CHALLENGES OF TRAINING AND EDUCATION OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE STUDENTS

Description

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

This project is on Challenges of training and education of library and information science students. Library and information science (LIS) training and education play a significant role in the production of high quality LIS students who occupy a unique position in national development. LIS students are gatekeepers and brokers of information which is essential for knowledge acquisition, decision-making and national development. The success of library, archives and information centre’s in effectively meeting their obligation of information provision is hinged, in part, on the development of skilled manpower.

Trained personnel, according to Korsah (1996) are a key requirement in library and information work. In this respect, LIS education plays a vital role (Edegbo, 2011). Although early LIS students, particularly librarians did not undergo any formal training (Wikipedia, nd.), the modern day challenges of library and information work require that personnel should be well-trained and educated to make for effectiveness.

Melvin Dewey, the famous proponent of the Dewey Decimal Classification System was said to have established the first library school in the United States in 1887 at Columbia University (Wikipedia, n.d.). In Europe, the library School established in Barcelona in 1915 is reputed to be the oldest library school in that continent. Many other library schools were said to have been established during the Second World War. In Africa, however, South Africa is credited with the longest history of LIS in the continent dating from 1938 (Ocholla, 2007).

In West Africa, the earliest formal training in librarianship consisted of short courses organized by practicing librarians and these were aimed solely at preparing the participants for the British Library Association examinations (Ojo-Igbinoba, 1995) which then constituted the only gateway for aspiring librarians (Aguolu and Aguolu, 2002). One of such courses took place in Achimota College, Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1944 and it drew participants from various West African countries including Nigeria. This appears to be the earliest evidence of the strong historical link between Ghana and Nigeria in the education and training of LIS students. Hence this study tends to study the challenges in the training and education of library and information science students.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

            The study of the challenges in the training and education of library and information science students is psychological. It is against this that the researcher sees the subject matter worthy of investigation to examine how the challenges pose a threat on the effective training of students of library and information science.

1.3       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out the challenges faced by students of library and information science?
2. To identify the attitude of students of LIS towards the training
3. To discover the perception of the profession by the general public
4. To identify problems militating against the effective education and training of students of library and information science.
5. To proffer solutions to the problems

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the challenges faced by students of library and information science?
2. What are the attitudes of LIS students towards the training of their field?
3. What is the perception of the profession by the general public?
4. What are the problems militating against the effective education and training of students of library and information science?
5. What are the solutions to the problems?

1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

A critical study of various literatures reveals that efforts have been made in the past to train and educate the library and information science students therefore, this research is thus an improvement on earlier ones as it focuses on the challenges in training and education of library and information science students.

However, this study will be of immense value to undergraduate students, librarians and researcher’s in their research on challenges in training and education of library and information science students.

1.6       SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUIDY

The project covers the challenges of training and education of library and information science students using the department of library and information science, the Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa as a comparative study.