Is the West best?: Education for School Information Service Professionals

Abstract

School Library Educators in developing countries have, in the main, been training School Infomration Professionals using models of education developed in the United States and Europe. While there have been some local modifications to these western models few countries have developed truly local education programs for Infomation Servie Professional. This is due, in part, to the fact that the Information Services that students are being educated to work with are global information services often based on series developed in the United States and Europe. Many of the advisers who helped to set up school library training programs are from Western Countries and a large proportion of the staff lecturing in these programs have been educated in Western Countries. The paper will conclude by discussing if western models of education for School Information Service Professionals are the most appropriate models given the increased globilization of information services or whether locally developed models can best service the needs of those training to work in developing countries.