I wonder if BAILER is making a submission on this issue? If it is, here is
my two pennyworth:
My concern is the proposal to create a new centre based on library and info
management, education and theology. My concerns are based on three issues:
1. the mixture makes no sense; 2. there is no explanation for this
proposal; and 3. the field of LIM is a special case.
>
1. The proposed mixture is bizarre. There is little or nothing in
common between the disciplines suggested, which means there will be no
synergy or cross-fertilisation of ideas of note. LIM might be considered a
social sciences displine, or an IT related discipline, but it certainly
isn't anything to do with education or theology! ....except to the extent
that one believes in the Bradford Zipf law :-)
>
2. There is no explanation for the rationale behind this proposal,
which seems the most drastic of all the proposals.
>
3. LIM is a special case because CITILIS does not just serve academics
in the library and information science schools. Indeed, this represents a
>tiny minority of its constituency. CITILS' major activity is in assisting
>librarians in HEIs who train students how to use the literature. Each HEI
>has many such professional librarians, and thousands of students
>(especially freshers) pass through their tender care each year. So the
>constituency is far larger than is implied in the report. I cannot think
>of another discipline where the CTI centre offers such a role (perhaps
>Copmputer Science) outside the 'obvious" department it serves. For this
>reason, the amount spent on CTI per FTE student is misleading as, in
>effect, every fresher should be put into the calculation, not every LIM
>student. If the figures were re-calculated on that basis, I think one would
>find that CITILS is a major effort in its own right, deserving separate
>treatment.
Professor Charles Oppenheim
Dept of Information and Library Studies
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leics LE11 3TU
01509-223065
Fax 01509-223053
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