Page 9 - Keynotes and Invited Papers

The Legal Frame Shortcomings as a Cause of the Poor Librarianship
in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dr. Amela Colic
University of Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
caloamela@hotmail.com
Dr. Ratko Knezevic
University of Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
kratko1962@gmail.com
Dr. Bozana Tomic
Slobomir P University Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina
tomicbozana@gmail.com
Sandra Knezevic, BSc,
Free Scholar Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
knezevic-sandra@outlook.com

Abstract:

The legal frame regulating the librarianship in Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the main
problems of scientific research development in the country. The existing law allowing any
person regardless the level of education to gain a certificate in librarianship after a week of
training only needs to be repealed. Although there are three universities within Bosnia and
Herzegovina where the students can get formal undergraduate or postgraduate education in
librarianship the existing law does not encourage the young students to enrol. The persons
given certificates after a week of training get the same rights to be employed as the librarianship
students after 4 years of studying. The two existing national libraries in the country were given
right to do a week of training allowing after that the persons without appropriate skills and
information literacy knowledge to work in libraries at all levels. That law needs to be repealed.
The lack of formally graduated librarians is the main cause of the slow libraries development
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Keywords: Librarianship legislation, information literacy, librarians, skills, knowledge
management.

Biography
Dr. Ratko Knezevic, University of Bihac Bosnia and Herzegovina; Professor of Academic
English and Anglo-American Literature, expert in Information & Media Literacy; ex Director
of County & University library; Founder of mobile library system in the country; Innovator in
librarianship in Western Balkans (Bill & Melinda Gattes Foundation); Chairperson of the
international evaluation working groups for EU funded projects at the universities across
Europe and Asia; organizer of the Western Balkan Information & Media Literacy Conference
(https://www.wbimlc.org).