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Jesús Lau, Ph.D. jlau@uv.mx / jesuslau

Non-Walked Fields: Mexican Library Education Opportunities "One Size No Longer Fits Everyone" - Panel: Judith Field, Jesús Lau, and Ken Haycock Transborder Library Forum, February 22, 2007 – Thursday 11:30-12:30 www.asu.edu/lib/foro. Jesús Lau, Ph.D. jlau@uv.mx / www.jesuslau.com

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Jesús Lau, Ph.D. jlau@uv.mx / jesuslau

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  1. Non-Walked Fields: Mexican Library Education Opportunities"One Size No Longer Fits Everyone" - Panel: Judith Field, Jesús Lau, and Ken HaycockTransborder Library Forum, February 22, 2007 – Thursday 11:30-12:30www.asu.edu/lib/foro Jesús Lau, Ph.D. jlau@uv.mx / www.jesuslau.com Director, USBI-VER Library, and Coordinator, UV Virtual Library Universidad Veracruzana / DGB Veracruz, México

  2. Topics • General Introduction • Library school challenges • Employment market • Transborder hiring of librarians • LIS school opportunities

  3. Mexican Snapshot • 100 million inhabitants • Largest Spanish-speaking country • A quarter of the US territory • 14th world economy – GDP • 7th in tourism • Largest immigration output to US • Middle income country • With the largest library system in Latin America

  4. Library Statistics INEGI, 2006 / SEP 1999 • Public……………. 7,200 • Academic………...1,200 • School…………….5,400 • Special………………230 • Librarians…………4,000 • Library Schools………10

  5. Library Education History • Dates back to 1924 • Oldest LIS school 1945 • There were only two schools located in Mexico City until 1970 • There has been a good growth in the last five years • Library education is mostly traditional • Except distance LIS education (2 programs)

  6. US Library Role • Library theory and practice are based on US cannons • Foreign library degrees are from US universities • There was a special library scholarship program in the 1970s-1980s for US universities • US Franklin library played an important promotional role

  7. Graduates´ Profile • Strength: Bibliographic skills • Material organization oriented • Limited skills in: • Management • English • Computer use • Communication: oral and written

  8. Schools Need to… • Change teaching methods • Update curricula • Broaden programs to cover more employment markets • Attract more competent students • Increase their budgets • Integrate IT to the curriculum

  9. Librarians´ Challenges • Transform libraries into learning organizations • Face constant demand change • Adopt new organizational strategies • Offer new and more relevant services • Offer distant learning information services

  10. Crossborder Hiring of Librarians • Mexican librarians come to US to work • Their degrees are not fully recognized • There is a need for an international accreditation scheme • Programs may need to be homologated • A good pattern is the European Bologna project

  11. Foreign Degrees Are not Recognized • Degrees from abroad universities are not officially recognized • There is a lengthy, almost impossible, process to get government recognition • However, in practice, it does not matter much • The annoyances are usually for government paperwork

  12. Accreditation • There are no specific library accredited programs yet, unlike other fields • The country has a general evaluation system • Those who pass the evaluation can get better federal funding • Mexican Library Association (AMBAC) does not play a role in this process • There is a degree-holding guild who could play the legal role of accreditation (Colegio Nacional de Bibliotecarios)

  13. Actors in the Library Scene • Only 22% academic directors have a library degree • Public and school libraries have almost no librarians • Libraries mostly directed by professionals with other backgrounds

  14. Universities and Special Hire More Librarians • Most advanced libraries • Best budgets • Lead in technology • Higher salaries • More professional development opportunities

  15. Society's Library Concept • A place for lending books • An administrative department • A place for students • Anyone can work at the library • A service that can be replaced by Internet • Salaries are low, more than in other professions

  16. Personal Hiring Experience • Attract candidates from miles away • Recruiting is difficult and slow • Insufficient number of candidates • They prefer to work in their hometowns • Family culture ties them to their homes • Institutional contracting procedure is time limited

  17. UV Requirements • Vision • Self management • Service oriented • Communication skills • Master English • Information technology skills

  18. Conclusions • There is a need for more librarians • New education roads have to be created to non-library working professionals • Distance postgraduate education is good • A NAFTA library education accreditation scheme is needed • LIS schools have the great opportunity to meet the market demand in quality and quantity

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