Comparative Librarianship as an Academic Subject

Abstract

The study of comparative librarianship helps librarians to step outsidc their own culturally based system of values and is therefore particularly important at the formative stages of professional education. It has been taught in Britain since 1966 and a variety of courses now exist in British library schools. A typology of them isgiven. An attempt is made to find a common denominator of existing definitions of comparative librarianship and to show how the concept of the library as an ecosystem can be applied to comparative investigation. A chronological list of publications on comparative librarianship is given in the appendix. This paper was rcad at the 39th Session of the International Federation of Library Associa tions at Grenoble in August 1973 at the invitation of the Committee on Library Theory and Research. To avoid duplicating what I have said elsewhere—particularly in the new edition of the Handbook of comparative librarianship due to be published next year—I have limited this paper mainly to theoretical consideration. In it I develop some of the themes contained in my recent essay in Studies in comparative librarianship (Library Association, 1973). In the section on the teaching of comparative librarianship I draw on my experience at The Polytechnic of North London.