A Collection of Works by Teaching Staff Members In the Department of Library Science, Scientific Information and Cultural Policy

Abstract

"Introduction The year 2013 marks several anniversaries: – 90 years since the beginning of library science education in Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski; – 60 years since the opening of the specialty Library Science and Bibliography in the University; – 20 years since the revival of the library specialty and the creation of Department of Library Science, Scientific Information and Cultural Policy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Sofia University. During these periods of time, enduring traditions have been formed in the research field of library sciences in Sofia University. Over the years, eminent Bulgarian scholars have worked in this field, and have left a lasting mark as teachers, public figures, and tireless promoters of culture, higher education, and library studies in our country. Among them we should specially point out the vivid academics of an earlier period, Academician Stoyan Argirov, Prof. Todor Borov, Assoc. Prof. Elena Kirova, Senior Lecturer Bozhana Troyanova, and others. In 1993 the Department of Library Science, Scientific Information and Cultural Policy was set on a new basis within the Faculty of Philosophy of Sofia University, and the specialty library science was restored; with this, the traditions of our predecessors have been continued and enriched. Today the Department conducts and develops research related both to well-established and to topical scientific trends. Due to the specifics and limited use of the Bulgarian language in the world of communications, the research activity of the staff of specialists working in the Department is not well known outside our country. Colleagues abroad may judge of our work by separate publications in international conference proceedings and publications, as well as by our participation in notable international events conducted over the years. Of these events we will point out the following: – The conferences held under the motto GLOBENET, organised five consecutive times in the period 2000-2008 jointly with Emporia State University (USA), The National Library Sts. Cyril and Methodius, and the Union of Library and Information Workers (renamed Bulgarian Library and Information Association in 2008). In this period of time, over 500 library and information specialists, experts, scholars, and students from more than 50 countries have taken part in these scientific forums. – The participation of the Department in the association of universities, including: Hanover (Germany), Deventer (the Netherlands), Warsaw (Poland), Vilnius (Lithuania), and Saragossa (Spain) under the European Union programmes. – The annual student seminars held under university partnerships, etc. The present collection aims to present to a wider international audience and on a systematised basis some of the research efforts of colleagues from the Department of Library Science, Scientific Information and Cultural Policy In selecting the works to be included we have sought a balanced encompassment of a wider range of problem areas. The emphasis in our choice has been on texts that give overviews of the development of the department and of thematic currents elaborated and studied in it. The compilers believe that, as this edition is only a first attempt, future compilations will undergo corrections and will expand their range. The collection justifiably begins with the study by Assoc. Prof. Tatyana Yanakieva entitled The Establishment and Development of Library and Information Science Education in Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridsky. Specifics and Integrity of the University Curriculum. The topic of the study are issues related to the establishment, development and tasks of library and information education in Sofia University as a specific model of higher education. According to the author, the model of education in library and information sciences (LIS) has been shaped by the respective paradigms predominating among the academic community in various stages of the development of this education. The debate on library education in Bulgaria began back in the late 19th century, and the place of this discipline was then sought within the framework of history and philology studies. The university’s project envisaged that the training of students for work in libraries and archives should be done in the form of a specialisation in the Faculty of History and Philology, a specialisation that would build upon an educational basis in the human sciences. In the second half of the 20th century library science became a separate specialty within the faculty. A specialised chair, or department, was created as well. By this act, higher education in library science acquired official status in Bulgaria, and the graduates of the specialty would be able to find their professional realisation in the scientific libraries. During the 1960s new transformations were made in the educational model in view of training professionals for the needs of the science and technology information system, an objective that required double academic training – in some specific branch and in library science. The specialty in Sofia University was restructured as a specialisation with profile “Scientific Information”. Post-graduate specialisation and requalification courses were organised, conducted by a joint Scientific and Methodological Centre for training of professionals in the field of scientific and technological information, a centre formed by Sofia University and the Central Institute of Scientific and Technological Information (CISTI). The new paradigm of LIS education was shaped at the end of the 20th and beginning of 21st century. The independent specialty Library and Information Science was restored in 1993 and affirmed its place within the academic community by its study plan aimed at achieving the goals of education within a university framework, and envisaging interdisciplinary synthesis and mobility of the teaching staff in order to attain higher professional standards. Tatyana Yanakieva demonstrates that the new paradigm is focused on integrating Bulgarian LIS education into the European educational area and on the free movement of teachers and students. According to her, a flexible study plan has been created, which includes new obligatory subjects that expand the range of professional competencies of the graduates of the three educational-qualification degrees (EQD) established in response to the changing information environment and new demands of users in the 21st century. The high quality of LIS education in Sofia University has been confirmed by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency. The teaching staff in the specialty has won recognition within the professional community of the country. Separate staff members have been elected as leaders of the Bulgarian Library and Information Association (since its creation in 1990 until 2002) and as members of the Association’s Board of Managers (since 1990). The qualities of the staff as experts are displayed by their contribution to creating a modern legal regulation in the LIS sector (the preparation of a new Legal Deposit Act for printed and other editions, 2000, and the Public Libraries Act, 2009), by their participation in specialised scientific councils awarding scientific degrees and titles, in international professional organisations, and in national and international projects. In her study, T. Yanakieva also discusses the expectations for the future of the specialty. She further points out that at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, the specialty LIS in Sofia University is determined to develop e-education in Sofia University. The project Perfecting and Developing the Internal System of Electronic Distance Training in the Faculty of Philosophy of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, is headed by a member of our department; this project testifies to the authority gained by the specialty and its successful integration into the community of university specialties in our field. In his study The Library. A Journey through Time, Prof. Aleksander Dimchev has set himself the task of thinking about the future of the library against the backdrop of the transformations it has undergone in different periods of history. Using an untraditional approach, the author has attempted to leaf through the past history of libraries, to seek some of the reasons why changes 10 must be made in the conception of libraries, in the role they play in society. By using analogies, by retracing the traditions and the new challenges, the author seeks to find orientation points and to identify the trends in modern development of libraries. Today, in the time of globalisation, there is a clash of many different views on the role of libraries today and in the future – views ranging from the skeptical, which foresee decline, to those convinced that a renascence of libraries, of their role for the benefit of people and civilisation, is forthcoming. The author elaborates and expands the thesis that the mission and functions of the library are certainly defined by the social context and public expectations. The role of libraries has evolved and been different in the different periods of history. Under certain circumstances they have lost their autonomous function, but have again been recognised in other periods or ages, or been further developed in new aspects of their functions. As times change, the very conception of the library, of its functions and mission, is re-evaluated. In the last two decades the new technologies have had a more serious impact on libraries than any other factors have in past centuries. ICT is bringing about serious changes in communication channels in various public spaces. We find ourselves at a crossroad as regards the place and influence of libraries with respect to: knowledge and information streams; the change of carriers of information; users’ attitudes; storage of, and access to, knowledge resources in the global world. We are moving in a “universe of knowledge”; as a result of dynamic changes, today this universe is facing the challenge of rediscovering, of breaking a trail leading out of uncertainty to new models of stability and adaptability. In today’s hectic world, we are compelled to rethink the meaning of libraries. What is important today is the idea that they are valuable for people, that they have a role to play and are evolving. The author of this study has tried to address the question as to what we are expecting the library to be in the future, against the backdrop of past achievements, accumulations, traditions, developing global trends, the dynamically changing technology, amidst the uncertainty and unpredictability of the modern world? The issues of current national bibliography of Bulgaria after World War II, its development and transformation are discussed in the study by Assoc. Prof. Nina Shumanova. According to the author, the social, political, and technological changes that took place in the 1980s in Bulgaria resulted in significant transformations in the notions about the nature of our national bibliography, in its paradigm, in the deeply rooted stereotypes prevailing in this area. In this context the author has traced the main aspects of the development of Bulgarian current national bibliography, including legislative, institutional, theoretical, and technological. The major changes during this period are identified, that have impacted on the technology of modern bibliography processes and on the responses of the professional community in this connection; these changes are related to: 11 the range of recorded documents; bibliographic description; the completeness of the elements of bibliographic record; semantic analysis; access to the available information; subject cataloguing; reference tools; automation of activities. According to N. Shumanova, the developments observable in contemporary Bulgarian current national bibliography demonstrate its capacity to adapt, its openness to modern models, its good theoretical school, its sufficient organisation experience and highly qualified staff; all these are a good precondition for its attaining a firm position as a modern information system. The topic of bibliographic activity in this collection continues in the text by Head Assistant Prof. Milena Milanova, concerning the functionality of national bibliographic record. It discusses access to information in modern information society. According to M. Milanova, the unhampered access to information directly influences the building of well-functioning systems for exchange of bibliographic information. A way of achieving such a system is provided by the study of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) on Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Record. A specially important problem is how far the results of this IFLA study are applicable to Bulgarian cataloguing practice. By ensuring such applicability, we will achieve well-functioning national bibliography databases and electronic catalogues, and will provide unhampered access to the information that users require. By constructing a comparative table between, on one hand, the data elements that provide a basic level of functionality of bibliographic record and, on the other, the data elements in bibliographic record envisaged in various software products currently applied in Bulgaria, the author attempts to present and analyse the present condition of national record in our country. She has sought correspondences with the IFLA study in order to identify the change that must be made in the national record so as to ensure its functionality. The second part of the article deals with compatibility of exchange of bibliographic information and the international standards and rules in this area. The author analyses the problems in asserting the following ideas: the change in world practices of cataloguing have been particularly intense in the last few decades. International organisations and committees on development and maintenance of cataloguisation are constantly devising and perfecting approaches, methods, and schemas for rapid, good-quality, unhampered cataloguing and access to information resources at world level. IFLA has reworked and created a new standard for bibliographic record of all categories of resources – ISBD Consolidated. The steering committee of the Anglo-American Rules of Bibliographic Record has developed entirely new rules for the description of bibliographic objects and has created a new standard of Resource Description and Access (RDA). 12 The appearance of new standards has led to changes in the MARC formats, the metadata schemes, and information retrieval languages. The article by Prof. Ani Gergova, entitled History of the Book as a Research Field: From the Second Half of the 20th Century Until Today, introduces the reader to the theoretical issues connected with the history of the book. This scholarly field has been present in the world of science for more than two centuries. In the author’s words, in the second half of the 20th century, when this field of study has been striving to achieve clarity in its theoretical formulations, certain objective social changes related to ideas and technology are bringing about its “progressive expansion” into a science. On the basis of a brief retrospective overview of the main trends by regions and countries, the author argues that history of the book should assert its place in research. According to Prof. Gergova: 1. The theoretical self-reflection of history of the book on its own scientific framework helps enrich the methodology and methods in various other disciplines, including culture studies, medieval studies, sociology and anthropology, literature, socio-esthetics, textology, etc. 2. The author examines the long transformations at civilisational level, the most recent of which is the current change that is taking place as a result of increasing informatisation and communication. It is important to remember that the book and written communication are a historically invariable factor of building and preserving identity at personal, social, national level, while the unity of human existence also requires variety, multiplicity, a combination of the traditional and the innovative. 3. In simultaneously using the different communication means, the people who create and use electronic texts are in need of criteria of their quality and value in order not to lose the authenticity of documents and fall victim to manipulations. The enormous available fund of books from the past displays and asserts enduring human values in the everyday life and way of thinking of people in all parts of the world. It is the mission of book historians to establish the basis of culture and the necessary tools for the future knowledge society. The concluding part of the text informs the reader about Bulgarian book science and specifically the history of the Bulgarian book. In his study Prof. Simeon Nedkov presents the rise and development of art museums. Chronologically they were the first precursors of museums in general, the modern cultural institutions that safeguard, preserve, and exhibit our cultural heritage. This is quite understandable, as ancient state rulers amassed treasuries of works of applied art crafted out of gold and precious stones. In ancient temples, the gifts presented to the gods by worshippers were kept in special repositories, which were a kind of treasure house of art works. Gradually people became aware it was necessary to preserve and hand down to the next generations 13 the achievements in pictorial and other arts. Thus the foundations were laid for the prototypes of modern art museums. The author traces the emergence of pinacothecas and glyptothecas in Antiquity, and then analyses the conditions under which art galleries first appeared during the Renaissance. Further, he discusses the kunstkameras specific to the German states. During the age of absolutism, rulers’ collections were created, on the basis of which the major museums were established in the 19th century, such as the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the Prado. The author has aimed to present a comprehensive picture of the creation and growth of some of the most popular and visited art museums in the world today By her article Head Assistant Prof. Elitsa Lozanova-Belcheva makes the connection between library studies and the topic of electronic government. Her article is entitled An Analysis of E-Government Through Edwards’ SHEL Model and the Role of Libraries for Communication Between Citizens and the Public Administration. In it the author focuses on the characteristics of egovernment and the various aspects of its study: theoretical, empirical, methodological. She has adapted and used the theoretical-methodological SHEL model (Software-Hardware-Environment-Liveware) in order to analyse e-government as a complex of mutually connected components. This model was first introduced by Prof. E. Edwards in 1972; using several interconnected components, it offers criteria for assessment and analysis of production processes in a given organisation. The second part of the article deals with libraries and their role in e-government, more specifically with the need for new information services and new competencies. Here Elitsa Belcheva concludes that the participation of citizens in e-government is a fundamental condition for its successful implementation, but that such participation involves several basic problems: 1) Lack of places of public access to a computer and Internet, 2) the need for citizens to have information competence (information literacy), 3) the presence of various factors leading to so-called digital exclusion, etc. According to the author, since public libraries today are perceived by people as centres for access to information, it would be logical for libraries to be a solution to many of the listed problems. They provide free-ofcharge access to computers and the Internet, offer a variety of information services to users (including e-services) and can conduct training in information literacy. The present collection is meant for lecturers, experts, researchers, and students interested in the research fields it is devoted to. We, the authors, would be happy to receive our colleagues’ comments, remarks, recommendations, and opinions regarding the texts and issues discussed in this book. 14 We would like to extend special thanks to Prof. DSc Dimiter Denkov, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, for initiating the idea of publishing this collection, and for providing financial support for the idea’s actualization. The collection is also dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the creation of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the oldest and most prestigious higher education school in Bulgaria, an anniversary that we celebrate in the year 2013 as well. Sofia, May 2013 Compiler, Prof. DSc. Alexander Dimchev