Training and in-service training of information scientists in the German Democratic Republic
Abstract
The ZIID (Zentralinstitut für Information und Dokumentation) as the Central Agency of the Scientific and Technical Information System in the German Democratic Republic is also responsible for problems involved in the training and in-service training of information scientists in the country. In co-operation with the competent national authorities and other educational institutions, the ZIID has elaborated the system of training information scientists. Educational forma fit well into the unified socialist educational system of the GDR, and also ensure the attainment of the knowledge which is socially necessary to the fulfilment of information tasks.
With this end in view, the following educational forms have been implemented until 1971:
KDT corresponding course A – a course of Kammer der Technik (Chamber of Technology) – covering the subject fields of information and documentation for practising information specialists with higher or professional educational background.
KDT corresponding course B offering medium-level courses in the technical, organizational and administrative problems of documentation.
Both of them are 7 months/courses, and the curriculum is divided into 6 consultative units. The course is concluded by an examination.
Based on graduation from secondary school, a three-year school-type training is going on in Berlin, offering courses in information, documentation, and special librarianship. Besides training in librarianship and documentation, this educational form fails to give a good grasp of scientific and technical problems, thus the time is ripe for the thorough revision of its curriculum. According to the new conception, the school put out experts to be engaged in organizing, designing and managing information institutes.
The Ilmenau Technical College offers a two-year post-graduate course within the Chair of Information Science, Patent and Industrial Law. From the academic year 1971/1972, in this institution, too, education will continue on the basis of a modified curriculum. The new curriculum is to divide the subject field of information and documentation into 7 thematic groups.
The system of in-service training has three main lines such as
training in social science, including organization and management science;
specialized in-service training in the scientific discipline (e.g. physics, chemistry) to be covered by the individual trainees' information work;
extension training in information science and the application of new achievements in the field of information and documentation.
Extension courses generally last 1 to 6 days and are differentiated by types of specialists or subject fields.
A precondition of an effective educational system is that it may place up-to-date educational aids, audio-visual methods and good text-books at the students' disposal. The ZIID undertook to produce instructional materials and educational aids which may be used both in training and extension training.
