Problems of Regional Library Education in the Caribbean

Authors

  • O. O. Ogundipe University of the West Indies

Abstract

The Eastern Caribbean Regional Library School (ECRLS) opened in Trinidad in 1948, providing the first effort at library education available to all the Caribbean nations. University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona, Jamaica, succeeded ECRLS as the regional programme in 1971. UWI offers professional degrees and subprofessional certificates, and facilitates continuing education. Various problems have been encountered by UWI, among them the difficulty of maintaining both local and international connections, finding the ideal size of the school, and meeting the rise in student costs for those who come from distant countries. There are also structural challenges, based on varying characteristics of the several countries (demography, mobility, economic stability, per capita income, etc.). An increasing amount of emigration to America and Britain has thinned the pool of applicants. UWI has become primarily a school for residents of Jamaica and of Trinidad and Tobago, with very limited attendance from other Caribbean countries. The picture is brightened by the persistent intention of the West Indies Commission to maintain UWI as a regional institution. Proposals are offered to strengthen UWI in that role.

Author Biography

O. O. Ogundipe, University of the West Indies

O.O. Ogundipe is Director of the Library, University of the West Indies. He was formerly director of the libraries at the University of Sierra Leone, University of Zambia, and University of Benin. He was educated in Britain and the United States.

Downloads

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (1994)

Section

Articles

License

World Libraries allows authors to maintain the copyright of their article or to give permission to World Libraries to hold the copyright. If contributors decide to maintain copyright, a Creative Commons license allows authors to determine how their work can be used. For more information on the types of licenses available, visit http://www.creativecommons.org/.

Authors submitting a paper to World Libraries do so with the understanding that Internet publishing is both an opportunity and a challenge. In this environment, authors and publishers do not always have the means to protect against unauthorized copying or editing of copyright-protected works.

World Libraries is a copyrighted product, and all rights are reserved worldwide. Permissions to use any materials appearing in World Libraries should be directed to Questions about World Libraries.

Downloads of specific portions of World Libraries articles are permitted for personal use only, not for commercial use or resale. Educational uses of World Libraries are permitted with permission of the authors of specific works appearing in World Libraries.

PRIVACY

World Libraries respects the privacy of both its readers and its contributors. To that end, World Libraries does not collect in its logs or other server tools the exact identities of its readers. World Libraries does not require its readers to sign in or to secure a unique ID or password. World Libraries does not use cookies.

World Libraries collects general information in its logs on the origins of users at the highest domain levels. Usage patterns are tracked in World Libraries to assist editors in making decisions about future content. In addition, this information is used for research on usage patterns to improve the site over time.

E-mail addresses used by World Libraries to notify readers of new issues are not disclosed to third parties.