Mapping Curricular Reform in Library/Information Studies Education The American Mosaic Unknown - 1995

From the publisher

In this book, practitioners and educators outline approaches for ensuring that students of library and information science are better prepared to serve a culturally and ethnically diverse public. Mapping Curricular Reform in Library/Information Studies Education emphasizes the special need to assure sensitivity to ethnic/cultural minorities on the part of all professionals dealing directly with the library's public. The book helps determine the degree to which the curricula of schools of library and information science may need revisions to better prepare those who will serve a clientele far more diverse than that now encountered by information professionals. It highlights the non-response of most ALA-accredited schools to the increasingly diverse nature of American society and provides methods for determining the special needs of the community the library/information center serves. Mapping Curricular Reform in Library/Information Studies Education contains overviews and specific strategies to help readers understand and resolve issues regarding inclusion of and sensitivity to minorities as library students, practitioners, and clients. Diverse chapters discuss:

• the link between public education and public libraries
the meaning of multiculturalism in education and its implications for public service institutions
• diversity and the role of the library administrator
strategies to identify unique client groups and their information needs
• the complexity of serving the Hispanic community
cultural diversity and curriculum in library and information studies
• recruitment and retention of minorities in the library profession
problems in recruiting and retaining minority students
• perception of libraries/information centers by minoritiesThis volume also alerts library administrators to the unique problems facing many paraprofessionals who are working toward their professional degrees and the accommodations that may be required to make certain these students will become professionals ready to serve a diverse public. Mapping Curricular Reform in Library/Information Studies Education is an informative and helpful guide for library and information science educators, as well as professionals in all types of libraries as they strive to provide effective services to all groups of people.