Integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Library and Information Science Curricula In Zimbabwe

Country report presented at a Regional Workshop on ?Integrating ICTs in Library and Information Science Curriculum in Africa? 20 to 23 November, 2006, Windhoek, NamibiaLibrary and information science education in Zimbabwe started off as an on-the-job training for library assistants, primarily in the government service way back in the 1960s.In addition to that, the Rhodesia (later the Zimbabwe) Library Association also offered rudimentary training to the same categories of personnel. Professionally trained librarians were found mainly at the then and sole University College of Rhodesia, given the legislative requirements for the College to employ a professional librarian and professional senior staff. Professional librarians were also found within the public service, manning various libraries belonging to government ministries and institutions, including the National Archives, Teachers? Training Colleges, Schools of Nursing, Colleges of Agriculture; and, public libraries. All of these professionals had received their education outside the country, owing to lack of a library school or schools in Zimbabwe at that time. Also, the level of automation in various types of libraries was not as common as is the case today. Systems were largely manual, save for inter-library loan transactions that occasionally would be done using the telephone and/or telex devices. In later years, particularly towards Independence in 1980, the use of facsimiles for some library routines became common