The European LIS Curriculum Project: An Overview

Abstract

Provides an overview of the aim, organisation, results and wider perspectives of the European curriculum development project that started in 2004. Financial support for the project was received from the European Union's SOCRATES program. The results of the expert-based analysis of a range of Library and Information Science (LIS) school subjects are documented in the chapters of an e-book, entitled European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education (2005). In explaining the background of the project, mention is made of the diversity of cultural and language contexts, traditions, conceptual frameworks, program structures, levels, delivery formats, etc. A major objective of the project was to bring European LIS educators together so as to enable them to participate in discussions centering on twelve themes identified as essential in the context of LIS school curricula. Discussions were conducted both in a virtual mode and conventionally face-to-face and throughout this collective process special reference was made to the European perspective and the Bologna Process. The tangible results produced by the work groups reflect the variety of approaches and emphases and range from profiles of specific course elements, educational models, curricular structures and syllabuses to reflections on learning outcomes, pedagogy and teaching methods. Some evaluative comments are given on the outcomes of the project and problems identified (e.g. LIS terminology). Introduction In 2003, the Royal School of Library and Information Science (RSLIS) in conjunction with EUCLID (the European Association for Library and Information Education and Research) handed in an application for European Union grant money. We applied for funding earmarked for the conduct of a an analysis of selected key issues considered common to Library & Information Science education (hereafter LIS) in European countries and with the Bologna Process as the connecting thread.1 The European Union (EU) is an obvious place to turn to if you intend to raise funds for a joint European project. Billions of euro are annually fed into a vast number of European projects and interim activities within higher education and research. As a consequence, the effects of EU initiatives and policy-making are discernible in most parts of Europe's academic world. The EU influence is observable in the broad areas of higher education cross-border cooperation, student and faculty mobility and the development of schemes for joint recognition of qualifications. Needless to say, EU is also a very strong supporter of the Bologna Process. In May 2004, we were notified that our joint project application had been approved. We received nearly all the money we had applied for through the Union's SOCRATES program, which covers education broadly. LIS Education Europe: Diversity and Confusion The North American library and information science (LIS) school world and the European LIS education scene are different in many respects. The North American LIS education community enjoys the benefit of a single language and an overarching consensus on the basic academic level and framework for LIS education programs. This is not the case in Europe where almost all LIS programs are structured and delivered within the context of a single nation state. Thus, typical of the European LIS education scene is the diversity of cultural and language contexts, traditions, program structures, levels, course lengths, thematic profiles of curricula, delivery formats, forms of teaching and assessment, and other features. Add to this confusion and disparity that accreditation of LIS programs as done by the American Library Association (ALA) in the United States, if undertaken at all, follows a different pattern in Europe. If done at all, the process normally relies on national-level accreditation bodies and mechanisms. There are, as the situation looks now, no institutionalized and recognized European-level accreditation and quality assurance procedures for LIS educational programs. …

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