A Critical Development of International and Comparative Librarianship Theory

Abstract

International and comparative librarianship has perhaps been in practice since the beginning of the profession simply by the pure nature of the discipline. Collaboration between libraries across borders has occurred before it was identified as such. Peculiarly, it was not until the mid-twentieth century that librarians began to publish and define international and comparative librarianship, and demand for more rigorous and useful structures, systems, and processes in furtherance of cultivating relationships, mutual understanding, communication, and establishing formal networks. However, advancement in the development of a theory is currently stagnant in this area of research. Maybe even more important, a critical analysis of the power structures, assumptions, and mental models inherent in these international and comparative librarianship practices are severely under examined. The purpose of this poster is to invite IFLA participants to discuss how researchers and practitioners can work together towards developing a theory for international and comparative librarianship. I provided the context and scope of the subject by citing the definitions of thirteen concepts in an international and comparative librarianship framework. Each participant could choose any concept and discuss the concept according to where they placed it on The General Method of Theory-Building Framework. Participants were also asked to evaluate if and how the concept definitions would change by applying a critical lens. New understandings from the discussions contributed to information collected by the author towards the development of a dissertation.