Formal LIS education in Pakistan began in 1915, when Asa Don Dickinson started a certificate course in LIS at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and thus he laid the foundation of the first library school in this region. This was the first course of its kind which was started outside the USA. It was open to all until 1928, when admission was restricted to graduates. This course was continued until 1947. After having been suspended between 1947 and 1949, it was restarted in 1950 and raised to Postgraduate Diploma in Library Science in 1959. Master’s programme at this school was initiated in 1974 (Haider and Mahmood, 2007). The Master’s programme in LIS was first launched by the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Karachi, Pakistan. This library school was established in 1956 (Samdani and Bhatti, 2011).
At present, nine library schools, eight in the public sector and one in the private sector, provide LIS education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the country. Despite making progress in imparting LIS education, Pakistan is encountered with some serious problems in this sector (Haider, 2008, p.83). Haider (2008, p.83) and Ameen (2011, p.174) have observed that the library schools in Pakistan are faced with problems, such as low entrance criteria, lack of PhD faculty members, low intellectual content curricula, lack of ICT-related courses, use of traditional teaching methods, dominance of theoretical courses without practical application, shortage of library material, and poor laboratory facilities.
64 The HEC designs and revises curricula for various programmes of study in different subjects, including LIS, offered at higher education institutions in Pakistan (Higher Education Commission, 2013a). Mahmood (2003) made a comparison between professional competencies required by academic libraries and LIS curricula followed by library schools in the country at the time of the study. He pointed out deficiencies in the LIS curricula offered by the library schools and stressed the need to revise the curricula keeping in view the market needs of academic librarians. In another study, conducted by Warraich and Ameen (2010b) to explore the employment and learning outcomes of graduates of the library school at the University of the Punjab, the respondents suggested that the curriculum for the Master’s programme offered by the school should be made more practically oriented. Warraich and Ameen (2011a) conducted another study to explore the relevance of LIS curriculum followed by the library school at the University of the Punjab to the market needs in the country. They found that although the LIS curriculum was up-to-date and well- designed, it did not develop required employability skills in LIS graduates due to a lack of implementation of the curriculum, and shortage of specialised faculty members at the time of the study. They suggested that the LIS curriculum should be redesigned in order to improve students’ skills in some areas, such as ICT, communication, presentation, English language, etc, so that employability skills of graduates of the school are improved. In a recent study, Tufail Khan and Mahmood (2013) compared LIS curricula for the Master’s programme followed by the country’s nine library schools with the LIS curriculum for the Master’s programme designed by the HEC, and found that there was no standard and uniformity in the curricula followed by the library schools. Every school offered courses according to its own interest, which caused problems for graduates of the schools in meeting market needs.
3.4.1 Teaching of Reference Service at Library Schools of
Pakistan
The concept of reference service was unknown in the Indo-Pakistan sub- continent as phrases like ‘reference books’, ‘reference services’, or ‘reference works’ are not found in the early writings on librarianship originating from this
65 region. Asa Don Dickinson omitted ‘Reference Service’ from the list of courses taught by him at the University of the Punjab. Earlier, A.C Borden, who launched a library course at Baroda, India in 1911, did not include reference service in the contents of his course. The reference service was first recommended to be included in the curriculum for a library course of six-month duration by the first All-India Conference of Librarians (held between 4th and 8th January, 1918 at Lahore) in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent (Haider, 2008, p.84).
At present, all library schools in Pakistan offer a course on reference service under the title ‘Information Sources and Services’ for the Master’s degree programme (Tufail Khan and Mahmood, 2013), whereas a separate course titled “Basic Reference Sources” for LIS curriculum of a Bachelor’s degree programme (revised in 2008-09) has also been approved by the National Curriculum Revision Committee of the HEC (Higher Education Commission, 2013b). The LIS curricula for both Master’s and Bachelor’s degree programmes approved by the HEC for the library schools show that contents of courses on reference service are traditional and inadequate, and are not systematically organised. Some important topics related to the reference process, such as the reference interview, question analysis, formulating search strategy are missing. Likewise, there is no mention of the Internet as a reference tool, electronic reference sources and online searching (Haider, 2008, p.90; Higher Education Commission, 2013b; Higher Education Commission, 2002).
The lecture method is the most common method to teach all the courses including reference service at library schools in Pakistan. Other methods, such as assignments, class discussion, use of key information tools and sources, or practical aspects of reference librarianship are used only in a few rare cases. A written examination is held at the end of a semester to assess students’ learning. The reading lists for the courses on reference service contain old editions as they are not updated regularly. Books of some of the renowned authors in this field, such as R. E. Bopp and L. C. Smith, and R. Balay are not included in the list. No library school subscribes to any of the major periodicals related to reference service, such as ‘Reference and User Services Quarterly’,
66
‘Reference Services Review’, and ‘The Reference Librarian’ (Haider, 2008, p.88).
3.4.2 Continuing Professional Education
No professional degree programme in the world can claim to provide the learning to be sufficient forever. Learning is a lifelong process which helps professionals to keep their knowledge updated (Ameen, 2011, p.174). Continuing professional education is indispensible for professional development. LIS professionals need to keep themselves abreast of the latest trends and developments taking place in their profession in order to provide efficient services to users, and ensure their (users’) satisfaction. Factors, such as the vast growth of new knowledge, the introduction of new technologies in libraries, the social needs of an increasing highly educated society, the introduction of outreach programmes to attract new groups of users, and the changing trends in library services have necessitated the provision of continuing professional education for LIS professionals (Chaudhary, 2001, p.67).
In Pakistan, library schools, libraries, regional, provincial and national library associations organise different programmes, such as short courses, workshops, conferences and seminars on different topics for continuing professional education of LIS professionals. Amongst various library associations organising continuing education programmes in the country, the Pakistan Library Association (PLA), the Pakistan Bibliographical Working Group (PBWG), the Karachi University Library Science Alumni Association (KULSAA), the Punjab University Library Science Alumni Association (PULSAA), the Society for the Promotion and Improvement of Libraries (SPIL), the Pakistan Library Automation Group (PakLAG) and Medical Library Association of Pakistan (MELAP) are the most prominent (Mahmood, Hameed and Haider, 2005, p.132; Haider, 2008, p. 89). In the past, the PLA, with the financial and technical assistance of the NLDP, imparted computer training to 500 working librarians in the country. The PLA in collaboration with USIS also organised a special one- month training course on ICT for LIS professionals in the country (Mahmood, 1996, p. 41). The HEC and some international organisations, such as IFLA,
67 OCLC, UNESCO, also arrange such training courses for LIS professionals in the country.
Unfortunately, continuing education programmes for LIS professionals are not organised on a regular basis in the country. Batool and Ameen (2010) found that the lack of continuing education progrmmes in the country was one of the major factors which prevented LIS professionals of the University of the Punjab from improving their ICT skills and keeping themselves up to date with the latest technological developments. Mahmood and Khan (2007) conducted a survey to assess continuing education needs for ICT of LIS professionals in Pakistan, and found that the majority of the LIS professionals needed continuing professional education in various areas of ICT. The respondents wanted library schools and professional library associations to organise workshops and training courses for developing their ICT skills.