"Library Planning" in the Interamerican Library School Curriculum

Abstract

THIS PAPER discusses the library planning course offered as part of the program of studies for professional librarians in the Interamerican Library School in Medellin, Colombia. The aim of the paper is to place this course within its educational milieu in the Interamerican Library School, as well as within the context of libraries and librarianship in Colombia. The importance of library planning as part of the education for librarianship in Colombia, its uniqueness as an authentic response to a national and a Latin American environment, and the contrast between the planning course at Medellin and planning within the curriculum of American library schools provides the rationale for the writing of the paper. The Interamerican Library School, a part of the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, was created in 1956 as a result of the initiative of the Pan American Union, the University of Antioquia, and the Colombian government. For many years a need for professionally trained librarians had been felt in Colombia and short courses in the National Library in Bogota, as well as a program on the high school level in Medellin had been offered, with limited success.1* 2 It was believed that the new library school would provide a university level education preparing Colombians and students from other Latin American