Overcoming the “Panda Syndrome”

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  • NAGATA Haruki
    Graduate School of Library, Information and Media Studies, University of Tsukuba

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Other Title
  • パンダ・シンドロームの脱却
  • パンダ・シンドロームの脱却--図書館情報学の再構築
  • パンダ シンドローム ノ ダッキャク トショカン ジョウホウガク ノ サイコウチク
  • restructuring library and information science
  • 図書館情報学の再構築

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Abstract

<p>The field of Library and Information Science (LIS) has emerged since the 1960s as a new discipline that merges traditional librarianship with information science. Information science grew out of the so-called documentation skills. Rapid innovations in information technology in the 1980s brought about the unfortunate disappearance of library schools in the United States. Nancy A. Van House and Stuart A.Sutton call this development the ‘Panda Syndrome’, after the ‘Panda Ecology’, or the phenomenon whereby species have narrow ecological niches and/or an inability to adapt to the risk of extinction. Based on the analysis of the problem and the observations of the<tt> </tt>KALIPER project（Kellog-ALISE Information Profession and Education Renewal project）, an active effort to resolve the situation is now under way. New approaches are currently being tested, including 1) addressing broad-based information problems, 2) the introduction of other disciplines and a user-centred core, 3) the incorporation of IT into curricula, 4) experimenting with specialization within the curriculum, and 5) providing flexible instruction. In addition, Joan Durrance has divided LIS research into the following five categories: information technology, information/knowledge (contents), information systems, human information behavior, and cross-cutting areas. In Japan new approaches for overcoming ‘narrow niches’have to be investigated.</p>

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