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

Director, USBI-VER Library, and Coordinator, UV Virtual Library Universidad Veracruzana / DGB

Veracruz, México

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

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TopicsTopics

General Introduction

Library school challenges

Employment market

Transborder hiring of librarians

LIS school opportunities

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Mexican SnapshotMexican Snapshot

100 million inhabitantsLargest Spanish-speaking countryA quarter of the US territory 14th world economy – GDP7th in tourismLargest immigration output to USMiddle income countryWith the largest library system in Latin America

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Library StatisticsLibrary Statistics

Public……………. 7,200

Academic………...1,200

School…………….5,400

Special………………230

Librarians…………4,000

Library Schools………10

INEGI, 2006 / SEP 1999

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Library Education HistoryLibrary Education History

Dates back to 1924Oldest LIS school 1945There were only two schools located in Mexico City until 1970There has been a good growth in the last five yearsLibrary education is mostly traditionalExcept distance LIS education (2 programs)

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US Library RoleUS Library RoleLibrary theory and practice are based on US cannonsForeign library degrees are from US universitiesThere was a special library scholarship program in the 1970s-1980s for US universitiesUS Franklin library played an important

promotional role

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Graduates´ ProfileGraduates´ Profile

Strength: Bibliographic skills

Material organization oriented

Limited skills in:Management

English

Computer use

Communication: oral and written

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Schools Need to…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

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Librarians´ ChallengesLibrarians´ 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

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Crossborder Hiring of LibrariansCrossborder 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

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Foreign Degrees Are not Recognized 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

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AccreditationAccreditation

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

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Actors in the Library SceneActors 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

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Universities and Special Hire More Librarians

Universities and Special Hire More Librarians

• Most advanced libraries• Best budgets• Lead in technology• Higher salaries• More professional development

opportunities

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Society's Library Concept 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

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Personal Hiring ExperiencePersonal 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

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UV RequirementsUV Requirements

Vision

Self management

Service oriented

Communication skills

Master English

Information technology skills

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ConclusionsConclusions

There is a need for more librariansNew education roads have to be created to non-library working professionalsDistance postgraduate education is goodA NAFTA library education accreditation scheme is neededLIS schools have the great opportunity to meet the market demand in quality and quantity