Is there a role for social media in LIS curriculum development process in developing countries?

Abstract

LIS curriculum development targets the creation/formulation, implementation, evaluation and review of the LIS curriculum content and its delivery to those on the LIS education programmes. “Developing countries” refers to countries with less developed industrial base and a low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. Development is retarded by several factors including disease, poverty, debt, access to technology, among others, which individual countries cannot manage alone. Therefore, there is need for collaboration in its various forms. Social Media is a popular information transfer model which could be adapted to LIS curriculum development more cheaply and in massive dimensions. The target is to produce a corps of information professionals to manage the information transfer process targeting political, social and economic development. The aim of this paper is to examine the contribution and implications of social media in developing LIS curriculum in developing countries.The specific objectives are: (i) to examine the process and importance of LIS curricula development; (ii) to identify the potential application of social media in developing LIS curricula in developing countries; (iii) to explore possibilities of collaboration in applying social media in developing LIS curricula in the developing countries; (iv) establish the challenges and solutions to LIS curricula development using social media in developing countries; (v) propose a framework of collaboration using social media among the LIS institutions. Methodology included: critical review of literature and focus group discussions with LIS Educators at the Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Sothern Africa Librarians (SCECSAL XXIII, April, 2018).