Social Responsibilities Discussion Group Paper

Prepared for the IFLA Social Responsibilities Discussion Group, Amsterdam, 16 August 1998

Human Resource Development and Training: A Social Responsibility Against Information Poverty by Information Schools

Dennis Ocholla
University of Zululand
South Africa

Abstract

Accessibility to, and availability of information for exploitation and usage by all people pose a major challenge to, and responsibility for, the modern societies that increasingly consume post-industrial products and services. The poor, the illiterate and the rural communities, who also consume these products and services, are the most affected when dealing with information oriented materials. They are most vulnerable to cultural discourses that influence exploitation and use, promote alienation and servitude, often, exploiting the disadvantaged members of the community like the poor, the children and women. Ironically, despite all the social evils that reduce information access and exploitation, the same disadvantaged are required to bring up decent families, consume modern products and services, provide labour for the sprawling modern life styles and economies, while they are also expected to understand their rights and responsibilities, be custodians of ethics, values that can breed humility and homogeinity. Admittedly, the demand put on these unfortunate people is incomprehensible and insurmountable. Whose social responsibility is to rescue them? Does human resource development and training for information services have a role to play?

Introduction

The story of information rich and information poor is a story of struggle that poses critical challenges and responsibilities. Perhaps I should call it 'quiet struggle' as Paul Sturges and Richard Neill call their extraordinary masterpiece on libraries and information for Africa. Arguing against biased interpretation of information poverty and wealth, the two authors' description of information diffusion in Africa raises major interest:

Travel in Africa, especially by bus, can be a disconcerning experience for the first time traveller or the unwary tourist. Trustworthy time-tables don't exist and the bus will usually not leave until it is full, which may lead to a wait of an hour or more before the journey actually commences. Even then, several detours, delays and unscheduled stops along the way will usually occur, adding even more time to the journey. Despite the inconvenience, the delay in a sense serves a useful purpose as it enables Africa's own information system to function properly. In the constant talk and close interpersonal contact can be witnessed a higly complex information system at work. Its contents vover a wide range of topics from the current market price for chickens to the prospect of Dan Quayle becoming the next president of the United States. Almost untouched by the technical complexitie s and expense of computer technology, or even by the diverse messages conveyed by books, Africa possesses a rich and adaptable mode of information transfer in the social and psychological make up of the people themselves.

Basing their conclusion on this observation, the authors are of the opinion that to see information in Africa as only represented by one or both of the two poles of povery and wealth would be inadequate. There is no doubt that the oral traditions are rich and popular among the information poor, and the belief by advocates of modern living styles and western values that it can be brought to extinction is invalid. Truly, oral traditions are overwhelmed by modern lifestyle that increasingly depend on western gadgets that range from the night gown to the cellphone that, unfortunately, you will find in the remotest parts of the poor communities that do not have either running water nor electricity. This is a paradox that one of the leading political scientist in Africa, and probably also in the World, Ali Mazrui, warn us about. In his cautionary note on adapting to western culture he expresses his pessimism with the following:

Africa as a whole borrowed the wrong things from the West - even the wrong components of capitalism. We borrowed the profit motive but not the entrepreneurial spirit. We borrowed the acquisitive appetites of capitalism but not the creative risk-taking. We are at home with Western gadgets but are bewildered by Western workshops. We wear the wristwatch but refuse to watch it for the culture of punctuality. We have learnt to parade in display, but not necess arily the West's techniques of production.

I would wish to develop this intriguing analogy. We are thrilled with the information service capacities of moedrn information systems but apathetic to their development and maintenance.

Library and Information Science (LIS) education is yearning for a market denied, or to put it simply, undenourished. Ask most LIS educationists to define their products and market during the last thirty decades. The bulk of the answers will point at librarians and libraries. If the same question is put to them today, the response will be extremely valid. The truth is that both the product and the market have changed drastically. However, we think that very few statesmen in the developing countries have given our traditional market-libraries the attention it deserves. And in this manner they are destroying the main focus of LIS education who survival is being forced to depend on the enexplored, fragile, competitive and amorphous market, popularly known as 'the emerging market'. Do these statesmen belong to Sturges and Neill's authentic world or are they the abhorred modernists that worry Ali Mazrui?

Manpower development for unknown occupation, that lacks focus is risky. LIS education, in my view, is under pressure to define its market from a social perspective and address the plight of the information poor. The unfortunate situation in the developing countries, that most of us are aware of, is to be found in the attitude to libraries. In many countries that lavishly spend money on luxury western goods and services, the dream of developing and sustaining libraries is naturally several generation away. Evenn when library departments are started, the quickly divert attention to non-library markets for survival and these markets, in most cases, put them further away from the information poor. It is common knowledge that the expenditure on public and school libraries is declining forcing some of them to re-define their status and sending bad signals to trainers and trainees. I do believe that the underdevelopment of libraries in the developing countries is caused, largely, not only by the untenable attitude Mazrui described but also by the information diffusion techniques Sturges and Neill characterised.

The Information poor/disadvantaged

The dichotomous dialect between poverty and riches/wealth is one factor that has caused enormous human sacrifices, also in terms of time, strength, wisdom and development throughout generations. The concpts of developing and developed countries, north and south, third world and first world and information rich and poor represents some of the human designs conceived for describing riches and poverty. It is often felt that riches can glorify and bring almost everything: confidence, convenience, power, influence, gratification, development and perhaps even 'beautiful living'. Many modern communities and governments try to bridge the gap between the rich and poor in novel ways. They provide infrastructure, formulae and implement laws and policies that tax the rich and manage the redistribution of wealth.

For the purpose of discussion in this paper, information poor can be classified in at least five distinct ways: firstly, with regard to cultural and social poverty. In this category, we can include the illiterate, the elderly, women, and children - particularly those living in male dominated and religion-restrictive sociaties found in Africa and Asia. Secondly, economic disadvantage, noted larlgely by the materially poor. It is generally conceived that the people of the Developing Countries or the South can be considered in this subdivision. Although we are aware of reports on mismanagement in Third World countries, insufficiency of resources to sustain essential needs make investment on information an insupportable luxury. Thirdly, most of the Thoird World communities live in the rural areas that are commonly inaccessible by communication and transport systems. Thus, rural communities are faced with a geographical isolation and disadvantage. Fourthly, political disadvantage. This include the minority, in most cases, who are affected by disadvantages caused by race, gender, creed and religion. Finally, the physically disabled. The following remarks are focused on addressing the needs of these population groups.

Roles of LIS Departments

Most library and information management departments are located within universities whose role and mission is to provide tertiary education and knowledge to the population through teaching, research and community service. In South Africa alone, out of 18 LIS departments, 13 are found within the universities. This distribution pattern, I believe, is found in most parts of the world as well. It is often felt that the location of LIS Departments within universities is more healthy for the overall academic development of the trainee than if they were situated elsewhere. However, this does not reduce the public perception that largely views universities as ivory towers. Admittedly, universities have reflected some kind of alienation from the man in the street, the illiterate, the poor and the rural. Universities are readily associated with service to the intellectually and economically privileged public. Those who gain admission to the universities, quite often,alienate themselves or find themselves alienated from those that fail to achieve the privilege requirements for university admission. University graduates, quite often, dread to work with the poor, the rural communities and the illiterate. They prefer to work in the urban areas, associate with the elite, talk with the literate who belong to their classes of privileges persons. They prefer to work in an environment provided by adequate water supply, electricity services, developed social welfare facilities and infrastructure.

It is readily believed that education and information, particularly tertiary education, can redress the plight of the poor and disadvantaged either directly or indirectly. Education and information as social and cultural phenomena and tools, empower people, provide them with knolwedge, skills and attitudes for self-reliance and self-respect, and prepare them to tackle challenges and responsibilities that come their way, responsibly. With education and information people secure employment, professions, income that is shared widely, either directly or indirectly by the majority.

The question that arises is how to provide LIS students with knowledge skills that inculcate a servcie culture and the ability to work with the information poor and disadvantaged. The variety of poverty and disadvantage mentioned earlier poses immense challenge to educators to provide manpower that is sensitive to the information needs and services of the information poor. A good LIS education should impart knowledge and provide competencies that enable graduates to perform in any information environment. These are some option that I may suggest for consideration:

The first option is programme-based. What courses and content is included in the syllabus or curriculum? Conflict between trational and modern training programmes is likely to occur and the bottom lines lies with the programme mission, goals and objectives. There are typical librarianship courses that may sound mundane to some people and yet appeal information poor. For instance, courses such as those on readers and readership or user studies and user services, school librarianship and children's literature, public library systems and services, reference and referral services, media librarianship, library services for the minority and special groups could be offred in the curriculum. Viewed carefully, the courses provide the graduate with relevant knowledge required to support the information poor. However, we note with concern that LIS departments located within the information poor setting are rapidly giving up to economic pressure that increasingly depends on the market to determine strategies for human resource development. The trainees are too impatient with non-market-driven programmes that hold limited employment opportunities. Educators, that depend on large student enrolment numbers for viability, are concerned too. Providing information to children, the elderly and women in culturally hostile environments serves, in my view, as a major agenda that LIS education has to continue addressing. How are they going to remain viable? Can public libraries, community information centres and school libraries sustain them if such institutions are also threatened with declining resource support that lead to extinction? Is the infrastructure available or are we not merely lavishing in the lacuna dramatised by Ali Mazrui?

The second issue relates to the content. What knowledge, skills and attitudes are required that are to be impaired to the trainee? The issues that emerge at this stage relate to the capacity of trainees to select, analyse and synthesise, translate, store and communicate information. LIS education is geared to provide psychomotor skills, or the ability to fulfil some work with the acquired knowledge. Can the trainee handle the children's information needs, help them to develop interest in information and knowledge, stage a display or exhibition. identify and develop a relevant collection, search and retrieve information, provide relevant information and reference services? These are fundamental concerns that are regularly addressed by LIS educators, albeit not with the desired outcome. But above all, how does LIS education transform the information poor into information consumers? This is a challenge shared between the trainer the graduate.

The fundamental question raised by the above-mentioned points focusses on the attitude with regard to the delivery of information services. I have always admired the way most service providers, particularly sales and marketing personnel, operate in profit-making organisations where the customer is first and where the principles of competition, maximisation of profit and hire and fire are used to determine the survival of the organisation. Are the people working in these institutions aliens? The off-hand manner in which some information providers handle the information seeker, particularly the fragile users who are mostly information poor, is alarming. Does LIS education have a role to play in streamlining this notorious public sector service syndrome characterised by crudity, apathy and ambivalence? How can educators develop a positive service culture and ethics on trainees desperately required to serve the information poor? A few arguable suggestions may be considered.

Selection and de-selection criteria that retain only those dedicated students who are interested to work as information providers/librarians. If LIS departments maintail full control over student selection and viability, and do not necessarily depend on the number of students enrolled in the programme, then it is, perhaps, possible to select and retain the best students. Alternatively, if LIS departments are plagued with misplaced students, remnants from other competitive programmes who take the LIS option to secure places in tertiary institutions, then training objectives and outcomes are endangered.
Fieldwork and practical work. The importance of practical and fieldwork is widely discussed in the contemporary literature. Besides offering psychomotor skills and helping trainees to translate abstract knowledge into practical knowledge, draws the learner closer to real world of work, sensities them to work ethics, processes, problems, improves their social skills and gives them a sense of belonging and responsibility. Experience has shown that positive attitudes to information service is reinforced in this environment. Placement for fieldwork in information poor environments can be ideal to develop the right personnel for the setting. However, the settings often offers less challenges to the ambitious trainee, and their locations often scare off the enthusiastic. Furthermore, dealing with the fragile users/readers needs additional knowledge and skills as well as special attitudes in psychology, sociology and communication.

Thirdly, for what work is the education geared? Who are our clients? and what impact or outcome is desired from the information service? Ideally, trainees could be prepared for work in a particular type of library or information centre. However, interest and specialisation olay a vital role. Basic knowledge, interest and specialisation is likely to produce the optimum outcome in terms of productivity and service. This means that selection of trainees for a particular specialisation may not be based on academic performance alone, but on attitude to service as well. Such combinations are rarely found in a single trainee.

The fourth issue is user-based. How are the users educated and prepared to consume information products and services? Are they information conscious, and do they value information to solve their problems - or are they illiterate? This is a problem to be tackled at government level through literacy and education campaigns and through the development of a requisite infrastructure that includes the libraries. But how do we deal with an information diffusion model among the information poor earlier described by Sturges and Neill? This is where audio-visual or multimedia knowldge and facilities may play a significant role if public libraries or community information centres exist and the facilities for promoting the media are available. Unfortunately, neither of the aforementioned facilities are readily available for information services. Clutural barriers that restrict the mixing of male and female on one hand, and children and adults on the other, make information provision costly or impossible. In the developing countries, we tend to notice more children than adults in public and community libraries and information centres, where they exist, largely because of cultural reasons. Adults are culturally supposed to be 'literate' and knowldgeable and to present themselves for further education in libraries is humiliating. Arguably, people who value information are those that have uses for information and can access it.

Finally, the trainees and trainers. Reaching out to the alumni is important for a department. Establishing contact with them helps to determine their progress and problems and using the outcome to re-organise the programme, design and organise informal training and continuing education. Continuing education bridges the gap between the knowledge, skills and attitues already held by the trainee and those that are required by the job. It would be the duty of LIS departments to facilitate informal training and continuing education to upgrade trainers and trainees. Well-known methods for fulfilling this task include: induction, conferences, workshops and seminars, refresher and short courses, research and publications. Can the users feature in continuing education?

Conclusion

This paper has explored the role of library and information management departments in human resource development for information services and exploitation by the information disadvantaged/poor. It is focused on the programme, community information services and fieldwork, continuing education and informal training, research, organisation of short causes, seminars, conferences and workshops. It is essential to establish the needs of the disadvantaged communities in order to design suitable information package to meet the requirements. Library and information schools in the developing countries should play the role of a catalyst in promoting information access, exploitation and use by the disadvantaged communities through its products, programmes and activities. There are other issues as well.

LIS education is challenged to address information poverty broadly and to pay attention to providing basic knowledge and offering options for specialisation in the areas of interest to the trainee. It seems to me that market forces that direct most professional choices today is likely to interfere with LIS education as well. Since information poor environments are not normally attractive socially and economically, the attitude of the graduate to serving those environments need development. The issues raised by the three authors at the beginning of this paper raise a lot of concern and frustrations. Are we willing to address them and find a place and market for LIS education in the traditional sector-libraries in the next century?

Author: Professor Dennis Ocholla, (Ph.D) is Dean, Faculty of Arts and Head of Department of Library and Information Science, University of Zululand - South Africa. Tel: 0027 0351 93911, Fax 0027 0351 93420, e-mail docholla@pan.uzulu.ac.za

References

Sturges, P., Neill, R. (1990): The Quiet Struggle. Libraries and Information for Africa. London. Mansell Publishing Limited, p.7.
Ibid. p.7.
Mersham, G.M., Rensburg, R.S., Skinner, J.C. (1995): Public Relations, Development and Social Investment. A Southern African Perspective. Pretoria. J.L. van Schaik Academic, pp. 24-25. Cited from Mazrui, A.A. (1990): Cultural forces in the world politics. London. James Curry, p.5.

Latest Revision: September 9, 1998