Studies & Degrees in Library Science and Documentation

Choose where you would like to study Library Science and Documentation:

Cleopatra wept as she watched the library of Alexandria burn to the ground – the depiction of Cleopatra when the Romans under Julius Octavian Caesar assaulted the city of Alexandria.

Why she cried is literally no mystery because it is known to some of the greatest minds that libraries hold the epitome of the world’s knowledge no matter how boring most people think about such places. In the course of the study the students would be initiated into different types of documentation systems. The stage usually begins in the most basic and traditional forms of documenting books such as the index system which can be seen in some of the older libraries which still have yet to adapt into the computerized forms of system documentation. The basic stages of the curriculum also include teaching the students a variety of techniques and processes regarding document preservation and maintenance specifically for specialized collections. The perfect example of such processes can be seen in the film Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks. The audience would be shown the Vatican’s collection of ancient journals, books and essays made by the majority of intellectuals during the renaissance where is kept in an airtight room in which oxygen is regulated in order to prevent damage to the documents due to the forms of degradation caused by age and other environmental factors such as moisture and molds.

The students would be taught preliminary copyright and intellectual property laws because it is known that no one can really stop the process of decay especially with some specific copies of books or documents that may span to hundreds of years old. That is why some most libraries are forced to make new copies of some of these text and they commonly leave the process to their librarians. Now, in some academic institutions the course also includes the study of specific major languages in their curriculum because there are certain text and documents that are in need of translation for academic purposes.

The rise of Internet and other forms electronic information processing had drastically changed the course. The students are now immersed in studying numerous varieties of electronic documentation such as the upkeep of online journal subscriptions and information filtering or tracking. Ergo in most modern libraries students and patrons no longer have to bear with old index system since all they have to do is log in and search by either title or author. However most of the older librarians consider the new systems as an oversight because a simple routine system crash can disable the library’s operation for days and even weeks at a time. But still the realm of the Internet is considered to be too vast not to be taken advantage off and the growing trend of online libraries have become a new specialization for the course. That is why some institutions have instilled basic information technology subjects to the curriculum in order for the new students to cope with the growing trend.