Life sciences library education in Latin America

Abstract

The most extensive program is located in Brazil at the Universidad Federal Minas Gerais which has 16 faculty members and in 1976-79 had among them a British (American educated) and an American library educator. Several schools reported “type of library” courses or specialized bibliography courses which could provide an appropriate locus for basic biomedical bibliographic information. Considering the health problems all countries are facing, library schools in Latin America should be encouraged to make a stronger effort to train individuals for this subject area. The American Association of Library Schools has been prominent in its support of co-operative efforts with Latin American educators as perhaps best exemplified by its Austin, Texas meeting in 1980 when the pre-conference entitled “Library and Information Science Education in the Americas: Present and Future” was held. However, Latin American educators themselves, encouraged by IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) are making efforts to continuously upgrade their teaching. Evidence of this can be found in IFLA's pre-conferences at the August 1982 Montreal meeting.