谢拉的文献工作教育思想与实践

Jesse H. Shera's Thoughts and Practice Concerning Documentation Education

在1952—1970年担任西储大学图书馆学院院长期间,谢拉积极探索文献工作教育:在学科理论方面,进行文献工作学科理论建设;在学术研究方面,设立美国图书馆学院第一个专门的文献工作研究中心"文献工作与交流研究中心";在教学活动方面,在图书馆学教育项目中引入文献工作相关课程,强化以文献工作为重点的专业图书馆人才培养。谢拉的文献工作教育是对传统图书馆学教育的改造,适应了图书馆学教育专门化的发展趋势,其立足点是以文献工作提升图书馆职业的社会价值,服务于图书馆人才培养,体现出明显的图书馆本位立场。谢拉领导下的西储大学图书馆学院的文献工作教育是一种过渡形态的早期情报学教育,促进了20世纪美国图书馆学教育向图书情报学教育格局的转型。

It was an era for American Library Science education to transform to Library and Information Science education in 1950 s and 1960 s. As the dean of School of Library Science, Western Reserve University,Jesse H. Shera actively advocated documentation education from 1952 to 1970. The study aims at systematically reviewing and summarizing Shera＇s thoughts and practice concerning documentation education during this period with the purpose to uncover the general situation of American Library and Information Science education in transition. The main research method adopted is the analysis of historical material, including works of Shera, the primary archives collected by Case Western Reserve University and other materials.In summary, Shera＇ s thoughts and practice concerning documentation education mainly included three aspects. Firstly, Shera actively constructed the disciplinary theory for documentation. There is a close relationship between social epistemology and documentation. Shera＇ s documentation education was profoundly affected by the social epistemology. Shera had been working on the theoretical construction of documentation since 1950 s, involving documentation＇ s definition, scope and the relationship with librarianship especially special librarianship, which enriched documentation＇ s disciplinary theory system.Secondly, Shera founded Center for Documentation and Communication Research which was the first documentation research center in American library schools. According to Jesse Shera＇s design, the Center had three functions, namely scientific research, academic communication and serving the instructional program of the School of Library Science. Under the successive leadership of James W. Perry and Shera,the Center had conducted a series of research projects on information storage and searching, etc., and accordingly achieved some research results like the pilot system of Education Resources Information Center.Besides, the Center had organized a series of academic conferences on documentation which promoted the communication and dialogue among library educators, librarians, businessmen, scientists and technicians.Thirdly,Shera introduced documentation courses to library education programs and stressed on the training for special librarians focusing on documentation. Shera＇ s educational ideology on training for special librarians took the documentation education as the core. Documentation education had played an important role in the Master of Science in Library Science program,Master of Science in Health Sciences Librarianship program and the doctoral program in Library Science.Shera remolded traditional library education by means of documentation education to make it adapted to the trend of specialization of library education. The standpoint of Shera＇ s documentation education lied in uplifting the social value of library profession relying on documentation. Shera＇ s documentation education served for training librarians, which obviously met his librarianship-based standpoint. The documentation education at School of Library Science of Western Reserve University led by Shera was a transitional form of early Information Science education and promoted the transformation from Library Science education to Library and Information Science education in America in the 20 th century. Shera＇ s thoughts concerning documentation education has been comprehensively discussed in the study based on original materials,which is of significance for further research of Jesse H. Shera, the history of Information Science education and other related fields.