The Vatican School of Librarianship in a Time of Change: Current Organization and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Founded in 1934, the Vatican School of Librarianship, in its early days, aimed at forming both secular and religious librarians following the North American library tradition. Later on, teaching has been largely based on international standards. A brief outline of the initial setting of the School is provided. Presently, the School includes eight courses, ranging from those having a more historical approach to ones which focus on specific more technical skills, such as cataloguing, metadata and data management, reference services, document delivery and information literacy, library services, networking and digital libraries, preservation of printed material, and digital archives. In order to maintain the native hands-on approach, theoretical teaching is backed by lectures and laboratory lessons with practical exercises and teaching on the field. Moreover, internships have been agreed with libraries and educational institutions. To keep up pace with job-market requirements, a series of workshops aiming at providing students with soft skills is organized each year. By taking active part in these workshops, they are confronted with the need to rely upon common sense, the ability to deal with peers, and the need to develop a positive and flexible attitude. In order to assess their satisfaction and to get some useful feedback for further enhancing the quality of teaching, a survey was carried out among current and previous students.