Final Report of the Evaluation Commission

Information and Library Science Professional Master’s Programme “System’s Librarian”

University of Latvia

Introduction

The Evaluation Commission of experts in Library and Information Science education was gathered by the Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre (Latvia) to evaluate a new study programme proposed by the Department of Information and Library Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia. The Commission consists of:

Prof. Mâra Saule (University of Vermont, Dean of University Libraries and

Information Technology);

Prof. Assoc. Elena Maceviciute (Faculty of Communication, Vilniaus University,

Lithuania; Senior Lecturer, Swedish School of Library and Information

Studies, University College of Boras, Sweden);

Andris Vilks (Director of the National Library of Latvia).

The Commission worked in December 2002 – January 2003. The members visited the University of Latvia 19-20 December 2002, and discussed its conclusions at an open meeting on 20 December 2002. Commission members were in agreement with all joint recommendations reflected in this Report. Because Commission members are in dispersed locations around the globe so that multiple actual signatures are difficult, individual remarks are incorporated in the document (Director Vilks will send his to you directly under separate cover) and our signatures stand for both the joint and individual elements of the evaluation. All Commission members have contributed to and reviewed this Final Report.

The Commission has evaluated the Professional Master’s programme “System’s Librarian” according to relevant Latvian and international standards and practices of higher education in Library and Information Science. The programme is undergoing a testing period as the first group of students is already in its second year of studies; therefore, the Commission members were able to see all the elements of the study process in action.

Activities Performed

The members of the Commission have performed the following activities to evaluate the Professional Master’s programme:

  1. Analysis of the Self Evaluation Report and related documentation for the professional Master’s programme (general description, course descriptions, CVs of the educational staff, etc.);
  2. Meetings with the University of Latvia Vice-Rector and the Dean of the Social Science Faculty;
  3. Discussions with the teaching staff, both individually and in group settings;
  4. Meetings with the students and potential employers;
  5. Observation of a final lecture for the course Retrospective Conversion (taught by Iveta Kalniņa, lecturer in the Department);
  6. Survey and review of the classrooms, and technological and other means available for teaching and learning;
  7. Discussion of the merits and shortcomings of the programme among Commission members themselves;
  8. Preparation of a group report incorporating individual recommendations.

Goals and Aims of the Study Programme

There is clearly a need for a Professional Master’s programme in systems librarianship for the education of modern librarians in Latvia. The goal of the programme as examined by this Commission is to cater to a particular niche of institutions that are actively involved in the process of adopting new information technology and automating work processes in libraries, information centres, private industry, and public institutions in Latvia. The development of system’s librarians’ competence is central to the continued economic, social, and intellectual development of Latvia and its various institutions as information technology because an increasingly integral part of culture, business, and society.

The programme supports and builds on the proposed professional standard “Sistembibliotekars” at the qualification level 5. According to the calculations of the programme developers, the programme should satisfy the immediate need of libraries for system’s librarians in four years’ time. However, information systems used in libraries are constantly developing and changing, and so the programme itself is anticipated to evolve in response to changing technologies and user needs.

The programme also allows the Department of Library and Information Science to cater to similar information resource and technology needs in other sectors beyond libraries per se. Therefore, the need for the programme is assessed as expanding and long-term. At the same time, it has to be taken into account that information systems education is incorporated in the curricula of departments of Computer Science and Information Technology in different higher education institutions in Latvia. In this context, the programme is entering a competitive educational environment and will need to refine its mission and niche as the educational market in Latvia evolves.

Structure and Division of the Study Programme

The Professional Master’s programme “System’s Librarian” is a product of the joint efforts of Latvian Information and Library Science educators, practicing librarians, and systems’ developers. As such, it is one of the first professionally-oriented programmes in the Baltic States and the wider Central and East European region.

The Professional Master’s programme “System’s Librarian” requires a Bachelor’s degree and two years of practical work in a library (or related area) for the entry.

Three main parts of the programme are:

  1. Obligatory courses (34 credits);
  2. Field work (practice or internships) (20+6 credits);

3.  Master’s thesis (20 credits).

Note: (1 credit=1week of studies)

The length of full-time studies is three semesters (approximately 1 year). A part-time study option is also available.

The courses delivered in the context of the programme concern main areas of library work with automated systems and their management. They include recent innovative practices and technology and are based on the relevant theoretical foundations. One course (Introduction to Information Science) is theoretical. The content of the courses is relevant to the chosen direction of studies. However, some courses do not take into account the level of the students’ existing competence (“Datorzinibas”) and should be tailored more to the general application areas rather than to specific products (such as Microsoft Word or Powerpoint). In other cases, some important aspects of the specific Latvian information landscape (such as the VVBIS national information network) should be expanded and the perspective of user’s taken into account.

The courses in the programme are designed specifically for the program itself and do not have equivalents in the related Academic Master’s programme. That might result in separation of the student groups when integration of the academic and professional aspects is desirable. Furthermore, the separation of the two teaching staffs creates unnecessary duplication and works against important collaboration across the two Master’s programmes.

Delivery of Educational Modules

Education is provided primarily through classroom work (lectures, seminars, workshops, etc.), independent individual studies (essays, reviews, practical work), and team work (projects, role-playing, discussions, etc.). The time of lectures and other class work is adapted to the convenience of the students. A part of the teaching and learning process is conducted in the sites where automated library systems are implemented (such as libraries).

The teachers of different courses have discussed the content of the course before they have designed them and have divided responsibilities for the overlapping topics. The co-ordination after the start of the programme has not been discussed, but the overall results will be assessed at a later stage.

The students expressed great satisfaction in the ways the content is presented, the relevance of it to their immediate and future work tasks, the experience of team work, interaction with teachers, and professional practical orientation of the studies.

The Educational Process and Assessment

The students are encouraged to work independently and in teams acquiring practical skills and professional knowledge. It is implied that the foundation of the courses and literature will convey enough understanding of basic theoretical foundations. This implication proved to be quite explicit in the summarising lecture on “Retrospective Conversion” that the members of the Commission attended.

The students are examined on the basis of their individual and team work (using tests, report writing, hands-on exercises, etc.) It is anticipated that as cohorts of students graduate from the program, post-graduate assessment will be done.

Management of Education and Resources

The assessed programme is well supported by educational and professional resources:

1. The teaching staff is skilled and has good professional record.

2. The study environment is comfortable and convenient.

3. The additional resources within field of practice are readily accessible.

  1. Access to information technology is adequate.
  2. Access to other teaching aids and materials is satisfactory.

Several members of the teaching staff are recruited from the main system producer in Latvia, ALISE. They are among the best professionals in the discipline of information technology in Latvia. However, this implies the danger of bias and adherence to proprietary standards that might inhibit understanding of general information system design and management principles by the students.

The orientation of the programme toward three automated library systems currently used in Latvia might be delimiting. There are many different library systems that can be purchased and implemented in Latvian libraries in the future. The pursuit of short-term goals should not dominate over the long-term perspectives.

The development of the library support to all programmes in the Faculty of Social Sciences should improve as soon as the Faculty Library opens (the Faculty recently moved into the spacious building that needs to be repaired and the construction of the Library premises will be finished by spring of 2003).

Research, and Involvement of Students in Research

Several members of the teaching staff have doctoral degrees or are involved in doctoral-level original research. Most are working on the innovative edge of the library profession and are concerned with innovation diffusion processes. Some of the students also take part in development projects. The main applied research activity conducted by the students is writing the Master’s thesis. The potential for applied research is accounted for in the curricula, but it would be useful to introduce students to some basic applied research methodology.

Quality Assurance and Feedback

The quality of the programme and its curriculum is assured through several links during the design and implementation of the study programme.

Initial discussions, survey of library needs, and analysis of professional standards is the first link that ensures the correspondence of the programme to the requirements of the labour market and demand for a certain competence level.

A second link is the feedback from the students on every course that they have to take. It is done using questionnaires and discussions with the students during different phases and at the end of the course. Teachers have reported some important changes that they have made following these discussions.

The third link is the feedback from the actual and potential employers. The members of the Commission had a possibility to use both links during meetings with the students and the employers. Both groups expressed essentially positive attitude toward the new programme. They also seemed aware of its actual structure and content, were interested and involved, and suggested well-grounded improvements.

General analysis of the professional Master’s programme “System’s librarian”:

Strengths / Weaknesses
Meets the immediate needs of libraries;
Meets requirements of the proposed professional standard;
Attractive to current and prospective students;
Integrates theory and practice;
Pulls together expertise of LIS faculty, librarians and IS developers;
Reflects innovative and future-oriented content;
Based on logical structure and coordinated contents of the courses;
Incorporates independent active learning methods;
Is supported by dequate resources;
Requires serious prerequisites to enter the programme;
Is focused and concentrated;
Includes a consistent system of student course evaluation and feedback;
Is tailored to the professional needs of the students;
Positions professional librarians for future roles in society. / Narrow subject;
Focuses on IT (not social consequences or user needs);
Separated completely from the mainstream Master’s programme.
Opportunities / Threats
Strengthen links with professional field;
Provide a channel to get innovative IT information and to develop internal faculty competence;
Heighten visibility of LIS Department and create modern image;
Open new possibilities for curriculum development with other social science as well as informatics departments;
Provide link to information related practices in other institutions and to EU programmes. / Saturation of job market;
Imposing of proprietary standards on education;
Competing related programmes in other University departments and higher education institutions (information systems administrators, IT professionals, IS developers, etc.).

Individual Remarks (Prof. Maceviciute)

The professional Master’s programmes in Latvia reflect general trend of higher education to take into account the need for advanced education and higher competence in businesses, public service organisations, and other practical activities. The trend in itself can enrich the academic experience by incorporating the innovative perspectives and applications outside higher education field, however it poses some threats that the academic departments (in this case Information and Library Science department) have to be aware of.

First: higher education should provide the students with broad understanding of basic principles and general frameworks as well as with the habit of continuous learning that guarantee the flexibility and possibility to adapt to a constantly changing situation. The professional programmes have to strike a proper balance between the skills required in the today’s labour market with the long-term goals of equipping students with lasting advantage in the same market tomorrow.

Second: professional programmes require an extended period of field-work (practice). As these programmes usually recruit students already working in professional positions, the easiest way (for the students and for the faculty) is to account the time that students spend doing their jobs as required field-work. This eliminates the acquisition of broader experience than only one’s own routine work. The possibility of staying in the jobs during the field-work time is already discussed by the present group of students. The faculty should be aware that this is a possible solution, but will require close monitoring and effort from the faculty, the employing organisation, and the student to reach the ultimate goal of the field-work and broaden the students’ skills and practical experience.

I would also like to point out one of the aspects missing from the curricula – orientation towards information user’s needs. It should be incorporated into every course and be visible in the curriculum. The changing paradigm and the process of information systems design toward better usability and participatory design is becoming one of the most important features in information systems design.

Individual Remarks (Director Vilks)

Forthcoming separately

Individual Remarks (Prof. Mara Saule)

The Professional Master’s programme as described in the Self Evaluation and as assessed during the Commission expert visit has the strong potential to provide Latvian libraries, information centres, and other institutions with a cadre of highly skilled and well-educated systems librarians. I concur with each of the joint recommendations below and will not reiterate them in my individual remarks, other than to encourage the faculty of the Department to think creatively about how to incorporate the joint and individual recommendations into the evolving Professional Master’s programme. Members of the Department are certainly well on their way to doing so already, and I commend them for their vision.