IFLA Efforts to provide Standards for International Library and Information Studies Education: The Role of the IFLA Section of Education and Training – A Case Study

As education for library and information science (LIS) professionals has become more international in scope and as graduates of LIS education programs have expanded their interests in job opportunities beyond the boundaries of their home country or region, the question of appropriate measures for assessing and comparing the quality of LIS professional educational programs in this era of digital information and education delivered electronically on the internet, the question of whether it is possible to develop measures to assess the quality of such programs that would permit an international system of assessment that would provide reciprocal recognition of the quality of professional degrees in LIS becomes ever more pressing. Some countries or regions have their own quality assessment programs, such as the accreditation of LIS programs in the USA and Canada and the certification of courses of study by CILIP in the U.K. This paper reviews the history of IFLA’s involvement in the quality assessment of LIS Professional educational programs and examines as a case study the involvement of IFLA’s Section on Education and Training in the development of Standards for Education Programs for Library and Information Professionals. The challenges involved in this process are analyzed.