A Comparative Study of Library and Information Science (LIS) Education A Case of Kenya and India

Abstract

Library and Information (LIS) as the name implies is a combination of two fields namely Library and Information Science. The joint term is associated with schools of Library and Information Science (SLIS). Most of the education transformation efforts worldwide are focused on how education, which is very laudable, but very little, is being done about the what. In this era of knowledge economy and information society, information is the driving force of any kind of societal development in all sectors of economy, intellectual and culture. The key is the delivery of information to the society. LIS is the academic and professional study of how information and information carriers are produced, disseminated, discovered, evaluated, selected, acquired, used, organized, maintained and managed. The origin growth and development of library programs varies from one country to another. The emergence of Information and communication technologies (ICTs) particularly, the internet and other related technologies have brought about a fundamental and dramatic shift in global educational system which is changing by day. The purpose of this paper is to compare the Library and information Science (LIS) Education in Kenya and India for the progress of the programs in other parts of the country. The paper listed the challenges that could likely stand as a stumbling block to LIS Education. Recommendations were provided at the end of the paper.