This article presents the background of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, its history, and its major study areas. It goes into some detail about the School of Liberal Arts before concentrating on the Information Science Programs offered by that school. The objectives, qualifications of applicants, and the details of the different Information Science Programs are presented at length. The article then goes on to give a detailed outline of the distance-teaching system as used by STOU. It concludes with a statement as to the unique value of the Information Science Programs offered by STOU.

Recent reforms to the higher education sector are presenting challenges for academic staff and university administrators across Australia. Within this context, LIS education faces its own specific issues and challenges. This paper reviews the current trends in the LIS education, looking at student numbers, aca-demic staffing and curriculum issues. Education providers also need to consider the career-long learning needs of the profession. It is argued that LIS educators cannot work in isolation: the LIS profession as whole must work together collaboratively to ensure it has a bright and relevant future.

This is a presentation (of 10 slides) on Tuesday January 11, 2005 in the session sponsored by the Curriculum SIG titled "Preparing Students for the International Information Society: Studying the Global Context in LIS" at the 2005 ALISE Conference, Boston, MA. The experiences of the students and the instructor in the first Summer Institute in Florence-2004 "Florentine Art and Culture, Resources and Documentationâ offered by Pratt-SILS are candidly discussed. As part of this course students had access four libraries in Florence: Uffizi, the Biblioteca Nazionale, the Medici and Harvard's Berenson Library. Cultural Informatics is explored.

Quality Assurance System has been implemented in Thai universities since 1997, initiated by the Ministry of University Affairs. According to the National Education Act 1999, the Office of Education Standards and Evaluation was set up to respond for external assessment while educational institutions do internal assessment. The Information Studies Programs, Chiang Mai University uses QA system and mechanisms as tools to improve quality. Two main elements need strongly support are faculty de-velopment and research.

Information Studies programmes in the ASEAN region cater to a range of economic and technological situations. They not only prepare information professionals for the modern networked global economy, but also emphasize the role of an information professional as an agent of change for guiding and stimulating the development of remote or backward regions and help them access and use global information sources. This paper examines the issues of the socio-economic context of Information Studies programmes, the convergence and divergence of the discipline, information technology in the curriculum, the quality of students, and obsolescence and change in Information Studies programmes.

The presentation includes 14 slides that were given in Session 2.4 - Community Connections: Advancing LIS Education and Practice Through Partnership, at the 2005 ALISE Conference. It introduces recent collaborative funded research projects that have build up community information programs. In particular, it highlights an IMLS-funded research project at the University of Michigan, describes and advocates the development of course-based community connections.

This study has made an attempt to explore the library and information science (LIS) education system in Bangladesh. This paper also identifies the different levels of LIS education, continuing education and training facilities in Bangladesh. At the same time we have tried to find out the existing problems, which create barriers for quality education as well as professional development. In the conclusion, some necessary recommendations have been given for the development of LIS education system and professional development in Bangladesh.

The emergence of Information Architecture within the information systems world has been simultaneously drawn out yet rapid. Those with an eye on history are quick to point to Wurmanâ s 1976 use of the term â architecture of information,â but it has only been in the last 2 years that IA has become the source of sufficient interest for people to label themselves professionally as Information Architects. The impetus for this recent emergence of IA can be traced to a historical summit, supported by ASIS&T in May 2000 at Boston. It was here that several hundred of us gathered to thrash out the questions of just what IA was and what this new field might become. At the time of the summit, invited to present a short talk on my return journey from the annual ACM SIGCHI conference, I entered the summit expecting little and convinced that IA was nothing new. I left 2 days later refreshed, not just by the enthusiasm of the attendees for this term but by IAâ s potential to unify the disparate perspectives and orientations of professionals from a range of disciplines. It was at this summit that the idea for the special issue took root. I proposed the idea to Don Kraft, hoping he would find someone else to run with it. As luck would have it, I ended up taking charge of it myself, with initial support from David Blair. From the suggestion to the finished product has been the best part of 2 years, and in that time more than 50 volunteers reviewed over 20 submissions. ... In this overview I am exercising my prerogative as editor to outline the Big Six issues that have dominated discussions among IAâ s since that landmark summit in Boston.

Globalisation raises many issues which are relevant to information management. These include the creation and implementation of international standards, records management, archives and library operational needs of multinational companies and international organisations, the transborder flow of information and the increasing international mobility of information management professionals. This paper considers the tensions that ensue from increasing globalisation in terms of small countries, specifically New Zealand, in terms of the provision of education for information management.

This is a PowerPoint presentation (20 slides) on Wednesday January 12, 2005 in Session 4.1: Continuing Education Programs in the U.S. and Canada, sponsored by the Continuing Education SIG at the 2005 ALISE Conference, Boston, MA. The presentation reviews issues of continuing education (CE) from different perspectives. By introducing the experience of the Dalhousie University's Library Science Program in CE, it discusses common problems and highlights some successes. It also advocates collaborative research with other LIS schools and with library associations.