The Status, Reputation and Image of the Library and Information Profession: Proceedings of the IFLA Pre-Session Seminar, Delhi, 24-28 August 1992 ; Under the Auspices of the IFLA Round Table for the Management of Library Associations 9783111635767, 9783598217951

Citation preview

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Fédération Internationale des Associations de Bibliothécaires et des Bibliothèques Internationaler Verband der bibliothekarischen Vereine und Institutionen MoK^yHapoflHan

e,iepaun*

En6.inoTeMHbix

AccounauHfl

h

ytpoxacuHfl

Federación Internacional de Asociaciones de Bibliotecarios y Bibliotecas

The Status, Reputation and Image of the library and information profession

Proceedings of the IFIA Pre-Session Seminar Delhi, 24-28 August 1992 Under the Auspices of the IFLA Round Table for the Management of Library Associations

Edited by Russell Bowden and Donald Wijasuriya

IFLA 1994 Ώ

IFLA Publications edited bv C a r o l H e n r v

R e c o m m e n d e d c a t a l o g u e entry: The status, reputation and image of the library and information profession : p r o c e e d i n g s of the I F L A pro-session s e m i n a r . Delhi. 24 - 2 8 A u g u s t 1992 [ I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n of Library A s s o c i a t i o n s a n d Institutions]. lid by Russell B o u d o n and Donald Wijasuriya. M ü n c h e n : N e w P r o \ i d o n e e : L o n d o n : Paris : S a u r . 1994 II. 22Xp.. 21 cm (1FL.A p u b l i c a t i o n s : 6Si ISBN 3-598-21795-1

Die D e u t s c h e Bibliothek

CIP-Eir.heitsaufnahme

The status, reputation and image of the library and information profession : p r o c e e d i n g s of the I F L A pre-session s e m i n a r . Delhi. 24 28 A u g u s t 1992 [ I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n of L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n s a n d Institutions). Ed. by Russell B o w d e n and Donald Wijasuriya. München : Neu Providence : London : Paris : S a u r 1994 ( I F L A p u b l i c a t i o n s : 68) I S B N 3-598-21795-1 N E : B o w d e n . Russell [Hrsg.j: I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n of L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n s a n d Institutions: I F L A p u b l i c a t i o n s oo P r i n t e d on acid-free p a p e r T h e p a p e r used in this p u b l i c a t i o n meets the m i n i m u m r e q u i r e m e n t s of A m e r i c a n N a t i o n a l S t a n d a r d for I n f o r m a t i o n Sciences - P e r m a n e n c e of P a p e r f o r P r i n t e d L i b r a r y M a t e r i a l s . A N S I Z39.48.1984. C 1994 by I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n of L i b r a r y A s s o c i a t i o n s and Institutions. The Hague. The Netherlands Alle R e c h t e v o r b e h a l t e n All R i g h t s Strictly Reserved K. G . S a u r Verlag G m b H & C o ~ K G . M ü n c h e n 1994 A Reed R e f e r e n c e P u b l i s h i n g C o m p a n y Printed in the F e d e r a l R e p u b l i c of G e r m a n y Jede A r t der Vervielfältigung o h n e E r l a u b n i s des Verlags ist unzulässig Druck Binden

Printed by S t r a u s s O f f s e t d r u c k G m b H . M ö r l e n b a c h B o u n d by B u c h b i n d e r e i S c h a u m a n n . D a r m s t a d t

I S B N 3-598-21795-1 ISSN 0344-6891 ( I F L A Publications)

CONTENTS Introduction Russell Bowden

5

Editor's Foreword Russell Bowden

9

Programme

12

Notes on key participants

16

AddressGirja of welcome Kumar - Chairman, India organising committee for IFLA 1992 Address - Cultural Counsellor, German Embassy, Delhi C Niemoeller

17 20

Opening address - Chairman IFLA Pre-seminar planning committee Dr DE Κ Wijasuriya

23

Address by the Chief Guest - Special Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India Dr Sittakant Mahapatra

25

Image, status and reputation: some observations Russell Bowden

28

Status, image and reputation of librarianship Hans Prins and Wilco de Gier

36

Perceptions of the status of the profession Maria Elena Zapata

49

The social and professional responsibilities of the profession Pawan Κ Gupta

63

Improving the market value of the profession: educational requirements Christine O Kisiedu

69

Improving the market value of the profession: increasing recognition Elizabeth C Reade Fong

80

Professional status and recognition A O Banjo

88

Management of professional associations: guidelines David R Bender

98

Resolutions

104

Valedictory address: President, Indian Library Association

107

Image, status and reputation: where to now? A summary Russell Bowden Participants in the Pre-conference seminar

109 120

Country reports D Ε Κ Wijasuriya - editor

122

BOTSWANA Kingo Mchombu BRAZILMaria de Lourdes Cortes Romanelli

123 126

CUBA Orlando Garcia Lorenzo EL

SALVADOR

FUI

ISLAND

Manuel Roberto Turcios

Elizabeth C Reade Fong GHANA Christine O Kisiedu INDIA

132

136

140 148

Pawan Κ Gupta

154

V V Lakshmi

158

JAMAICA Norma Amenu-Kpodo

\ 62

MAURITIUS Β R Goordyal

170

MOZAMBIQUE Wanda Amarai

173

NAMIBIA Ale! Marais

177

SBThakur

182

NEPAL

NIGERIA A O Banjo

188

PHILIPPINES Salvación M Arlante ST

190

MARTIN Alex Richards

196

SENEGAL Marietou Diongue-Diop SIERRA

Deanna Thomas SRI

199

LEONE 202

LANKA S M Kamaldeen

205

SWAZILAND M R Mavuso

211

UGANDA Sarah Kagoda Batuva

215

VENEZUELA Elke Ν de Stockhausen VIETNAM ZIMBABWE Dang BonaniNgoc Hadebe Dinh

219 225 222

INTRODUCTION

These Proceedings are the record of the official Pre-Session Seminar held in Delhi from 23 to 28 August 1992 that preceded the IFLA Conference 31 August to 4 September 1992. The subject 'Image, Status and Reputation of the Library and Information Services Profession' was approved by IFLA's Professional Board as the result of work previously undertaken by the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations, which in turn had been inspired by a Pre-Session Seminar held in Japan in 1986. To organise and plan the seminar, a Pre-Session Seminar Sub-Committee was established in August 1990. Ably chaired by Donald Wijasuriya and including A Anand (RSC Α/Ο), M Ragavan (representative the Local Organising Committee), L Hütteman (DSE), W Roberts (Professional Co-ordinator, IFLA), and R Bowden (RTMLA). It reported to and obtained views and responses from not only the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations which provided advice on the professional content of the seminar but also the Section for Regional Activities: Asia and Oceania in IFLA's Division XIII for Regional Activities. The Sub-Committee's aims were clearly defined at the first meeting. 'Recent surveys and research have re-emphasised the problems relating to status, reputation and image of the library, information science and documentation profession and their associations. These problems inhibit the ability of association members to function effectively. 'The objectives of the seminar are, among others, to consider these findings and make recommendations: (a) to IFLA and other relevant organisations for the development of their policies; (b) for programmes and activities to improve the status, reputation and image of the profession; (c) for the efficient management and organisation of professional associations. ' It was also the Sub-Committee's intention to spread the division of the preparation of papers as widely as possible and it was agreed, therefore that the selection of participants would be based on the following considerations: 1. They should primarily be professionals serving in the library, information and documentation sectors in the developing countries. 2.

They should currently hold or expect to hold important office in the relevant national association.

3. They should be able to initiate or influence the further development of the association or the profession in their own countries.

5

4.

They should be able to communicate and contribute to the deliberations of the seminar on the basis of their experience or expertise.

As a result, papers were obtained from India, Fiji, Ghana, Netherlands, Nigeria, UK, US and Venezuela. Similarly, the Sub-Committee wanted participants from as wide a field of experience as possible. The problem was the further from India a potential participant came, the higher the costs of travel to get them to the seminar. Sponsorship and support from, amongst others, DSE, the Government of India, BIEF, Air India and the Asia Foundation, (a full list of acknowledgements appears later), enabled 23 participants from countries as far apart as Angola and Venezuela to Fiji and Cuba and included countries either fairly new to IFLA or participating for the first time in a Pre-Session Seminar, for instance St Martin, Nicaragua, Mozambique and Vietnam. They were particularly welcomed. A full list of participants appears at the end of this volume. A unique feature of this book are the Country Reports edited by Donald Wijasuriya. Of course, they will quickly date but they represent the state-of-the-art at a given moment in time, namely early to mid-1992, describing the status, image and reputation of the library and information services profession in 23 countries. Never before has such a comprehensive picture been obtained of these situations. Each is compiled on common lines which included considering the issues, or hypotheses, that research investigations had addressed and seeking views on their relevance and aptness nationally. The contain views on the priority for the profession in that country, and therefore for the library associations, to address the problems of image, status and reputation and they also provide some idea of activities that the association had undertaken to improve the situation or of plans to do so in the future. In order to assist in providing a full and as exact a record as possible of the proceedings of the seminar, each paper is followed by a report of the discussions that ensued. This was made possible by the Sub-Committee appointing to each session a discussion leader and a rapporteur and a co-ordinator for this work. They produced full reports of the discussions. They have been résuméd to produce a distillation of issues raised and views expressed and particularly, where this was possible, an indication of agreements, perhaps not reached unanimously, as votes were not taken, but where there appeared to be support by a majority. These discussions, with the papers, form the basis for the eleven resolutions that are included towards the end of this volume. They were arrived at through a process of discussion in groups. These were established on the basis partly of common language, for obvious reasons, but also to enable issues to be addressed regionally on the presumption that there might be problems common to specific regions of the world. The results of the research1, completed in 1991, provided firm evidence on a factual basis collected by means of questionnaires and interviews in various parts of Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, to establish a main plank in the platform of issues for the seminar to address. A preview of the results had been made available at the 1991 IFLA Moscow Conference in a paper later published in the IFLA Joumaf. However, additional specific issues were identified by the Organising Sub-Committee and speakers were selected

6

not only on the basis of their authority and their knowledge and expertise in the subject allotted to them but also to be able to obtain views that might be representative of the problems being addressed in a particular region of the world. The RTMLA came into existence between 1980 and 1982. In its 10-year history it has been active in trying to improve the organisation and management and efficiency of professional library, information science and documentation associations, believing that these bodies are one of the keys to improvements in the provision and operation of national library and information services which, as a result and as this seminar endorsed, ought to assist in improvements in status, image and reputation. It produced for IFLA under contract to Unesco the Guidelines for the management of library, information science and archive professional associations in 19893 and these formed the basis not only for the last session paper but also a Workshop during the main Conference which was conceived as an integral part of the seminar but for which time could not be made available. The majority of the participants attended the Workshop. The seminar started with a series of hypotheses, identified in the Foreword to this volume and which had already been tested in the research project. These also helped to provide a basis for each of the papers. The Resolutions from the discussions after each paper, published at the end of this volume, indicate whether the hypotheses were found to be acceptable or not. It is perhaps worth making the point that the seminar, because it concentrated on problems of image, seemed very negative and did not stress the many achievements of library and information services and particularly some library associations, for instance that of the Philippines (see the Country Report) which has succeeded in pressing its government for recognition of a code of conduct and qualifications and to have the term Librarian recognised by statute. Other successes of course also were noted. This volume therefore contains each of the papers followed immediately by a résumé of the discussions. The resolutions emanating from group discussions follow and after this there is a summary, in the form of an essay, to indicate some of the lessons that can be drawn from the seminar and its resolutions, with an indication of work going on, or planned for the future, to ensure that the resolutions are not lost and that from them something of use will emerge. A list of participants and the programme is also included, as are the opening addresses by Girja Kumar, Chairman of the Indian Organising Committee for the IFLA 1992 Conference, C Niemoeller, Cultural Counsellor in the German Embassy in India and the address by Donald Ε Κ Wijasuriya, Chairman of the Seminar and of the Organising Committee and the opening address by S Κ Mahapatra, Special Secretary to the Planning Commission of India. A valedictory by C Ρ Vashishth, President of the Indian Library Association, closed the Seminar. The Seminar would not have been possible without very generous financial support from the Government of India (through the Indian Organising Committee for IFLA 1992) and the German Foundation for International Development (DSE). IFLA is grateful also for the financial support received from the Banque d'Information des Etats Francophones (BIEF), Air India, the Asia Foundation, the IFLA ALP programme and the Association des

7

Bibliothécaires Français (ABF). It was held on the edge of the beautiful Lodi Gardens in New Delhi, with their ancient tombs of the Lodi dynasty, in the Indian International Centre. The interpreters helped excellently well to facilitate communication in not only English and French but also Spanish. The team of Marvin Holdt, Jesus Lau and Michael Perdreau participated fully in the Seminar and its deliberations. Much of the Seminar's success was due in no small measure to the dedicated work of Mr S Majumdar, who took over responsibility late in the planning processes and at short notice. IFLA's Professional Co-ordinator, Winston Roberts with Mr Majumdar ensured the Seminar's success. A vote of thanks to both of them and the interpreting team for their support should be recorded. 1

2 3

The report of the research it is hoped to publish as a companion volume to these Proceedings by Κ G Saur in the IFLA Publications Series. IFLA Journal, 18 (1992), 108-118. Unesco, 'Guidelines for the management of professional associations in the fields of archives, library and information work', (PGI-89/WS/11), (Paris, Unesco, 1989).

8

EDITOR'S FOREWORD

The problems of image, reputation and status have been of concern to the library and information services profession for years, if not decades. The literature contains many references to these concerns and they have at various times surfaced with enough strength of feeling for something occasionally to be done about them. For instance, the Special Libraries Association in the United States from 1988-90' undertook a study which identified interesting factors such as: the way in which librarians perceived themselves and the contrasts with the way in which they were viewed by not only the public but their managers, that the stereotype image is often reflected in status and compensation to librarians etc. Above all it discovered that: 'Most of the respondents were found to be happy in their self-esteem and that their work is valued by society. They were about evenly divided on the issues of whether their salaries are appropriate in terms of value to their employers. Neither is there agreement on the image question; none feel strongly about the matter whilst others think there is no problem at all" 2 . This study was presented to the IFLA Conference in Paris in 1898 and was reported in the IFLA Journal More recently FID (International Federation for Information and Documentation) launched a similar investigation which is undertaking work within the Special Interest Group on Roles, Careers and Development of the modern Information Professional (FID/MIP). 4 Within IFLA the issue of status and its associated problems was formally raised at the Kanazawa Pre-Session Seminar that preceded the 1986 Tokyo Conference. It formulated a resolution that read: 'Recognising the crying problem of low status of librarians, documentants and information specialists in some of the Third World countries, this Seminar strongly recommends that the following steps are taken by IFLA as an attempt to redress the situation: (a) That a pre-Session Seminar on the "Status of librarians, documentalists and information specialists" be organised by IFLA preferably in a Third World country. (b) IFLA should take effective steps to formulate standards relating to the status issue and circulate these standards globally.' The Round Table for the Management of Library Associations agreed with IFLA's Professional Board that it would take responsibility for taking up work resulting from that resolution. So it was that in 1987 the RTMLA formally agreed to a programme of work. The first activity was to commission research, not by librarians but by sociologists supported materially and financially not only by IFLA's Professional Board but also by the Nederlands Bibliotheek & Lektuur Centrum (NBLC). Hans Prins and Wilco de Gier were commissioned to undertake research via a questionnaire and interviews. The results of these investigations formed a main plank in the platform of issues that were before the participants in this Delhi Pre-Session Seminar.

9

The Delhi IFLA Pre-Session Seminar was seen by the IFLA Round Table for the Management of Library Associations (RTMLA) as the culmination of one of the stages of its work on the image, status and reputation of librarianship and information work. The project, first considered in August 1987, aimed to identify reasons for the current poor image and identify tasks to be performed by national bodies to remedy that situation. Background The general image by the public of the profession and the practice of librarianship is poor. The reputation of the profession is low and as a consequence the status of workers in it is also low, made manifest by poor salaries and inadequate conditions of service. The picture is not standard worldwide but it is to varying degrees and it is fairly accurate for most countries. Reasons The reasons for this situation are many and varied and differ from country to country depending on the political, cultural, developmental and social situations. The RTMLA's research project was concerned to discover more precisely the reasons - many of which relate to all, or some, of the following: * little understanding amongst the general public of what library and information (LIS) workers do and what responsibilities they undertake; * poor perceptions by LIS workers of their responsibilities which can be viewed in terms of social responsibilities such as access to information and the protection of the free-flow of information as well as their managerial responsibilities in terms of staffs, buildings, stocks and finances; * the concept of the librarian as a profession is not clearly understood; ;some in the profession regard themselves only as skilled workers, some as professionals but even then there is a difference in understanding between a 'hard' and a 'soft' profession, eg medicine for the former and management for the latter; * expectations of the quality of the services provided by librarians to their usercommunities are not always clearly understood and sometimes, when they are, they are of a poor standard; * the profession in many countries is dominated by women and in many countries, unfortunately, women's status itself is low; * over-production from departments of library and information studies (DLIS) onto the markets where job opportunities are limited; * poor quality of the education and training of entrants onto the markets from the DLIS;

10

* the actual work and responsibilities of many professional librarians are at low levels, such as paraprofessional/technical levels, and compare unfavourably to other professionals, ie in local government, in commercial and business firms or in academic institutions; * lack of legal status or statutorily recognised qualifications, ie no register of qualified practitioners as have engineers or architects, for instance. These were only some of the reasons that were relatively easily identified. Others were far more complex and it was the task of the Dutch NBLC-led and financed research project to identify them. The Seminar participants had before them the results of the NBLC-led research that addressed the problems already identified and which served as hypotheses to be proved or dis-proved. As a result further objectives of the Seminar were to consider these results and make recommendations: (a) to IFLA and other relevant organisations for the development of its policies and Medium Term Programmes; (b) for a concerted programme of activities to improve the status, reputation and image of the profession; (c) concerned to bring about improvements in the efficient management and organisation of professional associations. The Recommendations of the Seminar concluded the deliberations. However, a summary based not only on the papers and the discussions that followed each but also on the Recommendations and the subsequent deliberations of the RTMLA with regard to picking up action on them, written by the Editor, completes this publication.

Russell Bowden

1

2 3

4

Special Libraries Association, 'Inter-association task force report on image', (Washington, SLA, 1990) (mimeographed). Op. cit. Darrell Orwig. Executive Summary, p. 11. Spalding, Frank, 'Image of the librarian/information profession: a Special Libraries Association Presidential Task Force', IFLA Journal, 15 (4) 1989. International Federation for Information and Documentation, 'State of the modern information professional 1992-1993'. FID Occasional Paper 4, FID, The Hague, 1992.

11

Work was undertaken through a series of papers delivered in plenary sessions and followed by discussions and then in individual discussion groups. The programme was as follows:

PROGRAMME

Sunday 23 August: 15.00-18.00

Registration at the India International Centre

Monday 24 August: 08.30-09.30

Registration continues

10.00-12.00

Official Opening - address by the representative of the Indian Organising Committee of I FLA '92. - address by the representative of IFLA - address by the representative of the German Government. - address by the seminar chairman, Dr Wijasuriya. - official opening address by the representative of the Indian Government.

12.15-13.30

Lunch

Afternoon:

Plenary Session I - Chairman: Dr D Wijasuriya

14.00-14.30

Lead paper: 'Image, status and reputation: some observations'. - Mr Russell Bowden (London, UK)

14.30-15.15

Tea

15.45-16.15

Research report: 'The status, image and reputation of librarianship', (Report on the research project of the IFLA Round Table on the Management of Library Associations). - Mr Hans Prins and Mr W de Gier (The Hague, Netherlands)

16.15-17.15

Discussion

17.30-

Reception

12

Tuesday 25 August: Morning:

Plenary Session II - Chairman: Ms A Anand

09.00-09.30

Theme 1 Paper: 'Perceptions of the status of the profession'. - Ms Maria Elena Zapata (Caracas, Venezuela)

09.30-10.15

Discussion

10.15-10.45

Coffee

10.45-11.15

Theme 2 Paper: 'The social and professional responsibilities of the profession'. - Mr Pawan Κ Gupta (Jaipur, India)

11.15-12.00

Discussion

12.15-13.30

Lunch

Afternoon:

Plenary Session III - Chairman: Ms S Arlante (Philippines)

14.00-14.30

Theme 3 Paper: 'Improving requirements'.

the market value of the profession: educational

- Ms Christine O Kisiedu (Legon, Ghana) 14.30-15.15

Discussion

15.15-15.45

Tea

15.45-16.15

Theme 4 Paper: 'Improving recognition'.

the

market

value of

the profession:

increasing

- Ms Elizabeth Fong (Suva, Fiji)

Wednesday 16.15-17.00 26 August: Discussion Morning:

Plenary Session TV - Chairman: Mrs Amenu-Kpodo (Jamaica)

09.00-09.30

Theme 5 Paper: 'Statutory recognition of the library and information profession'. - M r A O Banjo (Lagos, Nigeria)

13

09.30-10.15

Discussion

10.15-10.45

Coffee

10.45-11.15

Theme 6 Paper: 'Management of professional associations: guidelines' - Dr David Bender (Washington DC, USA)

11.15-12.00

Discussion

12.15-13.30

Lunch (Afternoon free)

19.00-

Cultural evening: Oddissi dance, by Ms Rekha Tandon

Thursday 27 August: 09.00-10.30

Discussion groups

10.30-10.45

Coffee

10.45-12.15

Discussion groups (continued)

12.15-13.30

Lunch

14.00-15.15

Discussion groups (continued)

15.15-15.30

Tea

15.30-17.00

Plenary Session V - Chairman: Dr D Wijasuriya - reports from discussion groups - summing up by the chairman

17.00-18.00

Meeting of the resolutions committee

18.00-19.00

Dinner

Friday 28 August: 09.00-11.00

Plenary Session VI - Chairman: Dr D Wijasuriya Discussion and adoption of draft resolutions

14

11.00-11.30

Coffee

11.30-13.00

Closing

Session

- remarks by the Chairman of the IFLA RTMLA - remarks by the Chairman of the IFLA Division of Regional Activities - official closing by the President of the Indian Library Association 13.00-

Lunch

IS

Notes on key participants

- Donald Wijasuriya is Managing Director of Library and Information Development Consultants, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; former Director General of the National Library of Malaysia; and a former member of the Professional Board of IFLA. - Russell Bowden is Deputy Chief Executive of the Library Association, London, UK; Chairman of the IFLA Round Table for the Management of Library Associations (RTMLA); and First Vice-president of IFLA. - Hans Prins is a researcher at the NBLC (Netherlands Public Library Centre), The Hague, and jointly responsible (with Wilco de Gier of NBLC) for the IFLA RTMLA research project. - Maria Elena Zapata is Director of State Public Library Network at the Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, Caracas; and Secretary of the IFLA Section on Regional Activities for Latin America and the Caribbean. - Pawan Κ Gupta is Director of the Library, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. - Christine Kisiedu is Head of the Department of Library and Archival Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. - Elizabeth Fong is Senior Assistant Librarian, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. - Gboyega Banjo is Head of the Library, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos; Chairman of the IFLA Division of Regional Activities; and a member of the Professional Board of IFLA. - David Bender is Executive Director of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), Washington DC, USA; and a member of the Executive of the IFLA RTMLA.

IFLA wishes to acknowledge the very generous financial support made available by the Government of India (through the Indian Organising Committee for IFLA '92) and the German Foundation for International Development (DSE). IFLA is grateful also for the financial support received from the Banque d'Information des Etats Francophones (BIEF), Air India, the Asia Foundation, the IFLA ALP Programme and the Association des Bibliothécaires Français (ABF).

16

ADDRESSES OF WELCOME - OPENING CEREMONY

Welcome address by Mr Girja Kumar, Indian Organising Committee for IFLA 1992

Mr S Κ Mahapatra, Mr Winston D Roberts, Mr C Niemoeller, Mr Donald Ε Κ Wijasuriya, delegates to IFLA Pre-Conference Seminar, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in welcoming you to the opening session of the 'Seminar on the Status, Reputation and Image of the Library and Information Profession' on behalf of the Indian Organising Committee for IFLA 1992 and myself personally. Indeed, the present seminar shall be considered a historic moment in the annals of Indian librarianship, for it is the precursor (and sounding bell) heralding the start of the 58th General Conference of IFLA. I would like to extend a special welcome to the chief guest, Shri Sitakanta Mahapatra, a distinguished poet in Orissa fallen among bureaucrats. I also welcome all of you on behalf of the Indian community of librarians as sample representatives of the international community of librarians. I hope your stay in this metropolitan city where past and present are tearing to interact with the future is extremely comfortable. You may have felt discomfited by the present Delhi weather. In the Indian tradition, the monsoon season is considered the most auspicious of all seasons. It is during the rainy season, when the man and nature find themselves in unison. The poets have sung in praise of virchow rilhu (rainy season) with abandoned joy. The great Kalidasa has penned a poetic drama Meghaduta (cloud messenger), again in praise of the rainy season. The Rajput and Mughal miniature paintings have the monsoon as the recurring theme. The great music composers including Tansen have sung in praise of virchow rithu. The current season thus reminds us of the song, drama and dance. The thoughts naturally turn to nature and romance. But since we are concerned with the prosaic topic of 'image, status and reputation' in this seminar, romance should take a back seat. It shall however not be far from our thoughts. The lovely Lodi Gardens and its monuments which constitute the backdrop to the Indian International Centre Building shall continue to remind us of the rithu virchow season. The present seminar is thus assured of an auspicious start. It is not customary to speak at length on the theme of the seminar in the welcome address, but having been in this business for nearly 45 years, the age gives me the liberty, if not wisdom, of saying a few words of caution and advice on the main theme. Appropriateness of the theme is no doubt, especially in the Indian context. Indeed we have not kept the promises that we made to ourselves nearly two decades ago. In the communication (20 July 1974) sent to the Minister of Education and Social Welfare, Government of India on behalf of the Community, the report of the Library Committee of the University Grants Commission headed by Mr S R Ranganathan (whose centenary we are celebrating this year) was referred to extensively:

17

'The high academic and professional qualifications, the combination of academic and administrative responsibilities indicate that the status and the salary scale of library staff should be the same as that of the teaching and research staff. As one looks back at the communication, circa 1974, there was a commitment and indeed a solemn assurance on our part: 'The librarians are fully conscious of the lacuna in their running of the university library. We can, however, assure you that with the influx of highly qualified young men and women into the profession, things are changing for the better.' Sad to say, the profession has not kept the promise it had made to itself and the community in general. We were perforce made to eat grow, and, in 1992, as if in part expiation. One had to write a piece, entitled 'Decline and fall of the academic library' (it shall be available in print next week). There is thus need for introspection by the profession. The intellectual inputs by the seminar shall provide the Indian community of librarians a golden opportunity to review the entire situation. It gave me somewhat vicarious pleasure to realize that the predicament in this connection was a worldwide phenomenon. In the words of the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations (RTMLA), circa 1989: 'The general image by the public of the profession and the practice of librarianship was poor'. The working group appointed by RTMLA confirmed the impression through data obtained from 150 national (library) associations in 90 countries. Eighty-two percent librarians themselves stated that their status was low. Why? One of the reasons stated for the low status of the profession was due to 'the female image of the profession'. It may perhaps give the librarians some satisfaction to be rated above air stewardesses, travelling salesmen and insurance agents. One may call it a coincidence, but a similar image of the profession emerged, when the present author had the opportunity to read once again Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose (1983), along with the excellent commentary on it by Jeffrey Garrett ('Missing Eco: On reading the Name of the Rose as Library'), published in Library Quarterly, October 1991. I would recommend everyone of you present here to read it. The novel reinforces the findings of the working group of RTMLA. As Jeffrey Garrett of Purdue University puts it so well, Eco's The Name of the Rose is not only a 'tale of books, but also of libraries, librarians and library users'. The exasperated hero in search of Aristotle's long-lost manuscript on humour finally concludes, after failing to crack the perplexing code of 'classification and shelving scheme', that 'the fault is not his own, that instead the knowledge of the all powerful librarian has been used "to conceal" rather than to enlighten'. The cruellest cut is made when Eco triumphantly concludes that the librarians lack the ability to laugh at themselves. To quote from the exact words of Jeffrey Garrett: 'Eco seems to doubt the ability of librarians to laugh at themselves, not to mention their (in)ability to tolerate the laughter of others'. I have taken the liberty of quoting extensively from Eco for his meaningftil remarks. Those are indeed most relevant to the topic under discussion. In this centenary year of S R Ranganathan, our thoughts should turn to him for inspiration. The working group of RTMLA in its report has laid its fingers on three causes responsible for the compromised image, status and reputation of librarians. Those are: i) invisibility.

18

ii) education and iii) professional culture. Maximum stress was laid on professional culture or ethics, which Ranganathan translated as his dharma, variously interpreted as duty, obligation and law. The term is hard to translate, but there is contained the essence of librarianship and Indian tradition through historic times. Ranganathan viewed library service as a service to the humanity, and hence his dharma, which he was obligated to perform through sheer compulsion. As regards the other condition of 'invisibility', S R Ranganathan was the most visible librarian to be seen. He spent half the time of 13 hours per day and seven of the week by sitting at the reference desk. His visibility was the strongest point of his long tenure at Madras University Library. Regarding the third condition, 'education', Ranganathan raised the level of library education. The present generation is however engaged in dismantling the innovative structure designed by him by freezing it permanently. At this rate, Ranganathan shall become an unperson. When one looks back at the long tenure as a professional librarian, one feels extremely sad for the things happening. The library community seems to have lost its élan. Its humanistic ethos had distinguished it from other professions. The heritage of humanism seems to have been forsaken. It is now lost in the jungle of information technology, a mere technique and a subsidiary handmaiden. There is no fun to mortgage the soul for a mash of pottage, and for an imaginary pie in the sky. It shall be far from correct to assume that one is bent upon presenting the dark image of the profession. Diagnosis is any day better than cosmetic surgery to plaster the ugly spots. I am optimistic by nature. I see a great future for librarianship in years to come. The librarians are unleashing to go, but...

Mr Girja Kumar is a former librarian of Jawaharlal Nehru University and ex-President, Indian Library Association. He has recently published a biography of Ranganathan, entitled S R Ranganathan, an intellectual biography.

19

Address by Mr C Niemoeller, Cultural Counsellor, German Embassy, Delhi, India

On behalf of the German Foundation for International Development (DSE), I should like to wish you every success for the IFLA General Conference and this particular Pre-Session for participants from developing countries. It's a great pleasure for me to welcome eight librarians and documentalists from eight African countries whose participation in this session and the General Conference was sponsored by DSE. The German Foundation for International Development (DSE) was created by the Federal and Land governments in 1959 on the initiative of all the political parties represented in the Federal Parliament. It was assigned the task of fostering the relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and developing countries on the basis of a mutual exchange of experience. The DSE fulfils this mandate by organising training programmes, seminars and conferences to support projects in countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America which serve economic and social development. Since its creation, the DSE, in co-operation with national and international partner organisations, has provided more than 92,000 specialists and executives from more than 140 countries with an opportunity to discuss issues of international development or undergo professional training. In its work, the DSE attaches priority to rural development, food security and the promotion of industrial vocational training. It also supports efforts to improve organisation and planning in developing countries in the fields of public administration, health, education, development planning, documentation and information. Furthermore, the DSE prepares German experts for their assignments in developing countries, and provides a comprehensive information and documentation service. The DSE is based in Berlin, but it also has specialised centres at various locations in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Information and Documentation Training programme of DSE is carried out by the Information and Training Section of the Education, Science and Documentation Centre in Bonn. On an average six to seven short-term training programmes ranging from three days to six weeks are organised for some 120 participants each year and about 45 scholarships for long-term training measures ranging from three months to two years are administered annually. Because information services in Asia and Latin America are relatively highly developed, the I & D Training Programme focuses its work on Africa.

20

In view of substantial French involvement in West and Central Africa, it co-operates mainly with Eastern and Southern African countries. DSE concentrates on five programme areas: 1. Seminars for the Establishment of National I & D Services. Target groups of these seminars are professional and senior personnel from I & D centres and libraries, planners, decision-makers from governmental or parastatal bodies of the host country. 2. Training Courses for Personnel from 1 & D Services. This series of training courses ranges from nationally organised programmes for basic training of school librarians to programmes on a regional level for professionals in specialised fields, ie information for industry, agriculture, trade, health, appropriate technology and management of information services. Since 1988 four training courses on 'Use of Micro-CDS/ISIS' were organised in cooperation with Unesco. 3. Continuing Education and Ad-hoc Courses. Continuing education courses are either for untrained library personnel or for holders of library diplomas working in small libraries, who need refresher training, are held at the University of Botswana, Department of Library Studies, in Gaborone during this long vacation period. Ad-hoc courses - these are programmes which require immediate action due to pressing professional problems or gaps in training - are organised or co-sponsored occasionally by DSE on request of partner institutions. 4. Scholarship Programmes. With regard to long-term training that lasts up to two years, DSE provides scholarships for library, archival and I & D studies. Illese scholarships are awarded to pursue certificates or diplomas in library studies at the University of Botswana in Gaborone for applicants from countries without their own training facilities in these subject fields. Diplomas in archival studies can be obtained at the School of Archival Studies of the National Archives of India in New Delhi. An Advanced Training Course leading to an Associateship in Information Science is offered at the Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre in New Delhi. For participants of francophone African countries Diploma Courses in Library, Archival and Information studies are offered at the Ecole de Bibliothécaire, Archivistes et Documentalistes at the Université de Dakar, Senegal. Scholarships for information training in industrial countries are not provided. University training leading to advanced degrees, ie MA or PhD, are not within DSE's competence, they are handled by the German Academic Exchange Service.

21

5.

Publications Programmes As a general rule, the papers presented in a particular programme will be published after the event, and distributed as a report document to some 100 corresponding partner institutions in the Eastern and Southern African region, and to the participants of the programme. This procedure ensures that a maximum number of professionals in the countries of the region is able to benefit from the contents of each programme in which DSE was involved. Apart from reports, I & D teaching and learning materials are published, most notably the modules of the Botswana vacation courses.

Expert Missions are financed when the organiser of a national training course needs external expertise to cover a specific subject of the course for which local experts are not available. Congress Travel Grants are provided when the organisers of an international seminar, workshop or conference on information-related subjects require direct personal input from professionals from Third World countries. DSE started its training activities in 1974. From the very beginning all activities were carried out in close co-operation with national, regional and international partners, ie amongst others: national library associations like the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute, Unesco and other UN organisations, IFLA, FID (International Federation of Information and Documentation) and the International Council of Archives. Co-operation is also sought with agencies from industrial countries, ie The British Council, the International Development Research Centre, Canada, to mention only a few.

22

Opening address by Dr D Ε Κ Wijasuriya, Chairman IFLA Pre-Session Seminar Planning Committee

Salutation to Dr Sitakarat Mahapatra, Dignitaries, Distinguished Participants and Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is indeed my privilege and honour to welcome our distinguished guests and participants to this IFLA Pre-Session Seminar in New Delhi - the very first I believe that has been devoted to the theme 'the status, reputation and image of the library and information profession'. I am also greatly honoured to have been appointed by the IFLA Professional Board as Chairman of the IFLA Pre-Session Seminar Planning Committee. As Chairman, it is my pleasant duty and responsibility to convey my thanks and appreciation to the major funding agencies which have made this Seminar and more especially the presence of such a large number of participants from Third World countries possible. In this respect I would like to make special mention of the Government of India, through the Indian Organising Committee for IFLA 1992, the German Foundation for International Development (DSE), the Banque d'Information des Etats Francophone (BIEF), the Asia Foundation and the Finnish International Development Agency (FINNIDA) through the IFLA ALP Programme. My thanks and appreciation are also extended to many other agencies too numerous to mention who have assisted in one way or another in this Seminar, due acknowledgement of which will be made in the published proceedings. I would also like to take this opportunity of conveying my thanks and appreciation to the members of the IFLA Pre-Session Seminar Planning Committee and would like to make special mention of Mr Winston Roberts, the IFLA Professional Co-ordinator who has assisted with most of the arrangements as well as Mr Subhas Biswas, Secretary General of the Indian Organising Committee for IFLA 1992, Mr M C Raghavan and Mr S Majumdar, who have been taking care of all the local arrangements, without whose efforts this Seminar would not have come about. This Pre-Session Seminar on the Theme 'the status, reputation and image of the library and information profession' owes much to the efforts of the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations (RTMLA), which initiated a number of projects, the most significant being the research project on the status of librarianship and information work, incorporating both a worldwide survey and a number of selected interviews, which were carried out by the Dutch Center for Public Libraries and Literature (NBLC), the results of which will be presented in Plenary 1. I would like to congratulate the RTMLA for focusing attention on a subject which I believe the profession should have brought into focus a long time ago. This Pre-Session Seminar therefore marks a significant milestone in the development of the profession and it must establish an agenda for change that will have to be relentlessly pursued in the years ahead, both at the international and the national level. The very survival of the profession may depend on it.

23

Participants to this Seminar were carefully selected and we have tried to bring together, within the constraints of the resources available, individuals whom we believe are key players at the national level, able to influence the course of developments in the years ahead in their own countries. We recognise and appreciate that there are other key players too at the national level, but alas resource constraints have compelled us to set a limit to the number of participants. We look forward therefore to your fullest participation in this Seminar in suggesting lines of development. IFLA has its role to play through the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations, the Division of Regional Activities, the Division of Education and Research as well as other IFLA Sections. One of the problems associated with the profession is that we have very often not been able to distinguish the wood from the trees. We tend to get caught up in minutiae and fail to see the broader picture. Within the IFLA organisational hierarchy, the fact that the RTMLA functions at the bottom end of the scale as a 'Round Table' may be indicative of this. Having said that, I do not believe that we need to be narrowly concerned with the management of library associations alone. In many countries, improved management of the library associations will do little for the profession. There are much broader issues to be dealt with. This leads to the point that it is at the national level that the major efforts are required. What will be required is a collective, concerted and sustained effort in each country through its lead agencies and its key players. But to do that we need to know where we are going. This Seminar will hopefully give us some indicators. Ladies and gentlemen, twelve years ago, on the occasion of the twenty fifth anniversary of the Malaysian Library Association which was commemorated in the Presidential Lectures (published by the Association in 1981), I stated and I quote: 'The question of status is of particular importance as it has far-reaching implications. Librarians still have an 'image problem'. They are on the whole not highly rated by society and their councils are rarely sought - sometimes even on professional matters. How often are Malaysian librarians appointed to Boards of Public Bodies, Educational Advisory Councils or Civic Bodies? Perhaps very rarely, it seems that librarians need to be heard more - in the press, on TV and radio, and not necessarily on matters related to libraries alone. We need to be more involved in the societies in which we live. We must be able to demonstrate to society at large our scholarship, our critical faculties, our penchant for system and logic... Eminent educationists, medical and legal practitioners and scientists have been invited in the past to present papers at library conferences, but I do not recall that eminent librarians (if there are such among us) have been invited to speak or present papers at a medical or law conference or even a forum for teachers. Society at large does not think that librarians have anything to say that is worth listening to on matters not pertaining to libraries. We need to correct that image. ' Ladies and gentlemen, we have much to deliberate upon in this Seminar and I would like to conclude with a very warm welcome to all participants and my very best wishes for a very fruitful interaction in the next few days. Thank you.

24

Address by the Chief Guest Dr Sittakant Mahapatra, Special Secretary, Planning Committee, Government of India

I am happy to be here this morning and am grateful to the Indian Organising Committee for the International Federation of Library Associations to invite me to inaugurate the PreSession Seminar. I understand as many as 40 developed and developing countries are participating and India has been given this honour to hold, for the first time, the General Conference here very fittingly in this centenary year of Dr S R Ranganathan, the father of India's library profession. My only claim to inaugurate this session is my great love for books. As an avid reader I have spent some of my most satisfying time in their midst and 1 know it is a passion that will stay with me till my last days. I have come to regard books as sacred and the librarians, to use Jerome Rothenberg's phrase in another context, as 'technicians of the Sacred'. The story of civilisation is the story of man's desperate search to conceptualise his experiences and feelings, give them a name and form and structure them through words. Words, the basic heirloom of sensibility and civilisation, are both signs and symbols, pointing to reality and symbolising our perceptions of the reality. They are man's antennae, his eyeglasses as Satre would say; his essential tools to understand the 'self and the 'other', in the ceaseless negotiation with the apparent meaninglessness of the Universe. Words constitute the memory of civilisations and the search for storing is at the heart of the books, the text, the manuscript; the myriad forms of documenting and beehiving the words on papyrus, on palm-leaf with iron-stylus and pen before the coming of the era of printing technology. From oral culture to the written, print culture and electronic culture we have indeed travelled a long way. Printing technology and electronic gadgetry have no doubt made possible the massive spread of information and knowledge. But it could be both a strength and a weakness. The information society tends to treat information as a consumption commodity and it can often be tailored to suit the requirement of the authorities or the organisation 'selling' the information. In many traditional societies such as India, the 'word' was Brahma, the ultimate reality. It was to be passed on to others as an act of fellow-feeling by the creator of the word. In an ancient palm-leaf text the author-scribe, at the end of his labours, beseeches the reader: Ί have bent over it for days and nights and now is the time to dedicate it to you. Please look after it as a son. (Putravat paripalayet). It is idle to expect that reverence any longer in the post-modern, post-industrial society, in the global village of Marshall McLuhan where everything tends to be treated as commodity. The image and status of the librarian as the custodian of human knowledge is only partly dependent on skill-development and growing professionalisation of the service, its knowledge and access to information technology. It is also integrated to, and linked with social values and the role of the written word in our times. If the third world is desperately seeking to achieve full literacy, there are scholars who speak of a new generation in the West who, even though literate, scarcely read a book and are instead glued to the idiot box which, unlike book-reading, demands only a vicarious participation in the audio-visual and rarely demands the exercise of the mind. In a vast country like India with fifteen major

25

languages there is a visible lack of access to books in regional languages by a whole generation of neo-literates - the housewives, the fanners and small traders, the unemployed rural masses whom the electronic media reaches far more easily. A massive public library movement is the only answer if the printed word is not to be completely marginalised by television and the VCR. It would be no surprise if a 'blue film' reaches a remote interior village where no one has seen a printed book. But there are other enemies of the printed word in our times - some hidden, some not so hidden - as in other periods of human history. The word can not only inform; it can also subvert. It can be the greatest challenge to authority and the establishment and the biggest ally of free thought. It is not for nothing that books have been burnt or libraries have been pillaged. The word remains man's greatest weapon to secure his freedom. It symbolises his will to be. But words too can be manipulated and the media can be the shrewdest massage, lulling one to un thinking and robot-like acceptance. It is easy to subvert the Cartesian dictum Ί think therefore I am' and to replace it by 'we think, therefore you are'. Our times are really troubled times; no other time has perhaps seen such massive onslaught on the human capacity to be himself and to think for himself. And in such times reverence for the printed word is bound to be diluted and instead to develop a tendency to treat it as an element in a consumist society. It is this global societal context which makes the task of the librarian extremely difficult and challenging. He must not only know enough of the memories of mankind in his charge and the information technology to ensure smooth access to it for millions. He has also to contend with the spreading cancer which tends to devalue and marginalise the word and rob it of its sanctity and its subversive power and instead tries to make it a soporific of the mind. Librarianship is a profession and a sacred one at that. Surely it is as venerable and ancient as law, medicine or religious practice. And it may not be wholly irrelevant to remember that, while Plato did not like to have a place for the first two professions in his Republic on the grounds that they thrived on human weakness, surely he had a sympathetic view of the custodians of the products of human knowledge. The development of analytical skill, communication ability, the capacity to reach out to the other person, lend a hand or other qualities that go to the making of an ideal librarian are no doubt of supreme importance. I have, however, always believed the image and status of a profession is what the members of that profession sincerely and seriously think of themselves. No image can be better than the reality unless it is through a technical funding. And the reality is what the society expects of it. I have mentioned earlier my fear on the latter. An information society can sometimes be self-destructing. It can sometimes treat information either as garbage or as tools for manipulation and mind-bending. Both can be elements of a depressive counterculture that is both anti-freedom and anti-growth. That can lead to the 'closing of minds' and not the opening-up and flowering to which knowledge and wisdom are supposed to lead. No wonder the public image of the librarian has been somewhat inconstant and unpredictable in such a fluid intellectual scenario. I am sure the seminar will try to grapple not only with technical questions of skill and technology and professionalisation and service conditions etc but also with the larger social and intellectual issues of the terrible times in which we live and the fate of the written word in the new millennium that is round the corner. I understand the deliberations will cover a large range of issues and problems and many distinguished participants are here. I have no doubt the deliberations will make our

26

perception of the issues sharper and clearer. Once again I thank you very much for this opportunity you have given me to share my thoughts with you.

27

IMAGE, STATUS AND REPUTATION: SOME OBSERVATIONS Russell Bowden

Librarianship is not the oldest profession in the world. Nevertheless, librarianship is one of the older professions, preceding medicine and not much younger than law and religion. Two major inventions have provided it with changes and innovation. The first being the invention of printing and the development of book production as we know it today. The second, now with us, in the form of the adaptation of the products of the information technology revolution to librarianship and information work. The changes in western industrialised societies from those shaped and conditioned by the Industrial Revolution into their present form as Information Societies has been influenced primarily by the information technology revolution. This last change should have provided librarians with ample opportunities to play central and significant roles in the development of these new information societies and as a consequence, improved the public's perception of the image, status and reputation of the profession which as a consequence, ought never to have been higher. But this is not the case. Where are the indications of the majority of librarians taking on new responsibilities, not for the management of the physical materials in their collections, but the information content inside these materials, through the developments of analytical skills and knowledge to help users through what is fast becoming an information over-load where the quality of provision is not paramount but the quality, accuracy and up-to-dateness is? Of course we have to ask ourselves, are we obsessively concerned with the image, status and reputation of our profession? We have to ask ourselves, are we correct to be concerned with these problems and the situations that they represent? If we are, then we have to ask ourselves, what should we do to alter them? We need to ask ourselves, if we want to change our image and the status we need then to ask to what and to where? These are the issues to be addressed by this seminar. The profession historically might be nearly as old as those for law and for religious practice and older than medicine and surgery and management and accountancy and engineering and perhaps architecture, but the difference between them and us is that their status in society is assured and ours still is not despite, for instance, Islamic records in Turkey in the XI and XII centuries indicating a high regard for librarians. In India a quotation I recently came across records: Librarianship was also considered an esteemed profession in ancient Kerala. In the scholarly home libraries, and Salais only highly educated persons could work as librarians. The person who kept the documents had to be knowledgeable about the thought contents of the documents in his care. This tradition of scholar librarians continued up to the medieval period. The copper plate grant of king Trailokyamalla, a Chalukyan ruler, in 1058 AD furnishes details of an educational institution maintained by him. It was equipped with a library with six Saraswathi Bhandarikas (librarians). The inscription further furnishes details regarding distribution of land which tells us the

28

dignified and honoured position the librarians had in temple colleagues and other cultural and educational institutions.1 We need to consider why our status is so low. I contend that part of the reason must be that law, medicine and religion, architecture and engineering are professions concerned with life and death. There is nothing more important to societies than such issues. Their status is also assured because the public views their operations as being undertaken by professionals and, more importantly, the people actually providing services to users see, and understand, themselves to be professionals. That is not always true of librarians and information workers. The literature of librarianship is occupied still with debates and discussions as to whether librarianship is a profession or not. Some believe it to be so, others not. The latter understanding its practice to involve little beyond a set of skills and techniques. Judgements can be made. Criteria exist against which to measure an occupation's professionalism. They vary in their wording but essentially there are six criteria. I shall take those of Abraham Flexner, formulated in 1915 and contained in Jesse Shera's book The Foundations of Education for Librarianship,2 Flexner believed there to be six essential criteria and they are: Professions involve essentially intellectual operations with large individual responsibility; They derive their raw material from science and learning; This material they work up to a practical and definite end; They possess an educationally communicable technique; They tend to self-organisation; They are becoming increasingly altruistic in motivation. 'Professional' in the dictionary definition means: a declaration or an avowal; a declaration of belief in a religion; a vocation or a calling, especially one that involves some branch of learning or science. To practice a profession is not just to practice a set of skills. It also incurs the undertaking of responsibilities on behalf of society. For instance, those of the medical profession are easy to observe, concerned as they are with the public's health and hygiene. Men and women of religion are concerned with moral and ethical values in society. The law is concerned with the maintenance of law, order and justice in the community. The library and information services profession has a similar clear social responsibility. It has concerns for information. They are two-fold: to maintain the free and unfettered flow of information (along with the press and the media, e.g. to oppose censorship in all forms); the second is to protect the rights of access of every individual to the information that they seek. A clarion call that the profession has ignored. It is enshrined in the report of the UNESCO NATIS Conference in Paris in 1974 but it is better expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers'. It is this task that is unique to the library and information profession. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom is a good example of the profession taking responsibilities in this area. It must be maintained. There exist real risks that librarians, faced with managing their operations within

29

different organisational structures imposed upon them by local governments or other parent organisations, or in adapting, as they must, to new management theories and techniques, will move too far to identify with management and throw out the bibliographical and librarianship skills that are unique to this profession. Already there are dangers apparent in Europe of what is being called 'de-skilling'. They must be resisted. It is the skills, techniques and knowledge of librarianship and information science that make us different from any other profession and therefore allows us to claim a position in society that identifies us as different from the others and for which we should be properly rewarded, recognised and remunerated. Needless to say perhaps, but nevertheless worth re-iterating, that the library and information science profession's view of itself is conditioned to a large extent by the attitude to it of the world 'outside' the profession. In many cases that public's view of us is almost negligible we are almost invisible to them. Why should that be when, in theory at least, but probably, as I have already indicated, not in practice, as professionals we are involved with one of the most important commodities in today's new and post-industrial societies - information?

It is imperative that the seminar addresses these issues. They are fundamental to its image, to its status and to the reputation that the profession wants in society. In the seminar it will be necessary to consider whether there is agreement with this view. There are many other problems that librarians and information workers believe affect the public's image of them. These include the idea that the general public has little understanding of what library and information workers do or of the responsibilities that they carry - the 'invisibility' factor to which reference has just been made. Those responsibilities are not small if one considers those of a university librarian who will be responsible for providing services to the whole of his academic and student communities, or the responsibilities of a public librarian for buildings, mobiles, stock and staff, or the responsibilities of an information scientist working in a research laboratory or those of children's librarian for the type of literature and material that young people read. Nevertheless, there is a mystique that the profession sometimes seems intent on sustaining which actually may be harmful to the public's view of the profession. Certainly there is the problem that the very name 'librarian' derives from, or is associated with, the name of the building in which professionals work. Nursing is a profession in a hospital but the public understands what a nurse does (even if they may never have met one) yet it finds it difficult to understand what librarianship involves and that it is a profession and not just conccrned with work inside a building called a library. Expectations by users of the quality of the services provided are not always clearly understood and sometimes, one has to admit, those services at point of delivery leave a lot to be desired. The public observes the librarian issuing books over a desk and arranging books in some order on a shelf and as a consequence it places librarians on a scale, and in comparison with other professions, at a point very near the bottom. In many countries the profession is almost entirely comprised of women. Unfortunately, in many countries the

30

place of women in society is not particularly high and therefore the ability of librarians to make contact with government and with policy makers at the highest levels is inhibited. In some countries there is an overproduction of librarians from the departments of library and information studies onto the employment market. Any market-woman will confirm that if there is a glut of eggs onto the market their price will fall. So is it with librarians. In some cases the very quality of the eggs is poor because the type of education and the quality of it imparted as students to the new librarians entering work for the first time is extremely low. In addition it is uncertain that the educational curricula and the training and subsequent continuing professional development opportunities are being exploited and adapted adequately enough for them to serve as the key to change. Not unnaturally, recruitment depends on 'like attracting like' so that the opportunities for unorthodoxies to enter the profession are constrained. It is revolutions, wars, arguments and disagreements that attract the media and the public's attention not quiet unassuming evolution. A professional organisation's primary responsibility to society is to protect the quality of the services that the professionals in it (as its members) provide to the users of their services - in our case libraries. A library association, therefore, has as its most important function the protection of standards of performance by the professionals in its membership. Not all library associations operate with a Code of Ethics or Conduct which is a requirement för this task. Not all library associations even undertake this task. Not all library associations are organised efficiently enough to be able to undertake it. It is therefore a sine qua non that a library association has to be strong, effective and efficiently managed if the image and status of its profession is to be improved. But the opposite is often the case. Instead of a single national association there are a number representing different areas of practice or different knowledge and skill groups. We use our skills as classifiers to our detriment. We divide into small dis-united groups instead of forming a strong unified, single national association. A British colonial maxim was 'divide and rule'. We are divided and as a consequence we are ruled. The actual work and responsibilities of many professional librarians are often at low levels, particularly when compared to those of other professionals in the parent organisations within which libraries are located, whether it be within universities, local or central government. Some librarians believe that a lack of legal status or statutorily-recognised qualifications from the professional body inhibits the perceptions by the public of their status. This may be a chicken and egg situation. Statutory recognition can only be achieved when it reflects what the public believes and when it judges it to be deserved. I suggest therefore that any required statutory recognition will be one of the rewards that will have to wait some time to be achieved even if it remains one of the highest priorities. The profession has to get its own house in order before statutory recognition allows entry onto an official Register which is approved in law (as it is in some countries for architects, engineers and the medical profession) and which provides the professional with a right to practice because of the agreed and accepted standards of performance that the librarian or information worker is guaranteed to uphold. Have we, as librarians, justified that right? Without doubt, statutory recognition would provide the status we want, but it will not come of its own accord. It will only come when it reflects what the public already perceives and agrees about us.

31

Underlying all these many, and varied, problems is perhaps an even more basic one. It is that after centuries of work in libraries there is still no agreement amongst us as to what defines librarianship and information work. There is no agreement on what lies at the core that identifies librarianship and emphasises its uniqueness and differences from other professions; or about what are the priorities within it or the relationship of this core to externa] priorities such as the necessity to possess management, political and marketing skills. In the UK, in an exercise being undertaken by the Library Association for the Government's Department of Employment, investigating the establishment of national vocational qualifications (i.e. work at the paraprofessional and technician but not yet professional levels) outside consultants had to be engaged to undertake work to define what was called the 'occupational map' and what are the areas of employment within which librarianship and information science skills are practised. The definition now agreed by the profession is: To determine/anticipate, stimulate and satisfy the information needs of existing and potential users/clients through the design and operation of systems for creating, synthesising, gathering, categorising, storing, providing access to, retrieving, interpreting, and presenting information from all media and personal sources, in a cost effective manner, and by so doing, speeding the flow of information to improve the business and social environment of an open society. Information is defined in its broadest sense as meaning data, facts, imaginative materials, ideas, opinions, and cultural values, in a variety of media ranging from the printed form, through audio and visual media to electronic processes and including in house personal knowledge and external sources and referrals. There is a briefer one which reads: To anticipate, determine, stimulate and satisfy the information needs of existing and potential clients. The profession has to ask itself, are the issues outlined here the real problems affected status and recognition that the profession needs to address or are they blown up out of all proportion when in reality its status is easily resolved by a marketing exercise? I believe that one markets a product when one is certain what the product is, and what level of quality it provides and one has undertaken market research to ascertain its importance on the potential market. I hope that the discussions in this seminar will be concerned with that 'product'. We can concentrate on marketing the product when we have found some answers to some of the issues raised in this paper - some of which, of course, will be presented in more detail by others as the seminar progresses. It was these problems that IFLA was asked to address in 1986 when the issue of status was presented to the Professional Board as a result of a pre-conference seminar such as this in Japan. IFLA referred it to the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations. The RTMLA's Committee considered some of the problems passed to it and accepted them as hypotheses that needed to be proved and accepted or disapproved and rejected. In order

32

to test the hypotheses it agreed with the Professional Board to undertake a programme of work and in 1988 it started and presented the results of a literature search to the RTMLAs Open Meeting in Paris. Thereafter it embarked upon empirical research, part-funded by the Professional Board and the NBLC in Holland (to which the RTMLA owes much gratitude) using the services it provided of a researcher, Hans Prinz, to prepare a detailed questionnaire which was sent to library associations around the world and subsequently backed up by interviews held in a number of countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. By 1991 an interim report was ready for presentation to the RTMLA's Open Meeting at the IFLA Conference in Moscow. The report's findings will be placed before you during this seminar. A preliminary report appeared in IFLA Journal volume 2. Among many questions that we shall put to you, the participants in this seminar, will be: are the findings of the research recognisable and therefore acceptable? To focus attention on the objectives of the seminar. They have been circulated but let us remind ourselves of them: Recent surveys and research have re-emphasised the problems relating to the status, reputation and image of the library, information science and documentation profession and their associations. These problems inhibit the ability of association members to function effectively. The objectives of the seminar are, among others, to consider these findings and make recommendations: (a) to IFLA and other relevant organisations for the development of their policies; (b) for programmes and activities to improve the status, reputation and image of the profession; (c) for the efficient management and organisation of professional associations. By the end of the seminar we have to have considered: what can be done? We have to consider: what are the priorities for action? We have to decide who we will recommend to take that action. As this paper has indicated and the Hans Prinz research proves, the problem is not a simple one. Indeed it is not one, single, problem anyway. But a complex web of problems each inter-twined with the next. They relate to all aspects of library and information work; they relate to education and training; they relate to the need to continue to upgrade skills and competencies through continuing professional development programmes and a host of others that this paper only briefly touches upon. To assist you to grapple with these issues, in addition to a presentation of the research findings by Hans Prinz, you will hear papers about the perception of the profession; the responsibilities of professional librarians and information workers; about the need for market value and recognition; the problems and benefits of statutory recognition and on the management of professional associations using the UNESCO Guidelines for the Management of Professional Associations in the Fields of Archives, Library and Information Work3. The organisers of this seminar believe that without strong and efficient and effectively managed library associations there is no infrastructure to undertake the work that you will identify as necessary to improve image, reputation and status.

33

In drawing to a close, let us remind ourselves that this is a seminar with very practical aims and objectives. Participants have the responsibility to indicate to the profession worldwide through I FLA, and within your country through your reporting back to your national associations, the actions that will be required in the fiiture to improve the image, status and reputation of the librarianship, information science and documentation professions.

DISCUSSION This confirmed the importance of the topic and the need at this point in the development of library and information services, both at the international and national levels, for a seminar to be held on such an important subject. It is important to distinguish the profession of LIS from journalism and other disciplines and skills-bases and specifically to divorce it from the work of Ministries of Information which usually have very different objectives. With regard to the problems connected with unfettered access to information it was suggested that three particularly needed to be addressed. The first is illiteracy, the second provision in rural and urban situations and thirdly the issue of free-flow versus confidentiality of information, especially regarding access by the public to government documents. Three activities were considered necessary to address these problems - the active participation of professionals in literacy campaigns; the need for packaging and repackaging of information for rural communities and the acquisition of, and access to, official documents for users. However the difficulties, for political reasons, of undertaking such activities in some countries was emphasised. It was suggested that a project is needed to define the roles and functions of library and information services and their specific responsibilities in Third World societies facing these problems. Some disagreement with the speaker's views were expressed arguing that the picture painted was too gloomy. Invisibility was not a problem because, as an example, the providers of databases such as AGRIS and INIS were similarly invisible. Concern for the qualities of products and services should be higher priorities. The number of women in the profession was not a contributing factor to low status, witness their place in education and their comparable status there. Legislation was an important objective to improve status. However, there were other means to achieve it such as involvement in literacy campaigns, the need for libraries to exploit databases and to profit from the mass media. The training of librarians and their orientation to specific services, such as serving rural communities, were also important ways to improve status. The significant rôle suggested in the paper for library associations was challenged with the argument that the profession's low status and reputation was often a direct reflection of the weaknesses of the associations themselves. In many countries also it was not the library association that was perceived as the 'lead agency' for LIS development but other, often government, organisations.

34

The achievements of the Philippines Library Association, after three decades of lobbying, were described. Act no. 6966 provides for the PLA to conduct examinations, and to upgrade qualifications which are now recognised in law. There were mixed views as to whether statutory recognition of the profession encouraged the recognition of proper status or whether, as the paper suggested, status had to be earned first so that thereafter statutory recognition could follow. Another point touched upon was whether there was ever any likelihood of the LIS profession achieving the status of lawyers. One suggestion was that it might only be achieved if the profession was more altruistic and was more motivated to achieve such an objective. Using the term 'trained' or 'qualified' or 'professional' before the word 'librarian' compounded the problem of the public's understanding and therefore its recognition of status. The problems of the library association in El Salvador were recounted as an example of one professional association trying to integrate graduate librarians with those with experience from many years of work.

1

2

'

Nair, R Raman, 'Public library systems in ancient South India', ILA Bulletin, XXVII: 2 (July-September 1991). Shera, Jesse, The foundations of education for librarianship (New York, Wiley, 1972). Unesco, Guidelines for the management of professional associations in the fields of archives, library and information work. (PGI-89/WB/11) (Paris, Unesco, 1989).

35

STATUS, IMAGE A N D REPUTATION OF LIBRARIANSHIP Hans Prins and Wilco de Gier

Introduction The Round Table for the Management of Library Associations initiated a worldwide research project into the status of librarianship and information work. This paper is a condensed version of the findings including some comments, conclusions and recommendations of the researchers. The research project consisted of two parts. The first part was a worldwide survey. A questionnaire was sent to more than 150 national associations in 90 countries. The other part of the investigation consisted of a series of interviews in Latin America and South East Asia, Africa and Russia. Around 80 'expert interviews' were held with different persons involved in LIS work. The attention paid to problems relating to status and image within the profession is persistent and widespread. Librarians in hi-tech libraries are concerned just as much as those who have to work with very limited budgets. This concern is not restricted to certain countries or regions. Worldwide a great majority of practitioners in librarianship is convinced that the status is low and something has to be undertaken to enhance status and image. The respondents of the survey had to state their opinion about why the status of the profession of librarian is low'. 26% strongly agreed, 56% agreed. So an overwhelming majority, 82% or four out of five librarians are convinced their status is low. The respondents were asked to sort a given list of professions in order of occupational prestige/status. We concluded that the workers in library and information services did not differ in their ranging of the profession from the general public. The fact that the status and image of a profession is experienced as problematic by the people involved is not unique to the people working in the library and information business. Every professional sector (education, health care, brokers, political parties, manufacturers etc.) periodically worries about its image. The changes in society (technology, culture, politics, economics) demand institutions to evolve with them. It will be clear, that such an adaption to the demands of society differ from profession to profession and from country to country and depend on local circumstances. Nevertheless for the institutions which are part of the very same society it is a challenge and one that must be addressed. Being sensitive to changes and adequate adaptations is a necessity because existence is at stake. The legitimacy of non-profit

36

organisations is highly dependent on recognition and funding by governmental bodies. On the other hand the existence of profit organisations is made 'legitimate' by paying clients. Their existence is dependent on their success in an open market. If we compare the developments within library and information work to those in other professions it can be ascertained that LIS work has got behind, in a certain way and in certain aspects. This late development is mainly due to the dominating 'product orientation' in the profession. This orientation, in its turn, was and is determined by the public image of LIS work. All the perceived status problems are derivates of the underdeveloped relationship with the 'outside world'. The persistent and progressing division of labour did not bypass library work. But in the eyes of the outside world the concept of librarianship as a profession has lagged behind other developments in society and still is strongly related to 'the library', the building. With respect to 'librarian' no association is made with 'information', not to speak of 'communication'. Myriads of information services were created outside the library world in the narrow sense, despite the fact that many institutions renamed themselves in the last decennium. Not one of those services will be seen as relating to good old library and documentation work. They are different worlds. This statement is not only the result of many surveys among the general public (potential clients), but also the opinion of a couple of hundred colleagues who participated in this research. This underdeveloped response to changes in the societal environment and the inclination to stick to the concept of 'librarian' has prevented the development of a contemporary image of the profession in a modern sense. At the same time it has prevented the workers in LIS perceiving their clients as real clients instead of users of a facility called a library. A 'business-like relationship' would be fruitful and benefit both parties. This lack has handicapped some parts of the profession. This handicap generates reinforcing effects. Speaking about clients one should not just think of visitors to libraries and documentation centres, or some colleagues in need of specific information, but of the world outside the library: general public, employees, government, related institutions etc. It means that everyone in the organisation must be focussed on servicing the outside world. In most cases the product as such is not a matter for discussion, but the quality is, the way it is served is, these are elements susceptible of improvement. There are a lot of conditions that are important but it is the state of mind that counts in the first place. Leave the catalogue cards for what they are, for a while, and communicate. This is the main problem. Status-related problems Status and service A general complaint among our colleagues is that librarians neglect the users of the library. There is too much concern with collection management (product orientation) and not enough with the demands and wishes of the (potential) users. According to librarians the quality of services is an important theme, when speaking about status. Many things

37

can be improved. Libraries are not just there for librarians but for users. However for many librarians this is not so self-evident. The service can be characterised as passive, and reactive. In the opinion of the respondents, librarians should be far more active in their attitude offering services to clients. Brazil: 'The public does not know how librarians could help them, since they have hardly any knowledge of the librarian work. The poor quality of the service in some libraries testify against the whole category which makes the general public to underestimate the Library. Changing the librarians image is also important to abolish all mysticism that exist around them. ' Finland: 'The libraries should be managed like business organisations and they should also formulate their goals and tasks clearer what they are doing now. It is through the prestige of the organisation the prestige of librarianship will improve. At least the directors of libraries should be less "librarians" and be instead more "managers". I don't mean that librarians should not be directors, but as directors they should act very much as managers, and less as librarians.' Venezuela: 'Our services are not very much used by professionals. Professionals solve their information problems otherwise, through other kind of organisation in the enterprises, or through personal contact. We have librarians which experience is not enough to do their tasks.' 'There is a gap between the possibilities of technology, accessible for a few people and the lack of information for great sectors of the population. I see this gap becoming wider and wider.' USA: 'We have to stop worrying about status and devote energy to providing what our users think they need + what we know they need.' Nigeria: 'The most important problem is what should be the focus of public libraries in a country where the percentage of literate people is relatively low. Should they concentrate on the elite in the urban areas who are literate or should they somehow extend their services to the people in the rural areas who are nonliterate.' Spain: 'Librarians have to improve their attitude toward service. Librarians worry more on internal aspects of their jobs than on external ones. Thus their work benefits more themselves than the community.' Poland: 'There is no need to enhance the status of librarian, but there is urgent need to perform librarian's tasks at highest possible level to improve quality of social activities.'

38

Status and visibility The rank of the 'librarian' on the status ladder of occupations given by the general public does not differ from that given by librarians themselves. In both cases it is a value judgment. According to those employed in LIS work the relatively low status correlates with lack of recognition, proper judgment, validation on the one hand and lack of knowledge about the profession by the general public on the other. The respondents think this is due to the fact that people cannot distinguish librarians from non-librarians, and unlike many other occupations, it is almost invisible or at least very obscure as to what their job consists of. Everyone who is working in a library seems to be a librarian. At the same time in many cases there is no direct face to face contact. People use libraries instead of librarians. This invisibility has had serious and far reaching consequences for the profession. Singapore: Ί personally do not think it is low. Unfortunately non-librarians tend to think it is so because of their ignorance of what we do. If volunteers can do the work why do libraries need librarians? The public cannot differentiate this through lack of real understanding of a true librarians professional duties. Make ourselves more visible and the impact of our services more strongly felt, not only to our clientele but the public as well.' Iceland: 'Status and prestige will be created gradually by the profession itself, when it becomes capable to answer effectively and efficiently the information needs in society.' Australia: 'As an occupation, librarian is named after the building rather than the work that is done, like engineer, teacher etc. It is very passive in its connotations. Perhaps a new title is required. ' Japan: 'Library work on the whole looks not impressive and partly because it is difficult to measure and show what librarians are achieving.'

Status and profession Librarian is a term covering a broad spectrum of activities. Not everybody working in a library is a librarian and even those who are librarians perform a wide range of different tasks. The differences in tasks are often greater than the similarities. Compare for instance the director of the National Library and somebody employed in the catalogue department. This divergence is a problem for the library schools but also for the profession as a profession. This is the reason why librarians are hardly capable of stating their core business. Brazil: Ί could say that this "low status" begins at university, where one can hardly see the librarian having coffee or dining with the teachers - and this happens at the school of Library Science, too.'

39

Japan: 'Despite professional and specialised knowledge and skills required, librarians' job is generally considered as clerical.' Venezuela: Ί think the image (I'm not a librarian originally) is a second order profession. The profession has no face at all. Perhaps we have become more professional, but stay technicians, skilled workers. The information broker is a new phenomenon, those professionals become to see the value and the interest how to manage information. They come from other professions. Not a development of the old, but a new profession.' 'There is a growing gap between public librarians and special librarians. Within ten years we don't speak about "librarian" anymore. Venezuela is beginning to split up.' Malaysia: 'The problem of the status of librarians is not a problem of salaries of terms and conditions, it is a problem of professionalism. It is still not a real profession.' USA: 'With a very few encouraging exceptions, librarians have low status and a very restrictive image. ' France: 'Honorifique mais peu considéré.'

Status and economy There is a relationship between the level of funding and the degree of concern the status problem causes librarians. In countries where the LIS sector flourishes (government and other institutions are spending more money on libraries and documentation centres) librarians seem to be less concerned about their status. This does not mean that there is no status problem in these countries or situations but it is regarded as of minor importance. When the amount of funding remains on an even level or dwindles librarians are more concerned about their status. This seems to imply a causality that is non existent. But too often money is seen as the solution to the problem. The status of the profession is not raised or lowered with more or less money for libraries. Librarians just seem to be more or less concerned about their status problem. However the opposite of this situation is not true: that if the status of the profession is higher that there will be a tendency to spend more money on LIS-work. Certainly with those institutions dependent on government funding the amount of money received is primarily influenced by the state of the economy. Economic growth will in most cases result in more money for libraries. About the relationship between salaries and status there is a difference of opinion. In some countries librarians are underpaid compared to comparable professions in terms of

40

educational requirements, but in other countries librarians are paid on a comparable level. There is however a wide-spread view that salaries are not of the upmost importance with regard to the status. Brazil: 'Library associations must be concerned about the necessity of political actions between librarians and the society, trying to develop a conscientiousness about librarian professional education, libraries social role and information as key to social and economic development. It is important for us to get back this research results.' Antigua: 'Most librarians are women and the profession status reflects the position professional women occupy. Most politicians do not rank libraries, or information generally, very high in terms of resources.'

Status and education The developments in relations with the outside world as outlined above also have a major influence on the library schools. Potential students have a diffuse or wrong concept of the profession. Generally it is the opinion of the teaching staff and the practitioners that library schools are not very popular. This is partly due to the image of the profession, but also to curricula which are outdated, as acknowledged by the teaching staff. Library schools are coping with severe problems. Highly qualified students in most cases choose other departments. Library schools often receive less qualified students. They regard this training as librarian as the last chance to get an academic qualification. Entry levels should be raised but this seems impossible because this would result in too small a number of students. Not only the intellectual capacities of LIS students are doubted by staff and practitioners but also the personality of the future librarians is criticised. According to the judgment of many respondents, LIS-students have a lack of dynamics and initiative in their personality. These low level students are trained by a teaching staff who in many cases are also second rate, according to many respondents. The curricula of library schools are also subject to criticism. The programme is focused too much on the classic library skills like cataloguing and too little on developing communication skills and services to clients. In some countries there have been initiatives to start a new course for the training of information specialists outside the library schools. Training is performed in close relation with the relevant sectors of society like the commercial sector, industry, government, educational specialists and others. These new courses seem to be successful and attractive to highly qualified students. These schools are capable of tuning the demands of society and library practice with the curricula.

41

Mexico: 'To improve the quality of educational programs in librarianship and increasing the number of qualified personnel in the professional and post-graduate levels. In Mexico for a general population of more than 80 millions of inhabitants we have 800 trained persons in the professional and postgraduate programs in Mexico and abroad.' Lesotho: 'High professional training is urgently required; that will give power and confidence to librarians to demand their rights. It is easy for a librarian with PHD to penetrate and see the high authorities (decision makers) and they could be attentively listen to what he yells, because they respect his PHD. If many librarians could get high education it could be easy to make a goal when they work as a team.' Nigeria: 'Librarians have to redefine their role. They now define their role very narrow. They have to define their role as providers of information in whatever environment. Library schools ought to encourage their students for a role in information provision to the non-reading public. Librarians are to much orientated on books.' Thailand: 'The popularity of the profession is coming down. Students think that working in the library is not so exciting. Next year we will have no students on a masters level in this University.' Venezuela: Ά great problem is the low quality of the students, the second choice they make. That's why they become librarians, therefore they cannot meet the needs and the changings. There is a gap. That's why professionals of other areas come to the work. They pick over. That's what you feel.' 'The library school must change or otherwise will disappear. That's a reality. Change! or nobody want librarians from that kind of school within a few years.' USA: 'We need to be more aggressive in our training of new professionals and weed out those who do not see, understand the need for creative information providers. The schools do the profession no favor by graduating all comers.'

Solutions There is no easy way out of the status and image problem. Despite several initiatives in the past, little has changed in the status of librarians. To improve the status requires a long lasting commitment. A large number of other professions have experienced this. The improvement of status requires action on a broad range of issues. The problems are all related to each other and seem to strengthen each other. Action undertaken in one field alone will yield almost no results. A second necessary condition for an effective approach to the status problem is a clear statement by the profession about its desired image. When there is no consensus on this

42

subject within the profession, or if the profession is not capable of describing a clear profile of librarianship, every attempt to improve the status seems to be hopeless. These two conditions are valid for all types of libraries and all sorts of services. For an effective approach, a strong library association is a conditio sine qua non. Only if the profession is soundly organised is it capable of tackling the status problem. The different library organisations in a country must have a complementary and unified strategy on this problem. The biggest challenge is breaking the almost vicious circle of a lack of high quality education and the poor quality of the LIS service. If the service is not enough userorientated this strengthens the wrong image that librarians have in the eyes of the general public. A result of this is that the wrong type of student is attracted by the profession on the basis of a false image of the profession. When these students have become practitioners they continue a poor quality of service. This means that library schools have a problem to attract enough qualified students and libraries are hardly capable of finding the right kind of librarians. Publicity campaigns to inform the general public about the new image of librarianship are, in the present situation, not very useful. The general public must first experience that something is changing in libraries. A publicity campaign without actual change will only be counter-productive. Fiji: 'Libraries need to show that they are committed. They must show results that are appreciated and recognised. They must make themselves so indispensable that government will have to support them. Without this happening first no amount of asking, lobbying will change the situation.' Libraries have to become more user-orientated, have to adapt themselves to the demands of society and to groups of users. Library schools and practitioners together must formulate a new curriculum for the education of librarians. Education and practice should reflect permanently on the consequences of a changing society for a proper performance. It is not just a matter of enhancing the status but also a strategy for survival in a demanding society. Mexico: 'It is necessary the establishment of a national law which recognises the professional status of librarians and regulates the library and information activities. The degree of recognition of library profession is the consequence of the information needs and economic development of the countries. ' Venezuela: 'Within a few years we will have to build programs that fit practice. Change the library schools, link the specialties in practice to a strong system. Traditional solution was to send people to foreign countries. Now we organise things here. We will find the way.'

43

United Kingdom: 'To redefine the responsibilities of librarians to identify the professional core with managerial responsibilities is important. The core of information retrieval skills is what distinguishes us from other professionals and will have to be stressed and re-interpreted in the information age.' Malaysia: 'Tell the public what a librarian is doing. Go out and tell them about the library profession. If you try hard enough you can change the image of the profession.' Poland: 'Any action will be fruitful.' Finland: 'The prestige will not rise.'

The survey The questionnaire was sent to more than 150 national associations in 90 countries. Part I (factual information, statistics) had a poor response. Only 20 were returned (22% of the countries). Part II of the questionnaire concerned some well known common opinions and attitudes among professionals and laymen. It consisted of some questions about the general feeling eg 'status is low'. Seventeen statements, clichés, ordinary opinions about 'why status is low' and a little exercise in rating common opinions and rating the prestige of some other professions were included. Part II of the questionnaire (the statements) had a better response: 292 from 34 countries all over the world. Results Seventeen statements were included in the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to state their opinion. The statements:

1.

Female image The female image of the profession of librarian is an important reason for the low status.

44

2.

Invisibility The genera] public has hardly any knowledge of the work; this results in a low status.

3.

Quality of service The poor quality of the service in some libraries results in a low status for the profession. Salary

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

The job of librarian is poorly paid resulting in the low status of the profession. Volunteers The large number of volunteers working in libraries creates a low status for the profession. Marginal role The marginal role libraries play in the development of the economy of the country results in the low status of the profession. Cannot distinguish Users of libraries cannot distinguish the librarian from other employees; resulting in low status of the profession. Money responsibility The general public is unaware of the responsibility for amounts of money and personnel involved in running libraries, resulting in the low status of the profession. Lack of funding

9.

10.

11.

12.

The small amount of government funding results in a low status for the profession. Social responsibility The general public is unaware of the social responsibilities of libraries for instance regarding the individual rights of access to information, therefore the status of the profession is low. Dispensable luxury A large number of the general public regards the library's services as a dispensable luxury; this causes a low status for the profession. Low expectations Users of libraries have low expectations as to the quality of the services of libraries resulting in a low status for the profession.

45

13.

Unemployment The large number of unemployed librarians results in the low status of the profession.

14.

Dull image The general image of the character of librarians: strict, punctual, dull, etc., results in the low status of the profession.

15.

Educational requirements More than half the tasks of a librarian require no professional education at all, this results in a low status for the profession.

16.

For students only Large numbers of the public consider the library primarily as an institute for youngsters and students, resulting in the low status of the profession.

17.

Reading less There is a general trend for the general public to read less, this results in a low image for the librarian.

The respondents were asked to select the (five or less) 'most important' statements out of the 17 listed above which they regarded the most important causes for the low status of the profession. And, when chosen, to place these selected statements in their turn in order of importance. There is of course a clear distinction between 'agree' or 'not agree' on the one hand and the importance on the other. But at the same time the chance that a statement is selected in the 'top five' of most important reasons for the poor status is increased if a strong majority agree with the statement. All statements have been used to construct the private 'top five' reasons. Some more than others. This frequency sheds no light on the different ranking within the selection of statements nor on the dispersion. The table below will.

46

Nr

Importance —Low

High2 4 6 10 8 9 3 1 7 11 12 15 14 17 16 5 13

61 28 31 19 12 23 15 20 7 3 3 11 4 8 0 4 1

40 18 21 29 28 27 14 13 15 9 11 10 5 5 5 0 0

27 25 26 25 34 16 17 12 12 11 14 7 8 3 4 4 1

21 21 20 17 13 15 15 11 14 10 17 6 18 6 9 9 1

10 20 9 17 12 6 16 18 13 20 9 12 10 7 7 4 5

Total 159 110 107 107 99 87 77 74 61 53 52 46 45 29 25 21 8

Invisibility Salary Marginal role Social responsibility Money responsibility Lack of funding Quality of service Female image Cannot distinguish Dispensable luxury Low expections Educational requirements Dull image Reading less For students only Volunteers Unemployment

If the five categories from 'most important' to 'least important' are numbered from 1 to 5 and these numbers are considered as 'real values' and the dispersion is computed as well, hardly anything changes except that Numbers 2 ('salary') and 3 ('marginal rôle") change places.

DISCUSSION There was general satisfaction with the survey prepared by the researchers, although one participant believed that more investigations needed to be undertaken and identified the areas in which this is necessary. In particular the variables selected for salaries and their relationship to low status were questioned. The fact that the questionnaire had been distributed within the profession rather than to other professionals or to representatives of the user communities may have produced a bias towards self-perception. In this context it was emphasised by more than one participant that the profession needed to be outwardlooking and pro-active rather than re-active. Only by such a change would the vicious circle of image attracting the 'wrong' kind of students, be altered to attract the more aggressive type of personality that, when they became practitioners, would alter the aims and delivery of library and information services in the future. A campaign along these lines is needed.

47

In response to a criticism that the sample selected was poor and unrepresentative, Mr Prins commented that it was the responses that were poor from the profession itself rather than the sample selected. The critic identified outside agents that could contribute to improvements in the image of the profession; indicators which needed to be used; areas of importance which should be given emphasis such as the development of library and information policies, depository regulations, copyright legislation, legislation supporting qualifications, levels of training, the importance of identifying standards, job classification and functions, services offered by the profession and the need for constant evaluation and monitoring of service provision at the national level etc. Information technology and library information development projects and programmes need to be examined in three phases - current, short-term and long-term. On the issues of social responsibilities and literacy campaigns there were some criticisms that the function of the profession in this area was simply to disseminate information and not to assist individuals in their understanding of the materials nor to promote literacy campaigns. Another speaker queried who the profession wished to influence, enquiring whether it was those within it or outside the user-community. Another speaker emphasised the lack of personalised information services and the physical invisibility of professional librarians in their own libraries. Remedial measures suggested were; to increase the professionals' 'visibility' within libraries; exploitation of the new technologies in the management of libraries; the introduction of a 'computer culture'; improved marketing of the profession particularly through the acquisition of communication skills and librarians focusing on the quality, as opposed to the quantity, of provision of services. It was suggested that when it came to a choice of examining status as seen from within the profession rather than from without, priority should be given to actively working on 'internal' issues because these ought to result in a clearer picture to the public of the profession which, in turn, will provide benefits to improving status. In general, participants felt that the survey was to be welcomed, particularly because it had been undertaken by sociologists rather than librarians. The survey had served its puipose well and identified specifics to which considerations should be given, and on which the seminar could concentrate its attention rather than the relatively well-rehearsed and well-known generalities.

48

PERCEPTIONS OF THE STATUS OF THE PROFESSION Maria Elena Zapata

Development of the Information Sector in Latin America Our modern world is characterised by contrasts and by accelerated economic, sociopolitical, technological and cultural changes which affect - although in different ways - both developed and so-called Third World countries. In developed countries, economies are based on productive activities centred on information, giving rise to the so-called Age of Information or Third Generation Age. The use of new technologies has resulted in new forms of communication and in a new concept of the value of information. Due to the high cost of new technologies, applying new techniques for gathering, storing, processing and disseminating information is expensive. As a consequence, information is perceived as a wealth-producing economic resource, with an additional strategic value because it allows a better use of other resources. In Third World countries, national information systems began to be organised in the seventies, thanks to international co-operation agencies. Thus, in 1974, Unesco proposed its NATIS (National Information Systems) Programme, with the purpose of offering developing countries guidelines for planning their national documentation, library and archives services, and more specifically, for creating and developing national information infrastructures related to the different sectors of the national development plan. During that same decade, Unesco created the UNISIST Programme (United Nations Scientific Information System), to stimulate co-operation among National Information Systems by facilitating their access to scientific and technological information. These programmes represent different theoretical approaches and strategies. NATIS emphasises the need for services that will teach people to use information and, at the same time, preserve social and cultural information and offer basic service facilities. UNISIST views information, especially scientific and technological information, as a condition for development. Starting from there, and depending on the orientation of each country's government, national information systems in Latin America have reached different levels of development from one country to another, and even within the same country, sometimes in relatively short periods of time. Latin America's current situation is determined by many factors: changes in world economy which began in the eighties, the fall in prices of oil and other raw materials, which caused a crisis in some countries, the foreign debt pressure and the economic measures adopted by

49

debtor countries as a prerequisite for negotiation, high inflation rates, high unemployment and under-employment rates, the high and rising cost of foreign currency as opposed to the weakness of local currencies, and neo-liberal policies which mark new directions for world economy, and a new relationship between developed countries and the so-called Third World. This crisis, which does not appear to be transitory, has had far-reaching consequences for our countries in the area of information, especially because intense technological progress during the last decade has made for even greater disparities and inequalities between countries. At present, influenced by the unfavourable economic situation, the information sector presents a complex panorama in which great inconsistencies in basic library services (public and school libraries, etc) coexist with a growing pressure to adopt advanced technologies, responding in great measure to developed countries' strategies for expanding their own markets. Thus, in our countries, information has become a basic element in the social processes and, like any other resource, its development and use must be subject to planning. The greater or lesser development of national systems in Latin America is directly related to the economic, political, social, ideological and institutional changes experienced by the countries of the region; nevertheless, in general terms, Latin America's present situation is characterised by: *

Insufficient development of the national information sector in most countries and absence of formal and informal information policies;

*

Lack of an adequate or effective legal framework for developing the sector;

*

Nonrecognition and little value given to library and information systems and services, as evidenced by their exclusion from national development plans;

*

Difficulties in obtaining adequate funding on a regular basis;

*

Services are mostly document oriented collections and emphasising safekeeping (storehouses as opposed to clearing houses);

*

Little capacity for renovating services, for innovation and for elaborating new information products;

*

Insufficient or inadequate collections to meet the ever-growing demands of users, most of whom are students from all levels of the educational system;

*

Editorial production in most countries is scarce, and in general, is not adjusted to the real needs of large sectors of the population. (This situation creates an excessive

50

dependence on foreign publications, which are difficult to acquire because of their high costs and the import duties); *

Lack of qualified personnel for efficient and effective functioning of information services and systems, both at operational and managerial levels;

*

Low salaries of technical and professional personnel as compared to other sectors;

*

Lack of professional associations with the capacity to participate in formulating national development plans and strategies for library and information services.

During the last few decades, concern has grown about 'the current situation of the Region's information professionals and their real and potential capacity for facing the challenges of socioeconomic and cultural development during the next decade' (Páez, 1988). In several regional events during the past years it has been pointed out that the lack of qualified personnel at technical and managerial levels is the most important problem in the development of information systems and services in Latin America. In a number of countries, as a consequence of this situation, there appears to be a shortage of leaders for mobilizing resources towards the sector.

Current Profile of Latin American Professionals In Latin America, as in other regions of the world where the use of technology is not as intense or massive as in developed countries, it is essential to solve the problem of improving qualification levels or personnel who could eventually transform the information sector and increase its impact on national and regional development. As a consequence of the direct or indirect impact of technology, Latin America is also experiencing an 'information cult' not so much related to generating knowledge as to the proliferation of data and the growing demand for information, to such a degree that the use of a computer is inevitable. From this viewpoint, libraries are identified with the printed page, with books, with 'feminine work', not with the aggressive world of computers and technology. It is also linked to social groups who do not have enough purchasing power to have access to the new technology. Thus, the traditional library turns into a resource of little value, on the fringe of new information technologies. This situation is directly related to information professionals' traditional attitudes: the profession originates in libraries: that is why so much emphasis is given to the institution and to traditional functions. 'The library is like a sanctuary where the Librarian "hides" and does not go out to promote services. This was possible in the past, but today, with the use of computers and telecommunications to facilitate routine work and extend its radius, information can no longer be contained in the library, nor is it praiseworthy to do so.' (Molina y otros, 1987)

51

The traditional attitude of information professionals (librarians, archivists and documentants) seems to reflect a classical concept of librarianship, whereby great value is attached to the activities of organisation and technical processing and little interest is given to developing attitudes and capacities for managerial activities and for transforming information units into more dynamic centres. As is to be expected, the information professional's attitude, together with the insufficient incorporation of technological innovations into library services, affect the users' opinion of the social value of library services and of information itself. In general, the profession in Latin America seems to be affected by: *

Deficient, outdated professional training;

*

Traditional attitudes towards the profession;

*

Progressively reducing academic levels in undergraduate library schools;

*

Little or no research;

*

Negative attitudes in relation to automation and to the use of other technologies associated with the sector;

*

Traditional professional profiles - conventional technical abilities, little managerial ability, little ability to promote service or reading, or in training users or interdisciplinary work;

*

Non-participation in social processes;

*

Lack of group conscience and as a consequence professional isolation;

*

General lack of intermediate-level personnel to deal with routine activities and a consequent proletarianisation of non-professional assistant personnel.

Thus, it would appear that from a professional, managerial, technical and academic point of view, there is limited capacity for developing the information sector to enable it to support national development plans. These negative characteristics have influenced the situation of the professional associations, which are virtually non-existent and can offer little support to consolidate or modernize the information sector.

As Horowitz points out (1991), the region does not present a very encouraging panorama in this area, with the exception of the Caribbean countries, where national and regional

52

associations have existed for a long time and have attained high levels of development, maturity and efficiency (as for example ACURIL) and of countries like Cuba, Brazil and Mexico, where professional associations seem to have consolidated their positions. However, in the majority of the region's countries professional associations generally seem to have the following characteristics: *

Development of union-type activities rather than training and qualification activities for their members;

*

Nonparticipation in government efforts within the sector, or in professional training activities in universities;

*

Lack of research, publication and training programmes;

*

Lack of contact with other professionals incorporated into the sector;

*

Ineffectiveness in promoting the profession and in achieving a better standard of living;

*

Little interest in promoting reading and information for development, or renovating services;

*

Predominantly traditional outlooks on librarianship.

These shortcomings, as well as the image of the professionals and the associations seems to be directly related to the education received at universities. In fact, a review of the literature on this theme shows that this is a recurrent problem. Horowitz (1991), for example, refers to three closely related, crucial problems, which are: 'the insufficiency or inefficiency of library education which has as a consequence that the library profession has little social recognition and finally, the limited influence exerted by Latin American associations in the development of libraries in their respective countries'. University programmes for training these professionals seem to have the same problems through the region: outdated, as to adoption and use of new technologies; insufficient emphasis on administration/management of systems and services; little social and humanistic education; little or no orientation towards research, not only in the area of information sciences but also in interdisciplinary activities, and finally, a marked tendency towards traditional collection organisation. According to Páez (1987), 'the problem includes, besides, the somewhat contradictory situation of a student demand for outdated, academically 'low profile' university programmes (obviously because they serve as a refuge to students who are not accepted in more demanding careers) and a comparatively low unemployment rate in this subsector, possibly because gradual growth of the service sector in Third World countries has stabilised the

53

demand for employment, at a relatively low cost in terms of salary because the profession is perceived as inferior'. In the case of Venezuela, for example, there were 660 active graduates from the largest library school in the country (at the Universidad Central de Venezuela) by the end of 1991, while there were more than 1400 library and information services, including public, university and specialised libraries. This indicates that the labour supply is low in relation to the number of services that could employ these information professionals. Library and information professionals must be prepared to confront two kinds of basic problems: those having to do with the adoption (implementation or adaptation) of information technology and those related to the social mission assigned to library services.

The Libraries Mission and the New Professional Profile Considering its complex and very particular situation, Latin America must find its own definition of the concept of development. Páez (1992) associates the new perception of development with the idea of social intelligence, defined as a society's capacity to solve problems by generating or applying knowledge. This way the value of information is measured in terms of development. It is no longer a question of importing information from more developed countries, but of applying information to generate the knowledge which will in turn solve the problems of development. We can infer from this concept that a poor community is one that cannot produce the goods and services it needs to create a satisfactory standard of living. Thus, poverty is directly related to the inability to acquire, process and apply information for problem-solving and for satisfying basic needs. In contrast, a developed society is able to produce and apply information and knowledge to change its environment for its own benefit. This perception of development comes with a new set of values which have to do with development strategies. They are: solidarity, efficiency, participation and creativity. Creativity, which is intimately related to human resource training, is fundamental for substituting costly foreign knowledge and technology needed to satisfy basic needs with the generation of new knowledge and more effective use of information. By valuing creativity, it is possible to recognise and value information and knowledge as a base for self-sustained development. Library and information services have a role to play in socioeconomic development. That is why there is an urgent need to improve the information professionals' qualifications, their capacity for leadership and ability to manage. Only then will they be able to meet new challenges and participate in the processes of generating and distributing the information and knowledge required for attaining social wealth, and a better quality of life and education for all.

54

According to the new perception of development, the region's countries need library and information services that will facilitate the process of transforming information and knowledge into social intelligence. They need not only more, but better services, to teach people (students, researchers, manufacturers) to use information and knowledge for problemsolving. Thus, there is a need for information professionals with special characteristics and attributes to respond to their countries' social, political, economic and cultural conditions. As to the definition of a new type of information professional in Latin America, there are important antecedents. The following are the most relevant ones: In 1984, by request of Venezuela's National Library and the Ministry of Education, a technical mission financed by Unesco and led by W L Saunders presented a technical report on 'Graduate Education for Information Specialists' (Saunders, 1985). This study recognised the need for Latin America to create its own Regional Programme for Graduate Studies in Information Sciences, according to present and future needs expressed by countries of the region. Saunders pointed out that 'the most urgent need is to train specialists who can plan, design, organise and manage services, and occupy high level positions in the sector...a new kind of specialist who can direct activities in information centres, libraries and networks, with a thorough understanding of the objectives, functions, problems and potential, in his specific cultural context and in the framework of political, financial and developmental limitations and possibilities'. Taking these considerations into account, the Graduate Programme was oriented towards information management and technology. It is directed to professionals who work in research, professors and high level operational personnel. This Regional Graduate Programme, created at Caracas' Universidad Simón Bolívar (Venezuela) in 1986 has produced to date 85 specialists from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1987, INFOLAC's Technical Secretariat held a meeting in Guatemala to analyse, among other things, elements for formulating a Regional Project for Training Human Resources in Information'. As a requisite for formulating this project, a study on 'Professional Profiles for Human Resource Development in the Information Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean' was carried out by Iraset Páez, Unesco Consultant (PGI and INFOLAC) and Coordinator of the above-mentioned Regional Graduate Programme in Information Sciences. This study proposes a methodology for formulating a model for the development of the information profession in the region. Páez (1988) pointed out: 'From an operational point of view, these professionals must confront such problems as: efficiency and effectiveness of services, optimising availability and transfer of information resources and recovery and social projection of the professional role and status. From a historical point of view, these professionals must meet challenges which must be faced by the Region in the context of new strategies for socioeconomic and cultural development. ' Finally, also in 1987, a group of researchers in the Escuela Interamericana de Bibliotecología (Interamerican Library School) of Medellfn, Colombia, undertook a project to establish a general profile for librarians and specific profiles of the occupations they could expect to find in the job market. An important conclusion of this study (Molina y otros, 1987) is the need to improve librarians' education in four areas:

55

Technical: indexing, analysis and retrieval, with an emphasis on automation and telecommunications ; Administrative: administration of human, physical and financial resources, planning, project formulation and evaluation; Research: interdisciplinary research in the field of information; and Humanistic and Social Area: as a way of providing librarians with critical and active training in cultural processes and social problems. According to research results, a librarian should be able to: *

Be a critic, an observer and an actor with respect to cultural and scientific processes and to social problems;

*

Plan, organise, manage and evaluate information systems;

*

Carry our research and apply the results to his work;

*

Study and design new information products and services;

*

Encourage the use of information as an instrument for development;

*

Participate in designing national information policies;

*

Show creativity and work in co-operation with others;

*

Keep informed about scientific and technological advances in the profession and apply new technologies to information systems;

*

Value information for being the core subject of the profession, and keep informed about research, management, techniques for acquiring, organising, retrieving and disseminating information, but also know about the social situation and develop an interest for information about different areas of human endeavour.

A Venezuelan Experience It is worth describing some aspects of the Venezuelan experience, where the National Library Institute has become a leader both in the development of the information sector and in educating and training its human resources. The Institute is the largest employer of information professionals in the country as, by law, it is the government organ responsible for developing and operating the National System of

56

Library and Information Services. To carry out its mandate, the Institute has set up a complex organisation which combines: central units, such as the National Library Services, the National Conservation Centre, the Library Information and Documentation Centre (CEDINBI), the National Direction of Public and Special Libraries and other supporting offices, and decentralised units, such as the 22 Public Library Networks - one for each state which operate in the interior of the country. As it has to execute many different activities and responsibilities assigned to it, the Institute has made great efforts to recruit and train professional librarians and professionals from other disciplines efficiently and effectively to carry out functions for which, in many cases, there are formal educational programmes in Venezuela. Professional personnel must carry out technical and managerial tasks, work in multidisciplinary teams and establish permanent and effective relations with outside organisations. This is why the Institute's training activities over the past 15 years have ranged from traditional technical areas to the application of new technologies and management. In technical areas, it has trained personnel in international cataloguing and bibliographic norms, in identification and normalisation of subject headings, and in other areas needed to effect national bibliographic control. In order to develop an automated bibliographic information system, compatible with international formats and with multiple access points, professionals were sent to Northwestern University and to the Library of Congress in the United States. These professionals have in tum trained many other professionals and technical personnel, not only at the Institute but also in other specialised and university libraries in the country, and in library and information services in other countries of the region (Chile, Colombia, Peru, among others). In the area of conservation, the need for qualified personnel resulted in the creation of a Regional Training Center several years ago, where personnel from library and information units, archives, museums and other services receive specialised training to become Conservation Technicians. The Center's students come not only from Venezuela but also from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the same time the Conservation Center's training activities required higher levels of specialisation so qualified personnel, already working at the Center, have received advanced training in courses outside the country and through courses from international experts brought especially to Venezuela. In the area of management it is useful to single out an experience with the National Public Library System. Created in 1979, this system is made up of 23 Networks or Regional Systems, one for each State. Each Network has a Co ordinator, who is named by the Institute and who is responsible for the management of the services, human resources and budgets assigned to the Network. Although these professionals receive orientation and guidances from the Institute, they must render accounts to the State Government which is responsible for offering library services to the communities. This concept of system and network exemplifies a unique approach to decentralising the National Public Administration and represents a remarkable effort in co-ordinating programmes and resources among the Institute, state governments, municipalities and other public and private institutions.

57

The current group of 23 co-ordinators is made up of 15 librarians and 9 professionals from other disciplines: education (2), administration (2), geography (1), international studies (1), sociology (1), and literature (1). Ninety-one per cent of the co-ordinators have worked at the Institute for more than 10 years, in the same position or in other technological and managerial posts. This stable situation seems to be related in great measure to the institutional policy for training and improving its human resources. This is a way of dealing with the lack of correspondence between the professionals' academic profile, when they graduate from university, and the professional profile needed to co-ordinate a library network. Virginia Betancourt (1988), points out that one of the main obstacles to the development of the sector has been the lack of qualified human resources, '...not only because of the small number of librarians in the country, but also because they have been trained as technicians who are responsible for a service and not as managers of library systems and networks or of technical processing centers'. In the case of Public Library Network co-ordinators, three strategies are being implemented simultaneously to solve this problem: *

Defining a body of policies, norms and technical library proceedings at national level to guide and orient young librarians and library personnel with other professions;

*

In-service training in planning, financial administration and personnel for the librarians responsible for the Networks, through courses, workshops and internships and by way of occasional encounters to evaluate Network management;

*

Identifying professionals, librarians or others, with managerial capabilities, to incorporate them into the group of Network Co-ordinators or to assign them to high level technical functions.

A very significant ideal became a reality in 1991, when the Institute and Universidad Simón Bolívar agreed to establish a special regime so that 20 Public Library Network Co-ordinators could participate in the Regional Graduate Program in Information Sciences. This special regime is based on a combination of distance education and classroom activities, given that the participants all lived in different cities. These professionals have accumulated valuable experiences in administrating human, technical and financial resources, in formulating strategic plans for Networks, in interdisciplinary work and in co-ordinating efforts and resources with other public, private and non-govemmental institutions. Now, thanks to this new initiative, they have the opportunity to improve and perfect their training, thus reinforcing and validating their practical experience.

Conclusion In Latin America the perception of the status of the information professional is definitely related to education and further training, and consequently to real and potential capacity to meet the challenges of socioeconomic and cultural developments in the region. In this sense professional education should be oriented in such a way as to take into account current

58

tendencies in professional development and the real and potential needs to strengthen the sector and make it more dynamic. To develop a new profile for information professionals implies much more than just adding new subjects to library schools' programmes. Educating high quality professionals is possible only '...when the student is a product of a stimulating intellectual environment; when he has had professors who stimulate his participation and who awaken his academic and professional interest;...when he has been provided with the adequate space and resources for intellectual and practical work and when he has had the opportunity to confront his knowledge with the objective reality'. (Arias O., 1991) Another important aspect to consider is the training of information professionals as specialists, researchers and educators, since the tendency up to now has been to centre educational activities on practicing professionals. By including these elements into professional training it is expected to shape a new type of information professional, who will meet user demand, efficiently handle the implementation and evolution of information systems and services, and have the capacity to apply new information technologies. All of this, taking into account national situations, and in accordance with the roles and functions to be faced in a profession which must produce the goods and services required by society. This means promoting the type of education that will allow information professionals to acquire criteria for interpreting the socioeconomic, cultural and ideological context in which information phenomena are produced, and at the same time, efficiently and effectively manage information resources. These professionals must possess certain characteristics or qualities that will orient their action not so much towards providing services as towards planning and managing information resources - what Blaise Cronin (1985) has called 'information managers'. Latin America's situation is complex and full of contrasts and although it faces many difficulties it also has many strong points and opportunities. As far as human resources in the information sector are concerned, there are many successful training experiences in the region. As the XXI century approaches one of the most important challenges is to attain regional and international integration and co-operation, to exchange experiences and to join efforts so as to give the professionals the education, training and updating they need to become leaders for the development of the information sector in Latin America.

DISCUSSION The Chairperson summarised the paper and observed that information is a key resource but lack of training and a shortage of professionally-qualified staff to fully exploit it affects status. She opined that professional associations concentrate too much on their rôles as trade unions. It was suggested that present-day information needs could be satisfied if professionals were trained to manage the newly introduced advanced technologies and to manage other related tasks. Training should concentrate on these two areas. Librarians have an important rôle to play in the socio-economic development of countries but the question was: what could

59

professionals realistically do to help to solve the real needs of their societies? It was suggested that professionals should adapt technologies to improve services and get themselves involved in drawing up the development plans of their governments. There was agreement that the introduction and adaptation of the new technologies into libraries would be a step in improving status but a warning was given that the influx of other professionals, such as computer specialists, software experts, systems analysts, etc, brought disadvantages as well as advantages. Control needed to remain with librarians. A distinction was drawn between education, particularly in academic institutions, which impart theories but are not expected to provide training. This is the responsibility of the professional associations which also have a rôle to play in monitoring the standards of the academic education imparted in the institutions. In this context it was pointed out that curricula needed constantly to be monitored and kept up to date with the latest advances at the same time as reflecting the needs of the particular society in which the education was imparted. In the African context it was emphasised that these aims were acceptable but that traditional values and traditional information channels also needed to be respected. The situation in many Third World countries of an apparent oversupply of paraprofessionals and a shortage of the educational opportunities necessary to produce the numbers of professionals required created problems, particularly when the paraprofessionals held posts that could best serve the development of libraries and information services by professionals. This situation also contributed to the lowering of status. Some concern was expressed that it might be unrealistic to expect professionals to acquire expertise in too many specialist areas, particularly those connected with computer science and communication skills. This view was supported with the opinion that professionals take on too much and by so doing become 'jacks-of-all-trades'. The answer should be specialisation. Change may be inhibited by the fact that instruction in the departments of library and information studies is provided by teachers who often in the past were practitioners but who were now not in touch with the latest innovations in management theories and technological advances. A key to improvement is updating the knowledge and expertise of library school lecturers.

1 Arias Ordoñez, José, 'La bibliotecología en la sociedad informatizada del siglo XXi', Revista de ASCOLBI, III: 3-4 (julio-dicienbre 1990). 2 Betancourt, Virgina, El papel de la Biblioteca Nacional en la formación perfeccionamiento de profesionales y técnicos en América Latina y el Caribe.

y

3 Betancourt, Virginia, Promotora del sistema: la Biblioteca Nacional. Seis casos de Gerencia exitosa en Venezuela. Caracas: Fundación Universidad Metropolitana, Fondo Editorial Interfundaciones (Colección Seminario), 1988.

60

4 Cronin, Blaise & Reynes Vila Bilda, 'Gestión de la información: analisis de un concepto', Informes y Estudios de C.E.O.E. Madrid, 34 (ereno-febrero, 1985). 5 Gassol de Horowitz, Rosario, El papel de las Asociaciones Bibliotecarias Latinoamericanas y del Caribe en el Desarrollo de la Profesión, XXI Conferencia de la Asociación de Bibliotecas Universitarias, de Investigación e Instituciones del Caribe (ACURIL), Caracas, 1991. 6 Lendvay, Olga, Disponibilidad y apoyo de la formación en el campo de información para países en desarrollo, 8a Reunión Interamericana de Bibliotecarios y Documentalistas Agrícolas, Guatemala, 1987. 7 Martínez del Valle, Beatriz Josefina, El componete administrativo y de gestión en la formación de los profesionales de la bibliotecología a nivel de pregrado (Caracas, Universidad Simón Bolívar, 1989). 8 Molina, María C & otros, 'Ell perfil profesional del bibliotecólogo en Colombia [extracto]', Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 10: 2 (julio-diciembre, 1987). 9 Molina María E, Maria C & Pérez G, Martha A, 'El curriculo y los perfiles del profesional en bibliotecología y ciencias de la información: una revisión de literatura', Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología, 11: 1 (enero-junio, 1988), 7-94. 10 Páez Urdaneta, Iraset, 'Bibliotecas públicas: la tercera oleada', II Reunión Regional sobre el Estado Actual y Estrategias de Desarrollo de las Bibliotecas Públicas de América Latina y el Caribe, Caracas, 1992. 11 Páez Urdaneta, Iraset, 'Perfiles profesionales para el desarrollo de los recursos humanos del sector de la información en América Latina y el Caribe'(Caracas, Unesco, Secretaría Técnica de INFOLAC, 1988). 12 Páez Urdaneta, Iraset, 'The education and working conditions of information professionals in Latin America and the emerging information job market (Caracas, Universidad Simón Bolivar), sf 13 Prins, Hans, 'Prestigio, imagen y reputación de la profesión de bibliotecario: resultados de un estudio empírico' (La Haya, Proyecto Status RTMLA, Departamento de Investigaciones de la NBLC, 1991). 14 Rua Rámirez, Iván, 'Formación de profesionales de información para el futuro', Revista de ASCOIBI, III: 3-4 (julio-diciembre 1990), 89-91. 15 Saunders, W L, 'Formación de postgrado para especialistas de la información (Paris, Organización de la Naciones Unidas para la Educación, le Ciencia y la Cultura (Unesco)), 1985.

61

16 Zapata, María Elena, Έ1 sistema nacional de bibliotecas públicas en Venezuela: Instituto Autonomo Biblioteca Nacional' (Caracas, El Instituto, 1990). 17 Zapata, Mana Elena, 'Mobile library services in Venezuela', paper presented at 57th IFLA General Conference, Round Table of Mobile Libraries, Moscow, 1991.

62

THE SOCIAL A N D PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROFESSION Pawan Κ Gupta

The concept of information service in and for society is very old. Since ancient times persons or groups with the information have been powerful and respected. They enjoyed a better image and status in society. Even persons with access to information commanded respect in society. And, information more often was a closely guarded commodity. With the monarchy, as well as in other forms of government, persons were specially appointed to deaJ with information collection and its organisation. It was quite late that information dissemination media, as well as persons connected with it, diversified. The role of information collection, organisation, and dissemination came to be shared by a variety of persons - authors, journalists, editors, etc. Later on librarians came to be associated with this work. Librarians with traditional skills initiated information services for society under the patronage of a variety of sources. Gradually with the spread of education, libraries became important social institutions. The LIS profession came into being, with the development of its own theories and norms, the spread of LIS education, and associations having taken the lead to develop it as a profession. Despite the progress in the LIS profession, libraries, especially public libraries, are yet to become moving forces in developing countries. For example, in India only one-third of the states have enacted library legislation. In the remainder of the country only in a few states, LIS personnel, individually or in small groups, are making sporadic efforts towards library legislation. Although library legislation does not exist in two-thirds of the country libraries are in existence, eg in the state of Rajasthan there is a state central library and in each district there is a district library and many libraries and information centres at a lower level. The same is true of many other states lacking library legislation, but these are not effective. The mere existence of libraries in small numbers, their inadequate geographical coverage, meagre resources in terms of collections and staffs, etc hardly match the requirements of society. Libraries thus have failed to make a mark and have been unable to achieve the objectives for which they were created. Public libraries, especially, need to be strengthened so as to provide services to a larger number of people and also easy access to information. The Working Group... on Modernisation of Library Services and Informatics (1984) (India) observed that the country's libraries face problems like insufficient document resources, the requirement to serve communities and users that are not being served, lack of physical facilities, etc. It states: 'More than 360 districts out of a total of 400 have district libraries. It is estimated that 1798 development blocks out of a total of 5023 blocks (36%) have block libraries, 41,828 villages out of a total of 575,937 (7%) have village libraries and 1280 towns of 2643 (48%) have town libraries." Commenting on the present state of public libraries and their services, the Working Group observed: 'Most of these public libraries concentrate

63

on lending services. Other services or activities such as a reference service, extension activities and others are, with few exceptions, non-existent... [The] annual expenditure in the country on public libraries has been about...50 paise per literate person or Rs 0.03 on per capita basis. It is estimated that [they] have 1 book for every four [literate] persons... It is found that in actual terms only 15-20% of the total literate population has access to public library services.'3 The above facts point out the weakness of the public libraries' sector in India. This may be a replica of many other developing countries. It is natural to infer that the public libraries, at this level of growth, cannot be effective. When even a substantial number of literate people do not have access to library services, the fate of the illiterate masses, for whom no special services have been designed, can easily be imagined. Their right to have free access to information remains as statements of desirability in LIS policies. In these conditions, it should not be surprising that the LIS profession does not enjoy better image and status vis-àvis other professions in society. Why are we in this condition - is the question before us. Who are responsible for this state of affairs - the state, society, or the LIS profession? In part, all of these share the responsibility. The importance of information in socio-economic development and national reconstruction is without doubt recognised now by governments, and social groups. It is reflected in the study of policy documents on LIS. The National Policy on Library and Information System (India), 1986, has rightly stated its objectives as follows: 'Library and information sources are vital for all sectors of national activity. The availability of information, expeditiously and pinpointedly, supports all decision-making processes at all levels. Relevant information accelerates the pace of national development. An informed citizen is an asset to a democratic system of government and the proper utilisation of information can improve the quality of citizens. The government of India therefore realizes the value of co-ordinating and upgrading the existing library and information systems and services and initiating new programmes relevant to our national needs...' 3 . It is our responsibility to let the masses know the importance of information, as there is a lack of social awareness. Due to this lack of awareness the demand and consumption of information is low. There is less pressure for information on libraries in rural areas. The reasons may be many for this passive approach by society towards information. Either the people have not realised the importance of information and its impact on their lives, or their illiteracy has been a limiting factor, or they are busy and preoccupied in fulfilling their basic necessities. Another factor for the lack of social awareness is the failure of the LIS profession to motivate the masses. It is in part the responsibility of the LIS profession to create social awareness and create demands for information, be it for leisure, the development of skills or for any other purpose. It is by creating public awareness that we can bring about the spread of libraries with the aim of 'information for all', even in the remote areas and to reach all disadvantaged groups in addition to others. It is with the active support of the masses that a positive change in the image and status of the LIS profession in society is possible.

64

The traditional image of LIS personnel has not changed among the users. Even today the users may find it difficult to differentiate between the role played by the librarian and the other workers in the library, or even between the role played by professional and nonprofessional workers in the library. More often the users approach a senior librarian for grievance redressai (as in many other bureaucratic systems with formal hierarchical relationships amongst the employees), rather than to seek the opinion of the librarian, or their evaluation and counselling expertise (unlike their approach to doctors). The libraries, in a sense, are working as in a highly structured, hierarchical system. The concept of the personalised approach (contrary to what Dr S R Ranaganathan advocated in his 'Five Laws') is missing, blurring further the role of the librarian and his image. LIS personnel need to change their attitudes. They should redefine their job responsibilities, with the aim of coming closer to society, rather than remaining invisible. The LIS profession needs to redefine professional and non-professional responsibilities in libraries. More formalised activities, or the activities which easily lend themselves to mechanism and require lesser professional input, should be made the responsibility of paraprofessional and non-professional staffs. The managerial aspects - the role of a leader with his employees, a communicator with the public, a counsellor with the users, etc - need to be stressed and they should occupy the LIS personnel. William J Martin building up a case for 'deinstitutionalization' observed as follows on the institutionalization of library services: '[The] library service has become identified with bricks and mortar rather than with people and with the bureaucratic face of local government rather than with the persons of a caring profession."* Martin also laid emphasis on giving a personalised service and fulfilling the needs of contemporary society. Education and research in LIS has mostly been oriented towards internal problems. The LIS curriculum, both at the level of graduate as well as postgraduate, lays emphasis mainly on the areas and skills required for the organisation and maintenance of library collections and the storage and retrieval of documents, etc. Studies from the consumers' perspective are insignificant and contribute little to the curriculum. Even post-PG-level courses and research programmes in LIS have not emphasized the social aspects of librarianship. LIS education at all levels should therefore be oriented towards users and the social aspects of libraries and information services. In many developing countries LIS education programmes are not sufficient (unlike India where a large number of universities produce graduate and postgraduates in LIS). The accreditation of library schools and the registration of LIS specialists is yet to be accepted in many countries. In order that LIS graduates can be produced with confidence and professional zeal the profession, through professional associations or by other means, should adopt practices to check on new entrants to the profession. The quality of entrants, coupled with the quality of their education, can be instrumental in the social recognition of the profession. The normative expectations of society from the LIS profession need to be understood and defined. The characteristics of society, such as population growth, that society is becoming

65

more and more complex, and that there is an ever-increasing growth in the quantum of information, may be enough to create more libraries and to stock them well. However, these actions cannot be sufficient alone to provide adequate information to match social needs. Naturally, these alone cannot be the bases for improvements in the image and status of the LIS profession. Our responsibilities do not end here. We need to go beyond what is obvious for the existence, or mere survival, of the profession. We should research the expectations of society from the library and information profession; the relationship between information and society; further we should address ourselves to the role of information in social development. The LIS profession should act as a leader, not simply in providing desired information, but it should act as information specialists, prescribing with conviction the use of information. Studies should be carried out to understand information and the user and librarian relationship which, in turn, may influence operations in the library, to give a boost to the image and status of the profession. The LIS profession is itself a part of the society. The characteristics of contemporary society, as well as its problems, influence the LIS profession as much as any other profession or social group. This should be the reason for a continuous change in outlook and in the social as well as professional responsibilities of the LIS profession. This should result in a continuous manifestation in LIS theories and practices. It is the responsibility of the profession to facilitate, through making available information, the society to achieve its purposes or to fulfil its expectations. For example libraries can contribute a great deal to adult education, to literacy programmes, and to distance education programmes, etc. Otherwise its well recognised role may even be taken over by other social groups, if the profession does not take a lead. Currently the concept of open universities is taking root in many developing countries. India already has a few of these, created during the past few years. The libraries should become a part of the chain to impart education, especially in these open university programmes, before some alternative structures are created for this purpose. By such acts the LIS profession can become a valuable attribute to any society, and this can lead to an improvement in the image of the profession. As may be true of many other developing countries, society in India has not inculcated the reading habit. Despite the voluminous production of books and serials, information consumption is very low. The reasons may be related to inappropriate reading materials, the high cost of acquisitions, and the inaccessibility of information, etc. In addition to this lack of a reading habit, the LIS profession as purchaser can not only exercise discretion but it can also influence the producers and publishers. It can also influence the community as well as the government. The profession should avail itself of each opportunity to do this and to improve the reading habit. It should cause library movements to help to achieve the free-flow of information. The profession should take upon itself to persuade governments to recognize the value of information policies. It should make efforts to remove the barriers to the freeflow of information within the country as well as globally. For this purpose, the profession should make efforts to achieve relaxations in foreign exchange controls, import controls, mailing tariffs and communication rates, etc.

66

The challenge of overcoming or minimizing the barriers to the free-flow of information lies within the purview of responsibilities of the profession. It should be achieved by way of influencing society - the consumers - by way of motivating the government and other agencies - the partners in the creation of social institutions etc - and by way of adapting the role and responsibilities of the profession itself. We must continuously monitor the activities and functions of the profession, including libraries and information centres and LIS education, and made adjustments in order to remain relevant to the societies that we serve. Professor W L Saunders, while thinking of the year 2001 and the LIS profession, observed the following which sums up my case: '... [The) nature of the demands on our profession will undergo a qualitative change. This keen appreciation of the importance of information will make for far better informed users. At present the ignorance of what really good library and information services can provide is such that many users are almost pathetically grateful and impressed - by service that we, as professionals, know to be at a very simple and low level indeed. The world over, we have got away with very poor levels of service. In the information-conscious world of the future information will be regarded as a key resource; the level of expectation by users, of those whose professional concern is with the handling and availability of that resource will be much higher, much keener than today. Our efforts will be subjected to a much more informed and critical scrutiny than we have known so far. This surely can only be for the ultimate good of our profession.' 5

DISCUSSION There was general agreement that the education and training of librarians and the development of relevant course programmes and curricula needed to reflect the specific needs of any society. This included the responsibility to train the masses in the uses of information. Doubt was expressed that librarians should get involved in literacy programmes. The track record of success, when librarians had been involved in the past, was not impressive. Education should not only impart skills but also should help to change the attitudes of future professionals. Whether such training was the responsibility of the departments of library and information studies or of practitioners in libraries was left unresolved. If training was a responsibility of professional associations then standards needed to be established by the library associations and these needed to be continuously monitored and evaluated. One of the social responsibilities that librarians should not overlook was that of user education, whether it was for the masses with regard to literacy campaigns or for rural information needs or to meet more sophisticated requirements. In these situations library education needed to be aware that often non-book materials played a more significant rôle than did journals and books. It was these sorts of traditional concerns that course programmes needed to reflect when the departments of LIS were planning curricula to meet the social needs of future professionals.

67

Technological skills require updating to assist the profession to fulfil its social and professional responsibilities, although the danger was expressed that the take-up of technology very often magnified the problems rather than resolved them. The point was made that if librarians consider themselves as managers then in order to produce them the curricula should also help to create a better understanding of needs. There was some opposition expressed to this view in that developing countries find it very difficult even to assess the current needs of users and these should be the priority more than the creation of needs. One participant suggested that the social responsibilities of librarians should include: sensitising authorities and governments of LIS needs; the establishment of credible surveys to assess user needs and then the provision of publicity to advertise the policies that had been established as a result. In summing up, the author emphasised that in his view curricula should reflect the present and future status of librarians and that as professionals we should be able to forecast developments required in the near future. Over-production of manpower is not the reason for low image and anyway this problem could be resolved by a proper control of entry levels into the profession and academic institutions. The view was endorsed that for rural communities audio-visual materials are probably of more use than books and journals and therefore free-flow of information concerns should also be extended to non-book materials.

'

2 3

4

5

India, Planning Commission, Working Group on Modernisation of Library Services and Informatics. Report...for the Seventh Five Year Plan, 1985-90. New Delhi, July 1984, 3. Ibid, 4. India, Committee on National Policy on Library and Information System, 'National policy on library and information system: a presentation', New Delhi, May 1986, 3. Martin, William J, 'Community librarianship: changing the face of public libraries' (London, Bingley, 1989), 4. Saunders, W L, 'Librarianship and information science in the year 2001', paper presented at British Council Library seminar on Librarianship and Information Science in 2001, Madras, 1975, 20.

68

IMPROVING THE MARKET VALUE OF THE PROFESSION: EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS Christine O Kisiedu

Introduction The task that has been assigned to this paper is to suggest the type of education and training that would improve the market value of the library and information profession. In economic terms, market value implies the availability of a product or service which is marketable and for which a value can be computed relative to the degree of usefulness and need to society. The main products of the library and information profession are the services it provides and the professional manpower to set up and manage these services. Setting aside the increasing controversial argument that information is not quantifiable and that its value therefore cannot be computed in money terms, it is now generally accepted that information is a crucial resource equal in value to the traditional economic resources of land, capital and manpower in national development. At the same time there exists this paradoxical situation in which the library and information profession and those who work in it, the providers of information services considered crucial, have a low image among users of these services. This state of affairs is especially serious in developing countries where the relatively low level of education and the resultant lack of appreciation for the value of information generally, lead to this diminished view of the profession at large. This lack of appreciation has been a source of concern to professionals and has also resulted in a depressed view of their own worth, a kind of inferiority complex vìi à vis professionals in other disciplines that further reinforces the low status. The above scenario represents a vicious circle. It is the contention that the profession can break out of it only through appropriate improved education and training of information personnel and, by implication, improved services. These would give us the confidence and make us visible before those who matter in society, as equal partners in the development process. The focus of this presentation is Sub-Saharan Africa, with specific emphasis on the Anglophone areas from where most examples will be drawn. To begin with, I intend to provide a brief background to the systems and training structures that have given rise to the problems we are facing now as a profession. Secondly, I will look at the current educational environment and try to analyse the factors that have made it difficult to change direction for the benefit of our professional image. In the process, I will point out some of the many ways that have been suggested as viable educational alternatives for raising our professional image.

69

Background to Library Systems in Africa The library and information profession is one of the legacies to Africa from the long historical and cultural links with Great Britain and the West, generally. However, its development can be traced back only to the closing years of the first half of this century, even later in some parts of the continent. It was brought to Africa as the culture of a literate society with a long established book and reading tradition that had been nurtured over centuries into a definite and recognized way of life. It is worthy of note that even in its land of origin this library culture had evolved informally on the basis of apprenticeship and on the job training that had little to do with firm formally structured education with theoretical foundations. The situation was similar all over the Western world from where modern library development in Africa has had its antecedents and from which it has drawn inspiration. Theoretical foundations that invest a discipline or profession with respectability, maturity and prestige came very late to it. In the case of the United States of America this happened towards the end of the 19th century, in 1887, when Melvil Dewey, the doyen of librarianship in that country, opened a school and had it attached to an institution of higher learning - Columbia University. In neighbouring Britain across the Atlantic, it came even later, at the end of the second decade of this century, when the School of Librarianship was established at the University of London in 1919. The University tradition of the profession was only about thirty years old and had not taken deep roots when the profession was transplanted to Africa. Furthermore, it was not the university-based profession that was brought. Benson E. Edoka tells us that the Library Association (UK) which had been established in 1877, had designed and set up a syllabus for Library Assistants and examined them on the basis of that syllabus, on correspondence terms. Preparation for the examination was the personal responsibility of the candidate who pursued this while he worked. The system could thus be described as a formalization of the apprenticeship system, vocational in orientation. This was the basis and orientation of the library systems that Africa inherited from Britain, along with the personnel that set them up and ran them. The local personnel who were also educated to assist and take over from the initial expatriate British staff were also trained in this tradition. The African societies into which the profession was transplanted were largely illiterate, without a book or reading culture to speak of. African societies had and still have an oral culture, though one that was not incompatible with or non-receptive to new ideas and cultures.

The Early Years This background is important for a clearer understanding of the course that the library and information profession in Africa has taken. The initial years were good. The network of

70

public libraries set up in Ghana (1950), Nigeria (the Unesco model at Enugu in 1953), in the High Commission Territories of East Africa, and later in the independent states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania flourished. They received firm support from the new African political leaders and the literate few particularly in West Africa, as support for their high profile educational agendas. They saw in libraries the opportunity for a partnership in developing a new, enriched culture for their societies. When the partnership and the new culture did not work as planned the old prejudices against the profession were reinforced with local African embellishments. African librarians have been described as lacking vision, ineffective, elitist in their service orientation and, worst of all, as a marginalized workforce.

New Directions: University-Based Education In trying to explain failed directions and chart out new ones, a little honest self assessment is always helpful in providing clarity of vision. Neill, among others, leads the way in this kind of analysis. His prognosis of the situation is that the dream of an African library culture failed because the British legacy was flawed. The apprenticeship training that placed Library Assistants in senior positions did not provide the incumbents with the necessary academic foundation which alone would have enabled them to appreciate the role they were expected to play. The requisite education that they needed in order to be able to conceptualize the new directions and the framework within which they should operate was therefore deficient. There were deliberate attempts to establish university-based library schools in Africa initiated by American influence, with Carnegie funds. The first was at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria in 1960. It was followed in 1965 by a Ghanaian initiative at the University of Ghana. Similar plans were evolved in Eastern Africa. Makerere University accepted to host the East Africa Library School for Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in 1963, and a school was set up for Zambia at the University of Zambia in 1966. S I A Kotei, a product of the old tradition but an active participant in the new move to establish Afro-centric systems (which incidentally also included a large British expatriate component), admits that the plan failed partly because those who took part in the foundation and nurturing of the foreign prototype systems subsequently became teachers in the library schools. Thus, over a decade after independence, the situation remained largely the same as before. The rate at which library and information studies schools have been established in Africa since then has been sufficiently remarkable for comment. However, Ouma remarks that most were originally set up to train library assistants. All this pointed to the fact that the way towards the realization of the objective of the profession in Africa to develop a typically African ethos and systems for African librarianship lay through a purposeful programme for training high level manpower with the vision to design and sustain such systems. The appropriateness of the academic environment for fostering quality education is generally recognized. Paul Wassermann, in endorsement of the above, has said this of the university environment and university educators: 'The intellectual base is found in professional schools where, within the scholarly framework of the university new ideas are inspired and tested ...

71

ultimately through scholarly media.' This, in my view, is the answer to the problem of shortage of high level manpower that is to be found at all levels of the information profession, and which has caused the crisis of access to information, the worst image blot on the profession in Africa.

Problems of Infrastrnctural Weakness The main problem in the process described above relates to the weaknesses of existing training facilities and their responses to the manpower problem. The report on the Addis Ababa seminar on Information and Informatics Policies for Africa (November-December 1988) saw the problem as manifesting itself in the following ways: 1 Africa-based training opportunities are limited; 2 Those available are oriented towards the traditional information services and institutions; 3 There are no retraining facilities for both professional and paraprofessional personnel. These issues need to be addressed if the education and training of our information workforce is to have any meaning and relevance. The first, limited training opportunities, seems an intractable problem. Very few information institutions exist in Africa that provide high level training. There is only one PhD-awarding institution on the continent - the veteran Ibadan school. University of Ghana's long approved PhD programme was overtaken by the 'brain drain' and other staffing problems of the late 1970's and the 1980's and never took off. Legon however offers MPhil courses in Library and Archival Studies. The remaining institutions in the region (Legon included), offer Graduate Diploma programmes. The recent addition of Masters in Information Science programmes at two special schools established respectively in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Ibadan, Nigeria, under the sponsorship of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Unesco promises an improvement in the situation. It is a source of concern that in the training of information personnel, African institutions have placed emphasis on producing merely librarians, archivists and documentalists who do not possess any of the new skills in management, interpersonal communications and other qualities of the new culture of 'enterprise' that are closely associated with the profession now. An examination of the proceedings of the post-IFLA colloquium on Curriculum adjustment in African library schools held in Bonn in 1987 which includes among other things, a summary of the curricula of most library and archival schools on the continent confirms this situation. A colleague lamented the library orientation of his professional education which made a consultancy assignment with a UNDP team to set up a rural information system a taxing one. He recognized it as a deficiency in his training. The situation is improving gradually as library schools respond slowly but systematically to the inevitable encroachment of the new technologies on information work. The two information science schools noted above should help the process on the continent.

72

Retraining and continuing education for information practitioners and educators is crucial for sustained professional and academic excellence. The confidence to deliver, whether on the job or in the classroom, depends on being abreast with the latest developments in one's area of expertise. Short courses on specific issues and conferences/seminars run locally or abroad do help but these, especially external ones, are limited. Funding to attend them is not easily available and African participants are seldom in a position to fund themselves. In this regard, the German Foundation (DSE), my sponsors to this seminar, has been of great assistance to Africa professionals in general and those of Southern and Eastern Africa in particular. Unesco, IDRC, the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS), IFLA, FID and ICA have all offered assistance at various times and in various degrees. Local meetings organised by local professions are excellent methods of 'networking' at the personal, as opposed to the institutional, level. Infrequent contacts among professionals in a given location can lead to isolationism and diminished relevance. African information workers need particularly to be aware of and understand one another's problems in order to make possible the adoption of a continental strategy to address Africa's critical information problems.

Change of Direction? Observers of the professional African information scene advocate a change of orientation in the provisions of information to the community and, by implication, a de-emphasizing of the courses on the curriculum that to date are geared to maintaining elitist systems. They see as the greatest possible image-booster, education and skills development for two purposes: the identification of the information needs of the rural dweller and establishing systems to satisfy those needs. The new thinking is that in a continent with 70% of its population in the rural areas, the majority of whom are either totally or semi-literate, our first duty as information professionals should be to that majority. Kingo Mchombu is a recognized advocate of this call to go back to the grassroots, although a small number of other scholars have done some work here. The call is receiving serious responses. The latest seminar of the Commonwealth Library Association (COMLA), West Africa Chapter held in September 1991 in Accra, Ghana devoted one week of discussion to this theme. So did the 4th Biennial Congress of the Ghana Library Association held in September, 1992. J Richard Neill, a strong supporter of this 'new paradigm of library service', argues strongly for a shift of focus from service to the elite minority to whom the profession in Africa has given its total (but unappreciated) attention to date. The form that the new systems must take are as yet not well defined but they should be 'less formal, less book-oriented, more locally rooted and more precisely targeted at Africa's real and potential information users'. The effort will involve identifying who the potential users or beneficiaries are. It would also produce a user awareness campaign that would confer visibility and recognition on the profession.

73

High-Technology and Changes on the Library and Information Science Tremendous changes are rapidly taking place in, and transforming, the information job market in developed countries. Forecasts and speculations on what is expected of the information professional of the 1990s list a dizzying array of skills and expertise that will make of us not only librarians but in addition managers, communicators, analysts of all types, politicians, businessmen and more besides. Although the rate of these changes is slow in most African countries, there is need to take serious account and prepare for them. Fortunately, those observers assure us that for the foreseeable future, the mainstay will remain libraries. However we need to keep in tune with these developments to remain relevant. The new trends, catalysed by the new technologies, should be reflected where relevant in our library schools' curricula. Whether we like it or not, African countries have embraced the computer and high-technology culture. Though applications are nowhere near the levels they are in developed countries, the high-technology fever and the rate at which related machines are being imported into African countries demand a serious look at their impact on the profession. We need to understand their use and learn to work with these tools in order to benefit from their enormous potential. Computer literacy is limited in most African countries but awareness is spreading fast, though the proliferation of computer training centres and agencies present their own problems of standards and relevance in relation to courses offered. Two High-Technology exhibitions in Ghana in the past year, COMPUTECH I & II, have brought home forcefully the reality of the problem of standards in computer education. National systems of computer education are required to ensure proper standards and accreditation. Library schools should talk with computer agencies, Government and the Computer Science Departments of national universities to ensure this.

The Role of the Library School Curriculum In the Search for a New Professional Identity The above programme requires a framework of operation which the curricula of our library schools should provide. Curriculum building is seen as the responsibility of the educator, but it should be based on team work comprising the educator as leader, the employing or consuming public for relevance of input regarding what the job market will accept, and the profession at large to ensure that basic professional tenets are followed and promoted. The results would inform what syllabus for teaching and research evolves. Such team work will strengthen the hand of the educator in presenting his curricular proposals to the University's academic governing body for approval. The exercise confers benefits both as a means of advancing the profession and in raising the status of library and information work to the level of a university discipline. The rate of revision of the curricula of library schools in Britain, for example, is such that it invests them with a temporary quality. But the schools need to reassess the fast charging

74

information environment in relation to their own programmes in order to stay in business. It is a way of canvassing student input as to what courses will lead to, or will be useful in, a job and what will not; what new skills have emerged since the last review exercise so that the necessary adjustments could be made. The rate of curriculum revision is not as rapid in Africa. A controversial practice of inviting foreign 'consultants' to review curricula in African Library schools has been in force for a long time. This has been done either on a subject or an overall basis. Local input tends to be limited to a few question sessions with staff. No other input is sought. The Department of Library and Archival Studies (DLAS), Ghana has been subjected to a number of such 'expert' review exercises on a number of occasions. The opinion of this author is that such practices do not yield satisfactory results for the host institution. There is no gainsaying the value of experienced outside input in these matters. And that is what it should be - an input. Local professionals and educators should know their information environment better than anyone else. If an outside expert should be required, he or she should be an 'adviser' to the local team. A better alternative to this system, therefore, is for a local team to use any of the various manuals on curriculum development for the library and information sector that Unesco has issued from time to time, to produce a draft. An 'expert' could then be asked to look at and comment on the draft. The resultant curriculum would be more relevant to local needs.

What to Teach in the Context of the Phenomenon of the Pluralist Curriculum: Issues to Consider As noted already, the rapid technological changes of the past few decades have led to the emergence of a range of activities, skills and services which all claim a relationship with information and equal attention in the curriculum. There is, therefore, a need to decide what is relevant to local needs and what is not; what comes under basic, formal education and what is continuous. This is never an easy decision, particularly in Africa where, as noted above, avenues for continuing education tend to be limited. A decision needs to be taken, however. Here again, curricula guides available can offer direction. The modular approach may offer a convenient way out by treating topics as complete modules both within and out of the lecture room. Sandwich courses could be offered on the basis of such an approach. They also offer the advantage of a choice for a student. However, without a doubt, formal education should reside with academic institutions. Ideally, the professional associations should be largely responsible for continuing education and training. However the schools need to assist more here than would normally be the case had the associations been stronger and better endowed. The concept of harmonization is growing in popularity. Espoused by Unesco, IFLA, FID and the ICA since the early 1980s, African library schools have been encouraged to adopt it for teaching subjects that are known to be common core to the three areas of Librarianship, Archives and Documentation services. These common areas have been identified as

75

Management, User Studies, Information Technology/Information Science and Techniques of Research in Information. Unesco/PGI has actually produced some detailed work plans to be followed, on the basis of expert papers presented at an International Symposium held in Paris in 1984. DLAS's syllabus represents a very good example of this practice. Its advantages include reduction to a single one the number of lecture sessions that might have been repeated in three or four programmes, thus saving staff time and affording students the opportunity for studying all instead of maybe a couple of these important courses.

Other Issues Other important issues include student and staff recruitment and quality in library and information schools in Africa. The latter are not priority areas of choice for graduate students who tend to opt for the policy disciplines where prospects of advancement are far greater and the fields more prestigious. It is therefore not easy to recruit the 'best' students. Insistence on second class uppers would reduce intake drastically and affect course survival! A related issue is the preponderance of humanities graduate recruits in relation to recruits from the natural sciences. The profession in Africa has become humanities-based by default, but many issues of the modern information environment require the expertise of a professional with a science background. A recent analysis by Mary Boye shows that as much as 90% of students admitted to the DLAS's professional programme between 1978 and 1988, a period of 10 years, had a social science humanities background. A judicious balance should be struck, but we should always aim to recruit the best in order to maintain high educational and professional excellence, if we are to improve our image. The question of staffs' qualifications has been dealt with already but it has a direct bearing on student quality on the course. A strong cadre of teachers can improve student quality through confident, innovative teaching and counselling. Recruitment of academic staff tends to be difficult for African library schools largely because of the inadequacy of training facilities referred to, and its attendant shortage of expertise. It has taken DLAS more than a year to find someone to teach Information Science because the University of Ghana will not accept a masters degree without a full year's research component. It is a frustrating experience for the Department but sound academic policy.

Conclusion The above is an attempt to address a few of the issues that I feel information professionals and educators in Africa should be deeply concerned with in the attempt at building bridges between ourselves and our consuming public.

76

Not all the important issues have been addressed. An issue such as what to do about the burgeoning paraprofessional group in terms of an upgrading programme has not been touched. The debate concerning who is more to blame for the sorry state of Africa's information profession - whether it is the lack of vision or the paraprofessional or the lack of appreciation by the African bureaucrat of the role of information in development - cannot be dismissed in a paragraph. But the point of the argument - indifferent funding of, and responses to, African information pursuits - remains a major constraint to development. A programme is required that will foster understanding and mutual respect between information managers and those for whom they work.

DISCUSSION It was suggested that aptitudes of future professionals are just as important as are their qualifications. There is a need for them to be considered. The rôle of international agencies when overseas assistance and advice is sought should be carefully considered. There is a need for 'experts' to liaise better and more effectively with staffs. The problems of interfacing traditional requirements of library and information science education with the new technologies and new management theories is a problem that needs to be addressed and advice provided - perhaps by IFLA. Problems of non-professionals entering professional jobs and undertaking professional work, when they should be working at technician or paraprofessional levels, was also highlighted. The lack of inter-action between educators and practising professional librarians, it was thought, contributed to a reduction of quality in teaching. There was general agreement that education was the responsibility of the academic institutions but that training and posteducation and continuing professional development were the responsibilities of the profession, both in the library associations and in actual library and information services themselves. However library associations, particularly in Africa, would need support in their development to make them effective and efficient enough to undertake such tasks. A participant questioned whether in academic institutions the discipline and content of library and information services' studies were considered to be an acceptable academic discipline and to be sufficiently intellectually rigorous. Where academic standards were not high then accreditation by practitioners through library associations might assist in raising standards and ensuring relevance between what is taught and what future employers require. There is a need for post-basic training programmes - this would bring together people and perhaps help to fund agendas to indicate research requirements.

77

It was argued that it is very difficult for a paraprofessional to aspire to become a full professional; a proposed solution being that concessions should be made for entry qualifications onto university courses. The insistence on acquiring a basic degree should be removed. This view was not supported by all the other participants. There was a proposal that IFLA should frame rules for library associations that wanted to train paraprofessionals and that IFLA should also help by undertaking work towards the standardisation of qualifications.

1 Edoka, Benson E, 'Librarians in society', (June/December 1983), 75.

Bendel Library Journal,

6:

1&2

2 Neill, J R, 'The marginalised workforce: Africa's library and information profession', African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science, 1: 1 (April 1992) 10. 3 Ibid, 9-17. 4 Kotei, S I A, 'Preparing teaching materials for library education in Ghana', Michael Wise, (comp and ed), Aspeas of African Librarianship, (London, Mansell, 1985), 203. 5 Ouma, S, 'Bourgeois librarianship: a new breed of stereotypes', Makiaba, II: 2 (1991), 35. 6 Wassermann, Paul, The new librarianship: a challenge for change (New York, Bowker, 1972), 129-30. 7 Kisiedu, Κ Ο, Ά technical, analytical report of the seminar on national information and informatics policies in Africa', Shahid Akhtar (ed), National Information and Informatics Policies in Africa: Report and Proceedings of a Regional Seminar, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 28 November-1 December 1988 (IDRC & PADIS, April 1990), (IDRCMR233e), 10. 8 Mchombu, Kingo, 'Communicating development information to rural communities in Africa - available options', Proceedings of the Workshop on Rural Community Library and Information Resource Centres, GIMPA, Greenhill, Achimota, 23-27 September 1991 (Accra, Ghana Library Association, 1991), 62-70. 9 Commonwealth Library Association (COMLA), Proceedings of the Workshop on Rural Community Library and Information Resource Centres, GIMPA, Greenhill, Achimota, 2327 September 1991 (Accra, Ghana Library Association, 1991). 10 Neill, J R, op. cit. (2 above), 17.

78

11 Law, Derek, 'Education Needs for the 1990s', Catalogue & Index, 94 (Autumn 1989), 1, 3-7. 12 Havard-Williams, Peter, Mchombu, Kingo J & Neill, J Richard, 'Continuing education for library and information science: views for the future' paper presented at the Information Experts' Meeting on Continuing Education Programmes for Library and Information Personnel held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 25-29 June 1991, pp 10-24. 13 Brittain, J M, 'Information specialists: new directions for education and training,' Journal of Information Science, 13: 6 (1987). 14 Law, Derek Law, op. cit. 15 International Symposium on Harmonisation of Education and Training Programmes in Information Science, Librarianship and Archival Studies, Unesco House, Paris, 8-12 October 1984. Paul Wasserman, Michael Cook and H Sene presented papers respectively on the teaching of management, technology and user studies. The Final Report on the Symposium embodies the action plan. 16 Boyne, Mary I S, 'Education for library and information work in Ghana: challenges of the new decade', Intermaional Library Review, 23 (1991), 179.

79

IMPROVING THE MARKET VALUE OF THE PROFESSION: INCREASING RECOGNITION Elizabeth C Reade Fong

Introduction A profession is recognized by the specialised services it offers through the acquisition of specialised knowledge by its members who use this to respond to the needs, demands and expectations of it clients who constitute the 'market'. Any entity offering a service is required to vigorously sell its 'product' through well thought out marketing strategies if the product is to attract buyers on the open market. The 'market' is made up of a conglomeration of individuals, organisations and institutions who have been identified as potential buyers of a product. The library profession in its beginnings operated within a custodial framework. At the beginning of the twentieth century there was strong advocacy from within the profession to change this function and to become service oriented as societies become more economically and technologically based. Technological and economic development have gone hand in hand and it is suggested that a significant part of the profession's problems today is that librarianship continues to be regarded as a non-income generating activity contributing very little to an economically and technologically based world. Furthermore the profession has failed to relate and associate itself with the world of consumerism and to understand the ways of the consumer. Little or no acknowledgement is given to the fact that the services of the profession and the skills of its people can and do assist in the income-generating activities of a society. It is an acceptable premise today that where a price tag is attached to a product a value and status is rendered to that product and consequently its producers. Value in today's society is equated with need. What has the profession of librarianship actively done to inculcate into society the need for our services to a point where society becomes dependant upon them ? In this paper I propose to offer for discussion thoughts on how we, as library and information professionals, can increase our market value through increased visibility. These will apply in varying degrees in different countries.

1 Attitudes and Personalities

80

The evolution of technological dépendance by many societies and cultures has seen the philosophies, assumptions and values of many professions subjected to extreme transforming pressures. The ability of a profession such as librarianship to cope with these transforming pressures requires a radical change in the attitudes of its membership. By this I refer to librarians reassessing their contribution to society in terms of economic and technological advancement. Changes in attitude must come from within before any outward signs are visible. We are all in no doubt whatsoever as to how we have been viewed over the years. None of these descriptions have been flattering. It is the task of every library professional today to make every effort to change his or her attitude. This may be facilitated by various means. However, 1 will focus on two which I consider to be most important in contributing to the visibility of the profession: (i) upgrading of personal skills in communication and public relations; (ii) encouraging the active recruitment of a particular type of personality into the profession. The upgrading of personal skills in communication and public relations rests on the initiative of the individual. Personal initiative gives rise to the search for the means to fulfil this. The active recruitment of individuals with a particular type of personality is made with reference to that personality labelled 'assertive'. As defined by Dr Bob Montgomery 'assertion means expressing your thoughts, opinions, feelings openly and non-defensively, making requests and refusing unacceptable requests but doing that in ways that deliberately take account of the rights and feelings of others'. He states that the final result is a build up in self esteem and confidence which are the traits needed by the profession to be able to convince society of our value and to compete on the open market. The change in attitude required and the search and recruitment of individuals with assertive personalities and combining these with the use of intensive lobbying and effective public relations techniques will strengthen the basis of the profession's image. Implied in the above is the need for continuing education to provide for the acquisition and upgrading of old and new skills in order that the profession can cope with change. This can only be effective if mandatory. Very much a part of this responsibility for the profession with reference to personalities and attitudes is the ability of library schools to cope with changes identified by the profession. Are appropriate needs assessment surveys being carried out to indicate what changes are occurring on the market and which must be incorporated into the curricula of library education? Professional public relations firms today operate on 'megabucks'. It is well known that the profession does not generate the kind of income which will permit the utilisation of such firms. However, well planned public relations programmes utilising the technology of desk top publishing available and accessible by most information units today, along with a

81

confidant professional with excellent communication skills, are relatively cheap but effective public relation tools at our disposal. In effect the first visible signs of achievement and change for the profession must come from the individuals who constitute the profession. In order to provide this unity within these individuals must be guided by a document which binds them as a unifying force and this requires a written code of ethics.

2 Code of Ethics Members need, and must be guided by, professional ethics in order to provide a united image based on an accepted group of standards. These standards set the tone of the profession and it is through these standards that a profession is given status and identity. In order to reinforce this there must exist an agency that can act on breaches of this code. Legal status given to this body will ensure recognition of its role. Assuming that library clientelle are dependant on the professional, for the provision of an information service, the professional enjoys a certain amount of power over his client. The library/information professional must be fully conversant with the code of behaviour which guides them in the everyday discharge of their duties and more so in situations where they may envisage motives by their client which could lead to the 'abuse' of the information provided.

3 Participation in National Development Planning Recognition for the library/information professional armed with communication and upgraded professional skills and a desire to participate and advertise these skills may be obtained through an active role in local and national development planning processes. I can confidently say without dispute that all countries say that they recognize the importance of information. Any national delegate speaking on the issue never fails to say so. However, the differences are vast in the way countries use this tool as a resource for national development. While developed countries have designed elaborate, intricate, high technologically-based network information systems, most developing countries are struggling to establish and maintain public, school, community, academic and national libraries which are bereft of qualified personnel and financial support. The participation to which I refer is involvement in the highest echelons of national and local governments and other organisations or institutions. This activity requires positive attempts to be an integral part of those sections of the government and statutory organisations involved in national development planning which is an information intensive activity. Through active involvement the professional can convince the system of the value of his contribution and the

82

need for his skills. In many countries this recognition may only be gained through the agitation of the professional body. A large proportion of Third World countries operate on very heavy culturally-based systems often operating hand in hand with inherited colonial systems. This cultural base often allows for flexibility in approaching the higher echelons of national decision making and must be utilised to gain mileage for the profession. The members must recognize that only through involvement at the top via national committees, sub - committees of houses of representatives etc. will recognition be achieved.

4 Cash Value for Services Offered Production has always been equated with costs either in cash or kind. The move today for providers of information, of which there are many interdependent units, is to equate an economic value to their product. Within the profession two schools of thought have been in existence. The notion of 'user pays' and the 'free' provision of services has caused dissension amongst many. The indecisiveness of most of the profession and a division on the issue has not augured well for its image and status. Society today operates on a 'user pays' base and the philosophy is that if 'one pays - one values'. This is combined with the fact that areas such as education, health and information, which are not income generating activities, are facing massive cuts in finance, as the result of national economic downturns, encourages the objective to generate revenue. Generating revenue gains recognition. The profession has reached a point where it must make a stand to charge for services rendered and consider the following: (i) should the profession operate on a 'user pays' concept for all its services? (ii) should a price tag be put on a percentage of its services with flexibility for an element of free services? This argument of 'user' pays already operates in most academic libraries whose research faculty operate on allocations of funding which include an allocation to cover library services. In the case of public, national and community libraries, which are reliant on town council, government, community or aid donor funding, this issue has to be handled with great sensitivity and tact on the part of those deciding costs. This economic value must however be in line with the economic policies of the country itself and the costs affordable by its present clientelle and may often require the use of discretion on the part of the professional. Any fee arrived at must take into consideration all relevant factors. This is an exercise which must be done in a thorough manner to prevent a negative effect on the profession. It is most important that all sectors of the 'community' be represented when decisions are arrived at and that all clients be well informed. Bearing this in mind we cannot discuss this isolated from

83

the problems of the quality of service and product we offer. Quality equated with value in economic terms is the only way ahead to gain status and recognition in a 'cash* economy.

5 Quality of Service and Quality of Product Underlying all factors promoting the library and information science professional is quality of service which is assessed upon ones ability to deliver the goods in demand. Mason articulated in 'What is an Information Professional' (1990) that the function of the information professional is: 'to get the right information, from the right sources, to the right client, at the right time in the form most suitable for the use to which it is to be put at a cost that is justified by its use'. Are library and information professionals achieving this? Are we convincing our clients that we possess the type of knowledge that can assist them? Are we treating our clients as individuals with individual needs which we can anticipate and fulfil? To work consistently bearing the above philosophy in mind will result in a service and product of quality. Our services are our 'window' to the world and it is essential that these be presented to our clients by individuals armed with the skills to provide them. The concern of the client is to be able to locate information when he needs it. He is really not concerned with the technical means by which he locates the information. The emphasis of our focus must be user oriented' in order to increase our visibility at the 'window'. This change of focus is likely to have the snowball effect of increasing recognition and thus the market value of the profession by those who determine our status in society. Service oriented professions such as ours are labour intensive. Quite often within the profession reference is made to library schools as being more theoretically and conceptually oriented than towards practice, inferring that graduates do not possess the library and management skills required to operate in the 'real' world of the library/information professional immediately upon graduating. In order to offer quality of service and product as a profession we should be: (i) offering a period of 'internship' in the profession where these theories are put into practice under the guidance of an experienced professional and, ii) determining how library school curricula may be changed to accommodate the practical side of the profession. To improve the market value of the profession a combination of the above is essential. Library schools must expose students to some practical aspects of librarianship during the period of training Following this, on the attainment of the professional qualification, a period of 'internship' should be a part of every institution hiring a 'raw' graduate. Many graduates are left to struggle along on their own and many of them either sink or carry on in the profession not being able to contribute to their fullest capacity. After a period of internship the graduate will feel confidant and be able to exhibit qualities he can market to his client as evidence of his professionalism.

84

6 Professional Terminology I cannot recall a profession in which there is as much confusion in identification as in librarianship. When one speaks of a nurse, lay persons are very clear that she or he is not a doctor; a technician is not an engineer. This is not so in the library and information profession as clients are unable to recognize the difference between a professional, paraprofessional or clerk! Terminology today changes with trends. Librarians are named after the building in which they work. Libraries date back to the time of Alexandria and were a part of that civilisation. The profession has survived many civilisations but many things remain as they were then!! Library buildings are innate objects and to remain associated with such objects exhibits a reluctance to accommodate change. This has resulted in the profession suffering the same fate. There is a definite need for the profession to change and adapt to the times and this is applicable to the terms with which it is identified. As a librarian discussing our functions I see them as no different from those of the information professional as defined by Mason (1990). Acceptance of change and standardisation of terminology will facilitate recognition. International movements such as I FLA where the greatest spectrum of countries and professionals are represented should be the facilitators of uniformity in this. Focusing on the definition of the information professional by Mason again, it is my belief that we should catch the bandwagon at this point and be rid of the term librarian and identify as information professionals while at the same time pursuing means which will strengthen our performance and credibility as the providers of information to the nation, institution or organisation.

7 Institutional/Organisational Involvement Librarians function within organisational and institutional structures. A clear understanding of the philosophies of these organisations and the offering of services which support these philosophies will widen the focus of the profession and improve the image and status of the profession. In the academic institution there has been many a controversial discussion over academic versus professional status. It should be the aim of every group of professional librarians in an academic institution to constantly battle for equality of conditions of service, recognition etc. When one group has achieved this for librarians' work within a range of organisational philosophies, it is then their responsibility to assist the next group. Library professionals must involve themselves in all facets of the organisations' decision making. Representations on university committees, city and town councils, school boards and statutory organisations, which may or may not be library related, can greatly assist in changing the views of the layperson with regard to his image of the profession. Initiatives

85

for liaison between the library as an institution within an institution must evolve from within. The underlying concept of service is 'selling' and this means 'going out'.

Conclusion Dynamism is the essence for visibility of the profession. Participation and active involvement in decision making bodies affecting our functions and purpose, internationally, nationally, regionally and at institution and organisation level are the means through which we will become visible. Assisted by a change of attitude and mandatory continuing education of library/information personnel, active public relations programmes, written codes of ethics and a focus on the 'user' will improve the market value of the profession. The achievement of this is the responsibility of each individual, his institution, his colleagues, his library/information association and those professional organisations which are viewed as allies.

DISCUSSION The chairperson recalled that library and information services are non-income generating activities, although library and information services, for instance, contribute to incomegenerating industries. There was general agreement on the need for a code of conduct plus an organisation to be responsible for its enforcement and to take action when breaches of the code occur. Often this was the rôle of a library association. On changing attitudes, particularly of older members in LIS, it was pointed out that new entrants to our profession and into LIS schools prefer the newer information work using information technology rather than the more traditional book-based activities associated with libraries. Recruitment should therefore be aimed at students with abilities to become highly qualified and whose interests could be satisfied by the contents of courses. In this connection it was pointed out that increasingly book-based traditional librarianship is merging with information services through the utilisation of the newer information technologies. Indeed, some have argued that information science is of little use without the support and backup of document-delivery systems based on the more traditional tasks of library collectiondevelopment. One cannot exist without the other. There was some confusion over the meaning of the term 'market value'. It is used differently by different groups. 'Value' alone could be expressed only in terms of costs but 'market value' depended also on the quality of services provided. Different situations demanded different strategies such, it was suggested, as different charging strategies for different sectors of the community, eg individuals and industrial users - although it was recognised that services to some sectors eg within academic institutions were difficult to cost.

86

With regard to changing the profession's name to improve its image there was, inevitably, disagreement. Market value it was suggested will improve with improvements in the quality of services that the LIS professionals provide. The use of the term 'professional' librarian was seen to be confusing to the public and the suggestion was made that 'professional' should be dropped.

References 1 2

Montgomery (1987), 64. Mason (1990) 125.

Bibliography Ralli, Tony, 'Professionalism - does it count?', Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 21: 3 (September 1990), 171-199. Mclnroy, Maureen, 'Regrets? I've had but few - since I left librarianship', Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 21: 1 (March 1990), 23-32. Borchadlt, D H & Francis, R D, 'Professional excellence', Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 22: 2 (June 1991), 117-125. White, Dr James J, 'The measurement of professional performance of Queensland librarians', Education for Librarianship: Australia, 4: 3 (Spring 1987), 110-119. Wainwright, Eric J, 'Job satisfaction and professional development: congruent and achievement goals?' Education for Librarianship: Australia, 8: 2 (Winter 1991), 60-66. Roberts, Norman, Ά profession in crisis', Library Association Record, 93: 7 (July 1991), 450, 452-453. Mason, Richard O, 'What is an information professional?' Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 31: 2 (Fall 1990), 122 - 138. Savie, Dobrica, 'Information and documentation services as a tool for improving national development planning: a case study of Sierra Leone', International Library Review, 23: 3 (September 1991), 215 - 227. Montgomery, Bob, The truth about success and motivation: plain advice on how to be one of life's real winners, (Melbourne, Lothian Publishing, 1987).

87

PROFESSIONAL STATUS A N D RECOGNITION A O Banjo

According to William Patón, the fifth attribute of a profession is 'recognition of status by one's colleagues or by the state.' We may go further to affirm that with regard to the library profession, as workers in non-profit organisations, the 'legitimation (of their profession) is highly dependent on recognition and funding by governmental bodies'. Although recognition by peers, members of other professions, the users of library services, and members of the general public contribute toward shaping the status and image of librarians, recognition by government is by far the most crucial. Government and governmental bodies are the major, in some contexts the sole, employers of the services of members of the library profession. The level of government recognition is therefore a reliable index of how the profession is viewed by the rest of the society. It would also have an important effect on the scale of library and information service provided, its level of funding and the grading and remuneration of library and information services personnel vis-à-vis other personnel in the public service. Although the recent survey by Prins and de Gier did not seek specific information on statutory recognition for the library and information profession it can be inferred that their general conclusion covers the subject. The main conclusion of the survey, and one shared by others who have written on the subject, is that the image, status and reputation of the library and information profession is generally low in the perception of members of the profession themselves as well as the general public. Thus librarians are usually ranked lower than members of other professions such as medical doctors, lawyers, engineers and business executives in order of occupational prestige or status. The Prins/de Gier study found that 'invisibility' or poor public appreciation of the work of librarians ranked as the highest factor accounting for this situation. Librarians' relatively poor remuneration and the marginal role they are perceived to be playing in economic development are two other important factors they identified. The study also found that the general public is generally unaware of the social responsibilities of libraries and the scale of their financial responsibilities. It would appear therefore that other key factors accounting for the low status and poor image of librarians is that their work is not properly understood by the general public which includes employers, library authorities and government. Consequently their contribution to national development is not appreciated. This has led to the operation of a vicious cycle: poor public recognition engendering poor funding which in turn produces poor quality of service, which further contributes to low public esteem of libraries and librarians. This paper discusses statutory recognition of library and information work in the context of the general seminar theme. It looks at various laws enacted to support library and information

88

services in general and the capacity of the library profession to sustain government support for its activities. As it has not been possible in the time available to undertake any empirical study for relevant data, examples will be drawn largely from Nigeria as the country with which the writer is familiar as well as the literature which was readily available at the time the paper was being prepared and to which specific references will be made.

STATUTORY RECOGNITION O F LIBRARY A N D INFORMATION WORK Statutory recognition of library and information work refers to the laws enacted by government on a variety of library-related subjects. Such legislation confers legitimacy on library and information work and empowers library authorities to obtain necessary resources to provide their authorised services.

Statutory Provision of National Library and Information Services It is generally held that the enactment of appropriate legislation is the most desirable basis for establishing national public library systems. A Unesco-sponsored seminar on the development of public libraries in Africa recommended that 'the permanence and development of public library service (should) be assured by appropriate legislation'. Such legislation would prescribe its administrative structure and sources of funding and would guarantee government's commitment to its continued provision. Since that seminar, this has become the conventional wisdom in library circles in Africa and the provision of a legal basis for national public library systems has been widely advocated as the recipe for their rapid development. A similar resolution was passed at the Manila regional seminar for Asia and the Pacific areas in 1964, urging participants to convince their governments to introduce legislation to co-ordinate the activities of libraries on a national scale. The importance of legislation also has a special meaning in the context of the developing countries where the establishment of modem libraries is a recent phenomenon and where legislation has been the basis for the founding of similar social institutions such as universities, medical services, research institutions etc. In the absence of any relevant tradition, the provisions of the laws setting up such institutions become the basis of their existence and the guarantee of their ftiture development, setting out their structure, functions, the powers and the status of their functionaries in relation to others, their financial provision etc. Nevertheless not every country has adopted this model. In Anglophone West Africa, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Gambia have such legislation. In Nigeria, because of its Federal administrative structure which made the provision of library services a regional rather than a federal subject before its present state structure, only the former

89

Eastern region had a public library service which was established by legislation. It has been generally acknowledged that for that reason the region was ahead of the other two in the qual ity of its public library service. Legal provisions for the establishment and maintenance of library and information services are not limited to public library systems. They are also considered to be the most desirable basis for the establishment of National Libraries. According to a survey conducted by Bagrova National Libraries in 85 countries, 45 of which are developing countries, were established by statute. The Lenin State Library maintains a valuable database of National Library legislation worldwide which should assist those interested in comparative studies of such legislation. There are also examples of statutes providing for library and information services as part of laws of parent institutions such as universities, colleges, research bodies etc. The laws provide a secure basis for such services and a justification for their staffing and annual financial provisions.

Provision of National Co-ordinating Bodies A national co-ordinating body for the library and information services within a country creates conditions for a more effective use of the total stock of information in the constituent library subsystems within a nation. The case for the co-ordination of library services is even stronger in most developing countries which can ill-afford the cost of under-utilised resources where such services are almost entirely government funded. This is also consistent with a Unesco recommendation urging countries to establish such national bodies by legislation and to make them directly responsible to government. Boadi and Harvard-Williams found no existing models of such national co-ordinating bodies established by legislation in their study covering Anglophone West Africa. In Ghana and Liberia where such bodies exist they were not established by legislation. Reference will be made later in this paper to the situation in Nigeria where a memorandum has been submitted to government for the establishment of a National Commission for Libraries the objectives of which are expected to cover a co-ordinating role.

Legal Deposit and Bibliographical Control Statutory provisions for legal deposit and bibliographic control is an important area of library legislation empowering a designated library to receive indigenous publishing output by law from publishers and to document it the national publishing output and participate in the international exchange of bibliographical data under the Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC) programme. This function is usually given to the National Library.

90

In Anglophone West Africa, only Liberia does not have a legal deposit law. Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria have legal deposit laws and publish national bibliographies.

Statutes Defining the Status of Library Personnel In a number of laws setting up universities and research institutions the positions of heads of the libraries have been enhanced by their being specified as 'statutory officers' or 'principal officers'. In Nigeria, it was the 1954 Ordinance to reconstitute the University College, Ibadan which first established the library and the University Librarian by law. The librarian was mentioned as a member of Senate and Statute 7 (c) provides that 'the librarian shall be responsible for developing the library of the College as a centre of learning and research and for implementing the policy of the college in respect thereof. Subsequent university statutes in Nigeria have followed this tradition of conferring the status of a 'principal officer' on University Librarians while other library professional personnel have generally enjoyed 'academic status' within their institutions. Similarly in research institutes where the university usage has been adopted in their statutes, e.g. Nigerian Institute of International Affairs and Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the Directors of the libraries are by law principal officers while other library staff are accorded academic status. It must however be pointed out that these provisions are challenged from time to time by the teaching and research staff and librarians generally have to fight to retain this parity of status with their teaching and research colleagues. Part of the price which librarians have to pay in such settings is the requirement to 'publish or perish' in keeping with the academic tradition.

Register of Librarians The practice of maintaining registers of practicing professionals with legal backing is an established one particularly in the medical, legal and engineering professions. Such practice enables the professions to regulate and control professional practice and prescribe the standards of knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members or retain their membership. The application of this practice to the library profession raises a number of problems such as the definition of who would qualify to register as a librarian and the concept of a code of ethics. Nevertheless, perceiving that the operation of such a register is now the acknowledged credential for professional status, the Nigerian Library Association has since 1982 been trying to implement a resolution calling for appropriate legislation for the setting up of such a Register. It submitted to government a 'Draft Bill to Incorporate the Council for the Registration of Librarians in

91

Nigeria' modelled after those of the medical, legal and engineering professions. It is instructive that the effort has met with very little enthusiasm on the part of a succession of regimes (military and civilian) in the ten years since it has been submitted to government. This is partly because unlike medicine and law government does not think that it needs to protect society against the unauthorised practice of librarianship. Indeed the most sympathetic comment to date on the subject was from a Minister whose advice to the Association was that rather than trying to regulate the practice of their extremely few members they should seek to encourage more practitioners to join their fold and expand the present scope of library services! This was how the Association came to submit another Memorandum on the establishment of a National Commission for Libraries.

ROLE O F LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS It is generally agreed that one of the most important activities of national and international library associations is 'representations and advice to governments on legislation and other government action for the promotion of library services'. In a 1975 survey, 50 national associations in 31 countries reported being very active in promoting national legislation. It is not clear how many of these are located in developing countries however, as information from elsewhere would suggest otherwise. In his study of the attitude of librarians and information professionals to the Nigerian Library Association, Lawal found that 'legal recognition' ranked highest among areas requiring improvement in the activities of the Nigerian Library Association. This is hardly surprising for, as stated earlier, the Association has in the last ten years been seeking to implement, without much success so far, two resolutions requiring government legislation. This dismal record of achievement on the part of the Nigerian Library Association in discharging this primary responsibility appears to be consistent with what has been reported about similar associations in Africa. The following summary of the Nigerian experience may therefore be instructive: Firstly there would appear not to be much public interest in matters relating to library services. The evidence for this is that during the last ten years, when the Library Association has been canvassing support for its legislation, government has enacted similar laws for other professions. Secondly the Library Association's efforts have not been helped by regime instability and changes of administration on the Nigerian political scene. Thus it has so far had to deal with one civilian and two military administrations and at least four Ministers of Education charged with library matters. Meanwhile, there is now a prospect of another change of administration the return of civilian rule by the end of 1992.

92

These changes on the national scene have been paralled by similar changes in the leadership of the Library Association itself. Since the struggle started, the third President is now about to leave office. Finally the Nigerian experience illustrates perhaps the uncertainties involved with decision making under military rule. In theory the channels are less complicated and the process is potentially simpler but a lot depends partly on the standing of the interested party and the perception of a few key government functionaries of the relevance of the proposed legislation to their programme. In the final analysis therefore civilian regimes may provide more scope for lobbying and persuasion than their military counterparts. It would therefore appear that some improvement of skills in legislative activities is an important area where the capabilities of library associations in Africa and possibly other Third World countries needs to be improved. Since in this area, the American Library Association is the acknowledged leader, a few lessons may be drawn from its well documented experiences, after making necessary allowances for the different cultural and political setting that obtain in Third World countries. The first requirement is to strengthen existing library associations and ensure that senior and experienced members of the profession are encouraged to make contributions in key areas such as those relating to the writing of memoranda and lobbying members of the legislative body. Secondly, having regard to the importance of this activity, each library association should set up a standing committee to pursue its legislative agenda. Thirdly, since librarians are usually handicapped by their small numbers in every society, the American expedient of working in coalition with other organisations interested in library legislation is a very good one. Such potential allies are to be found in library and educational organisations and associations, associations of authors and publishers, civic leaders, etc. Finally the IFLA Round Table for the Management of Library Associations should assist in compiling guidelines and giving advice on setting up legislative programmes to interested associations.

CONCLUSIONS Statutory recognition is both important and useful in the definition of the status of the library and information profession and in legitimizing library and information services. But it has significant limits. One of these is set by the capacity of library associations to work through the effort and time-consuming legislative procedures to achieve the desired legislation.

93

Secondly, even when these have been achieved, statutory provisions are, in the final analysis, merely legal instruments. Whether a piece of legislation is a living instrument to achieve the purposes set out in it, often depends on human efforts which ensure that the purposes of the legislation are sustained from year to year. This point can be illustrated by the difficulties encountered by many libraries charged with implementing legal deposit laws due largely to the pervasive ignorance among publishers about the existence and purposes of the laws. On the other hand, where the quality of staff or service fail to match the expectations set by any particular statutory provision a credibility gap results. Thus in institutions where library staff have been accorded 'academic status' they are under pressure to justify such status to the rest of the academic community. Similarly 'librarians' working within the public service have sometimes lost their 'professional' status because the educational qualifications or the quality of service of the 'librarians' have been perceived to be less than professional. If librarians are to succeed in sustaining government recognition therefore, they must improve on their present capabilities of using their professional associations to promote the interests of their profession and society. They must also ensure that the qualities of library personnel and library services do not erode public and government recognition of their professional status.

DISCUSSION The chairperson re-emphasised the speaker's concern for an infrastructural base for the profession's activities and that legislation helps to empower the profession in its activities. Nevertheless, such legislation without support from the professionals within it for the quality of services provided by them was rarely of much use. The discussion leader, to assist discussion, posed four questions: * Do we as librarians seek recognition from the government to prove something or do we prove our worth by producing the services first after which recognition should follow? * How is it that the general public is unaware of the social and financial responsibilities of librarians. Is the profession not to blame for this situation? * With regard to the speaker's assertion that the enactment of legislation provided a solid basis for the operation of public library systems, he questioned whether this was the case; * Does the profession deserve to be ranked on the same level as doctors, university lecturers and researchers? Why should they not be governed by the same requirements to meet specified standards?

94

He endorsed, however, the view that librarians should support the maxim 'publish' or 'perish' in order to achieve the same status as other professions - a view given some support but with the added observation about the need for librarians to carry out research and thus be comparable with other academics and other professionals. There was disagreement with the view that the public did not need protection from the unauthorised practice of Iibrarianship. An example was provided from within the European Community where librarians could be made accountable for the correctness, up-to-dateness and accuracy of the information they provide. Other professionals, eg doctors, are held responsible for the mistakes that they make so why not librarians? It was pointed out that to achieve statutory recognition for a library association and its objectives five elements are required: * Recognition of the organisation's by-laws and instruments of government, eg a charter, and its aims and objectives; * The right to practice Iibrarianship - permitted by admission to a register that required certain standards of education and practice to be met; * The establishment of those standards that allow the right to practice; * The removal of the right to practice supported by a code of conduct and a disciplinary mechanism to enforce the code; * The need for Registered librarians to be responsible for the constant updating of their knowledge and skills with a consequence for those failing to do so of being removed from the register and thus being refused the right to practice. With regard to a legal framework, it was pointed out that it might be useful for the LIS infrastructure but it does nothing for the status of librarians. Indeed, it was pointed out that special librarians do not need legislation to function and yet in many situations their status is amongst the best. Similarly, university statutes benefit only the university librarian but confer no status on the staffs below. The only legislation that helps status is that concerned with the establishment of a professional register. In response, the speaker pointed out that in many developing countries the profession has little choice but to rely on the government and its legislation because most libraries are funded from that source. Caution was expressed that overdominance by governments would not be beneficial to the profession. It was thought that the existence of codes of conduct or ethics were central to the battle to improve status and image because these codes were the machinery by which improved performance for the users by the profession could be encouraged and even imposed. It was suggested that, with regard to the encouragement of standards of performance, awards for professional excellence might be advantageous.

95

It was suggested that in some countries the membership of library associations is not solely of professionals and that even some of those in membership are not committed to the profession and therefore do it no service.

REFERENCES 1 Paton, W B, 'The profession of librarianship', Library Association Record, 64: 10 (1962), 367-72. 2 Prins, H & de Gier, W, 'Status, image & reputation of librarianship', background paper presented at IFLA Pre-session Seminar, New Delhi, 1992. 3 Prins, H & de Gier, W, op. cit. 4 Okinda, Sharon, 'The public image of the library/ librarian: observations from Kenya and Nigeria', COMLA Newsletter, 74 (December 1991), 14-24. 5 Mistaras, Evangeline, 'Occupational status of the special librarian', (Masters thesis, Graduate Library School of Chicago, 1952). 6 Panalosa, Fernando, 'Librarians' perception of social and occupational status, paper presented May 1959. 7 O'Dowd, Donald D & Beardslee, David, 'College student images of selected group of professions and occupations', Cooperative Research Project No 552 (8142) (Middletown, Conn, Wesleyan University, 1960), 36-37. 8 Unesco, 'Development of public libraries in Africa: the Ibadan Seminar', Public Libraries Manual, 6 (1954), ρ 25. 9 Agidee, Dickson, 'Legal provisions of library development in Nigeria 1948-1968' Nigerian Libraries, 6: 1&2 (1970), 53-64. 10 Boadi, Β Y & Havard-Williams, P, 'Legislation for library and information services in Anglophone West Africa, Libri, 1 (1983), 9-21. 11 Bagrova, I, 'The legislative framework of national library functions', paper presented at the 57th IFLA Conference, Moscow, 1991.

96

12 Boadi, Β Y & Havard-Williams, Ρ, op. cit. 13 Bagrova, I, Op. cit. 14

Ibid.

15 Boadi, Β Y & Havard-Williams, Ρ , Op. cit. 16 Ibid. 17 Olaitan, M O, 'Publication laws in Nigeria, 1950-197Γ, Nigerian Libraries, 8: 1 (1972), 35-44. 18 Fang, Josephine Riss, 'National library associations and their impact on library legislation: an international survey', IFLA Journal, 5: 4 (1979), 276. 19 Fang, Josephine R & Songe, Alice, International guide to library, archival and information science associations, (New York, R R Bowker, 1976). 20 Lawal, Olu O, 'Library associations and professionalism: case study of the Nigerian Library Association', paper presented at the 30th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Library Association, 9-13 March, 1992. 21 Okinda, Sharon, op. cit. 22 Phiri, Zilole, Μ Κ, 'Performance of the library profession in Zambia', International Library Review, 18 (1986), 259-266. 23 American Library Association, 'The national legislative network for libraries: a master plan', (Chicago, ALA, 1973). 24 Cooke, Eileen D, 'The role of ALA and other library associations in the promotion of library legislation', Library Trends, 24 (July 1975), 137-153. 25 Boadi, Β Y & Havard-Williams, Ρ, op. cit. 26 Olaitan, M O, op. cit., (1972).

97

MANAGEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: GUIDELINES David R Bender

Introduction According to the American Society of Association Executives, 'Associations are organized by a group of people who have joined together voluntarily in order to achieve common goals and solve common problems by sharing information and working together'. This need for people to form associations to work together to achieve common goals can be found as far back as the ancient cultures in Rome and the Orient. One of the initial ties that bound people together, more than 3,000 years ago, was trade. However, the craft and merchant guilds of the Middle Ages were the first organizations to closely resemble the associations of today. The guilds were formed primarily to ensure fair wages and working conditions - goals that many modem associations seek for their members. Within the library profession, associations are formed to achieve a broad diversity of goals on behalf of their members - education and training, government relations, public relations, publications, and research, to name a few. What ties all of these activities together is that ultimately they impact the image of the profession - with our peers, our supervisors, and our patrons. These activities collectively help create an environment in which members of the association can develop a professional identity and competence and operate effectively. The Mission Statement and Goals Every association must have a mission - a driving force that unites the membership. The mission is the association's reason for being. It answers the question, 'What needs of the potential members are currently unmet or unsatisfactorily met but which could be filled by this association?'. Philip Kotier states in his book, Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, that an association's mission must be 'feasible, motivating, and distinctive'. The mission must be realistically attainable, or the association will guarantee its own failure. The mission must truly represent the desires of the potential membership, or they won't join and work on behalf of the

98

organization. The mission must be significantly different from those of similar associations, or the organization will be superfluous and will not attract membership. At the Special Libraries Association, our current mission is 'to advance the leadership role of its members in putting knowledge to work for the benefit of the general public and decisionmakers in industry, government, the profession; and to shape the destiny of our information society'. This mission, which was formally adopted by the SLA Board of Directors in October 1989, reflects the Board's recognition of how much the profession's image impacts the environment in which the members operate. Accompanying the mission statement should be written goals that more specifically describe the actions that the association plans to take to accomplish its mission. These goals may be measurable and have a timetable. SLA's goals pertain to three broad areas: the individual members, the collective association, and the environment in which the association operates. To keep the association on course, the SLA staff is required to match up its accomplishments with these goals prior to each meeting of the board of directors. This is a very valuable exercise, because it allows management to make certain that all activities really relate to organizational goals and that no goals are being inadvertently overlooked.

Bylaws Well-written bylaws are important to association management. organizational structure and working relationships.

They help establish

Judith Walker, an account executive with Smith, Bucklin & Associates, an association management firm headquartered in Chicago, wrote that bylaws are also important to an organization's image. 'Well-constructed bylaws are a useful tool in building the organization and attracting new members, too, because they reflect the image of an organization that is professional, well-managed, and aware of its legal responsibilities.' Some of the items that may be included in association rules of procedures are: * * *

membership categories membership services board of directors size and responsibilities

99

* * *

nomination and election procedures committee structure and responsibilities procedures for amending the bylaws

Program and Service Selection Association activities should be offered only if they directly address association goals or if they will generate revenue needed to fund other activities that address association goals. The trend in associations today is 'unbundling' - offering a small number of activities for free as a benefit of membership but making others available on a fee basis. The principles behind this are that dues can be maintained at a modest level only if limited products and services are included in the core package, and that it is more equitable if only those that choose to use a service have to pay for it. An important management decision is determining what will be in the package that all members receive. These should include the services that the majority of members are most likely to need or desire. Certainly the association newsletter or newspaper should be part of the package, because members expect to receive regular communications from their association. However, a timely, well-written newsletter also benefits management, because it enhances the association's image with its members by keeping them aware of its accomplishments. The newsletter may also be distributed externally to enhance the association's image with external audiences. Small associations often can find outside vendors to provide certain services, such as insurance, to their members more economically than the associations could themselves. In this way, some revenue can be generated with very little expenditure of staff resources. An activity that may simultaneously achieve several association goals is an educational seminar. The sessions enhance the professionalism of the attendees, the meeting provides members with an opportunity for networking, and revenue may be generated. A guiding principle in association activities is 'Know the Membership'. It's easy to make assumptions about what members want or need, but the assumptions easily could be wrong. At SLA, I and the rest of the staff receive a variety of member inputs to help us determine what activities to offer.

100

A major source of information about SLA membership services is its Super Survey - an indepth needs assessment questionnaire that even allows the membership to rank current services in order of importance to them. However, a low-cost method of product research that SLA uses successfully is focus groups. Almost any time management is with members, an hour or two can be allocated to letting a small group of members air their views on a specific subject. Judith Walker offered this advice about planning products and services: While planning your program of benefits, remember that you're really no different than a company offering new products to consumers. You need to consider all the facets that would go into a marketing operation: the product, the price, the promotion, and the distribution. In addition to the products and services offered to directly benefit members, such as seminars, the association may also conduct activities that impact the profession collectively, such as government relations or public relations programs. These activities are very image-oriented and are often high priorities to many members, so it behooves management to allocate ample resources to these efforts and report progress regularly.

Program and Service Management Small associations inevitably must rely heavily on volunteer members to manage programs. The advantage is that members are personally familiar with the issues and needs of the profession. The disadvantage is that they often don't have the spare time or energy that is required. In working with volunteers, association management must make sure that responsibilities are carefully spelled out and must regularly monitor progress. Then management must exercise patience, because volunteers are well-intentioned or they wouldn't have volunteered, but they will have other responsibilities that will sometimes take precedent over their association assignments. At SLA, each individual program has a one-year plan of its own to provide a road map by which to make sure activities are on time and headed in the correct direction. The program management plans demonstrate how the programs fulfill goals of the association's strategic plan, list specific actions and their deadlines, and describe the contributions the programs will make to association growth.

101

If an association cannot afford a full-time staff person, outside consultants may be the best approach for managing projects requiring specialized skills, such as planning a meeting oir publishing a newsletter.

Conclusion Once the association is organized and funded, optimistic, positive leadership is the most important service that an association executive can give to members. An association executive must move members to innovate, to improvise, and to accept change. Recently I read about the challenges that a saguaro cactus faces in reaching maturity. Only one out of every 275,000 seeds will reach that stage. To survive initially, the young cactius must grow in the shade of another plant. It will take 25 years to grow the first two feet, 7 5 years before it can branch out, and 100 years until it reaches adulthood. But at maturity, thie cactus can be more than 50 feet tall, weigh more than 10 tons, and live for 250 years. Similarly, a professional association faces many daunting challenges in reaching maturity. According to the American Society of Association Executives, association management means problem solving, co-ordinating people with diverse backgrounds, desires and needs, learning to say 'no', knowing when to say 'yes', managing one's own and others' time, and continuing to grow in competence and understanding. Association leadership must know what's on the association's mind and what it is capable of. It must steer a path through a maze of obstacles to create and maintain an effective organization, but the end result will be an association that significantly enhances the power and prestige of the profession.

DISCUSSION The chairperson emphasised that the profession's attitude towards itself must change in order not to reinforce the stereotype that the public have of librarians. Linkages with other organisations related to LIS are very important. Because of the difficulty of enforcing codes of conduct they should perhaps only serve as guides to help members' understanding of the public's expectations of them. Professionals should be liable for the information that they provide, perhaps under malpractice laws. Because professionals' education becomes quickly obsolete continuing education programmes were a priority function for any library association to provide.

102

It was pointed out that in many Third World countries low salaries only enable members to finance low subscriptions which are not adequate then to provide associations with full-time staff and as a consequence much of their work is undertaken under this severe constraint. The point was made that there is a need to get younger people involved but that in some cases the older professionals tend to want to stay in positions of authority in their library associations, thus inhibiting the entry of younger people. The answer is to have limited terms of office. There is a need continuously to monitor and evaluate the performance of programmes and the delivery of services by library association to their members through surveys. However, there is also a need not only for library associations to respond to members' needs but also for them to be courageous and to lead with decision-making that might not always be easy and popular. There is a need for library associations to get involved in the harmonisation of LIS grades and qualifications, particularly those from different overseas countries. A start should be made with those in the Civil Service. However, library associations should not become trade unions or trade associations because these activities divert from a professional association's main objectives, absorb much money and place library associations in positions where they are not always respected for this work by governments. There was general agreement that it is important to get governments to recognise that librarianship is the work of professionals primarily and not only of paraprofessionals and technicians. The discussions ended by reminding seminar participants that during the IFLA Conference itself the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations was to hold a one-day workshop on the management of library associations with the objectives of improving their effectiveness and efficiency. It would use as a 'textbook' the RTMLA's Guidelines for the Management of Professional Associations in the Fields of Archives, Library and Information Work (PGI-89/WS/11) Unesco Paris 1989.

103

RESOLUTIONS

These were presented to the IFLA Professional Board each in two parts. The first prefaces the Resolution itself to provide the background, drawn from the papers and the discussions., and then the Resolution itself. 1. Topic: Government Support Background: By and large, Government support for library and information services in developing countries is inadequate and this is often attributable to the absence of national policy. Resolution: Library associations and other lead agencies at the national level are urged to combine efforts in formulating and recommending national policy for library and information services for the consideration of the Government, in order to improve provisions overall and enhance the image and status of the profession. 2. Topic: Socio-cultural Impact Background: In many developing countries, library and information services have failed to make a significant impact on the national developmental process. This has impinged in turn on considerations of image and status. Resolution: IFLA as well as national associations and institutions need to focus greater attention on activities associated with high priority national concerns, such as the eradication of illiteracy, the promotion of information services and oral culture, and demonstrate its commitment and support in order to further enhance the image and status of the profession. 3. Topic: Regulatory Instruments Background: Many countries have enacted or adopted various laws, policies, statutes and codes of ethics to facilitate the establishment of an infrastructure and the better functioning of their library and information services. Resolution: that IFLA/Unesco compiles and publishes a manual providing guidance on the preparation of library and information legislation and policy, codes of ethics and statutory recognition of the profession based on experience in both the developing and developed countries in order to upgrade the quality of services and enhance professional performance. 4. Topic: Education and Training Background: In the final analysis, the image and status of the profession is dependent on professional performance, which is itself the result of education entry levels, attitudes, curriculum content, continuing education and accreditation. Resolutions: 1) IFLA, through its Division for Education and Research, should prepare guidelines on curriculum content which should also include the teaching of the concept of professionalism, education entry levels, teaching and other support faculty for consideration of library schools at national level;

104

2) Library associations and other lead agencies at national level should provide programmes in continuing education to enhance professional capability; 3) Library associations should function as national accreditation bodies where appropriate; 4) IFLA should support regional forums on education and training taking into account on-going initiatives. 5. Topic: Professional Associations Background: It is recognised that by and large, library associations in the developing countries are weak and are unable to perform their primary functions, which in turn reflects unfavourably on the overall profession. Resolutions: IFLA is urged: 1) to support improvements in respect of the management of library associations based on the Unesco Guidelines; 2) through its existing regional sections, offices and groups to facilitate the creation and activities of regional and sub-regional associations; 3) to encourage national library associations to explore linkages with related interest groups in order to enhance the national stature of the profession. 6. Topic: Standards and Guidelines Background: The quality of library and information services is partly dependent on compliance with standards and guidelines. There is a pressing need therefore for input/performance standards and guidelines to be formulated to enhance the quality of services and improve professional performance. Resolution: That IFLA publishes a manual of standards and guidelines for library and information services for dissemination to member associations and institutions in order to facilitate the formulation of input/performance of standards at the national level so as to enhance the quality of services as well as societal recognition of the profession. 7. Topic: Public Perceptions Background: School children and their parents often have their earliest encounter with libraries through the school library. Although education is often a priority, school libraries tend to be the most neglected. Early public perceptions of the profession therefore tend to be negative. Resolution: IFLA, national library associations and institutions are urged to impress on Governments and on educational authorities the importance of school libraries as an integral part of the educational process with commensurate support provisions. 8. Topic: User Satisfaction Background: It is recognised that user satisfaction of the services provided by library and information services contributes towards enhancing the image and status of the profession and that few such surveys have been conducted in the developing countries.

105

Resolution: 1) that IFLA, through consultation with member associations and institutions and oni the basis of IFLA guidelines, creates a standard questionnaire to ensure consistency, reliability and comparability of data; 2) that IFLA then undertakes surveys of user satisfaction in collaboration with regional/national organisations, modifying the standard questionnaire as appropriate., to reflect regional/national needs and facilitate the use of survey results.

9.

Topic: Case Studies: Positive Perceptions Background: It is recognised that there are too many negative perceptions of the librar;·' and information profession and that a compilation of case studies of positive perceptions would help to enhance the image and status of the profession. Resolution: that IFLA compiles a handbook of case studies which illustrate the successful provision of library and information services and the positive perceptions of the user community in order to promote a more positive image of the profession.

10. Topic: Reliable Data Background: It is recognised that there is a lack of reliable data on the image and status of the library and information profession in the developing countries and inadequate forums for their consideration. Resolutions: that IFLA: 1 ) formulates standards and guidelines covering core areas for adoption or modification by member associations and institutions; 2) encourages member associations and institutions to collect and analyse relevant information. 3) provides support for regional/national forums to consider activities aimed at enhancing the status and image of the profession. The Professional Board, in accepting the Resolutions, passed them to the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations, at its request for the RT to consider each in detail and recommend where action will lie to turn the resolutions into effective actions and also indicate what requires to be done. The RTMLA's intention is to ensure that actions flow from the Seminar not only words.

106

Valedictory Address by Mr C Ρ Vashishth, President, Indian Library Association

I am sure you must have had a fruitful deliberation on the subject 'Status, Reputation and Image of the Library and Information Profession'. Though we use these terms independently, all these go together. All these will depend upon the quality of the services libraries and information centres provide to the clientele. The services these institutions provide will depend upon the realisation, perception, planning and organisation by the library and information professions. Thus, everything centres round the library and information personnel. When we talk of status, it goes round the LIS professionals. Status depends generally on the salary and service conditions the profession offers to an individual. Some professions are fortunate, in the sense, they enjoy high status in society. For example, an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer enjoys higher status compared to other professions because their services are regarded as of an essential nature for human well-being. Hence, these are the most sought after people in society. These are also described as professional disciplines although L&IS is also a professional discipline very much like medicine, engineering, law, etc. But we all are aware that we do not enjoy the same status as that of an engineer, doctor or lawyer. Why? The answer is simple. Society has realised and recognised the importance of these disciplines. Medicine, engineering and law are essential to the government and managing authorities. The need for information and libraries unfortunately, has not been so far realised as a vital component for the growth and development of an individual and the society at large. Hence, the status of the L&IS profession will improve only when society realises the role of information. The status will automatically come as the need for information is seriously felt by the society. We should not demand status but we should command it. By this I mean to say that society should realise the role being played by the library and information profession in the development of the individual's knowledge and skills and in the social, cultural and economic development of the nation. Further, library and information professionals should work in such a way that their importance is realised and rewarded by the society. Once it is realised, not only the social status, but also the salaries and service conditions will also get improved. Coming to reputation, it is more individually oriented, whereas status is profession oriented. The reputation of an individual institution will depend upon its resources and services. The reputation of an individual depends upon the goodwill he builds up by way of his devotion, dedication and service. When I talk of reputation, I remember a news item in the Times of India way back in the 1970s. An ordinary police constable died in Bombay. When the funeral procession was on, the traffic on the streets was stopped for over two hours. This means thousands and thousands of people joined the procession mourning his loss! Just imagine, the traffic in a city like Bombay was stopped for two hours just because the dead body of a constable was being taken in a procession. We know what reputation an ordinary constable enjoys in our society. Here was an example before

107

us of a constable who endeared himself to the society by just his service and service alone. Whether the profession is noble or not is immaterial. It is the devotion to duty and service to the society that builds up reputation. By image we mean, how we are projecting ourselves to others. How do we behave, what amount of hard work are we putting in? How best are we able to realise the social needs and plan our work? Image needs building. Mere hard work and service is not going to build up the image. We have to project our image. This is the age of publicity and propaganda. The library and information profession should, no doubt, provide service. At the same time we should make the users realise their need for information; the role of information professionals in collecting, collating and presenting the information; and new strategies and services. To sum up, library and information professionals should try to master skills in information collection, processing and dissemination. They should totally devote themselves to their profession. They should push up reputation by their devotion to the cause of librarianship and service to society at large. Reputation builds up image. Image will lead to a rise in status. So I wish and hope that the new generation of the professions will build reputation; through reputation gain status; through status improve image; through improved image they get recognition; through recognition they get delight or 'Ananda' or 'MokshaV

108

Image, status and reputation: where to now? A summary

This essay is an attempt to provide a focus on the outcomes of the seminar and particularly to emphasise some of the major issues that emerged from the discussions after each of the papers. The observations, it must be emphasised, are very much the personal thoughts of one of the Editors. The essay in addition to attempting a synthesis of the issues raised in the discussions also indicates those that received support from the 'experts' and regional representatives gathered there together. It will comment on the resolutions and specifically indicate their apparent relevance to the published Medium Term Programmes (MTP) 1992-97 and to IFLA's Long Term Plan. Finally it will indicate the work that is going on to implement them so that, as so often unfortunately happens, the resolutions do not remain only as words but get interpreted into actions. Image, status and reputation affect almost all who work in library and information services so it is especially important that the actions recommended in this Seminar are carried out. A most interesting issue to address is how much the hypotheses, that formed the background to the Prins and Gier/NBLC research project and that were addressed in the papers and discussions, were proved or disproved. Were they correct or were they not? The first stated that there is 'little understanding amongst the general public of what library and information (LIS) workers do and what responsibilities they undertake', a view that was generally supported. It was suggested that this might be the responsibility of the profession itself to put right. There was general agreement that librarians suffered from 'invisibility' however that might be interpreted, eg away at meetings, 'managing' away from the library or in their offices at the rear of the building and certainly not visible on their information or circulation desks. Another interpretation of 'invisibility' was that at meetings and on occasions when other professionals are present, librarians become 'shrinking violets' and are not positive enough in advancing their causes or themselves so that in comparison with other professionals they appeared 'invisible'. Of course if by temperament librarians are quiet, passive or introverted, or at least not extrovert enough in comparison with people with whom they work, then the image they convey of the profession is a mirror of their own personality. On this issue of the temperament and characteristics of people attracted into the profession the seminar had positive answers: attract in more extroverts and 'aggressive' types during the selection programmes in the departments of library and information studies (DLIS) and, whilst doing this, attract in more entrants with science rather than arts and humanities backgrounds. These people could address issues such as the introduction of products and services resulting from the computer, software and telecommunication revolutions, that required resolution. These considerations, in turn, led to the need for departments of library and information studies to address the problem of the contents of LIS curricula and their delivery through course programmes. Many of these around the world were considered to be out of date, lacking in intellectual stimulation and vigour and consequently appeared unattractive to the very people that the DLIS ought to be striving to attract. There was an appreciation that in many cases the DLIS would have to address the problem of lecturers who

109

were, for too long, divorced from actual practice themselves or those which had to rely om very young lecturers who had not been in positions to receive the benefits of practical experience from working in LIS environments. A solution suggested was for improved cooperation between the DLIS and libraries and information services perhaps through programmes organised by library associations. 'The profession in many countries is dominated by women and in many countries women's status itself is low'. Considering the social backgrounds and cultures from which the participants came, for instance countries in which Islam is the dominant religion and froim countries in Asia and Latin America where the traditional roles of women have tended to be family- and home-based, it might have been expected that this hypothesis would have received support. It did not. Instead there was even an argument advanced that womem assisted with raising status as they did, it was suggested, in the teaching profession - am example that could well be challenged given that the status and rewards for teaching are mucin the same as for the LIS profession, eg low and poor. 'Over production from DLIS onto the markets where job opportunities are limited'. This hypothesis was not addressed directly but discussions on other subjects made clear thait participants believed that entry, in terms of numbers, the pre-university education required as entry qualifications to the courses, the qualities of the course programmes themselves and their delivery, and the characteristics of people attracted into the profession could not, and should not, be left entirely to the DLIS alone to resolve. There were strong feelings that the profession itself, through the library associations, should have either a responsibility shared with the departments or they should be the final arbiters as to who should, and who should not, enter the practice of the profession. Various suggestions as to how such situations might be achieved were made. Indeed the issue that arose more often than any other in the discussions (in four of the post-paper discussions) was the need for library associations to be more involved with the departments in the monitoring of the standards of education provided in them. There was almost equally strong support for the proposal that library associations should develop with the DLIS joint accreditation processes (as does The Library Association of the UK and the American Library Association) which would also provide the co-operation already identified as being necessary to bring together practitioners and educators. It was also suggested, although not with overwhelming support, that library associations had a responsibility, as professional organisations perse, to control entry into professional practice, both in terms of numbers and the standards expected of those wishing to practise. This is the case with lawyers, solicitors, architects, engineers, nurses and doctors in many countries. It was noted that the Library Association in the UK and recently the Philippines Library Association had responsibility for entry onto a register of those qualified to undertake professional practice, not by law in the UK but by statute in the Philippines. There was agreement, in over-simplified terms, that education for LIS was the responsibility of the DLIS, although through accreditation procedures also with the participation of the profession through the library associations, whilst post-education training, eg putting the theories and principles learned on courses into practice, was the responsibility of the profession itself in the .libraries and information services and, again in co-operation with the profession at large, through the associations.

110

'The actual work and responsibilities of many professional librarians are at low levels such as paraprofessional/technical levels and compare unfavourably to other professions, ie in local government, in commercial and business firms and in academic institutions'. There was a clear view that there is confusion not only in the minds of LIS users but also in the profession itself about the division of functions and responsibilities between professionals and paraprofessionals. The division of views, perhaps oversimplified, could be represented by those supporting the somewhat sentimental and emotionally-inspired view of the 'single house of librarianship and information work' and those supporting the concept of the 'profession of librarianship and information work' which might be labelled the purist approach. Discussions revealed concern for the situations in which paraprofessionals appeared to be undermining the salaries and conditions of service expected by professionals for their work and which they considered to be fully professional. (A view that was strongly supported). The danger was also recognised of librarians' work being taken over by others from related occupations such as systems designers, computer engineers or operators and software engineers, although it was recognised that librarians need to appreciate that the knowledge and skills of such people have important contributions to make to the practice of LIS work. In many countries there exists, for historical and developmental reasons, an imbalance of paraprofessionals to professionals. Educational opportunities therefore needed to be provided to permit the upgrading of their qualifications. To assist, not only with this problem, but also to help practising professionals to obtain new skills to cope with the introduction of information technologies, to manage change and introduce the new philosophies and practices of management that are often the consequence of restrictions in the funding of their services, the Seminar recognised that continuing professional development opportunities provide an important means to up-date skills - a view again strongly supported. The provision of CPD opportunities was seen not only as a responsibility of professional library associations but also of the departments of library and information studies. Indeed, commitment to continuing professional development and its provision was perceived as a measure of the 'professionalism' of the library and information services themselves. Inevitably the name of the profession was seen by some as an obstacle to improvement of the image, status and reputation. There was, equally inevitably, no agreement on the changes required. Some advocated the use of the term 'trained librarian', or 'qualified librarian' or 'professional librarian' whilst others equally strongly urged that 'librarian' should be used alone, with the implicit understanding that the word standing by itself implied that the person was trained, qualified and professional as with 'doctor' or 'nurse'. The Philippines Library Association, we learnt, had been successful in negotiating with government the recognition of the term by statute - a major success that it was hoped other library associations would emulate. 'Lack of legal status or statutorily recognised qualifications, ie no register of qualified practitioners as with engineers or architects or doctors for instance'. There were two issues addressed here - the lack of, and therefore need for, a register and secondly for this to be supported by law and statutory recognition of it. As already indicated, there was general support for, certainly no dissenting voices against, the need for registers to be established for those for whom there was agreement that they met accepted standards to

111

practice and to provide services to the publics using their library and information services·. The standards to be applied would need to be worked upon and agreed. Who would bte responsible for establishing these minimum standards was not clear but it was assumed thait they would be corporately arrived at by the practitioners themselves and then be adopted b'y library associations. There appeared to be general agreement that, once standards to practic.e had been agreed by the profession and adopted by a library association, then there could bie nothing but benefit in these being recognised by governments through law. However, whiclh should come first, the legislation or the establishment of standards, provoked somte disagreement; some contributors argued strongly that governments will lead this operation.. Others argued that standards and the professional register needed to be established first anid the public encouraged, through their operation and practice, to understand the benefits to theiir services so that from its appreciation legal recognition would follow. Such arguments led to what lay at the heart of the deliberations in the seminar, namely thie provision of services by those working in libraries and information centres and the quality anid the standards that they provided. Three hypotheses, that were put to the participants with regard to the low reputation of the profession, suggested that one reason might be: 'Pooir perceptions by LIS workers of their responsibilities, which can be viewed in terms oif social responsibilities such as access to information and the protection of the free-flow of information as well as their managerial responsibilities in terms of staffs, buildings and finances'. The second hypothesis read: 'The concept of the librarian as a professional is not clearly understood. Some in the profession regard themselves only as skilled workers, some as professionals but even then there is a difference Ln understanding between a "hard" and a "soft* profession, eg medicine for the former and management for the latter*. The third read: 'Expectations of the quality of the services provided by librarians to their user-communities are not always clearly understood and sometimes, when they are, they are poor*. The tenor of the discussions on these hypotheses throughout the seminar made clear that there exists a very clear perception of the concept of a skilled and expert profession with unique skills and expertise to offer to the users of their services and who saw themselves as different from the technicians or paraprofessionals working with them in their services. On the differences in the levels of expertise and skills of each group there was general agreement. However, on other factors that made them different, there was less agreement. For instance, it was questioned whether professional information workers had any basis on which to argue that they should be considered, or should consider themselves, on an equal level with doctors or the other recognised professionals. As to the uniqueness of the LIS profession's responsibilities to society for the upholding of freedom of information - defended with radio, television and newspapers and others in the media business - and the profession's absolutely unique responsibility to uphold and protect the right of access of every individual to the information that they seek, there was less support, even though these were responsibilities identified by Unesco at its Paris 1974 NATIS Conference. Perhaps this should not have been surprising when one stops to consider the difficulties that the adoption of such responsibilities might create in some countries. There was agreement, however, that unless the profession takes responsibilities for being involved in the long-term national development of their

112

country and in so doing identifies itself with the major issues and thrusts of national developmental policies it will be overlooked and its concerns relegated to unimportant places in the countries' future development priorities. The most significant point to emerge from all the discussions was that the quality of the services provided to the public using the LIS was the key to success in improving the image, status and reputation of the profession. Legislation to support librarians and their qualifications and the associations etc would follow, not precede, the attainment of quality in the library and information services on offer. On this issue there was almost unanimous support as the addressing of the following specific issues proved. For instance, if librarians could themselves be, and their services followed suit, outward-looking and proactive, rather than reactive, then there would be better awareness among the public of what they could provide. What might be provided would depend on many factors, such as the country's own level of development, but examples from the Seminar participants suggested that they might range from libraries taking up activities in areas considered by governments to be of national importance, such as the eradication of illiteracy and the provision of services to electorates in rural communities, to the exploitation of the benefits of the information technology revolution, to the development of user surveys and to the creation of user education programmes. To return to the issue of the profession adopting more social responsibilities, surprisingly there appeared to be no great support for the professional taking responsibility for the quality, accuracy, completeness and up-to-dateness of the information that he, or she, provided to the public. Yet without undertaking this there can be little difference between a professional and a skilled worker. The difference between a doctor and a carpenter is that the former takes responsibility for judgements of a life and death magnitude and consequent actions. Information provision, to some it was argued, would be just as significant a responsibility. However, there was unanimous agreement that improvements to the profession's standards of performance far outweigh the importance of marketing thus emphasising the theory that it is only possible to market a product or a service when it exists to a standard that people will use. Without a product or a satisfactory service there is nothing to market. Two others issues engaged the attention of the seminar and both were perceived to be central to activities that are prerequisite to improved image, status and reputation. The first was the need to establish effective codes of conduct or ethics for professionals. There was much support for library associations to devise codes against which professional's provision of services could be compared. There was equally strong support for the establishment of machinery to permit library associations to take action against those failing to meet or practice the standards set down in a code. The existence of such a code lies at the heart of the functions and responsibilities of a library association and so the seminar's concentration on this subject was most welcome. How to establish them seemed to present problems and IFLA, in one of the resolutions, has been asked to assist. Library associations, not surprisingly, were seen in most instances to have major roles to play in any success in improving the image, status and reputation of the profession, along with

113

improvements in performance and the provision of services to the public. Many tasks were laid at library association doors - from establishing accreditation procedures with the departments of library and information studies to establishing a register to control entrance via numbers and standards - into professional practice, to drawing up codes of conduct and the operating machinery to make them work, to obtaining legal recognition for librarians, to working with governments on matters of national importance and assisting with the development of national information policies. But the point was emphasised over and over again that in many countries the associations remain weak, under-resourced and therefore relatively ineffective for the tasks that the seminar identified for them. So another key to success must be improvements in their management and their consequent effectiveness. The last paper provided many ideas, as did the workshop held during the main conference A number of resolutions relate to these and 1FLA, and particularly the Round Table for the Management of Library Associations will need to be active in addressing them. They are, to a large measure, central to any future improvements in the image, status and reputation of the profession. So these are some of the starting points where initiation of action might be begun to overcome the image, status and reputation problem. However, the participants fully understood that many of these problems were interwoven and the whole issue of image, status and reputation was complex. As a consequence, the application of pressures for solutions in one area alone would not make any marked difference to the problem as a whole. Instead work, as indicated by the resolutions, needed to be co-ordinated. Work in IFLA, using its centres of expertise and excellence will involve many of its sub-organisations. IFLA as a whole will be required therefore to make a major undertaking to commit the entire organisation and all its relevant parts to being involved. The question is: will it, and can it? So if there are lessons for the body corporate of IFLA from the papers and the discussions and the testing of the hypotheses so there are from the research project - probably the most thorough and wide-ranging on the subject that has been undertaken in the international community. Reading the Prins and Gier paper makes clear what the issues are, as will the full report of the research project when it is published. Suffice it here to highlight what appear to me to be the most significant findings. First, laid to rest is the idea that concern for image, status and reputation is that of a few disgruntled, dissatisfied minorities of the profession working in particular sectors or countries. It is not so. 'Worldwide a great majority of practitioners in librarianship is convinced that the status is low and something has to be undertaken to enhance status and image' aid 'Eighty-two per cent or four out of five librarians are convinced (of those surveyed) the¡r status is low'. Similarly laid to rest can be the defence that the profession is too concerned with this questicn of image and that it is not one with which either it or the public should be concerned. 'We concluded that the workers in library and information services did not differ in their rankiig of the profession from the general public'.

114

The issue that should be engaging the attention of the profession, that should be leading to the development of policies and encouraging the laying of plans for work and activities to improve the situation is the lack of understanding, and awareness, of the concept of professionalism. 'But in the eyes of the outside world, the concept of librarianship as a profession has lagged behind other developments in society and still is strangely related to "the library", the building. With respect to "librarian", no association is made with "information", not to speak of "communication"'. 'The problem of the status of librarians is not a problem of salaries, of terms and conditions, it is a problem of professionalism. It is still not a real profession.' The last statement I challenge as did the Seminar participants after due consideration of the six criteria quoted from Abraham Flexner in my opening paper. Clearer ideas need to be developed on a number of problems that have for long vexed the minds of many in the profession. They should be taken up, addressed and resolved by 1FLA. These include the statement 'this is the reason why librarians are hardly capable of stating their core business'. What is that core business? What makes librarianship and information work different from other occupations? What makes it unique? Are they the social responsibilities outlined in my opening paper? In educational terms four IFLA pre-conference seminars have addressed this subject: in Manilla (1980), in Montreal (1982), in Nairobi (1984) and in Brighton (1987) and reached measures of agreement. Are they transferable and applicable outside the educational context and across the range of LIS work? Considerations in many countries, looking at the quality and cost effectiveness of library and information services, should help to identify an answer to the issue raised by a Venezuelan correspondent: 'Perhaps we have become more professional, but stay technicians, skilled workers'. There are clear differences emerging in the United Kingdom from investigations of the competencies and skills of technicians and professional librarians. Surely the single difference is in the responsibilities, particularly towards society, of librarians who provide information services that are rarely undertaken by those working in technician level posts. As a UK respondent replied: 'The core of information retrieval skills is what distinguishes us from other professionals and will have to be stressed and reinterpreted in the information age'. This is still an issue that IFLA ought to be addressing, either alone or with its sister organisation - FID. As the seminar's discussions and resolutions make clear and the research project endorsed, marketing alone is not the answer. If the product, or service, is below standard, no amount of high quality marketing will change the image. First it is necessary to improve the quality of the product and then good marketing should lead to a successful improvement of the image. A Nigerian correspondent suggested: 'Librarians have to redefine their role. They now define their role very narrowly. To define their role as providers of information in whatever environment... Librarians are too much oriented on books. ' Prins and Gier suggest that: 'It means that everyone in the organisation must be focused on servicing the outside world. In most cases the product as such is not a matter for discussion, but the quality is, the way it is served is, these are elements susceptible of improvement. ' Succinctly stated by a Finnish respondent: 'It is through the prestige of the organisation the prestige of librarianship will improve.'

115

The research, as did the seminar discussions, also makes clear that in addition tío improvements in the quality of services offered by libraries and information services a necessary prerequisite, in order to provide the focus for the profession's actions, are strong and effective professional associations. 'For an effective approach, a strong library association is a conditio sine qua non. Only if the profession is soundly organised is it capable of tackling the status problem.' There is little to be gained in complaining about the poor professional image unless there is a clear view of what is the image to be put in place of the one to be changed. There is certainly no agreement at present. Ά second necessary condition for an effective approach to the status problem is a clear statement by the profession about its desired image. When there is no consensus on this subject within the profession, or if the profession is not capable of describing a clear profile of librarianship, any attempt to improve the status seems to be hopeless.' However the picture is beginning to come into focus. Fading into the background is the image of the library building and the possible overconcern for books and for collection-development and coming into focus, and changing this image, are library and information services concerned principally to discover and supply user needs, a profession more information aware, and more concerned for quality and standards of service and anxious and able to exploit the latest technological innovations to this end. Also in focus are the professionals, who are better educated and trained to higher standards with an awareness of the need to keep professionally up-to-date with new knowledge and skills and with a more positive approach to face-to-face communications. Also included in this picture are effective library associations, encouraging improvements in standards of performance and enforcing these with codes of conduct and supporting departments of library and information studies by assisting in improving teaching and learning standards through joint programmes such as the accreditation of their courses. However, as Prins and Gier state: 'There is no easy way out of the status and image problem. Despite several initiatives in the past, little has changed in the status of librarians. To improve the status requires a long-lasting commitment.' So what is, and where within the organisation lies, IFLA's long-standing commitment? To answer this question I re-examined IFLA's Long Term Plan (LTP) and the current Medium Term Programmes (MTP) of the constituent sub-organisations of IFLA. IFLA's mission statement reads: '-

broadening access to and availability of information to users worldwide stimulating the development of the profession supporting the growth and expansion of libraries extending the range and variety of information resources available through libraries. '

Encapsulated in the statement are concerns with information and, in order to improve its accessibility, the development of the profession. The philosophical basis is firm: 'Libraries...are a fundamental precondition for peace, human rights, literacy, intellectual freedom and a better environment for all peoples'. Fully aware of the importance of information 'library institutions must provide facilities for all users to access their collections both through traditional and electronic media for all users, thus remaining the primary soune

116

of information'. The LTP continues: 'The monitoring of the library profession worldwide as well as observations of trends which forecast the nature and function of libraries in the ccming decades have resulted in the following list of issues which require policy consideration: '-

provide and protect the right of every individual to have access to needed information intellectual freedom including the protection of library materials and personnel from censorship the growth of the worldwide information market and the recognition of information as a commodity the improvement of the status of the profession, including education and professional development; rights and obligations of library personnel; and the development of effective professional associations.'

As the LTP indicates, these are issues which require policy consideration. Some have been addressed by IFLA, for instance intellectual freedom and censorship was addressed at the Paris Council in 1989, but some of the others, although included in divisions' and sections' objectives and goals have not been specifically addressed. IFLA's policies are not yet clear in these areas and more thinking and work will be required. These policy issues are grouped under four headings which form the main subjects of IFLA's LTP. 'Promotion of the cultural, educational and social role of libraries in society.' This is to be carried out by an activity to 'encourage the expansion of the social role of libraries by developing community information services which assist individuals and groups in daily problem solving'. The second heading reads: 'Improvement of access to and availability of information'. This is to be undertaken by concentrating on bibliographical roles and bibliographic standards and encouraging libraries to have a role in document supply and 'contribute to the reduction of existing barriers in access to information and availability of documents, while respecting the principles of copyright'. With regard to the third heading, 'Enhancement of the library profession', the LTP suggests that 'librarians, first of all, should widen their professional horizons' and 'library associations, develop or assist with the provision of education and training, provide continuing professional development opportunities and work toward the improvement of the status and conditions of service of librarians and the promotion of equal opportunities policies'. It continues that IFLA will provide 'encouragement of the development of library associations as contributors to the improvement of professional skills and conduct of librarians and an understanding of the social responsibility of the profession'. The question has to be asked: where in IFLA are these activities being carried out? A careful examination of the Medium Term Programme 1992-1997 (MTP) reveals that some of them are identified in the objectives and goals of some divisions, sections and round tables. For instance, the UBCIM programme states that its work 'rests on two principles: that access to

117

information is essential for the economic, social, cultural, scientific and technical development of nationals and for the personal development of individuals; and that present systems of providing information are inadequate'. Its objectives then go on to indicate how it will further this ambitious aim. The Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World (ALP) Programme proposes that 'the purpose of ALP in the Third World is to further the library profession, library institutions and library and information services in the less developed countries...to promote the progressive improvement of library and information services in the developing countries so as to enable them to play an active role in national development'. The objective of the Section of University Libraries and Other General Research Libraries is to 'foster co-operation programmes that enhance information resources of value to the scholarly community' which will be achieved by the goal of 'a continuing study of performance measurement in university libraries' and 'a study of the role and performance of the university library and its services...'. The Section of Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons has the following objective - the 'development of guidelines for access to library buildings, collections and services for people who are unable to make use of conventional library resources... '. The Division of Bibliographic Control has as an objective to 'further the ability of library users to retrieve information easily and effectively'. The Round Table on Audiovisual Media has as an objective for the 'provision of guidelines and standards relating to audiovisual services in libraries' and the Round Table on Management the 'promotion of management principles and the need for good practices'. Finally, the Round Table on Continuing Professional Education's objective is to 'improve the ability of librarians worldwide to contribute to the lifelong learning of individuals both within and outside the profession'. In the space available for this essay these can only be examples of some of the programmes and activities being undertaken within the sub-organisations of IFLA in conformity with its Long Term Policy that ought to assist in improving the quality and standards of library and information services provided by the individuals in membership of the library associations in IFLA and that in the views of the Delhi Seminar participants will contribute, via improved qualities of service, to improvements in the image, status and reputation of the profession. A problem does exist however in that there is an apparent void between the LTP and the MTP 1992-97. This is not surprising. The LTP was being developed to a time scale out of synchronisation with the sub-organisations' work on their MTPs. There is a need for them to be brought closer together. This can be done during the implementation of the current MTPs and when preparing the fifth MTP for 1997-2002 by ensuring that future MTPs are in harmony with any revised and updated Long Term Plan. It can be achieved most effectively by providing support from IFLA only for the future activities of its suborganisations that conform to IFLA's long term aims. Sections or round tables that embark in the future on programmes of activities that cannot be closely related to IFLA's long term aims, as defined in the LTP, should find no support, particularly financial, from the Professional or Executive Boards. To improve the image, status and reputation of the profession the resolutions and the results of the research project will need to be considered and implemented very thoroughly. For the resolutions this is already under way. The Round Table for the Management of Library

118

Associations meeting in Antwerp in March after the August 1992 Seminar identified what work, and where, it needed to be carried out. Specific issues have been passed to the relevant sub-organisations and are already under consideration. Even with this co-operation, there is always the possibility that these activities will prove to be inadequate. 1FLA - the whole of 1FLA - needs to address and have always in mind the concern tor image, status and reputation. Why, one might ask, should one problem amongst so many that face the international library and information services community be given priority or preference? The answer is simple: it is a problem that concerns each and every librarian and information worker in the world. It is also a problem to which each one of us, as information workers in our own way and in our own workplace, can make a contribution to resolving by the quality and standards of the professional services that we provide to our users. Every time each of us, as an individual librarian, provides a service of quality in whatever type of library and information service we work the result is a user leaving contented with the service that has been provided. One more contribution then has been made to improving our image, our status and our reputation. So for IFLA to place image, status and reputation at the centre of its objectives and activities is not for these to displace other concerns but to complement its current and on-going work to improve the quality of services offered to users. Thus two major objectives are addressed at the same time providing a happy symmetry. Indeed they provide IFLA with what it might wish to call its Symmetrical Policy.

Russell Bowden

June 1993

119

The following were participants in the Pre-Conference Seminar:

Ms Chrstine O Kisiedu, Head. Department of Library and Archival Studies Univesity of Ghana Legon, GHANA

Ms Munira Al-Khubeizi Safat, KUWAIT Ms Wanda do Amarai Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Direcc Dos serviras de Documentacao Maputo, MOZAMBIQUE

Ms V V Lakshmi INSDOC, CSIR New Delhi, INDIA

Ms Norma Amenu-Kpodo Executive Secretary COMLA Mona, Kingston, JAMAICA

Mr O G Lorenzo Biblioteca General y de Lonte Mantanzas, CUBA

Organising Committee Ms A Κ Anand Punjab University Library Chandigarh, INDIA

Observer Mr Julius Lubega c/o INSDOC New Delhi, INDIA

Ms Salvación M Arlante University of the Philippines Library Quezon City, PHILIPPINES

Local Organiser Pre-Session Organising Committee Mr S Majumdar INSDOC New Delhi, INDIA

Speaker Mr A O Banjo Nigerian Institute of Int. Affairs Lagos, NIGERIA

Ms Alet E Marais Ministry of Education and Culture Windhoek, NAMIBIA

Resource Person Dr D R Bender Special Libraries Association Washington DC, USA

Mr R A Matute Carranza Centro Universitario Regional de Norte Cortes, HONDURAS

Organising Committee Mr Russell Bowden Library Association London, UNITED KINGDOM

Ms M R Mavuso University of Swaziland Kwaluseni, SWAZILAND

Resource Person Mr R A C Bruyns Monnickendam, NETHERLANDS

Mr Kingo J Mchombu Department of LIS University of Botswana Gaborone, BOTSWANA

Mr Dang Ngoc Dinh, Directeur Centre National d'Information Hanoi, VIETNAM

Ms A M Mejia Santa Fe de Bogota DC COLOMBIA SUR AMERICA 120

Speaker Ms Maria E Zapata Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela Caracas, V E N E Z U E L A

Ms Thaw Ah Win University Central Library University Yangon, BURMA Organising Committee Dr D Ε Κ Wijasuriya Library and Information Development Consultants Kuala Lumpur. MALAYSIA

121

BOTSWANA: A COUNTRY REPORT Kingo Mchombu

Introduction In this paper an attempt is made to relate the theme of this pre-conference to Botswana. First an introduction of the country, and the library sector is given, followed by discussions under the following headings: a) b) c) d)

Perceptions of library and information service workers Training, supply, and demand for workers Provision of services Conclusions

Background Botswana is situated in the southern part of Africa and shares borders with Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. It is a country with a small population of 1.2 million in relation to its vast land mass of 582,000 sq. km. Economically, Botswana is more fortunate than many other Third World countries because it is rich in minerals (diamonds, gold, nickel) as well as coal. The per capita income for Botswana stands at USD 2700. The effect of this relatively strong economic base on the information sector is that bookshops and libraries have up to date collections and items such as microcomputers, softwares, etc., can be bought off the shelf. However the match between user needs and collections is still lacking particularly in the public library system. The library sector is denominated by a well-stocked university library with a collection of over 159,262 books, 1324 periodical titles and other items. The university librarian is a member of senate and has professorial status. The other ranks in the staff hierarchy reflect the teaching posts of the university, i.e., senior librarian being equivalent to senior lecturer, and librarians being equivalent to lecturers. The national/public library service which has its headquarters in Gaborone (the Capital) boasts 23 branches, 54 village reading rooms and 182 book box service points. It also oversees secondary school libraries and government department libraries. It has 350 professional, para-professional and administrative staff. The Botswana National Library Service is a government department and its director holds a rank equivalent to head of department in the civil service. This status was highlighted last year when the then Director was promoted to the post of Deputy Principal Secretary in the Ministry.

123

The Botswana Library Association is headed by a chairman who is elected for two years. All members of the executive committee are also elected at the same time. Usually a prominent librarian is elected to this post. The previous two chairpersons were: the Director of the Botswana National Library Service; and the University Librarian, University of Botswana. The current chairperson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Studies, University of Botswana. Perceptions of Library and Information Service Workers The library sector in Botswana has more female than male workers but so does banking, health care, teaching and a few other professions. If the female image of librarianship constituted a problem, then one would expect the problem to be apparent in all these other professions which have many female workers. By contrast, one would expect the army, police, etc., which are male dominated, to have a high image. However, there is a negative perception, or inferiority complex among some library workers, who believe that their work is not as highly regarded as other occupations in their parent organisations. In addition, this inferiority complex, which seems to be more pronounced among the "professionals", than the "para-professionals" often leads to intense rivalry within the profession, the "professionals" taking every opportunity to debase and discount the work of their para-professionals. It is assumed that if the worthlessness of para-professionals can be provai for all to see, then the high value of professionals will become apparent. However, what happens is that outsiders conclude that the professionals are poor motivators of their staff and that they lack basic administrative skills. Training, Supply and Demand of Workers The training of library and information workers in Botswana is mainly provided to individuals who are already employed (i.e., Eastern and Southern Africa). In this sense, over supply of trained personnel is avoided and the schools training programme is in response to real demand from employers. The curriculum is frequently up-dated (at least once in 3-4 years). At present subjects sich as information technology, information marketing and management of change have pride of place in the curriculum. The salary which graduates obtain is regulated by the civil service, so that there is comparability with other professions, i.e., number of years at school, length of course, et;., being the main determinants of the salary paid to an individual. This is governed by civil service regulations. Provision of Services In general, a common denominator in most libraries is a book oriented service mainly baks. With the coming into being of information units, the image of the librarian is blurred by that the information worker, whose activity is more focused on servicing the outside wcorld. In the past, library activities in Vietnam have experienced difficulties and shortcomings that hawe resulted in a low status for the profession. The consequences of many years of war and r e c e n t economic difficulties have left the libraries in an advanced state of underfinancing. Thie quantity and quality of information and document sources have been reduced. Due to haird foreign currency deficiency over the last 10 years, only a small number of documents hass been bought from the western countries. Document sources from developed countries and neiighboring developing countries in the Asian and Pacific Region have come chiefly by excchange and gift channels. That is why documentary collections, especially periodicals in moist libraries are poor and outdated. The lack of many current publications is a serious defficiency in the ability of Vietnamese libraries to adequately meet the information needs of the: research workers. Meanwhile, the frequency of use and degree of exploitation of existing s o u r c e s is still low. Professional qualification and knowledge of foreign languages of information workers and librrarians, in general, have not kept pace with information service requirements for the prersent state of socio-economic development. There are librarians whose experience is inacdequate for their tasks. Besides, professional training curricula are outmoded, not kept up to cdate and chiefly modelled on foreign ones. On the other hand, in the new context of the Vie:tnamese government's open door policy and reform, with the development of the private e c o n o m i c sector and joint ventures, there has been the phenomenon of a "brain drain" and mamy experienced, qualified workers, knowing foreign languages and using informatics techniques well, have left libraries for other jobs highly paid by foreign companies, because libraries remain non-profit institutions and do not eam revenues in the physical sense. 223

Apart from the poor quality of the services in some units, library work itself on the w h o l e does not look impressive and dynamic. It is difficult to measure its effectiveness. Libraries seem to play a marginal and invisible role in the development of the economy o f the country. Due to the general trend at present for the public to read less, combined with the lack of new acquisitions, readers' visits are less frequent and that creates a dull image o f the profession. W h a t Vietnamese Libraries can do to enhance the Status and to improve the Image of Librarians It is necessary to promulgate a National Information Policy, including an acquisition policy, a Decree on Librarianship, ensuring the integration of resources and strength o f libraries o f various kinds, the linkage of librarianship with information and archive activities. N o library can function properly without adequate finances. But in the present context o f Vietnam, it is difficult to obtain enough funds for all libraries, which are dependent on funding support for their normal operations. Their services, though essential for the wellbeing o f the society, are not considered indispensable. That is why librarians have to convince the authorities at all levels about the usefulness of the service rendered by libraries. This can be achieved only if they put forward tangible and plausible reasons for each of their demands. They should ensure proper utilization of fiscal grants, avoid wastage and make adjustments in order to remain relevant to the development of society. Librarians themselves must be distinguished in personality, education, training and knowledge o f reading materials so that they can satisfy readers' requirements and win the respect from people. They should enliven library activities and make their organizations more productive: information activities within libraries should be intensified and services diversified on the basis of multimedia holdings. The new information technology developments that have taken place in the last f e w years have encouraged Vietnamese librarians' use of microcomputers in addition to traditional methods, in handling library

management functions and in establishing

bibliographic

databases to supply complete, exact and timely information necessary for users. Information centres and leading libraries should cooperate in acquisition, discuss the mode and means o f resource sharing, intensify the management and exploit efficiently collected documents and information, standardise methodology and jointly organize training courses, especially in the field of product and service marketing and in utilizing new information technology. Enlarging international cooperative relations with overseas libraries and donor organisations and greater involvement with the world library community are also important factors in improving the image of the librarianship in Vietnam and will facilitate better

funding

support,

staff training and the effective application

information and communication technologies.

224

of

new

ZIMBABWE: A COUNTRY REPORT Bonani Hadebe

General Overview The image, status and reputation of the library and information science profession in Zimbabwe has to be viewed against the background of: -

-

a shortage of trained and qualified librarians leading to the appointment in libraries of unqualified people who are given the title "librarian"; inadequate provision of materials in libraries due to meagre foreign exchange, allocations to the book trade, thus badly affecting the quality of library services; a high illiteracy rate among the adult population; non existence of libraries in many areas particularly rural ones where the majority of the population lives; little attention paid to the development of school libraries, which means that among the literate population, many have gone through school without using a library, apart from those who go on to university or college of higher education.

The above are just some of the issues facing library and information science (LIS) workers desirous of improving their status and image. A combination of the above has also meant that there is little understanding amongst the general public of what LIS workers do and the responsibilities they undertake. The LIS profession has also not done much to educate the public about what they do, hence the prevailing image of a librarian is one of a passive person concerned with shelving and issuing books and very little else. The poor perceptions by LIS workers of their social and managerial responsibilities may be due to their training which centres more on the acquisition of skills required for the organisation and maintenance of library documents. As a result they regard their role as primarily ensuring that books are catalogued and ready for use, and they exercise little social and management responsibilities. The concept of the librarian as a professional has tended to be obscured by the many instances of appointing unqualified people to professional posts and giving them the title "librarian", as can be seen in the hostility of some para-professionals towards professionals who they feel put too much stress on academic qualifications and not enough on experience due to long service. Expectations of the quality of services to users are fairly well understood by LIS workers but in many cases they are unable to provide them due to inadequate funding and insufficient resource materials. In Zimbabwe, there are almost as many men as there are women in the LIS profession, hence the "female image" is not a factor in the low status of the profession. Neither is over-

225

production from the library school an issue as far as status and image are concerned because the market for qualified LIS workers is not yet saturated. The education and training provided at the local Department of Library and Information Science is of a very high standard as far as professional skills are concerned, but some graduates have been criticised for lacking sound general knowledge which is vital in information work. The work and responsibilities of professional librarians has tended to be entrenched in traditional librarianship and the routine performance of menial tasks and there is need for LIS workers to integrate into the new information technology and media, and to incorporate social aspects and contemporary management skills into their work. While statutorily recognised qualifications might help as regards external status, the quality of service and level of professionalism must improve first before the LIS profession aspires to be legally registered. Nonetheless legal status would ensure that accredited LIS workers meet certain criteria and perform at a high standard. Comments on Common Opinions and Attitudes about the LIS Profession Female Image. This is not an important reason for the low status because the profession does not have this image in Zimbabwe. Women in senior positions in the profession are respected in their own right as professionals and enjoy the same status as men. Invisibility. This is one of the key reasons for the poor image, and the profession needs to have a vigorous public relations and marketing strategy to raise the level of public awareness of their work. Quality of Service. It is agreed that the poor quality of service in some libraries is one of the main reasons for the low status of the profession. Cited among the reasons for poor services and needing attention by the profession are lack of commitment by some LIS workers to service to users, the tendency to function merely as custodians of books; inadequate funds to build and maintain up to date and relevant materials in sufficient quantities and the use of untrained personnel in what should be professional posts. Salary. While poor salaries may result in a low status of the profession, it is more likely that low pay is due to low status and not the other way around. The status of a good librarian should be high irrespective of pay. Volunteers. The use of volunteers in libraries is not common in Zimbabwe, hence this does not affect the status of the LIS profession. Marginal Role. LIS workers generally are convinced that they have a key role to play in economic development but have yet to succeed in translating that conviction into action that will bring their work to the forefront of development. The profession needs to venture into more non-traditional librarianship and information work for practical development and to educate both decision makers and the general public on the vital role of information in development and the role they play in providing it.

226

Cannot Distinguish. The practice in many libraries of giving the title "librarian" to anyone whether qualified or not perpetuates the idea that any library worker is a librarian, and this is not helped by the librarian who shuts himself in out of sight offices away from his users. The librarian must maintain a high profile and his level of service and professionalism must set him apart as an expert in his field of work. Money Responsibility. Active library promotion is needed to create an awareness among the general public of the financial and personnel responsibility in LIS work. The LIS profession should take advantage of careers days to publicise their work, and make use of Library Open Days to show the public what goes on behind the scenes to bring books and information to them. Lack of Funding. The small amount of government funding in many libraries limits what they can do, leading to poor services and an inability to satisfy user needs, resulting in a negative image of the profession and therefore low status. The low status of the profession in government is probably one reason for the small amount of funding, hence government too needs to be educated on the value of libraries in national development. Social Responsibility. Due to the acute shortage of textbooks and lack of libraries in schools, public libraries particularly tend to be regarded as having an educational rather than social responsibility. The public generally is unaware of the social responsibility of libraries but that does not affect the image of the LIS profession. However if that awareness is created by the profession it would enhance their status and image. Dispensable Luxury. The new generation of library users and potential users do not regard libraries as a dispensable luxury as can be seen by the demand for these services where none exist. Low Expectations. Low expectations by users as to the quality of services of libraries, arise from prior experiences of a poor service; otherwise users generally expect a good service when they enter a library. The profession needs to identify and tackle the causes of those poor services if it is to raise its status. Unemployment. The unemployment of librarians in large numbers is not yet a problem in Zimbabwe as to affect the image and status of the profession. Dull Image of Librarians. Unfortunately the fact that librarians hardly ever open their mouths to make themselves heard and do little to publicize their existence negatively affects their image and status and causes the stereotype of a librarian to prevail. A more articulate profession showing expertise in the information field might help counter this negative image. Educational Requirements. The efficient and effective running of a library service depends on those tasks requiring professional input no matter how few, in comparison with the routine non-professional ones. As pointed out elsewhere in this report, the use of unqualified personnel in libraries gives the impression to both the authorities and the public that the tasks of a librarian require no professional education, and that results in a low status.

227

For Students Only. While the premise is true, it does not necessarily lead to the conclusion. About 65% of Zimbabwe's population is below age 25 and constitutes the majority of the literate population, who are either library users or potential users. Educational and youth services are considered to be very important. Reading Less. In Zimbabwe the general trend, as can be gathered from statistics and observations in major public libraries, is for people to read more and not less. Inadequate provision of reading materials due to their high cost and scarcity locally affect the image of the librarian who is unable to cope with demand and keep up with reading trends. Problem of Status, Image and Reputation as a Priority for the LIS Profession This problem has never been properly addressed by the LIS profession in Zimbabwe, which has also not been able to speak with one voice on matters concerning its status and image. Little has been done to change societal views of the profession; the main problem that has occupied the profession's attention has been salary scales.

Activities Undertaken/Planned to Improve Status and Image Despite the above comment, it can be said the Zimbabwe Library Association has made several attempts to address issues that would affect its status and image and these include: - actively campaigning for the setting up of a National Library and Documentation Service through an Act of Parliament; successfully campaigning for the establishment locally of training facilities at Diploma level and soon at Degree level; - a draft code of ethics for LIS workers; - drawing up a document suggesting criteria for the determining of salaries of LIS workers; their position in the administrative structures of their parent organizations and the use of the designation "librarian". The above document and the draft code of ethics are still under discussion and have yet to be finalised and ratified by the Association. Nonetheless the Zimbabwe Library Association needs to address itself to the problem of image, status and reputations a matter of priority.

228

IFLA Journal Official Quarterly Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Edited by Carol Henry 4 issues annually Annual subscription DM 178.00 / Single issue DM 51.00 ISSN 0340-0352

EFLA Journal, published quarterly, is one of the most widely used information sources for the latest news on the international library and information scene. Each issue provides informative articles on diverse subjects of interest to librarians and information specialists worldwide.

The Articles selected reflect the many aspects of the international information profession, ranging from management, library services for the blind, preservation and conservation, electronic communication, document delivery, to copyright.

Further regular features include a News Section with: Φ Reports on IFLA meetings, projects and programmes # News from other organizations # Announcements of new products and services offered by IFLA's Sponsors Φ Announcements of publications of international relevance Φ IFLA's international calendar for important forthcoming events.

For all those who want to keep up with the very latest in the field of library and information science, IFLA Journal is the information source to tum to!

K > G · S a u r Verlag München · N e w Providence · London · Paris A Reed Reference Publishing C o m p a n y Posrfach 7 0 1 6 2 0 · D - 8 1 3 1 6 M ü n c h e n · Tel. ( 0 8 9 ) 7 6 9 0 2 - 0 • Fox ( 0 8 9 ) 7 6 9 0 2 - 1 5 0

Further IFLA Titles No. 59: Multicultural Librarianship: An International Handbook By Marie F. Zielinska with Francis T. Kirkwood Edited by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations 1992. XIV, 384 pp. HB. DM 98.00. For IFLA members: DM 73.50 ISBN 3-598-21787-0

No. 64: Guidelines for Legislative Libraries Edited by Dermot Englefield 1993. XV, 123 pp. HB. DM 68.00. For IFLA members: DM 51.00 ISBN 3-598-21792-7

No. 65: Documentation Nordic Art, Design, Bibliographies, Databiases Proceedings from the Art Libraries Satellite Meeting National Museum, Stockholm, August 16-19, 1990 Edited by Charlotte Hanner, Arlis Norden, and the IFLA Section of Art Libraries 1993. 270 pp. with 48 illus. HB. DM 98.00 For IFLA members: DM 73.50. ISBN 3-598-21793-5

No. 66/67: Continuing Professional Education and EFLA: Past, Present and a Vision for the Future Papers from the IFLA CPERT Second World Conference on Contirinuing Professional Education for the Library and Information Science Prcofessions. A Publication of the Continuing Professional Education Rouund Table (CPERT) of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Edited by Blanch Woolls 1993. XII, 365 pp. HB. DM 168.00. For IFLA members: DM 128.( 00 ISBN 3-598-21794-3 K « G · S a u r V e r l a g M ü n c h e n · N e w Providence · London · Pearls A R e e d Reference Publishing C o m p o n y Posrfach 7 0 1 6 2 0 · D - 8 1 3 1 6 M ü n c h e n · Tel. ( 0 8 9 ) 7 6 9 0 2 - 0 • Fox ( 0 8 9 ) 7 6 9 0 2 - 1 5 0 3