Abstract
Despite its young age compared to similar programs in the United States, cataloging instruction in Israel has also been transformed to reflect the changes in the work done in libraries based on technological innovations and conceptions held by those involved in academia. Cataloging instruction in Israel is marked by a number of factors: There has always been a division, carried through to today, between distinct and independent courses on various aspects of cataloging: a course on classification, a course on descriptive cataloging, arid a course on indexing. Even today, these courses are requirements in all of the instructional frameworks, though the length of the course has been reduced over the years. Over the years additional courses have been introduced as a reflection of the technological developments and work in the field. The majority of courses are now taught in computer labs. There has been a switch to instruction by academics and not by librarians, workers in the field, as was customary for many decades. Focus of instruction in university departments is on theory arid understanding of concepts.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 443-460 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Cataloging and Classification Quarterly |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 3-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 6 Apr 2006 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:In Israel there are seven universities plus the Open University (all of which are public institutions that receive financial support from the government via The Council for Higher Education), as well as a large number of colleges. Some of these colleges are also funded by The Council for Higher Education (similar to the universities), and others are independent. In addition, there are about 42 teachers colleges, some of which also offer bachelor’s degrees in other subjects as well. Two out of the seven universities have central libraries, and others have decentralized libraries across the campus. At the beginning of the 1980s, the university libraries switched from card catalogs to computerized catalogs, and all of them now use the same software and are on the same network. Furthermore, Israel also has approximately 220 public library systems, hundreds of school libraries, as well as special libraries and information centers that service public bodies, institutions, and private enterprises.
Keywords
- Education for cataloging
- Israel
- Library school curricula
- Theory vs. Practice dilemma