Constructing national library and information policy options for South Africa within the framework of educational transformation

Describes the setting up and work of the Library and Information Services Research Group (LIS RG), one of 12 Research Groups set up as South Africa's largest research project into education and educational policy. The LIS RG consisted of representa tives from six South African organi zations and regional structures were set up in the Cape, Natal and Transvaal. The Group studies the fol lowing key areas: philosophy of library and information work; man agement of library and information services and provision of services; selection of materials and censorship; human resources and occupational structures; co-operation and net working ; and organized each research paper into the following sections: existing situation; emerging alterna tives ; comparative perspectives; and analysis of policy options. The find ings of the LIS RG are not presented and readers are referred to the final report or to the Framework report for the summarized version. Concentrates instead on explaining the conceptual framework within which the research was conducted, highlights some of the salient points, and comments on some of the ques tions left unanswered.