Quo vadis? LIS postgraduate education in the Philippines

Issue title: Paper from the 2011 Asia-Pacific Conference on Library and Information Education and Practice (A-LIEP): Issues, Challenges and Opportunities

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Dizon, Fernan R. | Sagun, Karryl Kim A. | Alfiler-Macalalad, Ana Grace P.^{; *}

Affiliations: Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon, Philippines

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Ana Grace P. Alfiler-Macalalad, Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon, 1108 Philippines. Tel.: +63 2 426 6001 loc 5559/5564; Fax: +63 2 426 5961; E-mail: fdizon@ateneo.edu

Abstract: The paper intends to shed light on the predicament faced by many Filipino. Librarians: the lack of local institutions offering a library and information science (LIS) postgraduate degree. The paper aims to reveal the state of Philippine LIS postgraduate education by considering the number of librarians who have pursued and are still pursuing postgraduate degrees, and identifying the universities they have selected, locally and overseas. The data were gathered from responses to an online questionnaire posted on websites of local libraries as well as professional networks, supported by phone interviews. Responses were further validated through electronic correspondence. The study yielded constructive information on the state of library and information science postgraduate education. Most respondents have pursued or are pursuing education-related postgraduate degrees in the Philippines. Of the number of respondents, only a handful have pursued or are pursuing postgraduate education in library and information science in other countries like the United States, Canada, Japan, and United Kingdom.

Keywords: Librarianship, postgraduate education, Philippines, library science, library education

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-2010-0904

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 28, no. 2-4, pp. 227-231, 2011