Common Problems of Library and Information Science Education in Asian Developing Countries: A Review Article

Education of Library and Information Science (LIS) has several problems thatare caused by the changing nature of the discipline and the social, economic andcultural contexts in which LIS departments function. The aim of this article is toenumerate and discuss some of the common problems of LIS education indeveloping countries of Asia and suggest solutions. We show that as Asiandeveloping countries share some of the social, economic and cultural elements,they have similar problems in LIS education. Therefore, the same solutionscould be recommended such as setting up limited number of independent LISschools, establishing or empowering accreditation agencies, flexibility ineducational systems, more emphasis on research, developing in-service training,relocating the departments in new faculties, equipping the departments with newfacilities, employing new and skillful staff, encouraging collaboration amongfaculty members and departments, diversifying courses and degrees, updatingsyllabi in an ongoing manner, taking advantage of IT, and creating andpublishing LIS literature in native language.