Abstract
The field of Library and Information Science represents a wide-ranging array of activities and professional practices. The field spans cultural, linguistic, and political boundaries yet is also distinguished by distinct compartments of work and mission that connect people to knowledge while simultaneously preserving cultural output for short and long-term use. When one narrows the vision of the field toward LIS research, the aspect is smaller yet the diversity of opinions, questions, and methods of inquiry retain the width and breadth of the field. This creates an unsettling range of issues for a field of research and an exciting complexity as a profession. The current issue of IFLA Journal reflects this diversity and provides a unique lens by which to view inter-connections among libraries and information professions as they engage the emerging challenges and needs of the societies and individuals they serve around the world.
The trends of the field are informed by localized and specific contexts around which institutions, services, and practices arise, yet are all impacted profoundly by developments in the larger profession as well as the global context of policy making and governance. Research that addresses this aspect of libraries adds relevance to the comparative and international perspectives advanced by IFLA Journal yet also builds upon a growing body of interdisciplinary literature. This literature reveals the manner by which information professions and practitioners are imbedded in a wider social dialogue that impacts technical innovation, R & D initiatives, literacy objectives, and the prospects of cultures and peoples sharing knowledge and advancing common goals.
As IFLA prepares for the World Library and Information Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, in August of 2015, a focal point for the issue lies in Africa. In her paper that focuses on South Africa’s libraries since 1994, Ujala Satgoor contextualizes the manner by which libraries and LIS education function within society, focusing on the important role for libraries in national development goals to bolster democratic practices and a well-educated citizenry in South Africa. The role of libraries in development is also central to another article focused on an African nation, which draws our attention to attitudes and solutions to the problem of academic plagiarism among university students in Nigeria. This article situates the universal problem of plagiarism among university students in the context of the need to foster open-access to knowledge and a nation’s desire to increase its research capacity through academic programs. Clearly, library research that increasingly links LIS to global trends in education and economic development resonates through Africa and beyond.
Responses to national research and economic development initiatives are also seen as drivers behind trends in libraries at other academic institutions. Case studies from Mamtora, Yang, and Singh provide a transnational view of open access repository development in Australia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia that follows international trends in digital repositories but are enacted in a manner that mirrors global efforts in higher education to create international knowledge hubs through research and development. In these instances, the expansion of open-access repositories in libraries becomes a strategic component of economic development initiatives based upon innovation and knowledge development.
Globalization of higher education and the need to understand common social, economic, and technical drivers for library development are also highlighted in Lee and Song’s comparison of mobile information-seeking behavior among students in Korea and the United States. This study offers a glimpse of the differences seen in the use of similar technologies within different cultural settings, providing insights into how libraries might wish to create new services for mobile device users while grounding implementation within local needs and practices. Smith’s study of library associations also focuses on the manner by which international trends in higher education are impacting libraries with a focus on efforts to exchange expertise in library management and human resource development. Both articles draw upon themes of the rise of technology and mobility within the educational arena.
Internationalization of education is also at the core to trends in understanding reading and literacy on a global scale. Through an analysis of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) scores on reading and literacy in over 70 countries, Adkins and Brendler provide a broad view of reading levels and motivations as they relate to the role of libraries in advocating and supporting literacy. The rise of international benchmarking tools such as PISA impact library development through their broad influence on curricula and learning objectives – a topic that requires further research from the perspectives of LIS.
The role of globalization and international norms that impact libraries and information dissemination is also at the core of Sturges’ essay on limits to freedom of expression in the wake of religiously motivated attacks on artists, authors, and publishers. Sturges analyzes laws that prohibit certain categories of speech in the context of wide advocacy for freedom of expression undertaken by organizations such as IFLA. Again, this speaks to the manner by which libraries are called upon to interpret, apply, and often advocate what have become international norms within a localized or specific context.
On the whole, this research represents a view of the manner by which the global library community is increasingly tied together professionally through technology, governance structures, standards, and common economic goals. At the same time, however, local context, indigenous practices, and cultural values exert a tremendous amount of power to impact the manner by which the profession makes choices, advocates its role in society, and determines what is important. As we continue to explore this phenomena and the intersection of our global profession with local needs, further research, new methodologies, and a broader diversity of voices are needed.
Coming-up in the next issue of IFLA Journal
Issue 41.3 is a special issue focused on Cultural Heritage and guest edited by Douwe Drijfhout, Programme Executive: Preservation Services of the National Library of South Africa, and Tanja de Boer, Head Collection Care at the National Library of the Netherlands.
Ideas for future special issues are always welcome.