The History of the Department of Library & Information Science

The University of Tehran established a short course from October 1954 to April 1955. The course was sponsored by the American Specialist Program and the Smith-Mundt Act. The University of Tehran established library school with Masters Courses headed and taught by American library educators (Brewster, 1976).

In the 1960s, the University of Tehran decided to improve its educational system with reference to American university models. The University of Tehran decided to establish a central library and then setting-up a library science school. The Central Library was established in 1965. Margaret Hopkins, an American professional librarian sponsored by the Fulbright Program came to Iran to assist the University of Tehran to set up a centralized library system. The establishment of this library system and the existence of Margaret Hopkins were preconditions for the setting up of a library science Master's course in this University.

The establishment of library school at the University of Tehran sponsored by the Fulbright Program, Professor Alice Lohrer came to the University of Tehran in 1966 to establish the first Library Science school in Iran (Brewster, 1976). The University of Tehran agreed to open the Library Science Department from autumn 1966 in the Faculty of Education (The University of Tehran, 1967). This decision was based on the fact that there were, as potential staff, a number of Iranian librarians with Masters Degrees. The Fulbright Commission in Iran agreed to provide one library educator each year to administer the Library Science Department and teach in its programs (Harvey, 1989). A provisional curriculum for the Master's course had already been developed jointly by Margaret Hopkins, a number of Iranian professional librarians, and Alice Lohrer who prepared the final version (Soltani, 1993; Hayati, & Fattahi, 2005). Since 1966, the Department of Library & Information Science is located in the Faculty of Psychology and Education.

 

References

Brewster, B. (1976). American Overseas: Library Technical Assistance, 1940 – 1970.Mutuchen, N.J.: the Scarecrow, 1976), table 5.

Eicher, C. et al. (1976). An Analysis of US-Iranian Cooperation in Higher Education. (Washington, D.C.: Overseas Liaison Committee, American Council on Education, 1976), 16.

Harvey, J.F. (1989). Iranian Information Education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 29 (3), p. 179.

Hayati, Z., & Fattahi, R. (2005). Education for librarianship in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution: An historical review of the American roles and influences. Library Review, 54(5), 316-327.

Hopkins, M. (1976). Iran in the Last Decade (Dah Sah Pish Dar Iran). Trans M.Niknam. The Iranian Library Association Bulletin (Nameh Anjoman-e Ketabdaran-e Iran) 8 (4), p. 517.

Soltani, P. (1993). Interview by Z. Hayati. Tehran, 10 October 1993.

The University of Tehran.College of Education. Directory, 1967 (Rahnema-Ye Daneshkadeh-Ye Olum-e Tarbiyati, 1346). (Tehran: The University of Tehran, 1967), p.16.