Library and information science education in South Asia: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

All is not good with Library and Information Science (LIS) Education in South Asia. Out of the seven countries in South Asia; India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh have provision for Library and Information Science Education, whereas Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives depend upon outside support for educating and training people for looking after their professional turf. Existing body of literature shows that in India there is a mushroom growth of Library and Information Science Departments. There is no professional accreditation, though institutional accreditation is in place in India. Many departments have failed to respond adequately to the ICT-based developments. Nomenclature of the courses offered has changed but the course contents are not consistent with the nomenclature in many cases. Moreover, these departments are seriously suffering from insufficient infrastructure, inadequate faculty, lack of quality research and document support. The course contents are not informed by the emerging employment opportunities in the corporate sector. Even today, the focus is on technical services. Academic Librarianship and Literature survey in social sciences are the only options offered by majority of LIS Programmes in India. Whereas, the core is still stuck to classification, cataloguing, indexing, and vocabulary control, the emerging themes, such as information literacy, knowledge management, elearning, ICT application, use of networks in teaching, and teaching about networks have not been adequately integrated in the curricula. On the top of it, there is limited Internet connectivity available in these departments. Attitude of authorities is also not that encouraging as these departments, being small, are considered liabilities. Above all, these departments have not, till today, internalized the concept and practice of cooperation and collaboration. Globalization and privatization of LIS education under GATS is another threat to the developing countries as it will lead to competition among the unequal. In fact, LIS education in majority of the departments in South Asia is in shambles.