International Librarianship: Cooperation and Collaboration

Citation

Johnson, I.M. (2002), "International Librarianship: Cooperation and Collaboration", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 4, pp. 490-493. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.4.490.5

These two academics, both with many years international experience of library work, have brought together what their publisher claims is a well edited collage of experiences in the transfer of library technical information, usually between developed and developing countries. This reviewer and others known to him have had two or three approaches over the last few years from the editors seeking contributions.

The 34 papers finally gathered in are grouped in five main sections. The first part of the book comprises 11 papers on a variety of themes. M.M. Aman adequately reviews the background to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In passing he reveals one of the perennial problems of publications such as this, asserting erroneous, inadequately researched facts and perpetuating ignorance of the truth. He claims that Egypt has more schools of librarianship than any country outside the USA, a claim that could be disputed by Russia, the UK, and Spain. A review of the development of the IFLA/UNESCO School Library manifesto by Anne Galler is one of two papers reprinted from other sources. The second is a hagiography of the late Robert Maxwell by Brian Cox, and sits uneasily in a volume with no other papers on publishing.

Kay Poustie provides an uncritical review of the work of the Bertelsman Foundation in supporting public library development. However, Robin Doust reviews the background to Book Aid International, and demonstrates how its assistance has been invaluable in maintaining the Bulawayo Public Library. Weber and Kaser provide an interesting but tantalising chapter on library building design, frustratingly lacking photographs or further references to follow up.

More valuable is a review by Harry Campbell of IFLA’s activities, especially those on behalf of the developing world, timely in the light of changes in the structure of IFLA and support for its core programmes. Hiraldo and Pujol provide a discussion of the international library work of national cultural agencies, all of which have gone through major transformations in recent years. Useful overviews for non‐specialists are provided in Celia Zaher’s brief history of ABINIA, the association of national libraries in Latin America, and Baron’s paper on aquatic library and information networks. The latter suffers from the sparseness of its references, even to Web sites, which would have been an invaluable feature of an introductory text.

The second group of four papers, edited by Carol Fuchs, examines the implementation of machine‐readable catalogues in Israel, Iran, Brazil, and China. There are pointers here not just for MARC fanatics, but for many libraries trying to cope with the problems of organising a collection serving a multi‐cultural society.

The third group of papers, edited by Jeffrey Wilhite, has as its theme resources and regional responsibilities. Sall describes the work of the Information and Documentation Centre of the African AIDS Research Network, but provides little insight into where and how the information is used. Olinloye provides an uninspiring account of the problems of university libraries in West Africa.

Sosna’s paper outlines the rapid progress made by the library of the Czech Parliament in the ten years since the “Velvet Revolution”, to the point where it could claim in some respects to be ahead of those in some other countries in Western Europe. However, Wilhite himself contrasts the European Commission’s commitment to providing good information to its citizens and its single entry point to a well‐organised Web site with the scattered 4,000+ sites of the agencies of the American Federal government. Kader outlines the origins and work of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a useful summary for those interested in the Arab world. Iivonen and colleagues describe the work of a little known cooperation programme between the provinces of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia bordering on the Barents Sea. This paper provides a useful critical review of the factors affecting international collaboration, and also an evaluation of the Internet software tool Basic Support for Cooperative Work (BSCW). Owens and Davis provide a view of the history of generally benign American influence on international librarianship, which might have appeared more balanced had they examined some of the Latin American critiques of those exports. It also glosses over the cause of the changes in the relationship between IFLA and UNESCO – the withdrawal of the USA and Britain from UNESCO, and makes a false statement about the consequences. Coincidentally, this is immediately followed by a critique by Goetzfridt of American attempts to develop libraries in Micronesia since 1945.

Seven papers are grouped under the heading of “Education for the profession”. The first, by Madubom, is a long moan about the state of public libraries in Nigeria, interspersed with comments on the shortcomings of the staff. This paper is short on facts, strong on assertions, and typically fails to analyse who is responsible for the present state of affairs. It is out of place in this section, and probably would not have been published at all had stronger editorial control been exercised. The same could be said of Fragoso and Penha’s worthy but incomplete and incomprehensible account of an experiment in Brazil to encourage use of the school library and the Internet. Khurshid discusses assistance to Pakistani librarianship, but strangely provides no explanation for his review terminating in the late 1980s. Did aid stop then, or was this chapter an early submission to the editors that should have been updated?

In contrast, Thelma Rungkat presents a factual (but discrete) review of the development of education for librarianship in Indonesia, concluding with a brief discussion of appropriate approaches to international development assistance. Takayama’s paper on educational development in Japan provides a fascinating insight into the challenge of developing professional education in a culture in which the concept of professional qualifications is not widely accepted, and the subject has developed as a pure academic discipline. There is still little incentive for professional studies, but he notes that the situation is changing. Hayati and Fattahi review the development of librarianship in Iran since 1979, and the introduction of a curriculum oriented to national circumstances. Equally fascinating is the insight they provide into the way in which the unique School of Management Information Science and Medical Archives is leading developments in medical librarianship in the country. The paper also provides a detailed critique of the American model of library education, but the account of the debates that led to the post‐revolutionary implementation of an otherwise largely American model might surprise some less well‐informed Americans. The economic problems arising from the Iran‐Iraq war hindered developments, but since 1988 students have been going abroad again, bringing back different insights.

The last section describes three distinguished international achievers, and is strangely distanced in the text from an extended dedication to the doyen of international librarianship, Lester Asheim, which comprises reminiscence and appreciation by five of his former colleagues and friends. Fogarassy and Toth provide an account of Szabo and Sallai’s notable contributions to librarianship in Hungary. Lamble provides an account of Sharr’s work in Western Australia, an account which pays due tribute to the man’s significant achievements but also implicitly reveals how (little) the practice of librarianship changed before the era of the PC and Internet and the recognition of information as a source of competitive advantage. Greta Renborg reviews early US influences on the marketing of libraries in Sweden, before turning to an account of her own successful efforts to embed it further in professional practice.

Throughout there are helpful citations that will assist readers to identify documents that would not appear in conventional indexes (although it was possible to detect some sloppy editing of citations which may consequently prove less helpful), but there are few citations to material in languages other than English. It is not clear whether the authors or editors had little expectation that their readers would be sufficiently familiar with other languages to follow these up, but the absence of foreign sources undermines the scholarly credibility of the papers, and equally almost implies that the papers are of little interest in their country of origin.

There are some clear lapses in editorial control, but the main weaknesses appear to be the failure of some authors to clearly contextualise their work for an international audience, and the absence of critical evaluation in many papers. Several of the papers appear out of place in the section that they are in, and could have been more interestingly juxtaposed. It would be easy to be unkind about the book’s failings, but the effort that the editors have put into gathering these papers over the years cannot be under estimated. The editors themselves state that it is not a “how to” book; it is one that acknowledges the doing. The final judgement must be that the authors have achieved their aim, but their publisher’s claim for the result is somewhat exaggerated.

The readers who would benefit from accessing this volume should not solely be those few individuals with a generic interest in international approaches to library and information work. Its contents must find their way into the hands of specialists in particular fields who would benefit from its insights into national practices in other countries and to those interested in the broad development of library and information work in particular countries. One must hope that the publisher has therefore been encouraged to supply copies to the major indexing and abstracting services.