Purpose -The paper seeks to present an analysis of the development of schools of librarianship and information science (LIS) in the European Union (EU) applicant states until 2004. It discusses the potential and actual changes in their organisation, notably their curriculum. Design/methodology/approach -The comparative analysis of LIS programmes was performed. The model presented by T.D. Wilson in 2001 was selected as the model for analysing the data. The aim was to support the Wilson model with some empirical data from the specific countries. Findings -The results show that the long history of traditional library education in these schools was not a great obstacle to adapting the curriculum to new professional and political standards. LIS schools have generally changed their curriculum towards those of modern LIS schools and have also embraced the EU outlines regarding higher education, especially the Bologna Declaration. Research limitations/implications -This study has its limitations as it is based only on the formal courses' names and the formal content. Comparative analysis could also be accomplished through analysing courses' content, students and teaching staff. Originality/value -The theoretical model of LIS courses analysis was tested on the LIS programmes in EU new member and applicant states. Testing the model shows its weaknesses and strengths. This could be developed in a simple but practical and useful tool for LIS programmes comparison and harmonisation, where necessary.

PurposeThis paper seeks to deal with the “image problem” in the library and information science (LIS) profession from the cultural studies viewpoint. It aims to explore representations of LIS in LIS itself and to research the representation practices of LIS in the social and cultural environment.Design/methodology/approachAfter identifying some main features of professional discourse on the LIS image, the empirical part of the research particularly explored two questions: how LIS is constituted and how it is embedded in broader social practices. More than 300 articles were collected from the Slovenian daily newspaper with the largest circulation. The sample was analyzed quantitatively and two‐fold qualitatively.FindingsThe results of quantitative analysis outline the formation of LIS's community nature. The results of qualitative analysis mostly show the signifying practices in differentiating between the “old” and the “modern” and representing practices in creating “zealous” librarians and “suspicious” users. The results also point to librarians as “organic intellectuals”.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is exploratory and at this point the thesis on “organic intellectuals” cannot be confirmed; in addition to the limits in the analysis methods, the theoretical background needs to be further explored. The findings cannot be generalized due to social and cultural differences.Practical implicationsThe methodology can be applied to other research subjects. The results may be helpful for library managers and library public relations work.Originality/valueThere are only a few studies of such theoretical and methodological design that have researched the role of the LIS in society. The paper also analyzes the “image problem” in the daily newspapers.

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Bibliographic control is one of the few internationally highly standardized activities. The generally accepted IFLA Library Reference Model (IFLA LRM) has influenced the modification of numerous other standards in the field of bibliographic control. In this context, also on UNIMARC and ISBD. Moreover, at the IFLA WLIC 2022 Congress, the working group for the revision of international cataloguing principles announced that it was analyzing the introduction of the term “work with entities”. In the COBISS system, developments in the field of bibliographic control and standards related to it are closely monitored. The transition to the new millennium shed a new light on the organization of bibliographic information, placing in the focus of interest authority data as the basic building block of a new approach to managing the sources of the bibliographic universe. Therefore, first of all, the state of authority data in the COBISS.net network should be analyzed, which can serve as a starting point for development and cooperation between the member countries of the COBISS.net network also on this field.