International requirements for harmonizing educational programs for training specialists in library and information science

Abstract

The aim of the article is to determine the Ukrainian higher education institutions’ opportunities for improving educational programmes in 029 Information, Library and Archival Studies specialty in the context of their compliance with IFLA Guidelines for Professional Educational Programs in Library Science and Information Science.
 The methodology. The study’s methodological tool is a comparative approach to the content and quality criteria of foreign and domestic educational programs for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Library Science and Information Science. A systematic approach to the educational programs’ cognitive component has allowed to establish compulsory and optional educational components blocks and to determine the efficiency for their content in terms of complication the system of the modern library and information specialist’s general and professional competencies.
 The results. In the research we have characterized the IFLA Guidelines for Professional Library and Information Science (LIS) Educational Programs, described and presented for public discussion by IFLA Building Strong LIS Education Working Group (Building Strong LIS Education (BSLISE)) in 2021. The study defined international requirements to the content, organizational and methodical bases of the bachelor and master training in Library and Information Science, as well as established the conformity degree of the Ukrainian higher education institutions’ educational programs to IFLA Guiding principles. There were substantiated the opportunities for improving the content and structure of the domestic educational programmes in 029 Information, Library and Archival Studies specialty as to meeting the international criteria for assessing their quality and modern teaching and learning educational methods used in the educational programs.
 The topicality. For the first time in scientific circulation there has been introduced the content of the IFLA Guidelines for LIS professional educational programmes. These guidelines summarize the international requirements for cognitive, organizational and methodological components of the modern library and information specialists training; allow to establish the compliance degree of domestic educational programs with the world quality criteria.
 The practical significance. The results of the study may be used by Ukrainian higher education institutions implementing educational programs in the specialty 029 Information, Library and Archival Studies and looking for their compliance with international requirements and quality criteria for the library and information professionals’ training and competitiveness in the processes of Ukraine’s integration into the European educational space.