International and Comparative Librarianship

The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an introduction to the large and varying subject matter that is international and comparative librarianship.    The subject matter  is approach through an investigation of the  main theoretical traditions and concepts in the discipline to  see how well they help  in understanding international trends in librarianship. Students quickly learn that those who write about this subject do not even agree about what exactly constitutes this field and what should  be its proper focus of study. Therefore,  the course will present international and comparative librarianship (ICL)  as a series of ongoing conversations, rather than a static body of information. To facilitate this vision students will NOT being forced to memorize concepts and theories, but rather will be encouraged to understand the basic assumptions, historical development, and main approaches to this field, and by utilizing them in a variety of ways to define and elucidate historical and contemporary issues in librarianship around the world.