Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in enormous challenges, but also presented opportunities that have notable implications for the future. The aim of this paper is to explore and discuss the experiences, perspectives, challenges and opportunities of Library and Information Science Educators (LISE) during the pandemic. The aim is articulated in the following three research questions: How is the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by LISE and in research? What are the perceptions formed during the period? And what are the challenges and opportunities?

Design/methodology/approach

This is an interpretivist qualitative study informed by disaster management theories. The study involved the content analysis of existing literature with a focus on COVID-19 and higher education, particularly LISE, in conjunction with an open-ended email questionnaire that was sent to selected LIS educators/faculty/staff from major LIS Schools from eight sub-Saharan African countries. The author used personal experiences and observation to supplement the data and the interpretation.

Findings

Results show more similarities than differences in how the COVID-19 pandemic is experienced and perceived, as well as the challenges and opportunities that it brings to the sector. As a whole, political factors are most pronounced, meaning that administration and decision-making need more attention in the sector. Also notable is that opportunities are mostly linked to technological factors, which will determine the “new normal” for LISE in the future. Almost all the narratives focused on the middle level of (during) the disaster life cycle, which is understandable as the complete cycle of the disaster is yet to come, likely when COVID-19 ceases to be a threat.

Research limitations/implications

The sample was small, as related studies focus more on COVID-19 and higher education, with hardly any focusing on LISE. The COVID-19 pandemic has not ended, so the disaster management life cycle cannot be fully exploited. Furthermore, the author’s categorization of responses within PEST was largely judgmental.

Practical implications

New research, teaching and learning developmental paths have been created for LISE. The study provides practical reflection on the effects of COVID-19 on the sector and HEIs that can inform discourse and responses to the pandemic.

Originality/value

The study explores a new research domain in LISE and due to limited research in the domain brings together important voices/narratives – based on their experiences – of LIS educators in Africa on the research area. Further, it proposes the future of LISE under COVID-19 within the 4IR framework.

中文翻译：

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回荡在走廊上。通过非洲视角在COVID-19期间的图书馆和信息科学教育（LISE）的经验和观点

目的

COVID-19大流行带来了巨大的挑战，但也带来了对未来有重大影响的机遇。本文旨在探讨和讨论大流行期间图书馆和信息科学教育者（LISE）的经验，观点，挑战和机遇。该目标在以下三个研究问题中得以阐明：LISE和研究如何经历COVID-19大流行？在此期间形成了哪些看法？挑战和机遇是什么？

设计/方法/方法

这是根据灾害管理理论进行的解释主义定性研究。这项研究包括对现有文献的内容分析，重点是COVID-19和高等教育，尤其是LISE，并与不限成员名额的电子邮件调查表一起发送给了来自八个LIS学校的主要LIS学校的选定LIS教育者/教师/职员-撒哈拉以南非洲国家。作者利用个人经验和观察来补充数据和解释。

发现

结果显示，在体验和感知COVID-19大流行的方式以及给该领域带来的挑战和机遇方面，相似之处多于差异。总体而言，政治因素最为明显，这意味着行政管理和决策需要在该领域得到更多关注。同样值得注意的是，机会主要与技术因素相关，这将决定未来LISE的“新常态”。几乎所有叙述都集中在灾难生命周期（期间）的中间阶段，这是可以理解的，因为灾难的整个周期尚未到来，很可能是在COVID-19不再成为威胁时。

研究局限/意义

样本很小，因为相关研究更多地关注COVID-19和高等教育，而几乎没有关注LISE。COVID-19大流行尚未结束，因此无法充分利用灾难管理生命周期。此外，作者在PEST中对回答的分类在很大程度上是判断性的。

实际影响

为LISE创建了新的研究，教学和学习发展道路。该研究对COVID-19对该行业和HEI的影响提供了实用的思考，可以为大流行提供话语和应对措施。

创意/价值

该研究在LISE中探索了一个新的研究领域，由于该领域的研究有限，基于他们的经验，非洲LIS教育者在研究领域的重要声音/叙述汇集在一起​​。此外，它提出了在4IR框架内COVID-19下LISE的未来。