New Perspectives in Science Education

The timeliness and significance of studying the problems related to library associations are defined by the place and the role which libraries, museums, archives and other informational institutions and associations take on as an underlying factor in the processes of developing the new informational and educational environment. The summarization and the analysis of their activity - research, theoretical, applicable, communicational - allow for revealing their unifying and stimulating effect for the presentation, popularization and promotion of the library and cultural community in the world as a factor for achieving sustainable development. Another important motive is the contributory role of library association in strengthening the position of librarianship and the prestige of the library and information specialists.

At the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT) this necessity in the academic training of students of Library and Information Science (LIS) has been met by the introduction of the Library Associations course as a mandatory training course in the curriculum of the Master Program ‘Library, Information and Cultural Management’ – full-time, part-time and distance learning.

The report introduces the contents, the teaching methods and the student assessment mode applied in the Library Association course. Author’s publications, comprising of monographs, rich bibliography, and supplementary educational materials are prepared to provide for the quality of the teaching process [1].

The course has been taught since 2012 up to now and is well received by students and is new to the LIS education in Bulgaria. The course could be interesting to the LIS international community and fits into the on-going discussions about revisions of the Guidelines for Professional Library / Information Educational Programs, developed by experts from IFLA's Education and Training Section in 2012 [2].

Keywords: library associations, LIS education, LIS curriculum, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT);

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