The specialized Post-graduate Program in School Libraries Management focuses on the management of education-oriented informational organizations. This focus is drawn from a holistic view of Information Science and Education. The interaction between both and the complementary role of Information and Communication Technologies ensures both the quality and the adequacy of the skills to be developed.
Framework
In 1997, in Portugal, a partnership between the Ministries of Education and Culture was behind the launching of a program to set up a School Library Network (RBE) whose aim was to provide Portuguese schools with resources centers in line with the best practices defined by international organizations such as UNESCO and IFLA.
From the beginning of the RBE, schools were able to apply to public funding so as to build or refurbish school libraries. RBE was successively widened to include roughly 2000 school libraries, ranging from pre-school to high-school. Within the schools' organizational framework, library services are now seen as an innovative, supportive and a driving force in the educational practices required of today¿s knowledge society.
From 2009, with the Ordinance no. 756/2009 and no. 76/2011, the RBE program started focusing strongly on the qualifications of human resources. Examples of this new focus include the creation of the post of teacher-ibrarian and the definition of procedures for the selection and allocation of human resources. This new legal framework, highly influenced by the current educational environment and technological progress and globalization, is joined by a growing demand for specialized training in the activities school libraries entail. The shift form content-oriented to skill-oriented teaching and learning, emphasizes the nature of the learning process, leads to changes in methodologies, and encompasses information literacy and autonomous and collaborative learning. These changes in the educational context have had a ripple effect on school libraries managers, pushing them to adopt a more professional stance in light of the present scenario.
| 1º Year | ||
|---|---|---|
| Curricular unit | Period | ECTS |
| Technologies for the Management of the School Library | Annual | |
| Information Resources for the School Library | Annual | |
| Information Practices for Children and Teenagers | Annual | |
| Organisation of Information in a School Library | Annual | |
| Educational Psychology | Annual | |
| Reading Children's Literature | Annual | |
| Management of the School Library | Annual | |
| Applications and Web 2.0 Practices in School Library | Annual | |
| Communication and Promotion of the School Library | Annual | |
| Project Management in Information Services | Annual | |
The applicants should have one of the following:
A bachelor's degree or its legal equivalent;
A foreign higher education degree, awarded upon completion of a 1st study cycle organized according to the Bologna model by a State who has adhered to this Process;
A foreign higher education degree, which by decision of the Technical-Scientific Council is recognised as satisfying the objectives of a bachelor's degree;
An academic, scientific and/or professional curriculum which the Technical-Scientific Council recognises as proof of the candidate¿s preparedness for the study cycle.
