Summary
The objective of the work is to present an overview of library research and information science in some countries of the region, at two different times: background and current situation. For each moment, the objectives, themes or lines of research, problems and solutions are identified and with these elements the objects of study are established. A comparison is made between the background and the current situation. These analyzes allowed us to determine a possible disciplinary paradigm. The countries studied are: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of library and information sciences research in several countries of the region during two different moments in time: the lead – up of the 80's and today's situation (up to the year 2000). Objectives, research interests, problem areas and their solution are identified and compared for the two periods, to established study materials. These analyzes allowed us to determine a possible disciplinary paradigm. The countries analyzed are Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
Getting into library research and its development reached in countries where more progress has been made in this field. I consider that many of the times we question ourselves, why investigate, about this or that, since we do not have the preparation, much less the culture to do so. In Mexico many researchers are needed, and above all that it is a very interesting work, specific as librarianship is and that in each of the different aspects of this discipline; In response to this need, the Centro Universitario de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas (CUIB) was created at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
This center was created with the purpose of elaborating and implementing a National Information Plan and the investigations that were carried out were related to the diagnosis and evaluation of the library situation in Argentina, however in 1985 Josefa E. Sabor stated that: the investigation in the field of librarianship it is among us almost in its initial stage, and in the past it was richer than it is today.
Therefore, the causes that led to this situation are the following:
- Failure of schools to teach research techniques Lack of a national plan or partial research plans Lack of financial funds to carry out research Lack of organizations that will support research Lack of incentives to research
Research in the field of library education began in Mexico long before the Center itself was born as such, since the problems that affected library education had already been studied by the same professionals who graduated from specialized educational institutions.
The creation of the CUIB provides formality and a methodological basis to the research carried out in the field, ranging from the history of library education to the analysis of the quality of educational programs.
First, the development of the institutions that impart library education is essential not only to know how they have evolved but also to be able to analyze the characters and projects that have been carried out within schools. Knowing our history is knowing ourselves.
On this occasion we present an overview of the activities of this center and its impact on library activity. In library science we can dedicate ourselves to the study of theoretical aspects that in the long term allow, at a given moment, to modify the approaches and the current postulates, generally, by the law of tradition.
Library research can respond to two situations: the urgency of responding to a problem that affects a certain community, or problems posed by the researcher himself in order to delve into the causes and consequences of an event, or to seek the origin and behavior of a theory about the user, information, organization, etc. So in library science, as in other areas, one can speak of basic and applied research.
Basic research includes studies that lead us to exhaustive analysis and deep understanding of a phenomenon, when conducting this research so we do not have to worry about whether the discovery will be applied or not. Study is undertaken to acquire self-enriching knowledge.
Applied research is pragmatic, its purposes are more specific and determined beforehand, usually in order to solve practical problems or to discover new knowledge that can be used immediately.
These results are incorporated into the general body of knowledge, sometimes the difference between basic and applied research is not easy, especially in young areas that are in the process of developing a theory, such as library science. Every day the need to know the why and how of the librarian events in our country becomes more urgent. The progress and momentum of many areas of library science have been limited many times by the lack of adequate and efficient research that offers us the necessary elements to inform creation or change.
The moment we live in is characterized by rapid technological changes that lead us to new solutions to old problems, by applying scientific methods that enrich library knowledge, through experimentation, survey, historical research, operations research and application. of quantitative methods.
The field of study is very broad if we want to investigate theoretical aspects and practical problems of libraries and information centers, such as acquisition, cataloging, how, for what and for whom the information is generated, its behavior and means of communication.
Those who hold the theoretical point of view argue that there is a general body of knowledge that constitutes librarianship and that the future librarian will be better prepared for the exercise of the profession if he understands the theories and general principles that underlie subjects such as administration, selection of books and classification, being able to apply them to specific situations. (Martínez Arellano, FF, and Ríos Ortega, J., 2012, h. 2).
For a discipline to be considered consolidated it must have a well defined paradigm: a perfectly defined object of study; possess theoretical frameworks; determine the paths to be followed to address research problems and phenomena. That is, having generated a coherent structure of concepts, theoretical and methodological assumptions for a specific field of research.
Librarianship and information science are disciplines that are in a state of seeking consolidation at both the national and regional levels. In the Latin American region there are several countries that carry out research in these disciplines in order to generate the required structures.
Among these countries, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico stand out, since the research activity began a few decades ago. Several questions arise from this, how developed is the discipline in each one? Are the study objects delimited? Are adequate methods and techniques followed to solve research problems? To answer these questions, an analysis of the evolution of the disciplines of library science and information science was carried out in each country mentioned.
An exhaustive study of such description is made in order to specify the Panorama of the beginnings, which makes up the second section of this work. Subsequently, the current situation of research in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico is presented, followed by the quantitative and qualitative analysis of said situation, which resulted in the Current Overview section.
In order to have the most exact image possible of the development of the disciplines of librarianship and information science, it is necessary to specify their historical evolution, which can be traced from two possibilities: one, to consider that from the beginning the teaching of librarianship has followed a tendency based on "training to investigate"; In other words, higher education institutions have trained students in finding and solving problems; and another, the creation of institutions whose objective was precisely the generation of new knowledge.
If we go into research we have that Argentina was also a pioneer, since in 1967 it founded the Center for Library Research belonging to the University of Buenos Aires. The antecedents would be located in the emergence of the first school of library science or information science, which happened in Argentina, where library education at a higher level began in December 1922.
The introduction of Librarianship / Information Science careers in universities has not been a uniformly applied policy in Argentina. According to Fernández and Giunti (1999), university degrees do not reach ten, while non-university tertiary degrees almost triple this number. From the point of view of research activity, five are identified with projects that have been or are being supported by the university authorities. The university in Argentina declares among its main objectives teaching, research and outreach to the community. Socially it is recognized as the only institution authorized to teach professional careers. It is, therefore, due to its purposes and organization, the natural entity where the research takes place, and in this sense,Due to different policies applied in the last seven years, it has become the best recognized and most visible area.
In Argentina, those who investigate are, for the most part, university professors who, in turn, represent only a very small portion of graduates and the largest dedications (full time and part time) are minority in almost all university careers, thus leaving very few people who can really do research.
There is only one center in the country, the current Institute of Library Research, which has been in existence for 34 years, was the first of its kind to be created in Latin America, through its history and the sustained work of all its directors, it supported research, He edited series, books and an academic journal with external arbitration, all on a humble scale, with ups and downs as the history of our country has, but sustained over time. Regarding the compulsory nature of courses on research methodology in all university careers, their inclusion is contemplated, although the depth, content and number of subjects dedicated to the topic vary notably from one to another. In addition, when this type of study is not carried out regularly, it becomes more difficult to achieve this goal.
There is in our profession an accepted discourse, on the other hand merely declarative, regarding the importance of research. No one, in any public forum at least, declares that it is useless or worthless. Nor have the associations worked systematically to establish agendas for priority research topics agreed with the parties involved, nor have they offered or tried to obtain grants, scholarships or permanent awards for individual projects or researchers. This situation is not exclusive to our country, to verify it I refer to Hernon and Schwartz (1999: 424-25).
Although there has been an increase in Argentine degrees specialized in Library Science / Information Science since the mid-1990s (see Parada, 2000: 5), given the few years that have passed and the variability they present in compliance with the standards, there is no one can speak, rigorously, of a sustained effort regarding the creation and maintenance of scholarly journals that meet the standards accepted by the scientific community: inclusion of research papers, regularity in their appearance, preferred frequency less than one year, evaluation external review of articles by expert peers, international advisory committee, editorial body trained in the discipline, registration by indexing services and abstracts, etc.
Identifying institutions that subsidize projects and the most effective way to design them for acceptance is a pending task and, as I see it, cooperative. For now, the universities where the professors / researchers work are the organizations that have awarded research grants or subsidized projects since 1986 in the first case and since 1991 in the second.
However, the economic, social and political situation that Argentina is currently experiencing leads many members of the university community to wonder about the future, in the best of cases, uncertain and complicated. Faced with the dilemma of cutting salaries or other expenses, the authorities will tend to favor the second alternative with the sole purpose of avoiding direct conflicts or, at least, of postponing them. For all these reasons, a priority task is the identification of alternative sources of financing, whether national or international, and the collection of information regarding forms, requirements, submission dates and any other data that contributes to the success of the applications.
To improve the quality of their projects, professionals can turn to university departments or research institutes, if they exist, for advice and assistance in the early stages of study development. For this, it is important to appropriately identify qualified researchers who are willing to guide stakeholders in how to carry out high-quality research, both in its design and in the choice of the most appropriate methods.
In our country and within the current context, a large part of the information units that employ librarians depend on official bodies that, such as national universities, will suffer substantial losses in their budget items. This will affect the performance of professionals and the provision of services, will generate a series of problems and will require a lot of work and reflective inquiry to be able to find solutions that tend to overcome the present situation. But it is clearly evident that stopping, in the new world information context, means being left behind, especially in our country where library development has not yet reached moderately satisfactory levels.
Regarding Brazil, in some cases, we have not yet collected the events of the area throughout our history, much less critically analyze its journey. Antonio Miranda (1982) warned about this situation in his famous article on Brazilian library science, and sadly today, thirty years later, it is still valid. Our professionals are still immersed in the tasks and little interested, for various reasons, in the reasons and explanations of the phenomena involved in our profession, they learn how to do it, instead of the why of Although the national character of library science is important, the associations, and considering ourselves as a region are becoming more and more essential. Therefore, now we can also ask ourselves,Is there a Latin American library or are we only talking about a library in Latin America? Or are we just the sum of librarianships closed in their conceptions. To answer these questions it is imperative to question the foundations of our profession in light of our historical and social realities. It is necessary to discuss the similarities and differences between countries, in terms of situations such as illiteracy, access to information, education and training. In addition to reflecting on the policies in the area, relating the development of information services with the socio-political context where they are inserted or were inserted in past times and designing models to improve and optimize services. But at the same time it is important to be able to live together,recognize to professionals from other latitudes, the existence of other librarianship (s) different from ours but equally valid.
As far as Colombia is concerned, it was the first library founded of the current national libraries. Founded in America, designed by the architect Alberto Wills in 1933. Declared a National Monument of Colombia by decree 278 of February 24, 1975. Videos related to librarianship.
The National Library of Colombia is considered the oldest in America. Founded in 1777 by Viceroy Manuel De Guirior who established the library in Bogotá and endowed it with a bibliographic collection that included expropriated books from the Jesuit community, which at that time were expelled by the Spanish Empire. By order of King Carlos III of Spain in the year 1767. On March 25, 1834 the first law of legal deposit was decreed, through which the obligation was imposed to send to the library all printed information that was produced in the country. What prompted the library to be in charge of guarding the bibliographic heritage of the Nation.
Among the functions of the library are the formulation of policies on the bibliographic and Hemerographic heritage of the National. It guides plans and programs on the creation, promotion and strengthening of public and mixed libraries and the services provided through them. Directs and coordinates the National Network of Public Libraries. It gathers, organizes, increases, preserves, preserves, protects, registers and disseminates the bibliographic and Hemerographic heritage of the Nation.
Designs, organizes and develops plans, programs for the cultural dissemination of bibliographic heritage that contribute to the strengthening of national identity. It establishes and maintains relationships with national and international entities with the aim of promoting and developing joint programs of dissemination and cultural exchange. Provides advice and collaboration to different scientific, cultural and educational entities that develop research and cultural dissemination programs.
Directs and coordinates the publication of editions that contribute to the dissemination of the national bibliographic heritage. It sets the rights in charge of the users, when appropriate, for the use of its services and cultural goods, both the rights for documents and publications that it issues. Senate of the Republic of Colombia. Decree 1126 of 1999.
The legal deposit law is regulated by Law 44 of 1993. Regulatory Decree No. 460 of March 16, 1999 and Decree 2150 of 1995. This law consists of each of the publishers of printed works, audiovisual products, phonographic producers and videograms. They must deliver a certain number of copies of their printed, audiovisual or phonographic works either because their production takes place in Colombian territory or outside of it. For printed works, two copies of each work must be delivered, produced within the national territory. One copy to the Library of Congress of Colombia and one copy to the National University of Colombia. For audiovisuals and phonograms, as well as for editorial works that have been imported, only one copy must be delivered to the National Library.
The National Library has nearly two million forms, including jewels from the publishing houses of Colombian and universal history. It includes 48 universal incunabula books, 610 volumes of manuscripts, Elzevirian editions, about 30 books published before 1800, rare and curious books. The first Colombian publications of 1738. Sharing spaces with the first prints from Peru and Mexico dating from the 16th century. The Manuel del Socorro Rodríguez Newspaper Library has a complete collection of the 19th century press that includes the earthquake warning, the first known newspaper in the history of Colombia. The library comprises practically all the books printed in Colombia since 1830.
At present, each and every one of these countries its beginnings were considered with bases taken into account in its purposes. The beginnings of librarianship took place as follows: Colombia 1777; Argentina in 1922; Mexico 1981 and Brazil in 1996.
As each of these Latin American countries can be observed, they have not ceased in the search for information, and therefore in each and every one of them they have had a crisis, which they have tried to move forward, either for monetary reasons or simply because there are very few full-time researchers in each country.
My reflections are mainly focused on information policies, which have or should have the mission of improving all stages and processes related to the generation, transfer and access to information.
In a broad sense, information is defined as an organized set of processed data that constitute a message about a certain entity or phenomenon. The data is perceived, integrated and generates the necessary information to produce the knowledge that is what finally allows decisions to be made to carry out the daily actions that ensure existence.1
Library and information science studies information and its relationship with society from various approaches, such as: the organization of information and the development of collections in various media, search and access behaviors, and the information needs of individuals. users, including reading, information and communication technology applications for information products and services; information systems, information in societies of the past and present, and obviously, the theoretical and methodological foundation that endorses and supports studies in this field of knowledge.On this basis, he bases a prospective to plan information systems and services and the dissemination of content and studies contemporary societies in their relationships with information and user groups corresponding to various social sectors.
Scholars in this field of knowledge observe, inquire and reflect to reach conclusions and make proposals regarding the information society and knowledge societies, the information industry, information organization, information flows: their acquisition, organization, dissemination, access and recovery, among others.
I am interested in highlighting the importance of library research on social and cultural phenomena. By focusing on information issues as a cognitive need of society and its culture, it seeks to decipher and, where appropriate, check the hypotheses that arise regarding the information society and knowledge societies, from the perspective of the essential ingredients for its integration: information and knowledge, seen from the editing, organization, dissemination, access and use, in various settings, in various spaces and times, also taking into account the effects of digital technologies that affect the communication of information. The results of library research in turn,help to solve various complex problems of society including those related to its culturality and multiculturalism.
In this century it is no longer possible to conceive of a true social and cultural development, without having public policies that demand the recognition of cultural diversity in order to build a better future for humanity as a whole. The term "policies" is defined as actions with a purpose, directed towards a set of identifiable goals. We can then say that policies integrate a framework of intention about what a social group or a society considers to be desirable and that it requires manifesting itself through plans, programs and projects that propose how different goals can be achieved towards the common purpose, as well as a legal framework that regulates its application.
The articulation of adequate policies is not a simple problem, nor one that can be solved positively without an adequate analysis of the problem, the context, and the causes, effects and options of public policies for that issue. Laswell, one of the most recognized theorists in public policy analysis, proposes five intellectual tasks to map out a strategy for problem solving:
- Clarification of the goal, Description of trends, Analysis of conditions, Projection of developments, Invention, evaluation and selection of alternatives.
With this perspective, cultural institutions are positioned as axes around which societies can build their knowledge and decide on their present and future; that is, to make the decisions that they consider pertinent and translate them into development policies.
Certainly we all draw policies that we want to implement for the development of our purposes. But, when information policies are drawn up institutionally, communally, regionally, nationally or internationally, it is insufficient to prepare a document that sets out the desired intentions and goals; It is necessary to build information policies with theoretical and methodological bases that facilitate the understanding of the context, the information needs and the proposals. Are we preparing professionals for teaching, research and the management of information services and products with basic theoretical and methodological knowledge on information policies in order to achieve the goals of our programs, plans and projects.
No matter how well integrated a project or program may be, it will not achieve its objectives, optimally, if it does not contain clear, comprehensive information policies linked to the institution, government, etc., and the society or social group to which they are directed, to gain their full support and become a priority program for that environment.
Where are our studies and our practice going? We will surely answer that we seek to expand the frontier of knowledge in the disciplines related to information and support the integration of inclusive information and knowledge societies for the well-being of humanity. Information policies are one of the tools… And if not, let us recall some information policies adopted in those developed countries that have managed to place information and education as a priority axis of their development.
Delimiting the concept of research, it is investigated from a need to know or know, to recognize a lack of knowledge required to develop a higher cognitive process.
This lack must be raised in terms of a problem or question, if there is no question it is impossible to specify a problem, Bachelard stated that:
You have to know how to pose the problem (s). For a scientific spirit all knowledge is an answer to a question, if there was no question, there can be no scientific knowledge…
And to find solutions to those problems that arise, it requires three intellectual processes: thinking, knowing and reasoning. These have both a hierarchical cognitive relationship. Therefore, research is not an act of seeking answers in which a chain of higher intellectual processes of thought, knowledge and reasoning is carried out.
There is great optimism for the future since, starting in the 1990s, library research in universities has been formalized and institutionalized. It is considered that there is a notable growth of the discipline since the following achievements have been obtained: the creation of a specialized journal at an academic level; the support of a monographic series; the improvement of information services for researchers and the strengthening of intra-institutional relations.
In conclusion, after this library science study and the fact that Latin America has been developing for centuries, I consider that over time new modalities may emerge for the good of our career in Library Science and that at this time, it is not recognized as we would like it to be. To this context, I attach myself, I make known that in Mexico they do not have the culture of reading and therefore, very few researchers take off their shirts to achieve more practical progress.
The complexity of the current reality forces us to scientifically study society as a whole and the individual man in his values and norms. This leads to a new position in the treatment of the social sciences that, from inter and transdisciplinary approaches, allows creating different epistemological structures in the sciences that are inherent to the study of societies. Librarianship, archival, bibliography and information science belong to this scientific world and are in the process of epistemic reconstruction. Its study from disciplinary training has maintained, in one more than others, interdisciplinary approaches. Currently, the socioeconomic conditions that influence its scientific development are not the only element to consider in its ontological foundations,It is necessary to incorporate culture and politics into the historical-concrete reality of each nation, to reach conclusions that contribute to the elaboration of universal scientific laws that describe their behavior.
Thus, we can affirm that epistemological reflection in library and information science is necessary for its further development and strengthening, both internal disciplinary and external social. Although this type of research is very important, it does not replace theoretical research, so it must continue along with metatheoretical research.
The methodology depends on an epistemology and this in turn on a philosophy that recognizes a certain ontology. In social and human sciences there will always be discussions about which philosophical framework will be the appropriate one; which, far from being a negative characteristic, reflects the complex nature of the human and social phenomenon.
Interdiscipline is not a summation or juxtaposition of different disciplines, but a dialogue between them, which arises from the complexity of the phenomenon under study. Therefore, it is essential that each discipline has its own identity in order to interact with the others. From our point of view, library and information science has this identity within the central nucleus of its scientific research program; and from that nucleus the different relationships with other areas of human knowledge emerge in order to study their object of study.
Bibliography
- Bachelard, G. The formation of the scientific spirit. México: Siglo XXI, 1980. 302 p. University Center for Library Research. Mexico: UNAM, University Center for Library Research,. 18 p. Library and Information Research Colloquium (21º: 2003: México, DF). Library science research in the information age: memory of the XXI Colloquium on Library and Information Research, September 24-26, 2003. Mexico: UNAM, Centro Universitario de Investigaciones Bibliotecológicas, 2004. 317 p.Escalona Ríos, L. (2002), p. 1.Martínez Arellano, F. and Ríos Ortega, J. (2012, H. 1). Theoretical and practical relationship in library science in Latin America and the Caribbean.. Available at http://conference.ifla.org/past-wlic/2012/213-arellano-es.pdf. Romans de Tiratel, S. (2001, h.1) The pillars of research in Library Science / Information Science.. Available at:
