Introduction of the modern school library concept to Sri Lanka through the National Institute of Library and Information Sciences (NILIS)

Abstract

School librarianship is an evolving profession. The components that integrate the SLIS with the classroom teaching programme are what differentiate modern SLIS schools from traditional libraries. Successive governments since Independence have made immense contributions to make the education system of Sri Lanka a success. Yet there has been a sharp decline in the standards and quality of education at all levels in the recent past. In 1991, National Education Commission was constituted with the mandate of advising the government on overall education policy covering all aspects of education. To implement the education policy reforms the government sought support from foreign donor agencies and the World Bank provided a considerable amount of credit facilities to improve the general education system of Sri Lanka. General Education Project (GEP) funded by the World Bank has several components and the Libraries component, was expected to provide books, equipment, furniture, and training for staff in library management for 4000 selected government schools. NILIS was established to cater to the training needs of these new school libraries developed under GEP2. This paper briefly discusses the concept of modern school library, the current education system of Sri Lanka and the education policy reforms. It also describes the GEP2 and the library component together with the administrative and academic structure of NILIS. In the final section different types of education and training programmes offered by NILIS with the objective of developing a new breed of teachers librarians are discussed