EU-US DL Education Workshop: SWOT Analysis
From Pomerantz
EU institutions
Berlin School of LIS (Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft)
Strengths
Our digital library teaching is not separated into particular classes (with two exceptions), but is generally and increasingly integrated into the whole BA and MA curriculum. This is in part because the Berlin School (in German the Institut für Bibliotheks- und Informationswissenschaft) was re-established two years ago to become a I-School in the US sense of the word and to develop a program that prepared students for future developments with a paricular emphasis on digital libraries.
Weaknesses
While the number of faculty is growing, the program continues to be very small by US standards.
Opportunities
Because the Berlin School is the only one in Germany with the right to grant a PhD in Library and Information Science (all other LIS programs are at Fachhochschule, which may only give BA and MA degrees), we attract highly motivated students. The Berlin School puts a particular emphasis on integrating students into research in keeping with the Humboldt tradition of "die Einheit von Forschung und Lehre" (the unity of research and teaching).
Threats
The financial weaknesses of the German university system represent the biggest threat. German universities have virtually no endowment money and many, including Humboldt, charge no tuition. (Though the Berlin School is allowed to charge for our executive education program.)
University of Zadar
Strengths
Clear vision of the departments future Accreditation received for undergraduate program and two graduate ones (2005, Bologna) Good team, devoted and open to novices Support of University management – two new R/T positions every year untill 2010 Good distribution of research interests 5 collaborative research projects approved and financed by Ministry of Science Involvement in submission processes for different projects Strong international cooperation New Joint graduate program in WHDE (Written Heritage in the Digital Environment), accredited (prepared with financial support of the Croatian NSF New PhD program with international partners, in process of accreditation Translation of several important foreign books International conferences – LIDA, AKM/ALM International journal Libellarium published Summer school/s proposal University of Zadar new Research strategy All teachers are involved in DL issues and very keen in working with students on digitization projects, archiving of digital objects and investigation different models of long term archiving. Students who have shown interest in DL Teachers and students capable of communication in English and at leas one more foreign language (German, Italian)
Weaknesses
Very, very young university department - only five years old, and 12 staff members! Not enough staff time could be devoted to research New academic titles not yet in accordance with work positions in information institutions (discrepancy between two national acts) Transitional economy – unsecured finance; importance of „whom you know, not how much you know“ Accredited programs from 2005 need to be redesigned Research projects not connected with international ones – the position of Croatian in EU! Position of the Department inside University – young Department, title not responding to programs 4 Young teachers/researchers in process of gaining PhD Marketing strategy does not exsist Not enough textbooks Reading habits of students Admission criteria to weak, Zadar is still not among favorite Croatian universities
Opportunities
We have an excellent environment for implementing DL idea and projects (very much research oriented archeological and history of arts departments; rich collections in monastery libraries and archives) Croatian national program for the digitization of cultural heritage - need to educate skilled personnel For each research projects research assistant is assigned by the Ministry of Science Strong national e-infrastructure Use of ICT in teaching New Center for Learning resources (including Library) in new building Involvement of the department in preparations, including students Potential leading position in the region in LIS education New PhD program Involvement in EU and other projects Joint programs with summer schools on islands
Threats
Current economic situation that could slow down some of the plans, especially in recruting new staff To long process of getting answers when communicating with Ministry of Science Not all departments willing to cooperate in designing University's main reseacrh/teaching strategy National and University library is not producing information products important in teaching processes ICT support at the University level Predominance of Zagreb (centralization) Secondary school reform – not clear, still a gap in ICT skills betwen science and social scinece, arts and humanities background Maternity leaves
Previous Q/A
Q: What DL-related topics are currently well-integrated into the curriculum at your institution? What topics are weakly represented or lacking at your institution?
A: We do teach at undergraduate and graduate level (graduate just started for the first time, according to Bologna). We do offer at undergraduate level:
- Languages for description and presentation
- Metadata and identifiers
- Designing the content of a DL
- Digital Archives
- Information Architecture
- Digitization of written documents
- At graduate level we have just started a new program: Written heritage in the Digital Environment with a number of DL related courses, of course.
Q: What skills do you believe that graduates will need to have in 5 years? Which of these skills are currently well-covered in your institution's curriculum? Not well-covered?
A: Very strong 'techical' skills, knowledge about heritage and organizational aspects of digital objects, collections and services; communication and writing skills; analytical skills and capabilities to interpret.
We are not so strong in technical aspects (Osijek is much better), but I must point out that I am speaking about two very young departments (Osijek, established in 1998 as Library Science department, now Information Sciences department and Zadar, only four years old....)
But we are looking forward to develop program that will enable us to organize digitization projects of cultural heritage, often neglected and not presented worldwide.
Q: What trends do you see happening nationally that you believe will affect the skills your graduates will need to have in 5 years?
A: Recognition of the importance of information specialists (in KM, BI, IA, and heritage) and new positions for skilled people in DL etc issues.
University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain). LIS Department. Official Master in Digital Libraries
Strengths
- We are now in the process of launching a New Official Master (according to Bolonia’s graduate system) in Digital Libraries. It is going to start on 2009/2010 and it implies 1 year of specialized education (60 ECTS), with the possibility of having a slower graduation (2 years, 30 ECTS a year).
- This program in DLs will be the first one in the country in accordance to European Area of Higher Education. It is planned to be taught following a b-learning methodology (half presential and half online (based on Moodle LMS).
- We will teach it in cooperation with Computer Science Department.
Weaknesses
- Initially, the master is going to start in Spanish.
- It is academic-oriented not practice-oriented.
Opportunities
- The Master in Digital Libraries (MBD-UC3M, with its acronym in Spanish) is going to be the first official Master in Digital Libraries in the country completely adapted to Bolonia’s principles and philosophy.
- It is a fantastic moment in Europe to have specialized studies in Digital Libraries, Digital Preservation and so on… Since the EU Commission is engaged in the construction of the European Digital library (Europeana).
- The b-learning methodology chosen for this master is also an opportunity because some of the courses could be easily integrated in an online international experience, such us WISEor something new that we could call: “E-DLE: Electronic Digital Libraries Education”.
Threats
- We are still under verification process of the master. That should not be a threat but strength, but since we do not have the official confirmation of the positive verification it is still a threat.
- The decreasing number of higher education students, specially in LIS programmes.
Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). Departement des Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication
Strengths
- Strong link with the professional field through our professors who mostly are also part-time practitioners in their research field.
- Multidisciplinary approach: students can follow a set of courses from other departments.
- Multilingualism: collaboration with VUB, courses in Dutch/English.
- Based in the capital of Europe: facilitates mobility and international collaboration.
Weaknesses
- For the moment no specific courses that solely focus on Digital Libraries.
- Lack of full-time professors.
- Strong focus on ex-cathedra courses, which clashes with the more Anglo-Saxon approach.
- Bologna reforms slowed down the work on the reforms of the actual content of the program.
- Lack of ambitious and large scale DL projects in Belgium, which would stimulate the DL education and research.
Opportunities
- Large potential to attract more students by rendering the program more DL-related and pro-actively marketing the program.
- Once the Bologna reforms are completely implemented, students will profit from a maximum mobility.
Threats
- Shortage of funding.
Parma University (Italy). Department of Cultural Heritage
Strengths
Internationalisation of the curriculum for DL has been a strategy followed by the Department. This has allowed to develop good cooperation with the best European LIS schools. Also, it was possible to find the financement from Italian Government and European Erasmus Mundus Program, offering two International Joint Courses.
The International English taught courses are:
International Master in Information Studies together with Northumbria University (ccoridnator): it deals with Information Management and the modules delivered in Parma deal with Digitisation Management and Learning and Libraries;
DILL Digital Library Learning, together with Oslo University College (coordinator) and Tallinn University: includes modules on User and uses of Digital LIbrary and Access to Digital LIbrary. The module User and uses deals on evaluation of Digitisation Programme and Collection Development, including Promotion and Marketing, Policy, Project management. The module Access to Digital Library is focused on ICT applications, including the Reference Model developed from the DELOS project. Internship is part of the program. Multiculturalism and international vision is part of the philosophy of the course.
Weaknesses
The Italian Universities are very conservative in teaching and learning. Weaknesses in the curricula content are basic level competencies, as Knowledge organisation, Web based services, ICT, which are not part of the background of the Master students.
Opportunities
What will be needed in 5 years in Italy? a more activist role of librarians in Society. The focus will be on consortia and management of DL networked services.
Threats
There is difficulty in the recognition of qualification of DL librarian. There is no agreement on learning outcomes of successfull students completing the DL course.
US institutions
School of Information and Library Science, UNC-CH
Strengths
We have two projects ongoing in SILS, the Digital Library Curriculum Project and the Digital Curation Curriculum (DigCCurr) Project. Between these two projects, we've done a lot of planning in SILS for what new curricula that address the lifecycle of digital objects should look like, and have some materials on which a larger-scale curriculum planning effort can be based.
SILS has a culture of international programs and joint degrees, and one of UNC's priorities is global education, making establishing an international curriculum comparatively easy.
Weaknesses
Curriculum planning has been within the projects, not by the School as a whole. We're working on integrating the materials we've created in the DL Curriculum project into the SILS curriculum as a whole, but so far it's spotty.
We have only 1 DL course in SILS; it's not a program or even a concentration. New courses will need to be proposed and approved.
Opportunities
Several other iSchools in North America have DL concentrations, making collaborations comparatively easy to negotiate.
Emphasis by the NSF and other federal funding agencies on harnessing cyberinfrastructure for education makes this work very timely, and provides a useful hook for grant applications.
The Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) consortium of schools is already international, and may provide a platform for offering DL courses collaboratively.
Threats
The poor state of the US economy will probably lead to decreased grant funding for ILS in general, and for curriculum-related work specifically.
Syracuse University
Strengths
A formal education program with well designed core and electives
Clear specializations in major digital library areas (DL services, digital information organization and management, science data management, digital cultural heritage, etc.)
Well coordinated with MLIS and IM degree programs
Strong emphasis on both fundamental concepts, environment, and practices
Strong distance learning program
Interdisciplinary
Weaknesses
A wide range of electives requires the CAS DL program director approval for counting it into the certificate, which increase the overhead of administration
Some overlapping in content exists in some courses
Opportunities
Specialized tracks in digital humanities, e-science, and e-social sciences
Synergies from NSF funded cyberinfrastructure facilitator project and scientific data literacy project at Syracuse
Collaboration with other iSchools in course offering, e.g., data curation
Threats
Tuition
Economic downfall
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Strengths Our digital library program is defined as a 6th year (Certificate of Advanced Study) concentration requiring a structured curriculum and a minimum of one year of study beyond the master’s degree.
Weaknesses
Confusion of master’s students and others over the possibility of a specialization at the master’s degree level and the identification of a market for the CAS concentration certificagte.
Opportunites
Because of strength of the master’s, CAS and Doctoral Degree program, and the number of DL research projects on the University of Illinois campus, there are many opportunities at Illinois.
Threats
Financial threat from falling state support in the coming financial crisis. Also after two years of the one year CAS specialization, only a few students of the 12 or more students in the program seem to be graduating. Do we need to determine if this is a problem?
General reflections on the strenghts and weaknesses of the European DL education
Strengths
The Bologna Process represents the Governments and politicians support for recognition of qualifications, innovation in teaching and learning, mobility and cooperation.
Consortia for joint and twin courses are stimulated.
Weaknesses
The triangle eduction-research-practice is not in balance. The European Commission invests in DL projects (e.g. Europeana), but the overall scope and impetus of the projects remain a) too political and b) project-based. The professional community is not cooperating with LIS teachers. It is crucial that a more long-term approach and strategy should be adopted by LIS schools. But the EU-US DL project offers a unique opportunity to deliver some ground-breaking work towards this goal.
Secondly, there is also an urgent need to (re)define the status and competencies of digital librarians and metadata practitioners. The creation of an international DL curriculum and a standardized quality assessment for metadata creation and management are fundamental steps within the process of re-establishing the professional status of LIS practitioners.
General questions
What should be the ultimate deliverable from our work? Lesson plans, like the modules from the Digital Library Curriculum Project? A recommended curriculum like the ACM's Computing Curricula 2001 and Curricula for Human-Computer Interaction?
Do we want to provide courses jointly, or provide courses individually at institutions but with a shared curriculum?
If we want to provide courses jointly, how to coordinate this? Through the WISE consortium? How to handle different semester schedules?
For project-based courses, how to coordinate work across institutions? What projects and types of projects will be best? How to solicit projects?
How are we going to continue the work on EU-US DLs curriculum? Can we submit a report with the result of our discussion to IFLA Education and Training Section which international conference is going to be held this year in Milan? Can we prepare another workshop to to follow up this work, for example submiting a workshop proposal to ECDL2009?

