Education & Training Wiki
IFLA Education and Training Section History
From 1973 this Section for Library Education had a Standing Advisory Committee with Preben Kirkegaard (Denmark) as chair, Lev Vladimirov (Soviet Union) as vice-chair, H.P. Geh (Federal Republic of Germany) as secretary and with the other members being Danton (US), Hogg (UK), Kabrt (CSSR), Kunze (DDR) and Sharify (US).
By 1976 the Section had prepared standards for library education and they were approved and published that year in IFLA Journal no. 4. Further topics for the Section were:
- education for library, information and archive studies and their combination,
- the problems of international exchange of information about library education, focusing on the issues of quality assurance and international recognition of qualifications,
- statistics about library education, which led to a suggestion for a directory for library schools.
Reference:
Development of the Profession: a history of the IFLA Section for Education & Training from 1974 to 2003 [PDF]
by Ole Harbo and Russell Bowden
IFLA Education and Training Section Scope
The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Education and Training Section has been active in supporting internationalisation and quality assurance in LIS education with a focus on two activities: a core curriculum and equivalency of qualifications (Fang, and Nauta, 1987; Dalton and Levinson, 2000; Daniel, Lazinger, and Harbo, 2000). The aim of these efforts was to facilitate the recognition of professional qualifications across national borders and to enhance the quality of LIS education globally.
The IFLA Section has published some tools aimed at achieving greater transparency of professional qualifications and establishing standards for assessing the quality
Quality of LIS education
The quality assurance models in LIS schools (IFLA. Education and Training Section and Tammaro 2005; Tammaro 2006) were investigated in a research project started in 2003, at the IFLA Berlin Conference. The objectives of the research were to identify the quality indicators and how quality is measured and evaluated.
Evelyn Daniel, Susan Lazinger and Ole Harbo on behalf of IFLA's Education and Training Section in 2000 have prepared the "Guidelines for Professional Library/Information Educational Programs", which are continuously updated: http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/guidelines-for-professional-libraryinformation-educational-programs-2000
Recognition of qualifications
Dalton and Levinson (Dalton and Levinson 2000) conducted a study for IFLA’s Education and Training Section on LIS qualifications worldwide, with the goal of determining acceptable criteria and procedures for establishing equivalency of qualifications. Weech and Tammaro (Tammaro and Weech 2008) have investigated further the feasibility of equivalency and recognition guidelines.
The "International Guidelines for Equivalency and reciprocity of Qualifications for LIS Professionals. Draft guidance document for transparency, equivalency and recognition of qualifications", which have been produced at the end of the study, can be downloaded at: <http://www.ifla.org/files/set/Guidance_document_for_recognition_of_qualifications_2009-3.pdf>
References
Dalton P., Levinson K. 2000. An investigation of LIS qualifications throughout the world, 66 IFLA Council and General Conference, Jerusalem: <http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/061-161e.htm>
Fang, J. R. and P. Nauta. 1987. Guidelines to equivalence and reciprocity of professional qualifications. IFLA journal 13, no. 2.
Tammaro A. M. and Weech T. 2008. Feasibility of International Guidelines for Equivalency and Reciprocity of Qualifications for LIS Professionals: <http://www.ifla.org/files/set/Equivalency_feasibility.pdf>
IFLA. Education and Training Section and Tammaro A. M. . 2005. Report on quality assurance models in LIS programs: <http://www.ifla.org/files/set/s23_Report-QA-2005.pdf>
Tammaro A. M. 2006. Findings of the survey of quality assurance models in LIS programmes, IFLA SET Bulletin, v.7, n. 1, pp.3-6 :<http://archive.ifla.org/VII/s23/bulletin/SET_Bulletin-Jan2006.pdf>
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Last update: 6 August 2011
