Historical Transformations of the Higher Library Education System in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the features of the cognitive and organisational components’ formation of the Polish higher library and information education model in the main historical periods of its development. The article highlights the history and current status of Poland’s higher library education system and clarifies its place within the European system of university training of library and information professionals. The research methodology is based on heuristic frameworks of systematic and historical approaches, source and comparative methods, and content analysis of bachelor’s and master’s curricula in Library Studies. The scientific novelty of the research is to prove common and different in the systems of higher library education in Poland and Ukraine, to introduce the results of the curriculum in library content and structure analysis of leading Polish universities scientifically. It is noted that Poland, before other post-Soviet European countries, has successfully implemented all the basic principles of the Bologna Process into educational practice. It helped to improve the quality of librarians’ training and their competitiveness in the European labour market. Conclusions are made on the main periods of the Polish model of the higher library education institutionalisation, with its formation being influenced by various socio-cultural, geographical and political factors. It is determined the specifics of the Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees’ training in the “Library and Information Studies” speciality in leading Polish universities, with the profiles and content of their educational programmes been characterised. The study determines the organisational features of the library and information staff’s training at different academic levels and gives characteristics to the key competencies that students acquire during their mastery. Emphasis is placed on promising for Ukraine achievements and innovations of the Polish model of training library and information specialists, which should be implemented within a single integrated programme subject area 029 “Information, Library and Archival Studies”.