Training sub-professional library staff: An international survey

Abstract

The title of this article implies full-time training in educational institutions culminating in the writing of examinations and the award of certificates. This assumption would exclude: 1. (i) useful in-service training programmes run in virtually all libraries; 2. (ii) series of short residential courses which are available, for instance, in New Zealand, as part fulfilment of essentially in-service training programmes, which may lead to certification; 3. (iii) workshops, seminars, etc. which may or may not lead to some form of certification, and 4. (iv) courses in librarianship offered as part of teacher-training programmes such as the Minor in librarianship run for the first two years of a three-year course leading to the award of the Nigerian Certificate in Education in some Advanced Teachers' Colleges in Nigeria. Narrowing down the scope of the title in this way leaves us mostly with African library schools offering sub-professional courses and particularly the two library schools in Nigeria with which the writer is closely connected. But in doing so attention will be drawn to certain issues characteristic of this level of education for librarianship generally with occasional comments whenever necessary.