Article V Curriculum

Here's the second part of the Policies and Standards for BLIS Program.

Article V Curriculum

xxx...Among its salient features are:

• provision for the mastery of the basic subjects such as Library and Information Organization and Management, including Laws and Related Practices and Trends, Information Technology, Selection and Acquisition of Library Materials, Cataloging and Classification, Reference, Bibliography and User Services, and Indexing and Abstracting, as called for in the library and information professional licensure examination;
• addition of subjects in vital information and communication technologies crucial in the LIS program, like telecommunications, networking, and database design;
• enriched specialization component such as law, health and medical, academic, special, school, and public librarianship;
  
• provision for community exposure through field-based experiences through its library practicum subjects; and
• total immersion in library and information science practice towards the end of the LIS program.

The curriculum outline enumerates 63 units of general education units; 90 units of professional courses: 60 units of basic professional courses, 18 units of specialization, and 12 units of electives; 6 units of NSTP; and 8 units of physical education.


The highlights of the new curriculum are those in red. In the forum that I attended, a respected member of the library science academe strongly rejected the inclusion of the ICT component saying that these are not necessary skills for librarians and that these better be left to engineers.

I say she's not in touch with the times. I had to learn networking and I had to learn programming because my job demanded it. I think her concept of a librarian remains to be traditional.

Of the specialization, she said that library schools should not be forced to offer all the specialization courses and allow them to choose a particular field. Besides, according to her, courses like diplomas in medical and law librarianship were offered in UP before but there were very few enrollees, so she thought it would be a waste to offer all the subjects.

Following her train of thought, wouldn't that be limiting a student's choice on the area of librarianship he/she would want to specialize in?

If you have any comment, I assure you that I will relay them to the PATLS who is responsible for information dissemination.