Fifty Years and Counting...
In 1999‑2000, Dominican University’s GSLIS recognized the fiftieth anniversary of awarding the master’s degree in library science. This marked the transition from baccalaureate preparation to graduate education as the accepted credential for entry‑level librarians in the U.S. and Canada. It has also done much to shape the profession’s role in society, and with it, the profession’s responsibility to facilitate access to the world’s intellectual and cultural heritage.
During those fifty years, the world has become an increasingly information‑intensive place, while at the same time, the global community has shrunk to a “global village.” What any nation does affects people beyond its borders. Acquiring, disseminating, and preserving information to societies is a global concern. Increasingly, there are challenges to the ability to facilitate trans‑border information flow, while at the same time respecting the intellectual property rights of citizens. The right to know must be balanced against the right to privacy, the right of fair use with the right to profit from an intellectual product.
These are complex issues whose understanding poses a challenge to practitioners, to scholars and to students. Providing opportunities for international exchange, for research, for education, or work exchange is critical to the free flow of ideas and the promotion of international cooperation. World Libraries provides a forum for teachers, students, scholars, and library and information professionals to disseminate their experiences in an international arena. Some articles result from international exchange of practitioners and students; others report the direct experience of providing library and information services around the world. We invite contributions from all these sources to make the journal vigorous and relevant. We hope that the next fifty years of Dominican’s GSLIS will witness a greater understanding among the world’s librarians, and ultimately, among its citizens.
Prudence Dalrymple
Dean Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Chair Editorial Board