Abstract:The general aspiration towards joining the European Union and creating the knowledge society in Serbia involve significant challenges for the Country. One of the most demanding changes that Serbian libraries will be facing consists of implementing information literacy (IL), i.e. citizens that are prepared for lifelong learning in a world that is overloaded with information of all sorts. The essential premise of this paper lies with two convictions of the authors: that, on the one hand, libraries are a natural environment for the development of information literacy, and on the other, information literacy must contribute to the citizens' quality of living. The paper will offer a general overview of the current status of IL in Serbia, the actors in the IL process, the programs, the initiatives, and, above all, what the role of libraries in this endeavor is.
There are three related aspects of the problem of identity that beset Serbian librarianship after 1991: 1) identity as survival during the war crisis and subsequent sanctions; 2) identity as change during the time of a global information and communication revolution; and 3) identity as self-awareness during a time of change in status, social responsibility, and professionalism for library personnel. Judging by the difference in the conditions under which libraries operated in Serbia during the 1990s and 2000s, the two decades can be characterized as the antipodes of each other. At the same time, they are also two sides of the same whole, in that the old system of librarianship collapsed and has not yet been replaced with a new one. This paper offers a survey of the situation in Serbia through an analysis of the present state of the difficulties currently besetting the various activities of Serbian libraries: automation, digitization, communication, scientific research, and continuing education. The need to develop a new discourse on librarianship in Serbia is crucial so that librarians may have a voice in the processes of formal and public education and the acceleration of economic, scientific, and cultural growth in Serbia.
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