A Basis for Library Education

Abstract

This article describes the pressures which beset library education at the present time and the five commonly considered, but apparently irreconcilable, views regarding suitable solutions to these pressures. It suggests that optimum solutions can be reached only by a coordinated, nationwide factual study of professional trends and needs, that is, by a taxonomy of librarianship's educational objectives, which takes into account the immediate as well as the more distant future. Among the major objectives of the proposed study are: (a) clarification as to whether librarianship will, in the foreseeable future, remain one profession or whether it will split into several subprofessions; (b) the development of an effective, nationally coordinated library education program and of improved instructional techniques. Among the issues discussed as pertinent to an analysis of library education are: the need for, and extent of, a central professional core; the need for additional relevant, but nonprofessional, subjects that could be part of a core; the depth of penetration suitable for various aspects of librarianship; the use of laboratory instruction and internships; and the optimum length of study. The suggestion is made that librarianship may well split not along the standard divisions by type of library, or by type of service, but into functional clusters: bibliographical and readers' services; social, motivational, and public relations aspects; middle- and higher-level administration; school and children's librarianship; and information science.

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