Khosie Ndlangamandla and Dennis Ocholla Khosie C. Ndlangamandla, PhD Student, Department of Information Studies, University of Zululand, Richardsbay, South Africa Email: khosie@yahoo.com Dennis N. Ocholla, Professor and Head of the Department, Department of Information Studies, University of Zululand, Richardsbay, South Africa Email: docholla@pan.uzulu.ac.za Abstract This paper discusses a study that investigated the fea- sibility of providing Library and Information Man- agement (LIM) higher education in Swaziland. The study centred on two major concerns / problems fac- ing the country with respect to LIM higher education. The first concern is the dependence by the country on foreign schools to acquire higher education and training, and secondly, the required funding to import such education and training into the country. Also highlighted were issues of the relevance of the im- ported higher education and training to the country, and the major concerns of the government concerning funding for higher education and training in other countries. The study targeted five population groups as follows: prospective entrants to the LIM profession, existing and practicing LIM personnel, job advertise- ments for LIM personnel, existing and potential em- ployers of LIM personnel, and training institutions likely to host LIM higher education and training. Both qualitative and quantitative data were ob- tained using survey questionnaires, interviews, con- tent analysis and observation. Questionnaires gath- ered data from prospective entrants to the profession of LIM and existing employees / personnel in the pro- fession. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with current and potential employers in the govern- ment and major LIM service organizations. The con- tent analysis of newspaper advertisements was done on two local dailies covering a period of four years (2005-2008) to assess the job market in Library and Information Management. Observations were car- ried out in two higher education institutions to check whether or not they were capable of hosting LIM higher education. The results revealed that prospec- tive entrants, personnel, employers and the training institutions were in support of higher education in LIM within the country. The content analysis of job advertisements produced low results, which suggests low feasibility, but only if the expectation is that job advertisements for a profession would run every day in a local newspaper. Employers in LIM insisted on the availability of jobs in the local market and high- lighted several positive indicators of a growing mar- ket in this profession. We conclude the paper with recommendations for hosting education, stakeholder participation, balanced relevance and tracer studies. Background In this paper, we report on a recent feasibility study to establish the possibility of offering Library and Information Management (LIM) education in Swa- ziland. The kingdom of Swaziland is a small land- locked country in Southern Africa which covers 17,364 square kilometers. It is bordered to the north, south and west by the Republic of South Africa and to the east by Mozambique. Swaziland attained in- dependence from British colonial rule in September 1968. The majority of Swaziland’s population (esti- mated to be 1.3 million) are ethnic Swazis. The Swa- zi economy is very closely linked to the South Afri- can economy, from which it receives over 90 percent of its imports (motor vehicles, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, hydro-electric power, petro- leum products, chemicals, etc.) and to which it sends about 60 percent of its exports (sugar, wood pulp, cotton yarn, citrus and canned fruits, and soft drink concentrates). Swaziland’s currency – Lilangeni, de- noted by the E – is pegged to the South African Rand (R) and is around E8.2 = US$1 at the time of writing (Phiri 2008; The World Factbook 2012). Education is regarded as the cornerstone of eco- nomic and social development in Swaziland; and the Libri, Vol. 62, pp. 363–376, December 2012 • Copyright © by Walter de Gruyter • Berlin • Boston. DOI 10.1515/libri-2012-0028 Is It Feasible to Offer Library and Information Management Higher Education in Swaziland? Brought to you by | Ariz Health Sciences Library Authenticated | 150.135.135.70 Download Date | 12/11/12 6:29 AM