Librarianship in Mexico: a discipline in crisis. Crítica Bibliotecológica: Revista de las Ciencias de Información Documental (Library and Information Science Critique: Journal of the Sciences of Information Recorded in Documents), 1 (1), jul-dic, pp. 104-111.

Abstract

Library Science in Mexico is a discipline at crisis. On one hand, in the search for integration into the information society its Study Program changes towards a more administrative and technical model of education; on the other hand, as our introductory example shows, the lack of a humanistic education for librarians, is leaving them in a very unethical position since they do not have what is needed to understand the political and social relevance of knowledge production and transmission. A positivist perspective of reality has invaded classrooms, conferences, publications and research. There is no critical or theoretical thinking in Mexican librarianship at all nowadays and this determines an apathetic and passive performance from librarians, especially in public libraries since these public spaces are open to the social, economical and political characteristics of the place they were built on. More over, the mission of public libraries as social change agents does not accomplish due to the fact that they are not offering any objective alternative to mass media standardization of public opinion. And as TV and media-based democracy spreads throughout the whole country, librarians seem oblivious to this situation. It is because of this, that we believe it is necessary for librarians to get a theoretical and humanistic education while they are in school in order to be prepared and committed with their social role.