culture. The report on European curriculum development in LIS published recently2 highlights the cultural perspectives as well as perspectives related to information science in the narrower sense – information seeking retrieval and knowledge organization. The fact that our field is firmly rooted in culture as well as information and technology makes it a scientific field vital for assuring that tomorrow’s society develops into a civilized and cultured society, not a technological barbarism. I believe, therefore, that it is vital for us to stick to this double-root system of culture and information. Information retrieval (IR) and knowledge organization (KO) are core subjects without which there is no library and information science. But it is my conviction that the LIS-professional is unable to play his or her professional role without a profound understanding of the content of that which they promote, i.e. a profound understanding of culture.
Above I made a reference to the report on European curriculum development in LIS. The process that now has concluded with that book is of utmost importance for the future of LIS. The European curriculum development project was initiated by the Royal School of Library and Information Science in close cooperation with EUCLID. The point of departure for that project was the need to increase the transparency of European LIS. The situation today varies from country to country. In some countries, e.g. Spain and Finland, LIS education and research is firmly established within the university structure. Others, Germany might be an example here, have traditions rooted more in the tradition of vocational education (Fachhochschulen) than in universities. A process of academization is generally taking place, but the direction and speed vary. In some countries the development has been towards an academic discipline of information science like history or chemistry, whereas in other countries LIS is modelled according to the interdisciplinary perspective characterizing professions, be it medicine or librarianship. In some countries a doctoral degree in LIS builds upon a master which again builds upon a bachelor in LIS, whereas other countries have systems where a bachelor in other disciplines, e.g. chemistry, social science or literature, qualifies for master education in LIS. These are only some variations. It is not a short term goal, maybe not a goal at all, to wipe out these differences. They will probably be there for a long period, and they might represent a richness, not a problem. But transparency is a goal, so that it is possible for students to combine and draw on the best that the traditions of different schools and countries can offer. And we have to discuss, talk together, and understand each others’ perspectives. Then we might gradually come closer and maybe develop core curricula in some areas while enjoying diversity in others. It is exactly this process of communication that might lead to learning processes and to processes resulting perhaps in some common core curricula that the European curriculum development process initiated. The report which the project resulted in, demonstrates the possibility and fruitfulness of discussions on a European scale. Each of the 14 chapters of the book has been written by a group of 3-5 authors coming from different parts of Europe – Northern Europe, East and Central Europe, UK, Southern Europe etc. It is important that this process does not stop but, on the contrary, is continued and even accelerated. It is the goal of EUCLID to contribute to such a continuation. Although the curriculum development project was a broad one, only a minority of European teachers and researchers in LIS were able to participate. My goal, therefore, is to broaden the discussions even more. If we in the year to come could initiate regional seminars in, for example, the Iberian peninsula, UK, Northern Europe, East and Central Europe, on the report of the curriculum development project and how it can be used, developed further and even changed, that would be in correspondence with such a goal.
And I believe the curriculum development project focused upon some vital points around which agreement seems to exist:
- LIS consists of core subjects such as information seeking retrieval and knowledge organization and subjects integrating those perspectives with content and culture as well as an ability to understand the social and political role and relevance of the LIS-sector and LIS-institutions.
- In a rapidly changing world one has to focus upon the theoretical foundations of LIS. It is not so much a question of knowing how to use yesterday’s or even today’s IR or KO systems, but of understanding the knowledge base and different models lying at the bottom of such systems so that we produce candidates with a capability of transcending today’s practices and adapting their knowledge in new and changing contexts. An understanding of human information behaviour must be an integrated part here.
- LIS today is enveloped in a multicultural context. A multicultural understanding should therefore be an integral part of any LIS curricula and it should be integrated into core subjects such as IS and IR.
If LIS is capable of adapting instead of clinging to old methods, the future is bright. The whole world changes into a library. That, of course, does not make LIS less relevant, but more relevant. But the condition is that LIS fully recognizes that this relevance goes beyond old institutional contexts. Some years ago I took part in a conference for Scandinavian lecturers in journalism. One of those presenting a paper at that conference described how today’s (or tomorrow’s) media houses change into libraries and tomorrow’s editors change into librarians, organizing and presenting all the information that people can access when they want without being dependent upon the selection of information that the editor chooses to publish every morning. He said, half jokingly, that he had promised his son and daughter that if they behaved well, they could study LIS – the academic field of the future. That serves to illustrate my point: the world becomes a library. When the world is transformed into a library, LIS gives you the knowledge you need to master the world, not only a library. That is the challenge we have to face.
Notes
1 Ragnar Audunson, N. W. Lund (ed.), Det siviliserte informasjonssamfunn Folkebibliotekenes rolle ved inngangen til en digital tid [A civilized Information Society: the role of the public libraries at the beginning of a digital age] (Bergen: Fagbokforlaget, 2001).
2 Leif Kajberg, Leif Lørring (ed.), European curriculum reflections on Library and Information Science education (Copenhaguen: The Royal School of Library and Information Science, 2005), <http://biblis.db.dk/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/6y4ha94upu/DBI/286210008/523/462>. [Consult: 02/06/2006].