Innovative Development Vectors of the Higher Library and Information Education in Canada

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study historical features, as well as to determine the formation stages and modern vectors for the modernization of the Canadian system educational levels in the field of library specialists training as one of the best educational practices in the world.
 The methodology. The study used historical-genetic and systemic-structural approaches, which made it possible to establish the periodization of the main stages of the origin and development of the library training educational levels in Canada. Comparative and content analysis of educational programs of master’s and doctoral degrees of higher education, carried out by the schools of information studies of seven ranking Canadian universities, made it possible to determine the general and specific aspects in the training of specialists for the information industry, establish the features of the cognitive and institutional components of master’s and doctoral educational programs, substantiate the objective need to strengthen their interdisciplinarity and versatility.
 The results. It is established that the first university in Canada to establish a school for the library specialists training was McGill University (1904). In 1928, a library school was opened within the structure of the University of Toronto. The growing need for qualified library specialists led to the beginning of the stage of active development of the education levels system for training library specialists in Canada (1961–1980). Thus, the Library Schools were opened at the University of Montreal (1961), the University of Western Ontario (1861), the University of Alberta (1968), and the University of British Columbia (1969). The system of postgraduate library education began to take shape in 1971, when the first educational program for the preparation of PhD in Library and Information Sciences was launched at the University of Toronto, with the first doctoral degree in this specialty awarded in 1974. Since 1995, the stage of interdisciplinary integration of the educational programs’ profiles in Canada has begun, the Schools of Library and Information Sciences were renamed into Schools of Information Management or Schools of Information Studies, the introduction of innovative interdisciplinary training programs has started for information specialists accredited by the most prestigious American Library Association (ALA) in the world.
 The scientific topicality. Nowadays, seven prestigious universities in Canada have Schools of Information Studies that are actively diversifying the library and information specialists’ training at the master’s and doctoral levels. Their educational programs tend to be flexible and interdisciplinary, implementing double degree models, which, in the digital economy, guarantee graduates competitive advantages in the labour market, prestigious places of employment and career prospects. The School of Information Management at Dalhousie University is an initiator of the innovative interdisciplinary educational programs development in the North American educational services market. It recruits for the following master’s programs: “Information Management and Public Administration”, “Information Management and Environmental Resource Management”, and also has founded a unique educational program for Canada — “Information Management and Legal Sciences”, which provides a double degree of Master of Information and Doctor of Laws (MI / JD).
 The practical significance. The results of the study can be used by Ukrainian institutions of higher education in the process of improving master’s and doctoral educational programs in the specialty 029 “Information, Library and Archival Sciences”. The Canadian experience of training library and information specialists is the best in the world in terms of the content, flexibility and student-centred learning organization. The introduction of the world’s best practices for training library specialists will improve their quality and competitiveness in the global information market.