Training of Specialists in the Field of Information and Library Science in Polish Universities (Experience of the First Decades of the 21st Cent.)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to review the areas of training specialists in library and information science in higher education institutions of Poland at the beginning of the 21st cent. Research methods. The offered research is based on the analytical and synthetic analysis of scientific publications by leading Polish scientists who studied the issues of higher library and information education. The author’s presentation of the current state of university education in the information and library sphere in Poland is based on the processing of materials from the official web portals of higher education establishments that provide specialised training for their applicants. Among a complex of special research methods, the method of content analysis is used to identify the views of certain scientists on the problems of development of information and library education in Poland. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the formulation of the problem that is practically unresearched in Ukrainian science, and requires studying in view of the practical significance of the Polish experience in reforming higher education of the information and library sphere. Main conclusions. In the process of this research, it is found that in Poland the process of transforming the training of information and library specialists in accordance with the needs of modern information society has not yet been completed. There are still scientific discussions on optimising the nomenclature of the training areas at universities, as well as variants of creating interdisciplinary specialities are being considered, some of which have been tested for several years in some higher education institutions. The analysis of the official websites of 11 state universities in Poland has highlighted tendencies toward a rapid reduction in the classical programmes of training in the field of information and library science, which is primarily caused by the demands of potential employers and the increased integration of the latest technologies into all spheres of society activity.